Chapter 49 - Meeting With The Queen (Patreon)

When Violet woke, she was ready to leave her room and the castle.  Her mother had left yesterday afternoon after receiving a note.  At the time, her mom had played it off as a note from her work, and Violet had let her get away with it.  Something suspicious was happening with her mother, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

It was starting to bother her that her father had not come by to see her yet.  There could be multiple reasons why he had not come.  It could be something as simple as the guards were locking down security around the palace, and Violet wasn’t hurt, just drained of energy.  Rather than work herself up over nothing, she left her room to have breakfast in the dining room.

Rex and Regina were sitting at the table when she arrived for breakfast.  They both had bandages covering various portions of their arms.  The siblings were arguing about who was the most injured.  Rex argued that since less of Regina’s arms were visible, she clearly was more injured. At the same time, Regina countered that Rex had bandages under his clothing that should count as well.

Violet just shook her head at their antics and helped herself to breakfast, and seated herself next to Regina.  The three of them made small talk about everything except what had happened during the attack.  It made her heart hurt not to see Louis sitting at the table with them, playing mediator between the youngest and the oldest of the siblings.

Not long after Violet finished her meal, a servant let her know that the Queen would like to see her at her earliest convenience.  It was, of course, royal verbiage for drop everything and go attend the Queen.  She was sure it was not a coincidence that she received that message after she had finished her meal.  Queen Alexandra had never given her cause for concern in the past, so Violet was not worried as she followed the servant to meet with the Queen.  What struck her as a little odd was that neither of the siblings followed along behind them.

She was beginning to worry a little bit when the servant showed her into an area of the palace that she had never gone to before.  To be honest, she didn’t even realize the secret door they went through had even existed.  The stairs and hallways they traversed reminded her of the ancient ruins in which she spent the early part of her life.  It made sense as it was well known that the castle was built on an ancient site.

When they finally reached their destination, the room the queen was waiting in was the most extensive library she had ever seen on Zogara.  The walls were lined with bookcases that reached three stories high.  Ladders on wheels were sprinkled throughout the room to make retrieving books possible.  At the very center of the room, there were several couches and chairs set up around tables.  The queen was located near the middle, seated in a comfortable-looking chair reading a book.

Not knowing what to do in this situation, she slowly approached the queen and sat across from her.  They were in private, and not even the servant remained in the room with them, so bowing and using titles was not required.  Alexandra let her sit there for a few minutes before placing a bookmark and closing the book.

She looked at Violet, smiled, and said, “Thank you for saving my husband’s life.”

“I did the best that I could until Samuel could reach him and do a better job.  I’m thankful I could help save at least one life in that chaos.”

After a moment of silence to collect her thoughts, Alexandra said, “I didn’t know what to do with you when you first showed up in my Queendom.  An ancient mage is a boon, but you were from another country and keeping secrets from us.”

Violet looked down and tried not to look guilty.  “I didn’t know if I could trust you, and my mentor made me sign an ancient system-enforced contract to protect her identity.”

“It was disappointing to hear that at the time, but that is not the biggest secret you have still to this day kept from us.  You were too young for the Chromatic Dominion to use as a spy, but I could not think of any other reason how you made it out of that country in possession of ancient magic.”

“I am not and never was a spy for that awful country.  My magic did not manifest until I was older and able to hide my mark.”

“Yes, I know. I had my daughter get that whole story out of you years ago.  I originally sent her to keep an eye on you.  Don’t worry, her friendship with you has turned into true friendship, and she has spoken up for you on many occasions.”

It had seemed a little strange that a princess would want to hang around.  Violet had already considered Regina a spy early on, but it had turned into genuine friendship over time.  “Why tell me this now?”

“Why don't you trust me?  You’ve had years to come clean to us, and yet you have not even told Regina your secret.”  She replied.

‘Uh oh, act cool.  How did she find out?  Dang, she’s staring at me. I’m taking too long to respond.’ Violet thought and then quickly said, “I’m sorry, some things are better left a secret.  It does not harm anyone for me to keep it, and the last time I let a secret out, we had to flee the country.”

