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It was Shaye’s favorite time of year; and tonight, King Idor was pulling out all the finery for the grandest ball they had seen yet. Shaye looked up in awe at the beautifully decorated hall, which was aglow with enchanted candles hovering in the air above the bustling ballroom. The golden light danced off the white stone walls, as if the candles themselves were performing a waltz just for her. Around the room servants prepared for Asterion’s biggest event of the season; the Winter Solstice.
The smell of sweetbread filled the air, warm and inviting. Shaye’s mouth watered and she wondered if she could sneak some away before the big event; sometimes the cooks would leave them out for her to swipe when Nanny Jin wasn’t looking. She crept unnoticed through the ballroom past a group of Sorcerers and the Mages who were apprenticed to them. She moved quietly, glad they were too distracted with the task of enchanting ice statues in the shapes of various magical creatures from the Raven Wood to notice a mischievous ten-year-old girl. Shaye giggled as she saw the sculptures crack under the apprentices’ fruitless efforts to spell them into movement.
She was nearly to the servants’ entrance, headed for the kitchens. The smell of her favorite treat was growing stronger, mixed with the delicious scents of lamb seasoned with fresh rosemary from the gardens. Footsteps interrupted her thieving plans, and she ducked behind the nearest pillar. Grace was not a quality Shaye possessed, so it was no surprise when she tripped over her own two feet right into a nearby potted fern. Dirt spilled over onto her brand-new Winter Solstice gown. Shaye blew a loose strand of her chestnut brown hair from her face and desperately tried to wipe the mess from her expensive dress, knowing her aunt was going to be furious with her. A few Sorcerers looked toward the commotion, but Shaye knew they could not be bothered with childish Magi running wild in the castle; they went back to their enchantments, ignoring her as usual.
Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulders from behind, making her topple backwards into a tall, thin body. She looked back into the wide grin of a shaggy, dark-haired boy: Bastian. She was delighted to see her best and only friend. He was only person in the palace who accepted her for who she was, and she adored him for it. He did not mind that there were always bruises on her legs from climbing trees in the Raven Wood, or that she always ate one or two more sweet rolls at dinner than she should, unlike the other children residing in the palace, who believed they were better than an orphaned Druid girl who had not yet mastered her magic.
She turned her attention back to Bastian, who was already dressed for the ball in a fine suit his father had commissioned for him. He looked like the dark prince from a fairytale, dressed in all black with an obsidian stone hanging from a leather cord around his neck. She blushed when he caught her staring.
He smiled wickedly at her. “You missed your enchantment lessons again today.”
She gave him her best impression of pure innocence, “I got lost.”
Bastian scoffed at the sorry lie. “Your absence draws unwanted attention from the Master Mages.”
The Master Mages, who had the unfortunate task of training the young, unruly Magi in the palace, held a particular distain for her. She sighed, “Failing at every incantation I attempt draws even more unwanted attention. So, what’s the point?”
Bastian nudged her in the shoulder playfully, “Don’t worry, I covered for you. You owe me though, I had to partner with Liana. All she could talk about was the new dress her mother had gotten her for this ridiculous ball.”
Shaye was grateful to Bastian for covering for her; it was something she had been making him do more and more over the last few weeks. Bastian was advanced in his studies and respected because of his family’s name, while hers was of an ancient bloodline of less powerful Magi. Unless she was working with elemental spells, she struggled in her studies, and the Master Mages thought her lazy for it.
Bass took her hand. “Hurry, Shaye, before my father catches us here. If he does, he’ll make us practice incantations until the party.” They giggled as they ran through the servants’ door and to the King’s dining room. The room provided the cover they needed with everyone else busy setting up in the ballroom. “Where are we going, Bass?” she asked, though it did not matter to her. She would follow him anywhere.
He hushed her as a frightening man in an ugly green cloak strode into the room: it was Bastian’s father, Baal. Shaye had been terrified of the man since the first moment she saw him. There was something sinister about him, the way his face was all sharp angles and high cheekbones. She could not remember ever seeing the man smile, not even toward his own son.
