“If anything, that’sworse!” Aimilia took a few more steps until she was right behind him. “The two of us alone in the royal box?”
“With my parents deciding to stay back today, I have to be in the royal box,” Nikias said, pushing down his own frustration. It certainly wasn’t what he wanted either. “One of us must be seen.”
Nikias resisted the urge to rub his sore neck. His father had overexerted himself recently and if the king wanted to be able to make a public appearance at the end of the exams, he would have to rest for today.
Nikias didn’t know if he should be grateful his father’s overexertion spared him from his presence today or concerned about the fact that he was going to have to worry about the illusion on his neck while he was watched by a crowd of thousands. He was leaning toward grateful because it meant Aimilia wouldn’t be anywhere near his parents.
“Yes.” Aimilia gripped the railing. “You’re about to be seen with me and only me in a box where we’re about to be watched by thousands of people who by now will have heard everything.”
Nikias stopped on the last landing before their box. “You know the royal box has the best view.”
Aimilia didn’t stop moving, glancing down at her feet as she said, “I think you mean the best view for everyone else.”
“I promise you, after the first five minutes we’re in there, no one will be looking at us.” Nikias waved at the empty arena floor below. “They’ll be too busy watching the twelve-year-olds shoot vitae at each other.”
Aimilia just pushed past him and kept climbing up without a word. Nikias followed after her, reaching up and brushing his fingers over his neck to ensure the illusion was still in place.
He followed her up the stairs and into the royal box. She ignored him as she went about pulling out her sheets already prepared to take notes on the students she was assigned to score, and ignoring the reactions of the crowd below her that had spotted the Mitis mage sitting in the royal family’s box. Nikias did the same, letting her have her silence as he also gathered his materials for judging.
Although he did take the seat right beside hers, both of them leaving the king’s and queen’s seats, marked by their opulence, alone. They sat up against the railing, ready to watch the first event after the opening remarks. All the novices would be run through a serious of practical tests so the judges could get a feel for their skill in all areas to start with and prove their competency in advancing to being full time students at the Academy.
That would be the main event for the day and then they would break until the next, when they would divide the novices based off of the track of their preference. While there were no strict limits to number of mages on the academic, combat, or healing track, it was important to have a balanced number between them, so should too many desire one track, it would be up to the judges to place them according to their strengths inorder to balance it out. Then there would be the command track, which only accepted thirty students, so for those that didn’t make it, it would be up to the judges to place them as well.
They were shaping the futures of over two hundred students. Permanently charting their course. Their decisions determined everything and were unchanging.
Nikias did not take this responsibility lightly, and from the hard set to Aimilia’s jaw and eyes, neither did she.
Nikias bit the inside of his cheek and stared down at his notes, trying to push down the overwhelming rush of affection.
It would do him no good at this stage for Aimilia to see it written all over his face.
As the crowd settled in and Commander Livus stepped out onto the stadium floor to give opening remarks, Nikias refocused on his mission. He shifted closer as Commander Livus reached the halfway point in his speech. His leg brushed Aimilia’s.
She startled in her seat, turning to glare at him. He murmured, “My apologies.”
She shook her head and turned back to watch Commander Livus.
The time came for the first round of the novices for the day. It was fairly straightforward—he and Aimilia had thirty novices they would be scoring, ten of which would later compete for a spot on the command track. They would be assigning point totals in each category, and that would determine if they made it in, depending on how the other judges also scored their novices.
They were halfway through the first round of novices being run through the practical tests, two of their novices in this batch, when Nikias leaned over and murmured, “Novice Ursus clearly has a large vitae reservoir.”
Aimilia kept her gaze on the novices, but she also didn’t pull away. Nikias’ shoulder brushed against hers; a soft warmthseeped through their cloaks at the contact. She said, “I don’t deny that, but his form is sloppy.”
“He’s young. It could improve with the rigor of being at the Academy year-round.”
“If it’s sloppy now on these simpler runes, he’s going to struggle with complex ones.”
“You don’t think his natural power will make up for it?”
“Being a commander is about more than raw vitae. We’ll see how he does in the command track portion, but I see potential as a combat mage.”
“I concur.” But Nikias didn’t move back fully to his seat. He stayed, leaning over her shoulder as they watched.
She hadn’t reacted; he also wasn’t sure if she’d noticed. He wasn’t sure which was worse.
They exchanged a few more murmured comments about their other mages as the first round finished.
While the first round of mages left and the next was brought in, Aimilia shifted in her seat, turning to face him. “You know I can hear you even if you’re not practically climbing on top of me.” She gestured at the lack of space between them. “This isn’t necessary.”