“You really aren’t going to tell me, are you?  Since you’ve arrived, I’ve known and have never taken advantage of you.  I would have hoped by now you could feel you could trust me.”  The queen placed an illusion on the table, proving her statement.

[Magic]

Type % Aspect

Illusion 62% Tier 2 (9A) - Novice

Water 28% Tier 2 (9A) - Novice

Spatial 11% Tier 2 (9A) - Novice

Healing 50%

Healing 100% Analyze

Healing 100% Lesser Heal

Healing 64% Cure Disease

Healing 100% Drain Life

Healing 78% Cure Poison

“I’m not sure how you have access to so many different schools of magic.  You were right to keep it a secret.  The only reason I bring it up now is that you used aspects you should not have during the attack.”

“But everyone should have been too distracted to pay attention to me.”

“Dear, it is hard to miss someone jumping onto the stage from that far away.  I’m not sure what you did to make your Shadow Blade a projectile at the end there, but that is also something you should not be able to do.”

“What happens now?  I do trust you, but you need to do what is best for your country, and that may mean making sacrifices in the future.”

“I will not sacrifice you for my country.  You are a treasure worth protecting.  Thank you for telling Regina about the poison in your “dream.” I can’t prove it, but you probably are the source for the earlier assassin’s warning as well.  Let me protect you.”

“Will I become a prisoner?  That is honestly my biggest fear.”

“Now that is just hurtful.  I treat you the same as my children.  That will not change now that you know I know your secret.  It would be wise if you continue to keep your secret.”

The queen paused to think about her following sentence.  “I would like to send you on a journey to the ancient sites in the Queendom.  The device that interrupted our magic is new to me, and if the Chromatic Dominion can reproduce such an item, I fear for the future.”

“If the item has been recovered, I may be able to read it.  I can read the Runic language.”

“If only it were that easy.  No, we found no trace of the device that was used.  On another, more delicate subject, I think it would be wise if you used the crystal here in the castle to gain more aspects if you are able.”

“I usually visit my mentor to have access to a crystal.  Are you sure that will be ok?  No strings attached?”

Alexandra replied in a subdued voice, “Violet, your father was caught in one of the explosions in town.”

Before the queen could finish her sentence, Violet had gone deathly pale and jumped to her feet.  “Where is he?  Is he ok?  Is Samuel with him?”

“Settle down. Your father still lives.  He has sustained severe burns across the left side of his body.  Samuel has been draining his mana the second he recovers to help heal the wounded nobles and the most severe cases of commoners.  Regrow - Skin should be the next healing aspect you can pick up.”

“Please show me to the crystal.  I should be able to pick up two healing aspects and another school of magic.”

The queen gasped when Violet said the part about another school of magic.  “You truly are a special child.”

Violet watched as the queen pulled a rug away from the center of the room to reveal a trap door.  There was a ladder leading down into a ten-foot by ten-foot room with a crystal embedded into the center of the floor.

“Go on then. I’ll wait up here.”

After entering the mindscape, it had taken Violet quite a while to calm down enough to focus on the puzzles she needed to solve for her new aspects.  She was thankful for the time freeze while in these trials because she didn’t think she could have calmed down enough, thinking her father was in pain while she took her time in this place.

Congratulations, you have received the aspect for Regrow - Skin with synchronization starting at 11%.

Congratulations, you have received the aspect for Regrow - Limb with synchronization starting at 11%.

To return for more aspects, you must have a total of 56% synchronization for Healing.

She was amazed at how easy the tests had become with her added stats into Intelligence and Wisdom.  The complexity for the Regrow - Limb puzzle was ratcheted up quite a few notches because it was part of the most challenging tier to obtain.

While she had access to the crystal, Violet decided to see which school of magic fate had in store for her.  The large wheel returned with the four remaining colors.  Red for fire, orange for earth, yellow for air, and green for nature were the remaining magic schools she needed to obtain.

Fate smiles upon you. Nature shall be yours.