When she was done meditating and playing with the strange current, she did her yoga and laid down on her bed. No sooner had she fallen asleep, than there was a scratch on her door.

  “Come in.” she called.

  “M’lady?”

  “Yes, Delphy?”

  “Would you like help dressing for dinner, Her Highness would like to eat in an hour, if that is your will?”

  “An hour would be fine. Run tell her and the kitchens, then you may come help me dress.”

  Erameya stood up and stretched. She glanced in the mirror again and did a double take. Her eyes and skin seemed to glow with something other than health. The paler of illness was completely gone replaced by a golden glow. Even her hair was shinier. She noticed the strange current flowing through her and started to circulate it faster. It seemed like the faster she circulated it the brighter she glowed. She let go of it and let it keep circulating at the speed it seemed to naturally resume.

  Again, there was a scratching on the door.

  “Enter.”

  “M’lady? What dress would you like to wear?” Delphy said as she bustled into the room.

  “The emerald green with pink rosettes.”

  “That will be beautiful M’lady.” She pulled undergarments from the cupboard and handed Erameya a pair of silk drawers and shift. The shift had cups and laced up the sides. As Delphy laced up the sides Erameya was shocked at the support of the garment.

  “How would you like your hair?”

  “Just plait it.”

  “Yes M’lady.”

  After Erameya’s hair was braided Delphy slipped the cotton gown over her head and fastened the laces in the back.

  Erameya arrived at the great hall to find her aunt and the healer already at the table. She took her place and motioned the servants to serve the food.

  “My dear, you are positively glowing with magic.” Master Gareth smiled, “you must have opened some nodes.”

  “Is that the cracking feeling I felt while meditating?’

  “It must have been. Describe it to me.”

  “I was meditating when I noticed a weird energy inside of me, so I tried to circulate it. I felt a cracking sensation and continued to circulate the energy.”

  “Good, good, you must keep the pathways open to control magic. Blocking a node can be dangerous. After this meal we need to talk about your magic. Do you feel it is stronger?”

  “I do.”

  “We need to talk about it later.” Master Gareth mused.

  “I hope you are feeling well enough to meet with some ambassadors.”

  “I don’t remember ever feeling this well.”

  “Good, Andrew, said you have a full morning of royal duties tomorrow. Including the Laird of Skye, Tokavaig.”

  “Laird Tokavaig requires so much pomp and circumstance, I just glad I’m not still in the healer’s tower. Did he give any reason he chooses to grace us with his illustrious presence?” Erameya said sarcastically.

  “Be diplomatic. Remember to receive him with grace, even when he is absent. You wouldn’t want an unfavorable opinion to reach his ears. He is a good man, and yes, he requires all the pomp due to a man of his age.”

  “It would be easier if he didn’t look twenty-five.”

  “I think is nearly twenty-five … hundred. He proposed he invite the whole royal family to his two thousand five hundredth birthday party next year. Maybe that is why he comes. He did not give a reason, just a message by Pixie Post that he would be here tomorrow morning.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Did Goda get involved with one of his sons?”

  “No. His great grandson in Iceland. Ivan said they were just friends and that his great grandsire had no idea they knew each other.”

  “Is he the Laird of Callan?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “When did the message come?”

  “While you were resting. Just before I sent Delphy to wake you, I believe.”

  “Can he feel influxes of magic Master Gareth?”

  “I believe so. He could have felt your healing.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He will be here in the morning.” Aunt Elfie reminded them.

  “Too true. We will have to prepare for his arrival. Did he give an approximate time?”

  “Morning.”

  “Fabulous. How is Duncan doing with the preparations?”

  “They have been busy since the post came. Duncan told me they would be ready.”

  “Good. Will my burgundy silk be proper?”

  “I believe so. I never know what will offend him. Just no white!”

  “I’ve seen that the less you fear him the more relaxed he is. Just great him properly and let him tell you why he is here. He doesn’t only leave the Isle of Skye when he is angry.”

  “I just remember how angry he was when he came to my wedding and Edward and I were both wearing white. He informed us, that white was a color only worthy of those who earned it, which we had not. According to him. It is the reason he would not break the curse of kings after that witch cursed Edward.”

  “Is that what he told you?”

  “Yes.”

  “He lied. He couldn’t help Edward. The only cure for him would have been Ethelred stabbing him in the heart with an athame.”

