Kai still gave Naia a few things to try regarding fire magic, simple ignition runes, control exercises involving candles, and a technique he’d once seen a travelling pyromancer use to cup fla like a bird in their palms.
Fire, in theory, would react the least to her gravity magic, less structured than earth, less delicate than wind, and more temperantal than water. It burned or it didn’t, lived or died. No nuance. Just heat and hunger. Kai hoped that the rawness of it might bypass whatever interference her innate gravity field produced.
Still, he wasn’t particularly hopeful.
As Naia tested her control over a flickering spark on her fingertip, Kai leaned back against a tree in the courtyard, arms crossed, frowning in thought. Most people in this world simply weren’t ant to use magic outside their innate discipline. The soul aligned itself naturally to a school, gravity, fla, blood, shadow, necromancy or one of the dozen others. Trying to cast spells outside that alignnt was like trying to write poetry in a language you barely spoke. Possible. But graceless. Inefficient. Except for Kai, it seed.
Whether due to him being a variant, having souls stored within him with the specialisations instead, or sothing else entirely, he could cast spells as if he had the specialisations for them from birth. The only other people he’d seen do that were the Devourer, Orlin, and Willam.
’Graham’s expectations are too high,’ Kai mused. ’She’s already a rank five gravity mage at her age. That alone is impressive. Expecting more is... delusion, or ambition, or both.’
When their session ended, Kai offered a polite bow to Naia and made his way back through the well-manicured gardens, brushing his fingertips along hedge leaves still damp with dew. At the gates leading off the estate grounds, he passed through the low wrought-iron archway that marked the edge of the noble quarter, only to be stopped by a knight in polished plate bearing the palace’s colours.
"Hold."
Kai raised a brow but didn’t resist.
A mont later, Carter erged from behind a building, casual as always, though there was a tightness in his jaw that Kai didn’t miss.
"Alex," Carter said smoothly, eyes flicking to the knight, who gave a sharp nod and departed. "You’re to stay within the palace district. I vouched for you, which was no small favour. Mr. Eldridge has offered you a room in their ho for the duration of the tutoring. The attic, to be precise."
Kai stared at him. "An attic?"
"Yes. Don’t look so betrayed. It’s nicer than it sounds. Or so I hear."
Kai sighed and rubbed his temples. ’I really want to have one na to use. Juggling identities like so kind of spy is draining. What happens when I forget which mask I’m wearing? What if I forget the nas both sets of parents gave , here and in the world before?’
He gave Carter a sidelong glance. "You do know I have your soul bound to my will, yes? If I say so, you’ll let leave."
Carter smiled thinly. "And you know that this arrangent benefits you. Whatever you’re planning to do inside the palace, this makes it easier. I’m helping you. And watching you."
"Of course," Kai muttered. "Ever the helpful jailer."
Carter ignored the jab. "Is there anything else?
"Yes. Naia ntioned she intends to leave the grounds with tomorrow to go into the city. Should I expect any problems?"
"Will you make any problems for ?"
"Only if you assign a chaperone with no sense of humour."
"I won’t be assigning anyone. She’ll have soone from the Eldridge security team shadowing you. Don’t give them a reason to intervene, and there won’t be a problem."
Kai rolled his eyes and turned back toward the Eldridge estate.
By the ti he arrived again at the grand doorsteps of the house, Graham Eldridge was already standing outside, arms crossed, brows furrowed with confusion.
"I assud you had turned the offer down," he said as Kai approached. "You left so suddenly."
"I needed so air," Kai lied. "But your daughter has accepted as her tutor, which I assu ets your conditions?"
Graham blinked, then nodded slowly. "I see. Very well. Samuel will show you to your quarters."
The butler, Samuel, a narrow-eyed man with perfectly parted white hair and an expression that suggested he had once fought wars against chaos itself and won through sheer etiquette, bowed with military precision.
"If you would follow , sir."
Kai followed the butler up a narrow servants’ staircase tucked behind the main hall, winding his way up through the upper floors of the estate. Finally, they reached a plain wooden door. Samuel opened it, stepped aside, and gestured Kai through.
Kai’s eyebrows lifted.
The attic was... not what he had expected.
No cobwebs. No crates. No forgotten heirlooms or dusty furniture.
Instead, the attic had been fully converted into a cozy private chamber.
"Is it to your liking, sir? Late last year, Naia had asked that she be given more privacy, and this bedroom was designed for her. Regrettably, she moved back to her previous room after a short month, but we kept the attic like this just in case she changed her mind again."
"It’s wonderful, Samuel. Thank you," Kai replied.
Kai nodded when Samuel looked as though he wished to get back to his duties. He looked over his new lodgings carfully.
Warm sunlight filtered in through a pair of skylights that cast golden rays across a thick red rug. A large bed sat against the far wall that was big enough for two, draped with soft linens. At one end of the room, a desk, a reading chair, a small bookshelf, and a basin of fresh water completed the picture.
A breeze drifted in from a window slightly ajar, carrying the scent of lavender from the gardens below.
"Ho for now, maybe?"
It was nicer than his dorm room at the academy. Nicer than the rented backrooms he’d stayed in on the road. Hell, it was nicer than his childhood bedroom.
He closed the door behind him and sat on the bed, pressing a hand to the mattress.
"Soft," he muttered.
The temptation to simply lie down and let the day vanish pulled at him like gravity itself. But no. He couldn’t afford to get comfortable. He’d been trapped before by comfort. He knew how easy it was to forget yourself when you began to feel safe.
He sat up straighter, jaw set.
’No. Not ho. This is temporary. A pleasant cage is still a cage.’
Still... maybe a nap wouldn’t hurt.
Just a short one.
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