Mal smiled at this, like he admired her way of thinking. “I could teach you, if you wanted. I’ve seen you fence, you move well on your feet. Dueling is not much different.”
“Teach me?”
“How to fight.”
“How to duel you mean?”
Mal shrugged, “however you want to name it.”
Maeve contemplated him for a moment, her eyebrows drawn slightly together. She had seen Mal win many magical duels throughout their time at Vaukore. Even at a young age, he bested those much older than him.
“I think I will stick to what I am already good at, and perfect that,” she whispered, pulling her textbook back from him.
When the two of them said goodnight, Maeve made her way to The East Wing of the castle, eager to crash into her comfy dorm room bed.
“Oh thank God,” gasped a pair of girls as she strode towards the door.
The pair of them jumped to their feet, slamming close the book that had previously been in their lap.
“Have you read this?” Asked the blonde one, as she shoved the cover in Maeve’s face.
“Yes,” said Maeve with a laugh.
“I knew you would have,” said her friend. “I just said maybe Maeve will be back soon from her tutoring lessons with Malachite.”
Maeve grimaced. “Does everyone know about that?”
The girls exchanged an incredulous look. “Everyone is talking about it,” they said in unison.
Maeve walked around them. “What exactly is there to talk about?”
“That if you are struggling to pass Alchemy we’re all doomed.
“How do you get any work done around him?” Laughed the blonde as her cheeks flushed.
“Merlin,” muttered Maeve.
As she approached the ornate arched ivory double doors, a golden inscription was spread across the doorway.
“Here,” said the blonde, handing her the book.
“I don’t need that,” said Maeve. “The answer is Year 604. Prince Danin.”
The ivory doors clicked open and the inscription faded. The book vanished from the girl’s hands with a swift howling of the wind.
Maeve slipped quickly between the double doors and grabbed each knob in her hands.
“Just for being so nosy,” said Maeve with a smile.
The girls’ mouths hung open wide as Maeve slammed the ivory doors quickly, locking them out in the corridor, forced to answer a different and new question without her help.
“That’s cruel,” said Lavinia, who was sprawled across an armchair with a book held high. “They’ve been out there moaning for twenty minutes.”
“They’re such babies,” said Maeve. “Academia or pleasure?” She asked, nodding to the book Lavinia held high above her head.
She looked over at Maeve with a wicked grin. “Pleasure.”
“Goodnight,” said Maeve quickly, making her way towards the stairs up to the girls dorm rooms.