  “Is that what Cnut did to Ethelred?”

  “Yes. I don’t know if it broke the curse or not. The fact the Erameya is the only one of King Ethelred’s children to get the curse makes me think it was broken.”

  “How?”

  “Laird Tokavaig told me that the only way to break the curse was for the future king to stab the current king in the heart with an athame he gave me. King Edward and King Ethelred talked about it, but Ethelred was out of the country when King Edward died. That is the real reason King Ethelred called his friend King Cnut to be his successor. He didn’t want his son to have to kill him.”

  “I never knew.” Elfie dabbed her cheeks with a handkerchief. “I despised Tokavaig for so long because of the deaths of my children and husband.”

  “He would be unhappy that you knew he came to me after he left the throne room. He told me I could only tell King Ethelred. King Ethelred is the person who told your husband.”

  “I am grateful I know. I believe the curse is broken. Erameya was sick before Ethelred died.”

  “Remember how much less pain I was in for years after Father Ethelred’s death. I had little pain until last year.”

  “True.” Elfie smiled. “The curse must be broken. You know your grandfather and great-grandfather died of a similar illness?”

  “I do.”

  “I am so happy Master Gareth was able to heal you.”

  “Me too.” Erameya drank some wine so she would not blush.

  “I’m just happy to prove the curse is broken so her siblings don’t have to live in fear.”

  After dinner Delphy helped Erameya change into a green knee length tunic, leather chausses, and riding boots. She added a wide leather belt, a sword, daggers, and her bow and arrows. Taking her time to marvel at the construction, she wandered through the castle admiring the architecture and tapestries. She decided to check out the garderobe knowing they were much different than she had seen in the castles she had visited. She opened the door and was shocked. Except a shower she could have been in a modern bathroom. There was a magical sphere that lit up when someone walked into the room. A chain opened a pipe that filled up a bowel that doubled as a sink and poured into the toilet bowel when full. The water was lukewarm, but it was not the smelly chamber she knew it could have been. The tub also had a faucet with a chain that poured hot water into the tub. There were runes on the faucet that must have been heating runes. It amazed her how much education and magic had changed some of the most basic parts of life.

  After she was done reacquainting herself with the castle she made her way to the stables. She walked through the horse stables, talking to, and petting the horses as she went. She then went to the wyvern stables. She reintroduced herself to each wyvern and patted them each on the head. Soon, she walked into griffin and hippogriff stables. She loved the beautiful animals. Each one had a distinct personality and unlike the horses and wyverns bonded with their rider.

  She talked to each animal being careful to let them make the first move before she touched them. When she got to her griffin, Ailish, she sniffed her hand and backed up. She turned her head from side to side.

  “Ailish, you know I’m different. I’m the same on the outside but you can feel the difference in spirits, can’t you?”

  Ailish nodded. She took a cautious step forward. Sniffing Erameya’s hand and finally she laid her face in Erameya’s palm. As they connected Erameya felt like they were pulled into a swirl of magic. When the whirl wind of magic settled down, she heard. “That was weird.”

  “Was it?”

  “I believe so.”

  “Ailish, is this you?”

  “Yes. I never could talk to you before. You have more magic now. We are bonded much closer than before.”

  “I feel that too. Do you want to come with me? I don’t have time to ride today, but I’d like to see the tulpars, cerapters, and unicorns, then train with my weapons for a while.”

  “Sure. I have been in this stall for weeks. I got a little worked up when you died.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  Again, Erameya introduced herself to every animal as she walked through the stalls. She wished her father’s big black fire tulpar, Logi. She loved to watch the big Viking warrior fly next to her mother on her palomino cerapter, Gaoth. She looked away from Logi’s gigantic stall to Ailish. Ailish was, what appeared to be, speaking telepathically to a small chestnut tulpar.

  “Hello, beautiful, who are you?”

  “I’m Tintreach, my parents are Logi and Gaoth,” he said telepathically as he nuzzled her palm. Ailish turned her head and laid it on top of Tintreach’s head. Once more, they were pulled into a tornado of magic.

  “Wow-wee,” Ailish said, “a bond of three. I’m moving in here with the Tintreach, he has been lonesome since his parents left with your parents.”

  “Good are you two coming to the training grounds with me?”