The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 3

† Serafina †

Humiliation was not an appropriate word for what Serafina endured over the next few hours. Sister Margaret sat with her throughout the entire lesson, as the other students read quietly at their desks, lecturing her about magic.

"Magic is a part of who you are. It is fundamentally you, just as your hair and your vampire nature, just as your spirit and your intelligence. Until you accept that, Sister Serafina, you will never learn to utilise your magic to the best of your potential," she had said, as though it was so easy to accept.

How could she accept that something so unnatural lived inside of her? How could she possibly control something that did not want to be controlled? And why did everyone speak as though her magic was merely a puppy waiting to be taught the rules, as though it could think and act for itself, if she allowed it to? It made no sense.

By the time they were let out of class to attend their noon lunch on the patio, Serafina headed straight for her 'cell' and grabbed a large hat that she had not thought she would need. Thankfully, she had brought it and it would now protect her from the blazing sun that made her feel tired, as she walked back to the patio just a few feet from the room where she had been sequestered all morning. The same room she would return to, once her lunch was completed.

At least she would not be alone. She had been told that Aunt Sienna and Uncle Lindley would be there to eat with her, so that was one small relief to her hard day.

Her aunt was hidden under a massive umbrella, her back to a wall that shaded her from the worst of the sun, while Lindley sat out in the sunshine, head up to the sky, clearly basking in the unnatural heat of the day.

"Hello!" Serafina called excitedly, waving as she made her way to their table.

Someone cleared their throat nearby, drawing her attention to two nuns who stood just a foot away, perhaps heading for their own meal. Serafina bobbed her head in silent apology and ran for the table, to escape their disdain.

"Hello. How are you? Have you heard from papa? Can I go home, yet?" she asked, desperate to hear anything that might have her returning home as soon as possible. She was not going to survive any longer in this horrid prison.

"Home?" Lindley turned to Sienna with a raised eyebrow that she waved a hand at, presumably holding more of their infuriatingly silent conversations, as they had been doing since they first bonded. "Serafina, this is the finest school of magic in the world. Why on earth would you wish to leave?" he asked, watching her so closely that she felt there was no room to tell the truth. Not when Lindley himself was a magic user and one she knew little about.

Of course, he was her uncle and she knew him as a person, but she had no real concept of his magical ability and that gave her pause. He had once created fire, smoke bombs and had manipulated people's minds. There was no telling what he might thing or say about her lack of talent. Or her disinterest in learning how to harness it.

Faking a smile, Serafina turned to her aunt and said, instead; "You must tell me how your time here has been, so far. I would have preferred to stay with you in your villa, but papa insisted that I live with the nuns, though I cannot fathom why."

Sienna grinned and leaned over the table, as she recounted their night at the local festival, how it had been exciting and colourful, so full of music, and how she and Lindley had 'celebrated' – to which Serafina shuddered in revulsion – back at their villa, afterwards. The last thing she wanted to hear about was their wild love affair. They may have bonded in an official union, sanctioned by her papa, but that did not mean that Serafina needed to hear how they still fell all over each other at any given moment.