Moonveil Academy: Trapped With The Five Kings

Elara:

The moment our skin touched, that cool sensation returned far more intensely than before.

It flowed from my wrist up my forearm in gentle waves, almost as though invisible streams of air were circling beneath my skin. I watched silently while his expression remained completely focused, his attention fixed entirely on whatever his magic was sensing inside me.

Several long moments passed before he looked up at me and spoke, ”You are far too tense.”

I blinked. ”...What?”

”You are resisting magic.” He explained with a small apologetic smile.

”I am?” I had no idea I was doing such a thing.

”You may not realize you are doing it.” He leaned back slightly. ”But your body is.”

I frowned before confessing. ”I don’t know how to stop.”

”I know.” His voice remained calm. ”You have been through a great deal.” He was silent for a second before speaking again, ”Perhaps... we should simply talk.”

I looked at him questioningly.

”It may help you relax enough for the magic to flow naturally.”

”And what exactly are we supposed to talk about?” I couldn’t help but ask.

A faint amusement flickered across his eyes as he replied, ”Anything. How about this, you may ask me whatever you’d like.”

I watched him in silence for a moment. There were dozens of questions I could have asked him. Questions about the Regents, the Reapers, the academy, my biological parents, my powers, the seal, even the strange world I had been thrown into without warning. Yet when he gave me permission to ask him anything, the one question that had been sitting like a stone inside my chest rose to the surface before I could stop it.

I swallowed hard, my fingers curling slightly against the fabric of my dress as I looked at him. ”What happened to them?” My voice came out quieter than I’d expected. ”My parents... and Felix. What happened to their... their b-bodies?”

I almost regretted asking the moment the words left my mouth. Ms. Noctis had made her position painfully clear. The people in Starfall wanted me to let go of everything connected to my human life. My human parents had supposedly been criminals working with the Reapers. They had hidden my identity for twenty years. According to the people here, my entire upbringing had been nothing more than an elaborate captivity.

But none of that changed the fact that they had been my family. They were the people who had raised me, loved me, protected me, celebrated every birthday with me. And Felix... Felix had been my brother. My annoying, overprotective, impossible older brother who had spent half his life teasing me and the other half making sure I was safe.

I knew asking Lorien about them might open a wound I wasn’t ready to touch, but I needed to know what had happened to their bodies. I needed to know they hadn’t simply been left somewhere after those warriors killed them.

For several seconds, Lorien said nothing. His eyes remained on mine, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Then his answer came quietly. ”I had them buried. All three of them.”

My breath caught and my eyes snapped up to meet his. Somehow, despite knowing they were dead, hearing those words made their deaths feel real in a way I hadn’t allowed myself to acknowledge before.

Buried. Somewhere. Beneath the ground.

My parents and Felix were no longer lying in our home. They had been taken away and placed beneath the earth while I was here, learning about a world I hadn’t even known existed.

I wanted to ask where. I wanted to ask whether they had been given proper graves, whether anyone had attended their funeral, whether Felix had been buried beside Mom and Dad. But my throat had suddenly tightened so badly that I couldn’t make another word come out.

Lorien seemed to understand anyway. ”They are in a cemetery near the city.” His voice remained gentle. ”One day, when you are permitted to return to the human world, you can go there to visit them and pay your respects. To say whatever you weren’t able to say that night.”

That last sentence broke something inside me. A single tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. I immediately wiped it away with the back of my hand, refusing to let the grief consume me here, in front of him.

I had cried enough in the last week to fill an ocean. But there was something strangely comforting about knowing that somewhere in Florida, three graves existed with my family’s names on them. At least I had a place where I could eventually go and say goodbye.

”Thank you,” I whispered. My voice trembled despite my best effort. I looked directly at him. ”For everything.”

I meant more than the graves. I meant the warriors. The clothes. The way he’d spoken to me when everyone else seemed determined to tell me who I was supposed to become. The fact that he had asked permission before touching me. The simple kindness he had shown me when I’d needed it most.

Lorien’s lips curved into a small smile. ”You are welcome, Eleanora.”

Something about hearing him use my name made the moment feel strangely personal, so I quickly looked away. Unfortunately, that was when I noticed his fingers were still resting against my wrist. I had completely forgotten about the magic.

A faint cool sensation was still moving through my body, traveling from his fingertips along my arm and spreading into my chest. Then I felt the faint, rhythmic throb behind my ear, exactly where the seal was hidden beneath my skin.

My eyes widened slightly. Lorien noticed my reaction and immediately focused on the same spot. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. His magic continued moving through me like a quiet current before he finally withdrew his hand. The moment his fingers left my wrist, the sensation began fading.

”You may indeed possess wind magic,” he said thoughtfully. ”Something inside you is responding to my elemental energy.” He glanced toward the area behind my ear. ”It’s subtle, but it’s there.”

I touched the spot instinctively. ”So...” I asked quietly, ”we keep doing this?”

”Yes.” He nodded. ”We’ll continue during our future sessions. With enough time, we may be able to encourage your wind affinity to emerge without damaging the seal.” He looked at the clock on the wall. ”But that’s enough for today.”

He stood almost immediately.

The suddenness of it caught me off guard. One moment we were talking, and the next he’d already moved away from the couch as though he had somewhere else he desperately needed to be.

I didn’t understand the abrupt change, but I decided not to question it. Maybe he was simply tired. Maybe the session had taken more out of him than he had expected. Or perhaps I’d imagined the strange tension that had suddenly appeared between us.

I stood as well, smoothing my clothes before giving him a small nod. ”Goodnight, Headmaster.”

”Goodnight, Miss Argentis.”

I turned toward the door and walked away without looking back.