Celena brushed the wisp of smoke that's floating in the air. Her surroundings were the usual darkness, but she could feel the floating wisp circulating her body.
'Hands?' She thought as she studied her hands closely to see five fingers twitching and moving on command. She was perplexed that she could see what was in front of her even though the darkness around her persisted.
Celena heard a group of people muttering around her with words that she didn't understand. The sharp ache in her skull caused her to let out a piercing cry. Memories of her past came flashing before her eyes, where the Raveniel sisters were practicing magic. 'Magic?' when she saw a blurry image of her eight-year-old self covered her hands with water and sent jets of them to the plants watering them. While her sister guided the wind to sweep the fallen leaves on the floor, a lady appeared at the corner of the garden and gave them a warm smile.
'What is this?' Celena thought to herself. It must be some kind of illusion; she never wielded magic. Why would thoughts like this suddenly appear now? She had never experienced this kind of dream when the assassin guild recruited her before.
"Mother," Celena muttered as she dozed off into the abyss of the night, where her dreams dematerialized into nothingness.
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"How is his Highness?" A dirty platinum-blond gentleman with blue eyes entered the Prince Quentin chambers.
"Not doing well. He used up a lot of his mana and cannot replenish it as fast as he could have given his existing condition." A red-haired woman wearing a skintight, skimpy red leather chemise and matching black leather shorts, with her chemise barely covering her bosom.
"Served him right! He insisted on getting that criminal onboard and told us that he was going to recruit her. I was already opposed to it, and he went on to the mines without us anyway. What was the point of having a group discussion if he was going to undermine our opinions?"
"He did more than that, Raoul."
"What did you mean, Lara?"
"He bonded with her through holy matrimony." The man named Raoul stared at his comrade, and his blue eyes started to glow as he was triggered by the news of his boss getting married without a hint or a warning.
"WAS HE OUT OF HIS BLOODY MIND??!!!"
"He left that bit of his plan out and did whatever he wanted!" Lara continued.
"UNBELIEVABLE! Unbelievably, why do we swear our allegiance to this crazy man?"
"Lower your voices; he can hear you."
"Let him. When the rest of us gather together later, he is going to have an earful."
"I need to tend the crown princess."
"You are calling that impaired freak a princess now?"
Just as Raoul was spitting insults at Celena, the prince let out a jolt of lightning directed at Raoul and electrocuted him.
Raoul was blasted with a bolt of lightning and totally burned. The prince's companion, Lara, quickly rushed towards Raoul and healed him until he was brand new again.
"What the fu**! Quentin!" Raoul was furious. If Lara was a second too late, he might have crossed over.
Lara recently replenished Quentin's energy, which quickly ran out, forcing her to restart the healing process from scratch. She took a huge sigh and rushed back to Quentin to begin the healing process.
"Raoul, please control your anger. He is not in a position right now."
"He just blasted me to death, woman!"
"You need to leave. Just wait for everyone of us to come and we will have a summit with everyone." Suddenly, Lara stopped speaking as she stared at the door that Raoul failed to close when he came barging into the room like a madman.
There stood the newly-crowned blind princess of the Empire Azure.
"Your highness," Lara said, giving a slight bow towards Celena, who heard the sound of thunder and came to find out what was going on.
Raoul stared at Celena like an unwanted pest, waiting to be smashed and tossed away. He cannot wait for the prince to snap out of it and get rid of this woman.
He gave Celena a dirty look and left the room. While he was about to leave, Celena blocked Raoul's exit and demanded, "You and me. Let's duel."
"What?" Raoul was taken aback by the suggestion that this blind girl was making. He is one of Prince Quentin's formidable warriors and she dares to challenge a man like him with a build that is double the size of the crown prince.
"I know that you are blind, but I didn't know that you were daft. Hahaha! I accept the challenge."
"Raoul!" Lara yelled. "Are you out of your mind? Quen, please make some sense to them."
"I will be witnessing this duel. Celena, what are you trying to win?" Quentin responded with a hoarse voice, still struggling to regain his strength after he electrocuted Raoul.
"I would like to teach this brute proper manners and respect towards the Crown Prince and Princess. He will be my servant when I defeat him."
"Well said, my love! Raoul, what do you want if you win?"
"I want to kill her for good." Raoul said it with much hatred in his voice. How dare this street rat suggest that the first son of Count Oswald be a servant of a criminal?
"Raoul! To kill her means to kill Quentin as well." Lara quickly said while side-eyeing the blind girl, who hasn't moved a muscle away from her stance.
"If Quentin is so sure that she is the one who will be Queen of the Kingdom, then both of them have to prove it." Raoul responded.
