“What were the early signs

  that Mergo was a chosen of the Sun?” Aela questioned, her hand

  firmly grasping the leather flail placed on the table.

  She had very quickly picked up

  that it was my least favorite of the tools in her teaching arsenal.

  “Mergo was born at the apex

  of the sun during the summer solstice,” I answered. “She was

  flaxen haired despite her mother and father being dark haired, and

  where ever she resided would quickly become overgrown with

  sunflowers.”

  I was relieved that she had

  chosen someone I had been able to study before I had started to slip

  off into sleep at my desk the night prior. Since taking over the role

  of religious tutor, Aela had ensured that there was no more hidden

  afternoon naps and strict adherence to a study schedule. She didn’t

  want me to just understand the broad ideas and concepts, she wanted

  specific names, dates, and what felt like random trivia that didn’t

  seem to really matter.

  With her arrival a lot of

  things had changed. In many ways she was identical to her sister, but

  in many more she was different. For instance, before her arrival I

  had never learned my trainer’s given name, it was something that

  had been specifically kept from me in what I assume was an attempt to

  make me feel further inferior and not the one in power. Though not

  what Aela had intended, I savored the look on her face when her

  sister first called her Auria, it had taken the wind out of her sails

  and made her irritated and cold for the rest of the evening meal. I

  was not foolish enough to ever use her name, but I felt a bit safer,

  more in control at least knowing what it was. She was not a complete

  mystery to me any longer.

  Aela pursed her lips together

  in disappointment at the fact that I had gotten her question correct.

  I was on a bit of a roll in not getting anything wrong yet in the

  session and I could tell she was itching to find some reason to

  punish me.

  “What were the signs of

  sainthood after her death?” she queried.

  “A brilliant flash of light

  upon her coffin during her funeral procession, sunflowers sprouting

  on her grave, and a young girl regained sight after being struck

  blind following a vision of Mergo,” I answered.

  For a moment her lips curled

  into a frown, but then twitched and turned into a smile instead and

  her hand loosened its grip on the handle of the flail. Had I been

  less scared of making any obvious facial expression I would have

  probably looked surprised.

  “You are progressing better

  than I was lead to believe you were capable of.” Aela leaned back

  in her chair and stared at me, even moving her hand away from her

  weapon to clasp them together on the table in front of her. “My

  sister had made it sound like you were a rebellious, lost child who

  perhaps lacked either intellect or wisdom to lead successfully, but I

  think she might have missed the mark with you.”

  “I am glad to hear you think

  that,” I replied, but kept my voice very soft. I wasn’t sure if

  she actually wanted me to speak or not, but I had a sense that as

  long as I showed her deference and respect she was not as quick to

  strike me as her twin.

  “I bet you are,” she said

  with a sharp laugh, “I imagine you’ve been afraid of losing your

  kingship this whole time.”

  In the beginning of this whole

  ordeal I would have agreed with her, my kingship used to be at the

  very forefront of my mind as far as concerns. I didn’t like that I

  had lost my royal authority and was playing some sort of subservient

  role, but at some point I had turned a corner and merely was looking

  for survival. I wanted this period in my life to end and I sincerely

  hoped that it would. My mind didn’t want to walk down the path of

  thoughts about what if I would be under their thumb forever. Surely

  this dark period of my life would someday be allowed to transition to

  just a memory that I buried and moved on from.

  “That is her way,

  particularly with children,” she continued. “She lacks… the

  capability to be matronly. Frankly I think that children antagonize

  her without them even having to say or do anything.” The woman

  slightly tilted her head to the side, evaluating me silently. I must

  have passed some sort of unspoken test, because she nodded slightly

  and began speaking again. “Though she is harsh in her methods, she

  is the top magic trainer the Church has at the moment and once she’s

  done with you, you will be unstoppable, especially with your blood.”

  “My blood?”

  A shiver ran up my spine, I

  assumed that she was referring to my mother’s side of the family

  since they were supposedly dark witches. I had thought my nursemaid

  had been a touch out of her head when she had first told me about the

  rumors, but now that I could feel the power bubbling within me, I

  could believe it was true.

  “Of course, surely someone

  must have explained your mother’s noble line.”

  “Not exactly, I didn’t

  even know I had a sister until recently.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Aela’s smile widened and she

  shook her head. “For the best I suppose, though there comes a time

  when I think the truth about your family will help progress your

  growth more than anything else. It is hard to know what heights you

  can reach without knowing the foundation you were built on.”

  She rose from the table and

  went to the study door, glancing into the hallway before closing the

  door. A magical hum arose in the room as she returned to her chair

  and reality suddenly felt fuzzy, like the room was somehow

  disconnected from the rest of the world and outside of the room had

  become nothing but an endless void. I held my breath and tried to

  really listen and feel around me, but the ever present sounds of the

  castle were absent and I felt true silence for perhaps the first time

  in my life.

  “We did not have this

  discussion unless I’m the one who brings up the topic, understood?”

  I nodded, still trying to

  shake off the eerie feeling of solitude.

