“It was well done.” Evariste knit his hands together as he joined Angelique at the crib. “It will do the least harm to the princess, and it limits the risk that the curse could still killher.”
King Giuseppe frowned, but Princess Alessia was pink with relief. “Thank you! She can survive this; I knowit.”
Prince Consort Filippo took one of his wife’s hands. “And we will do everything we can to see that the curse does not cometrue.”
“I would not count too heavily on your own efforts, but it would be wise to make certain the princess does not have direct access to any spinning wheels,” Evaristesaid.
Angelique rubbed her souring stomach and leaned more heavily on the crib to keep from tottering. When Evariste held her elbow to support her, she smiled up at him inthankfulness.
“Please keep us informed,” Evariste said. “Princess Rosalinda is now tied to Angelique—and by extension, myself. She will be ourresponsibility.”
Princess Alessia retrieved the baby from her crib. “Thank you, Lord Enchanter—and LadyEnchantress.”
“Enchantress-in-training,” Angelique said—though she almost swayed on her feet. The curse modification hadn’t used much of her power considering, but it required a huge amount of control—something she still had a terribly short supplyof.
“If you’ll excuse our early departure, I believe my apprentice and I should return home. We’ll be in touch.” Evariste nodded to the royal family of Sole, then swept an arm—and his cloak—around Angelique, supporting her as they retreated from thehall.
Sybilla and Breeza waved to them, but the three other magic users watched without emotion as theyleft.
“The modification was quite smooth.” Evariste said as they followed the red velvet carpet to the castle entrance. “It would have been beyond any other apprentice so early in their schooling. All of them would have fumbled it, and most would have reached the end of their magic. But you proved yourself worthytoday.”
As they left the castle and stepped out into the frigid winter air, Angelique wanted to snort. The only thing she had proved was that it was going to takea lotof concentration for her to do any kind of deep magic not related to her core powers without risking killing someone.I feel sick. I want to sleep. Though she felt awful, she held her tongue. She still had to act the part, afterall.
“I can’t open a gate—even if Carabosso left, it is still too risky. But I’ll do the next best thing and whistle Pegasus down from the sky. He’ll get us home in a flash,” Evariste continued. He nudged her against his side with the arm that supported her as a few snowflakes twirled through the air. “You were wonderful,Angel.”
And that is all I ever want.Satisfied, Angelique closed her eyes and waited for Evariste to summon Pegasus. At the back of her mind, though, worry stirred for Princess Rosalinda and her cloudy future. Though Angelique had managed to take the sting out of the curse, she highly doubted the princess was out of danger yet. If Carabosso had felt spiteful enough to curse her, it was unlikely he was going to let her off soeasily.
I hope she’s strong enough to survive whatever difficulties he brings down uponher…
Chapter 16
Almost two yearsafter Evariste made Angelique his apprentice, they had their firstdisagreement.
“Step up, Angel!” Evariste instructed as he dragged a rather tattered—and burnt—straw-stuffed dummy from storage. He shoved its stake in the ground, then used alteration magic to temporarily fix the dummy—making it bigger and removing all the burnmarks.
“Are we practicing combat with elemental magic, again?” Angelique asked as she mentally shifted through possibleattacks.
Since altering Princess Rosalinda’s curse, Angelique had reluctantly agreed that being able to use magic in combat situations might be helpful—with the exception of her war magic, of course. (Carabosso had effectively opened her eyes to that matter. Particularly because she realized she didnotlike using her war magic for delicate spells like curse modification. If she could subdue her opponent before he could cast a curse, all thebetter!)
So, once she had reasonably mastered wind, fire, water, and the like, she hadn’t objected when Evariste set her to throwing fireballs at targets and dousing a dummy with water before snapping the temperature down and freezingit.
End with fire, she decided as she studied the dummy with a puckered brow.That always destroys it the fastest. Maybe blow it down with a puff of wind first, then usewater?
“We are practicing combat today, yes.” Evariste busied himself with the dummy, tugging its burlap head straight. “And partially with elementalmagic.”
Angelique froze.Partially?She cocked her head slightly as she studied Evariste’sback.
Though he seems relaxed, he’s fussing with that dummy a lot considering I’m just going to beat the stuffing out ofit.
“Enchanter Evariste?” She askedtepidly.
When he finished with the dummy, Evariste offered her a bright smile as he trotted back to the house…returning with a sword and severaldaggers.
I don’t like the look ofthis.
Angelique’s smile twitched, but she forcibly kept it in place. “Are we practicing deflection?Or…?”
“Today I’m going to teach you how to meld two magics together—your war magic and elemental magic,” Evaristesaid.
