“Yes.” Elowen looked down at her hands, fidgeting with the flower. “I…I have studied magic,” she said in a rush of honesty. “But it wasn’t with my tutor.”
“Who did you study with?” he asked, clearly confused. When she hesitated, he prompted her again. “Elowen?”
“It was Simeon who taught me,” Elowen confessed. “You’ve met him. He’s a servant in the household of the Duke of Nirocha, and he’s very skilled in magic craft.”
One of Theo’s straight eyebrows flew up at her words, and when he spoke, something in his tone made her uneasy.
“I see.”
“I suppose you’ll disapprove,” Elowen said, a defiant flush on her cheeks. “I know that in Siqual, as in Torrens, magic isn’t considered a proper pursuit for ladies of high birth.”
“Or men of high birth, either,” Theo confirmed. “I’m astonished this young man, Simeon, was willing to risk his position to teach you clandestinely.”
“So was I, to be frank,” Elowen said. “I have no idea how she convinced him. But she was confident he’d agree.”
Theo’s brow was furrowed. “She?”
“Oh, Sophia,” Elowen said quickly. “Didn’t I say? She’s the duke’s daughter, and it was her idea. Simeon taught us together, in weekly sessions over the last year or so. I’m by no means proficient, but I feel I’ve made excellent progress.”
Theo considered her thoughtfully, his manner altered by this new information for reasons she didn’t yet grasp.
“I don’t disapprove of your desire to learn to manipulate Dust,” he told her. “I see the sense in it. In fact, I was jealous of my sister when she was allowed to study magic at her academy here in Torrens. I believe the academy was unusual in that regard.”
“Yes,” said Elowen with a sigh. “I begged to be allowed to go to that academy, but my parents were adamant I be educated at the castle.” She snuck a look at him. “It’s strange to think your sister and I may have been friends if I’d been allowed to attend. So it’s true, then, that in Siqual, magic isn’t generally studied by members of the court?”
“Not beyond a rudimentary level of understanding,” Theo confirmed. “In fact, magic in general isn’t used much in my castle. I’ve noticed it in use much more here. In my family, we’re taught that while it can be useful, we should take care not to become reliant on it, and that it ought not to be wasted on trivial matters like our comfort, but used for purposes that will benefit the whole kingdom.”
“I can see how that’s a noble perspective,” Elowen commented. “But we see it a little differently. Certainly the study of magic is a craft and isn’t considered a proper use of time for upper classes, as in your kingdom. But I was never taught any reluctance to use it for everyday purposes. We just do so through our servants. I was taught that as a princess, it’s appropriate that I let others serve me in that way, and focus my energies on my own role. Such as it is.” The last phrase was added in a murmur, and she thought she caught a sympathetic hint in Theo’s answering smile.
“A cultural difference, I suppose,” he said. “I had understood from Miriam that magic was used much more commonly at her academy, but I thought it was perhaps a quirk of that institution rather than Torrens in general. Do you think it risks making people lazy?”
It was Elowen’s turn to smile. “Perhaps. But when we’re speaking of people whose every need is met by servants, I think that risk exists with or without magic.”
“An excellent point.”
Theo’s lips tugged up in one corner in a smile that brought a hint of warmth to Elowen’s cheeks. She liked how his features were softened when he was surprised into a genuine smile. She liked even more knowing that she was the one who’d drawn it out.
“Are you going to tell my father?” she asked him, an entreaty in her eyes. “I don’t wish to get either Sophia or Simeon in trouble. Or myself, for that matter,” she added with a rueful smile.
Theo looked surprised. “You can trust my confidence,” he assured her. “Naturally I respect your father and defer to his authority as king while I’m in Torrens. But on personal matters, I don’t answer to him now any more than I will once we’re married.”
Elowen brightened. “Does that mean I might be allowed to further study magic when we’re married and I live in Siqual?”
A hint of Theo’s smile was back. “I certainly wouldn’t object.”
Warmth rushed over Elowen as, for the first time, she felt genuine excitement about her future in Siqual with Theo. Impulsively, she laid her hand on his arm.
“Thank you.”
Theo’s muscles tightened under her touch, and for a moment, he held her gaze in charged silence. His eyes refused to release her, their scrutiny nothing like the perceptive but bloodless assessment she was used to from him. She’d never suspected so much intensity was hiding under his usual control.
Then he stepped back, and the moment was gone. She dropped her arm to her side as the contact was broken, struggling to understand the abruptness of the shift in Theo’s mood.
“I should return to the castle,” Theo said gruffly. “I need to prepare for this afternoon’s event.”
“Yes,” said Elowen, breathless from some combination of their charged moment and her subsequent embarrassment. “Of course, it’s the first round of the weapons combat, isn’t it?”
Theo acknowledged it, already turning away to cross back over the bridge. Elowen followed him, deflated when he mounted his horse at once instead of offering to help her. They rode back to the castle in silence, and parted ways as soon as they entered the courtyard.
