had only one king. When Henry suddenly became king, his advisors quickly worked with him to return stability to the kingdom. The council set up baronies and a subordinate noble system to manage the growing needs of the plague-devastated kingdom of Articia. Most of the current barons in Articia are not directly related to the royal family. Now, the system was engrained and the current nobles wanted to maintain and even increase their power in the management of their territories and over the people who resided on their lands.
Their fear of losing their lands, authority, and status grew as the king's family grew. The animosity now heightened on Dominic's ascension; when a royal child reached such a rite of passage as the First Excursion, there would be talk of awarding him a territory and anointing him a king thereof. Speculation arose as to which pieces of whose territory might be reclaimed for this purpose.
Alec watched as Ava affectionately pushed a blonde curl back from Dominic's eyes. Alec and Ava had always been an oddity when it came to appearance. Their parents had blonde and light brown hair. The family was known for their deep blue eyes as well. But Alec and Ava had coal black hair and stormy gray eyes.
"How long do you think you will be gone, Dom?" Ava inquired.
Alec realized she was already worrying about the year in which princes who came of age traveled the kingdom to prove themselves worthy of the throne. Dom would not leave for a week at least; the feast was not even over yet and she was already worrying about him. Alec shook his head. Even as a toddler, Ava had fawned over her older brothers.
"I will be gone only for about six turns of the moon, Ava," Dom replied. "I couldn't stay away from my favorite sister for a full year."
"You mean your only sister," she said as she beamed at him.
The first course of the meal was collard greens, neither liked, nor consumed, by the royal children. Unfortunately, this lack of interest in the current course of sustenance usually left the royal children open to other activities. Tristan and Ava were using their inherent magic to annoy the royal chamberlain across the table with minor pyrotechnics.
The exasperated sigh from the chamberlain caught the attention of King Henry, who glared at the pair of siblings. The chamberlain suffered frequently from the antics of Tristan and Ava. Alec just smiled, knowing that Ava and Tristan's were just too mischievous to restrain themselves and their actions would be replayed many times tonight.
Alec often wondered about the blessing of magical capabilities. It seemed that the goddess bestowed the gift of cerebral arts completely randomly. The goddess had also bestowed a gift on his father and mother. Tris wondered why he and Dominic did not share their gift of sorcery. Though he sometimes thought he might enjoy the use of magical powers, he did not envy the free time his sister and brother lost to learning magical control.
As Alec was absentmindedly monitoring his sister, he looked across the room to admire Princess Kaitlin, who had traveled from the neighboring kingdom of Cyrus to participate in the annual Artician festival. When his glance swung back to Ava, Alec saw his sister's eyes turn from their normal gray to a light blue. "Ava, your eyes," he whispered.
She stopped and sighed as the color in her eyes slowly changed back. Ava was unique in both her appearance and her skills. Shortly after she had started to exhibit signs that she had magical talent; it became obvious that she had more power than most. Ava had other unique abilities that none who practiced the arts in the past had ever revealed. Most remarkable, and unique, was the change in the color of her eyes.
When Ava started her magical discipline training, they discovered that her eyes would change colors as she progressed through various difficulties of the arts she performed. When she executed rather simple acts of sorcery, her eyes would change from gray to light blue. The magical scholars tested every extreme of her magical capabilities and discovered that there was a progression, from light blue to light violet, light violet to green, green to light brown, light brown to dark violet, and dark violet to a blazing gold.
When Ava had reached the golden stage, all hell broke loose. She lost complete control and wild magic erupted from her body. Fortunately, the magical scholars were the ones to discover this about Ava and were able to contain her power; otherwise, she may have destroyed the entire castle and everyone in it. At that point, King Henry had put her into a strict magical training program so that she would learn to control her magical capabilities.
Despite a considerable amount of examination, the magical scholars could not determine what caused the change in Ava's eyes. It was clear only that it coincided with her use of her magical abilities.
As the guests in the hall finished the collard greens, the stewards removed the empty plates and started the next course, a breaded onion soup. This meal was one of the local favorites. The queen sighed relief, knowing that this was one of her children's favorites as well. She was confident that things would now settle down at the table.
Alec spooned his soup into his mouth and turned his attention back to Princess Kaitlin. Her brown hair waved down her back, with some of the strands tied and braided at the top. Her dress was a crimson color, though her cloak was green like his cape. However, the thing that caught Alec's attention the most was her eyes. They were a remarkable chocolate brown; to Alec, they were very warm and welcoming.
The third course of the meal was a cured beef that was a favorite of the royal family. The meal was specifically selected for this event because it was one of Dominic's preferred meals. Aleczander was beginning to grow bored after he had finished his serving. Then his father announced a break in the dining for a bit of dancing. Alec smiled as Ava slid down in her seat.
Several of the younger boys were so eager to ask her to dance that they had crashed into each other on the way to the table. This was causing a major problem for the other young nobles trying to reach Ava. Still, one lucky boy, at least three years younger, had managed to reach her.
"May I have this dance?" he squeaked.
Before Ava could answer, Tristan took his sister's arm. "I'm afraid you're going to have to wait, good sir, because I'm claiming my right as a prince of Articia for the first dance of the night with my sister." Tristan looked over his shoulder at the disappointed boy as he led Ava on to the dance floor.
Aleczander turned to look for his preferred partner for the night and caught her gazing at him. She looked down immediately, her cheeks growing pink and making her even more beautiful. Aleczander strode confidently, or at least hopefully, towards the princess from Cyrus.
"May I have this dance, Princess Kaitlin?" He bowed to her and kissed the tips of her fingers, very formally, even for him.
She smiled sweetly. "I will dance with you on one condition, Prince Aleczander." Her big brown eyes twinkled with mischief.
Realizing he was about to play into her hand, Alec straightened from his bow and gave her his arm as he spoke in a very silly and low voice, "I will do anything for such a fair princess."
Kaitlin raised her eyebrows and giggled, then said very seriously, "Please tell your sister and brother to stop shooting sparks across the table; their aim is horrific and I'm terrified they'll hit me." She grinned shyly.
Alec was a little surprised. So, she had caught that, he thought. Not only was she beautiful, but she had an eye for magical energies, even the more subtle magics that his brother and sister were performing tonight. It took a certain amount of talent or familiarity to see the magical activity. Alec was impressed.
As he took her arm, he replied, "Gladly. For you, Princess, it would be my pleasure. But do not expect them to listen to me."
She pretended to be puzzled. "Not even your twin? I would not know for sure, but I thought there was a special blood bond from being someone's double born."
Alec smiled a little as he thought of trying to control his sister. It would be going against the blood bond to suggest a change in behavior. Alec chuckled. "Regardless, I'd like to see anyone try telling my sister what to do. She can be quite stubborn, especially where I am involved."
Alec escorted Kaitlin onto the dance floor and twirled her around so he was facing the deep brown pools that were her eyes. They