The wind whistled as it blew through the small cracks of the window frame. He pulled his cloak to better cover himself, and shuddered. The weather was mellow for winter, but it was difficult to protect from the cold without any modern clothes.

  He grabbed a torn piece of cloth he kept around as a rag and put it on the windowsill in an attempt to cover the cracks.

  We need to do repairs. Since they were planning on staying here, they needed to make sure the castle didn’t fall apart like castle Dorwan. I’ll get on with it as soon as the duel is over. He added that to the ever growing list of things that needed to be done, then sat down and cleared the table.

  He stacked the books and put them aside, along with the papers he used to translate everything. When he was done, all that was left on the table was a single, half-burned candle.

  I can do this. His heart began to beat faster. He looked at the candle. Burn. Light up!

  It remained unlit.

  Damn it. His shoulders dropped. Out of the many times he tried it, he’d only been able to light it up twice, and it had taken an immense amount of effort each time. I thought having so little mana left was the problem. He was clearly wrong.

  “Bloody hell…” he whispered.

  “I thought you had it figured out.” Sarah’s voice startled him. He hadn’t noticed her arrive at all. “The light you gave Arthur is still on, you know.”

  He sighed. “That one was an inscribed spell. This,” he poked the candle with annoyance. “Is a bloody-“ The candle’s wick burst into flames. Heat seared his finger as he gasped and quickly pulled his hand back. He waved his hand back and forth as the tip of his finger throbbed with pain. “Fuck!” he breathed out.

  Sarah’s eyebrows rose sharply. “You… didn’t seem to have much trouble there.” She hesitated. “Should I call Clara?” She took half a step back but then stopped when he shook his head. “What happened there?”

  “I don’t bloody know.” His voice grew sharper. How did that happen? “I just touched it.”

  Sarah pursed her lips. “Try it again.” She walked up and blew out the candle.

  He shot her an annoyed glance. “Do you want me to burn myself?”

  She laughed. “As if we don’t have Clara to heal you. Just don’t burn the damn library down.”

  Fair. He sighed, then poked the wick of the candle again, imagining a small flame spark to life. As soon as his finger touched it, a flame lit up, nearly burning him again. He pulled back just in time. “Wait,” he muttered, quickly blowing out the candle, he tried it again.

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  Just like last time, a flame sparked to life.

  “I think you’ve got it figured out?” Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’ll take that to mean the Core Nexus is helping.”

  He shook his head. “No, wait.” He extinguished the flame again, then leaned back on his chair. He joined his hands on his lap, then imagined the candle burst into a small flame once more.

  Awkward silence filled the room. After about a dozen seconds passed, he slowly reached to the candle and touched it. Just like that, it lit up with a small flame dancing to the whims of the cold breeze blowing in through the cracks.

  “You lost me. What was that?” Sarah pulled a chair and sat down.

  “I need to be touching the damn thing.” He grunted.

  Sarah folded her arms. “So, cooking the knight to death in that big, strong armour of his isn’t an option.”

  “Unfortunately, it’ll take a bit more effort than that.”

  “So, more practice?” She asked with a smirk.

  “Yeah, and a lot of experimentation.” He had to try and find a way.

  She put her elbows on the desk and leaned her chin against her palms. “I need to address the elephant in the room.” Her voice grew deeper as her forehead scrunched up. Her lips formed a thin line. Her gaze met his. “But before that, how much did your mana increase?”

  Ah. He touched the back of his hand. It was simple to reveal his mana now. The more he did it, the less he needed to focus. Blue spread across the room, while three crimson spheres floated in the air. “Quite a lot.”

  Relief flashed across her face. “That’s quite something.” She muttered, looking around. Then, her gaze returned to him. “This means you can use the mark of command, right?”

  I thought so. “Yes,” he leaned back on his chair. “It’ll help immensely to have more creatures protecting us. I’ll need to find them first, but I do have one in mind already.”

  “Good to hear.” She seemed genuinely relieved. “I’m sure Charles will launch into a tirade about how many more creatures you can take under your command later this evening.” There was a hint of annoyance in her voice. “I’m sick and tired of hearing him ask why you didn’t take this or that – I can’t imagine how you must feel.”

  He shrugged. “I’m focusing entirely on the duel now.” He admitted. He didn’t pay much attention to what Charles was doing and didn’t think about his requests at all.

  “Quite fair.” Sarah pushed away the chair as she got back up on her feet. “I should get going. Arthur’s probably getting bored by now, and Harriet is too old to keep up with him.”

  “Sarah.”

  She stopped just as she reached the door and turned around to glance at him.

  “About Arthur… he needs a way to defend himself. Just in case.”

  Her expression turned dark. “He’s a child.”

  Alaric clenched his fists. The leather gloves creaked. “I know. I fear the Profaned Legion doesn’t care.”

  He could see blood slowly draw from her face. “He can’t even lift a sword yet.”

  I know! “He’s smart. Maybe he can learn magic.”

  Sarah narrowed her eyes. Her posture had changed completely. She looked like she wanted to bolt out of the room and lunge at him at the same time. “I don’t know.” She hissed through gritted teeth. “I don’t know if I want my child to have more tools he can use to accidentally hurt himself.” She made her hand into a fist and pressed it against the door. “He’s a child. He shouldn’t need to think about this!”

  “You said the same about me.” He couldn’t help but smile bitterly. It felt as if years had passed since the day the Fall began. It had only been a couple of months.

  Sarah’s head jerked towards him. She seemed surprised for a moment. “I did, didn’t I?” She leaned against the door. “You’ve changed a bit since then. Grown.”

  His eyebrow raised sharply. “How so?”

  She shrugged. “You’re different. Surer of yourself. More decisive. You’ve taken more responsibility. People trust you, maybe more than they trust Charles.”

  I’m not so sure about that. I don’t want that.