Bastian had come to live at the palace four years ago, with his father who was to be the new Magi advisor to the King and the highest ranked Sorcerer in Asterion. Baal worked closely with her uncle, doing the King’s bidding, which meant Shaye had to spend more time around him than she would have liked.
She tugged on Bastian’s sleeve. “Let’s get out of here.”
Bastian ignored her, holding out his hands and mumbling something under his breath; though she could not see it, she could feel his magic forming around them. He shielded them both with his magic, blocking sight and sound from his father and the man who had just joined him.
“Bastian, we shouldn’t be here.”
“Shh, I want to listen.”
Shaye crouched down next to him with a huff of annoyance and watched the two men. The second, who had joined Bastian's father, was a man she recognized from her uncle’s meetings: Lord Brayham. He was a man with a mean streak, and she had seen it often in the way he treated the servants and even his own wife. Shaye had once seen him pinch his wife in the arm when she spoke out of turn at a dinner they’d had with an ambassador from Sagon. It was no wonder his daughter was such a terror. Duchess Adella had taken to calling Shaye names and teased her for being a Magi who could not access her magic easily, not that Adella had any powers of her own, having been born mortal.
Baal and Lord Brayham were arguing in a hushed tone, and it was difficult to hear them through Bastian’s shield. Baal grabbed Lord Brayham by the collar. “Do not test me. The things I can do to you, to your family, will make you beg me to end you all.”
Lord Brayham trembled, but still he said, “You Magi think you’re untouchable. I may be mortal but I am not without friends and power. Careful, or you will find yourself subjected to my mercy.” He pulled away, smoothing out his shirt over his large belly.
Bastian’s father warned him once more, “Leave it alone, Brayham. You do not want to find yourself on the wrong side of this.” He stormed out before a shaken Lord Brayham did the same.
Bastian lowered the shield once they heard their footsteps retreating down the hall. Bass was silent, so Shaye nudged him. “Can we go now? I want to sneak through the kitchens on the way out.” She pulled on his hand, leading him away from the dimly lit room.
Reluctantly he followed through the kitchen where Shaye snagged two rolls, one for each of them. The two of them made their way out the back door to the stable yard outside. Shaye shivered from the cold and held a roll out to Bastian. Before he took the roll from her hand he grabbed her arm, suddenly sounding urgent, “Shaye, whatever you do, make sure you stay with me tonight at the ball.”
“Of course.” She had a mouthful of the sweetbread, savoring it. “Who else would I stay with? Anyway, you have to help me avoid that pinch-faced Adella,” she teased with a wrinkle of her nose. “She was telling everyone about the dress her mother had imported from-”
Bastian shook her, “Shaye, focus. You need to stay with me. I have been hearing things; my father isn’t acting like it, but he’s scared.” Bastian’s warm, chocolate brown eyes bore into hers, “Please, promise me that you won’t leave my side.”
Shaye nodded seriously, crossing an X over her heart, “I promise, Bass.”
That seemed to make him feel better, so she took the opportunity to lighten the mood. She grinned, taking hold of his leg and with a swift pull he was on the snowy ground. He yelped out with laughter, already pushing himself up. He raised his hand and there was a faint shimmer in the sunlight as he whispered the words, “Ow-ft-ir.” The soft sunlight shimmered at his call, and a snowy drift swept up and into the air, flying around her in glittering tendrils. She giggled as the cool flakes tickled her neck and mussed her neatly brushed hair.
The two of them took off in a race, running toward the sparkling lake where the winter ice was beginning to form. The cold did not slow her down as she and Bastian fled the party preparations.
Years from now she would look back on this moment. The joy and safety she felt, rosy-cheeked and giggling with her closest friend. Listening to the icicles chime in the trees. The sight of the white stone palace reflecting on Brenmar Lake. And the distant sound of people greeting one another as they climbed from their gilded carriages in all their finery.
It was the last moment in which she had felt truly safe and at peace. Before she went back into that magnificent ballroom. Before the chaos began and she was separated from Bastian. Before she was left with the memory of the screams and the scent of terror that would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. Before the magic was gone.