again from @oh-no-another-idea <3 my words are advance, ankle, admit, admire, and approve!
“Let’s see if it’s hiding in here.” He cups his hands in front of his face and whispers something into them. He brings his hands down with a flourish, and a blue-tinged mirage of a bunny flickers to life in his palms, leaping off and onto the floor. Princess Brigit laughs with delight and chases the spectral rabbit into the depths of the library, disappearing again behind the bookshelves.
“Are you going to teach her how to do that, then?” Princess Maura asks, and Levi chuckles.
“No, princess, that spell is far too advanced for her. What is it you are thinking of studying this morning?”
Princess Maura taps her chin with her finger. “History.”
Keelan leans back in his chair, testing the restraints around his wrists. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, glancing down to see ropes around his ankles as well, holding him fast to the chair. He’s still in his uniform from their arrival. He tries to backtrack, figure out how he ended up here, but the Guildin man speaks again, drawing his attention.
“You were seen using magic in the port. You have been accused of being a witch. Confess.”
Keelan snorts and the Guildin man snarls. “I am not a witch,” he says calmly, relaxing a bit in the chair. Maura will come for him soon enough, and then they’ll see some real magic. “I have nothing to confess.”
Birdie’s governess is waiting in the stairwell, chewing on her thumbnail and looking like she hasn’t slept in a few days. Maura pats her arm. “Sir Keelan and I will be watching over the young princess this afternoon,” she says. “Perhaps you can take the time for yourself.”
“Oh, thank you, princess,” the governess says, curtsying with visible relief. “I…I adore the young princess, you know I do, but she’s…” She gulps. “She turned the queen’s lipstain into berries and ate them this morning. It’s the third time this month!”
Maura laughs a little, patting the governess’s arm again. “My sister can be a handful,” she admits easily. “Take some time in the city today.”
admire (birdie and fabin interlude because i couldn't find it in lacuna)
Fabin snorts and kicks the front door open. He scoops a handful of mud out of their sad garden patch. “You witches. Always thinking magic has to be the answer.”
“What are you—”
He plops the mud on top of her head, the cold making her gasp. He laughs a little at the look on her face, smearing the mud along the strands of her hair. “This will do the trick. Not long-term, of course, but definitely long enough to go to the market.”
Birdie presses her lips together to hide a smile as his brow furrows, his fingers gentle on the side of her head while he tries to get a spot behind her ear. After a minute, he stands back and admires his handiwork. He nods. “Just Birdie. Not some big scary witch.”
He tilts his head, watching the way she bites her lip. “If you ask me to, I will keep any secret you have.”
The tips of her ears flush. “Levi’s been teaching me magic.”
Keelan chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “And your father would disapprove?”
Maura nods. She reaches out hesitantly, with her palm facing the ceiling. A golden light flickers to life in her hand, like a miniature sun. Keelan see the light reflected perfectly in her eyes. After a moment, she closes her hand and the light disappears. “He doesn’t understand the good it can do. He thinks it’s all demonic corruption; it took Mother a long time to convince him to allow Levi on the royal staff, much less to live here. He wants Birdie to be able to rid herself of…well, everything, and he thinks the only way for her to do that is for her to be able to control it. He doesn’t even know I’m capable of magic; I don’t know what he’d think or do if he did.”
passing along tags to @akindofmagictoo @zmwrites @avrablake and anyone else who would like to play! your words are hide, relax, smile, laugh, and flush <3