  “My methods and beliefs are

  different from Auria’s, despite our similarities we have very

  different mindsets about how to best get things done. She still

  subscribes to the idea that you being in the dark will allow your

  power to grow independent of your blood, but I believe it will just

  unnecessarily slow you down and ultimately you cannot escape certain

  aspects of your ancestry without first knowing they exist.”

  Aela leaned back and crossed

  her legs, taking a more relaxed stance than I had ever seen either of

  them in before. For the first time with either of them I felt that

  perhaps I was seeing a real person in front of me, not just a hand of

  the Church. It was terrifying in its own way, she definitely looked

  and moved more like a predator than her sister, yet I found her much

  more personable and reasonable. The dichotomy was not something I

  enjoyed.

  “Your mother did indeed come

  from a noble line, one that she was rightly not very proud to come

  from,” she began. “Whatever rumors you have been told before are

  likely true, your family line does come from the house Yser and they

  are indeed little more than a clan of witches.”

  Again the hairs on my neck

  prickled and the bast of my spine started to tingle. “Witches? Such

  things actually exist?”

  “Well, yes, witches exist,”

  she said with a laugh and a smirk, “though I think I am mostly

  using that word in the derogatory sense rather than the magical. They

  don’t dance around cauldrons and throw frogs into potions or any of

  that pagan rot, their power comes from more insidious means.”

  “More insidious than a dark

  lord?”

  From everything I had gathered

  thus far about religion and folklore, the shadowy dark lord or devil

  was the epitome of evil. It was someone that commoners whispered

  about their young, wayward ladies disappearing into the forest to

  dance naked to summon for various wishes granted at the price of

  their souls. Perhaps a tale about an evil, rich merchant having

  exchanged his soul for his vast wealth only to spend his eternity in

  servitude to the specter.

  “Oh yes, you still have much

  to learn, sometimes it becomes obvious just how behind in your

  religious studies you are. No matter for right now, we can double

  down on our work together later, now I just want you to sit and

  absorb, I expect you’ll need some time in quiet contemplation when

  we’re finished with our chat.”

  If she was intending to

  frighten me and set me on edge, she was succeeding.

  “Your great grandmother was

  a mostly normal common women, though she did hold a magical potential

  that had gone unnoticed in her family for generations. At least

  that’s the best anyone can decipher, there really are no records

  before Aurora Yser and generally magic talent gets noticed. For

  reasons that are faded by history, we know that she was approached by

  a demon or a liaison to a demon and offered a life of luxury in

  exchange for the training of her two daughters, Evonia, your

  grandmother, and Mari, your great aunt.”

  “What would a demon want

  with them?” I asked. It seemed silly to focus on that aspect rather

  than the fact that demons existed at all, but it was what slipped out

  my mouth first.

  “Eventual service,” she

  explained, “they wanted to train them and have them be a conduit

  between their realm and ours. Think of it as an open door into our

  reality from theirs and as long as there is someone on the Yser

  throne, that door is left open, to be used any time they desire.”

  “So my family is full of

  demon worshipers.”

  “Worshipers isn’t quite

  the right term, to be more crass, they are in bed with the demons.

  They live along side them and help them carry out their evil plans.”

  I couldn’t help but shudder

  like the temperature had dropped in the room. It seemed unbelievable

  that my blood could have such a dark origin and that I had never

  fully known the extent.

  “I’m glad you are

  disturbed by the revelation, it is fitting.” She uncrossed her legs

  and leaned forward, looking like she might place a hand on mine, but

  instead held back. “Part of the deal with the demons is that only

  female children where to be born of Yser blood from there on out. The

  pact travels strongest down maternal lines, so to keep the power

  concentrated it was made so, though your mother was a very, very

  brave woman who sacrificed of herself to break the pact.”

  “Is that why she always

  seemed ill?” I asked.

  “You are an observant child,

  yes, that is precisely why. You were supposed to have been born a

  girl, just like your sister, but your mother used her own innate

  powers to fight until her will won out against plague in her veins.”

  Suddenly a lot of my memories

  surrounding my mother fell into place and it all made sense. She was

  not just cold and distant, she was suffering to make me who I was and

  to fight off a demonic influence. It made me feel warm inside about

  the love she must of had for me to grit through such a curse and also

  a bit dismayed as I recalled all the times I had faulted her for not

  being the warm and inviting mother I had craved.

  Sensing my inner thoughts

  taking over, Aela gave me a long moment to myself, only interrupting

  me with a clearing of her throat once she deemed I had had enough

  time.

  “It might cross your mind

  soon to think that perhaps I am only telling you all this to

  manipulate you into adhering more ardently to the Church and its

  teachings.” It hadn’t yet, but I could see how I could have

  easily arrived at that conclusion. “It might serve you to know that

  I am a personal witness to this story and know that is without a

  shadow of a doubt true. I was raised in the house Yser and have seen

  the demons and their infernal portal first hand.”

  “That would make you…”

  “Now

  you understand how entangled you are, nephew.”