"Let's make this a fight to the end, then?" Quentin concluded.
"The duel will take place tomorrow morning; everyone will arrive by then, right, Lara?" Quentin continued, maintaining his demeanor of a Crown Prince like he was in his prime.
"Quentin. Please stop this. She will get hurt."
"I trust my wife can handle a brute." Quentin said it as a matter of fact.
Raoul was furious at being registered as the brute. "What do you mean, Prince Quentin? You think I am all brawn but no brain?"
"My husband did not say that, you buffoon!"
Raoul took a huge swing of his palm, aiming the blind girl in front of him, but Celena was ready to be struck and gracefully ducked down and gave Raoul a one-two jab on his stomach, which caused him to back away.
Raoul was astounded by Celena's reflexes and noticed that she didn't budge an inch from her usual position. He was about to launch another attack at the girl, but Lara rushed in and stopped him. "The duel is tomorrow, Raoul. Stand down! You need all your energy to win; you just recovered."
Raoul relented and grudgingly left while dangerously glaring at Celena while leaving. Celena didn't flinch, for she can barely see.
"Lara, I need you to leave me today. I would like to spend my last moments with Celena before the duel."
"You haven't fully healed yet."
"Take a break, Lara."
Lara did not need Prince Quentin to tell her twice and leave the prince's chambers. Quentin adjusted his position slowly to sit up so that he could see Celena clearly. Celena walked towards the prince.
"I heard that you weren't doing very well." Celena said, Raoul's yelling definitely send his message across several chambers. through the castles thick walls.
"I am much better now." Quentin said, as he laid down for slightly on the pillow. The truth was, he was far from fine.
"Thank you for rescuing me from the chaos in the carriage." Celena bowed slightly.
"Anything for my lady."
"You are not telling me everything, aren't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why were we attacked? Why are you so weak now? Why did you choose to marry me? And why can I see again?"
"Your vision is improving?"
"You were surprised? Didn't you expect this to happen?
"Yes, and no. What can you see?"
I can see the blurry image of you, and the colors that I had long forgotten rushed into my eyes when I woke up."
"And yet you still behave like you are blind."
"I still cannot see your face, but I can see your silhouette."
"Your vision will only get better from now on. You may go to the dining room and have breakfast. I will assign someone to train you as soon as possible."
"I want my questions answered, Prince Quentin."
"Once you win the duel, I will answer your questions, do we have a deal?"
"At least tell me why can I see again? Does this have something to do with our binding?"
"You are intuitive. Yes, it does have something to do with the mage matrimony."
"But, I am not a mage."
"And yet the binding works perfectly, which means you are a mage."
"So, I took.."
"Enough, you will start training later. After you finish your meal, follow Anton to the training grounds; he will start to train you for tomorrow's duel."
"Who is Anton? He is a combat mage like me and a shapeshifter."
"The priest?"
"Oh yes! The one who ministered our ceremony, and our carriage coachman."
"It was him that flew me out of the portal."
"Yes, you remembered."
"He had a distinctive scent that reminded me of sandalwood and..."
"Try not to remember so much—just enough for you to sense him, but not so much."
"Are you jealous?"
"Of course, I am your husband after all. Shouldn't you remember what my scent is?"
"I can smell your scent; I just don't know what it is called."
"It's called Quentin's scent."
Celena blushed and looked away from the prince. For someone who is exhausted and unwell, he sure knows how to flirt and make a girl flutter.
She quickly snapped out of it, for she came here to ask the most crucial question ever and she needs answers.
"Tell me, Your Highness. Why and what is happening to me?"
"I thought I told you this in the carriage, and gave you some sneak peek information earlier. Mage matrimony is a magical binding vow that binds us together to become one body, mind and spirit. Whatever you are experiencing now is a manifestation of my magic in you."
"So, I was never a mage before this! It was your powers that are circulating with me now."
"No, I told you, you are a mage. Mage matrimony can only be applied between a union of two mages. Otherwise, there is no use binding us together magically, since that person has no magic to bind."
Celena was shocked to learn this much. So, the dream she had before wasn't a dream? Celena eyes widened and she looked right through Quentin as he revealed the possibility of her wielding magic. She had mixed feelings, more questions, and she cannot wait to have everything answered. She knew somehow that this man had all the answers to her questions.
"Daydreaming, my love?" Quentin looked at his bewildered bride's face with a slightly cheeky grin. Celena snapped out of her reverie and a gust of wind blew as the curtains flapped open to reveal a golden feather that flew in with the wind and landed on Quentin's bed.