“Gerard,” Duchess Marlena de Vanquise said, raising a crisp ivory envelope with an all-too-familiar wax seal. “It’s time.”
“Don’t tell me…” Gerard trailed off, recognizing it immediately. The duke bowed his head, dropping his forehead into his hands. “Elana’s summons are here.”
Marlena nodded. Her face betrayed no emotion. Even before she had become his duchess, she had always carried herself that way. Ever regal. Ever composed.
But Gerard could see the subtle cracks in her facade. Her posture, which was too ramrod straight to match the calculated indifference on her face, the tension in her hands, the faint clenching of her jaw.
Marlena had feelings about this, just as he did.
“We knew this was coming,” Marlena said. His duchess maintained her composure, as always, but her tone was stiff. “We’ve delayed this for as long as we can. She is sixteen years old, Gerard. By the time she graduates, she will be twenty.”
The Royal Magic Academy was the battleground on which all unwed children of the nobility cut their teeth. Attendance was mandatory. And every student that set foot in the Academy’s halls was prepared to fight tooth and nail for the opportunity to stand at the top. They had to be. Or they would easily lose their lives to someone more motivated.
The strength of a student’s performance at the Academy dictated their future social standing. Graduation from the Academy not only allowed students to inherit their family’s social rank, status, and prestige, but offered them the chance to improve it. If they earned a spot at the top in the Academy, a child born into a Barony could earn a Marquisate upon graduation.
It was a clever design. The Academy was not only a tool to produce the next generation of the Kingdom’s elites, but one capable of holding the nobility in check. Status didn’t matter in the halls of the Academy; any family could lose their successor in the blink of an eye. But equally, status didn’t matter, so any family could raise their social standing.
But those opportunities did not come without a cost.
Duke and Duchess Vanquise, Gerard and Marlena, knew that better than anyone. They had already lost five of their seven children to the Academy.
And now it was their youngest who was being summoned. Elana, their sole remaining daughter. The one who worried Gerard most of all. He had been dreading this day.
“She has no talent for magic,” Gerard said, shaking his head. “Do you really think she’s ready?”
“It doesn’t matter if she is or isn’t,” Marlena said. “She has to go, Gerard.”
Gerard’s shoulders slumped. “I have no wish to send Elana to the slaughter.”
“Gerard de Vanquise. I do not recall marrying a coward.” Marlena crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. “She may not have inherited your magical aptitude, or mine, but she is still our daughter. She has a quick wit and a strategist’s mind.”
“I’m certain we could find her a suitable husband,” he mumbled.
“I will not have you ruin her future by selling her off.” Marlena glared at him. “What family will take her when she hasn’t attended Academy? Everyone will know it is because she didn’t inherit our abilities.”
Gerard groaned, covering his eyes. In their otherwise harmonious marriage, discussions about Elana’s future had always been a source of contention. Marlena was as dead set on ensuring the best possible life for her children as Gerard was on preserving them.
“But Marlena, we could lose her otherwise. Isn’t it better for her to marry, even if it is marrying down, than to risk that?”
“You doubt her so much that you would rather marry her off to be used as a birthing horse for a washed up old man who couldn’t find anyone of repute?” Marlena’s voice was ice cold. “That’s the future you want for our daughter?”
“Marlena,” Gerard sighed. “Of course that isn’t what I want for her. But the Academy has already taken so much from us. We’ve already buried Brienne, Tobias, Marcella, Rhys, and Dion. I can’t bury Elana too.”
The ever-composed Marlena faltered and visibly flinched.
“It was the Maker’s will,” she said, after a beat of silence. Marlena’s mouth twisted, her hands clenching tightly. “We are powerless to change it.”
“My love,” Gerard said, pitching his voice softer. “If we can spare Elana that fate, do we not owe it to her to try?”
In the blink of an eye, Marlena’s icy expression returned.
“Why are you so convinced that her fate is to fail?” she seethed. “Do you think it would please her, that your estimation of her abilities is so little? If we don’t believe in our daughter, who will?”
“Marlena, you have such a sharp tongue,” Gerard sighed and extended a hand to her. “Come. I can feel your anxiety from here.”
Marlena went to him without hesitation, putting on no affectation that he was wrong. She leaned into his embrace as his arm wrapped around her waist and her eyes fluttered shut. His wife softened as he pulled her into his lap, nestling her cheek against his shoulder.
“I have to believe she can do it,” she said, burying her face in the crook of his neck as he plucked the letter out of her hand. “I must.”
“I know, darling,” Gerard murmured, dropping the envelope onto the desk in favor of stroking Marlena’s hair. “I know.”
“I love her, Gerard. I refuse to hamstring her confidence by denying her,” Marlena continued. “She is unbearably clever, you have no idea. She has all the makings of a great tactician.”
“That’s your doing, dearest.” Gerard cracked a half smile. “You’ve tutored her so diligently.”
“She belongs at Court. She deserves to inherit our title. Her brilliance outshines all of them. Don’t you dare marry her off like livestock.”
“I know, my dear.” Gerard kissed her hair. “I won’t force her into it. But if she brings it up, I will support her.”
“If you marry her off before she goes to the Academy, you’re going to ruin her future,” Marlena muttered darkly.
“My love…” Gerard sighed heavily, leaning back in his chair. “Sometimes I forget how terribly frightening your ambition is.”
Comments (11)
See all