The Infernal King | 1 ✓

CHAPTER XXX | A WIZARD'S INDEBTEDNESS

She lifted her hand and allowed her fingertips to graze her neck. The skin was no longer tender, the flesh no longer sore. There was not a single physical blemish remaining from that night.

If only there could be a spell to heal her mind as well.

"The king," Alexander began, clearing his throat and running a hand over his close-cropped hair, "has informed me of the offer he made you. Now, I will not tell you what it is you should do, because that choice is your own. However, I went to the library yesterday to pick these out. As it turns out, soothsaying powers are not inhibited by Sorcerer's Tenebrium."

Maarit furrowed her eyebrows, released the book and whirled around to face him fully. "Wait, really?" she said, surprise dusting her parted lips.

"You didn't know this," he stated thoughtfully, his eyebrows pulling together. "Why is that? You've never had a mentor of sorts? Someone who could teach you about your powers and capabilities?"

Maarit pursed her lips and looked down at her feet, averting her eyes. "No. My parents abandoned me when I was sixteen after finding out I was a soothsayer. Besides them, only two other people knew about it—but they were estranged to magic and couldn't be much help to me. I, to be completely honest, know next to nothing about it."

"I'm sorry you never had any help, but I—I hope that I might be able to help you," Alexander said, a small and kind smile forming on his mouth. He clasped his hands in front of him and continued his explanation. "You see, there are many types of magical beings, each with one type stone that can wholly inhibit those powers. Soothsayers and wizards are two separate entities; you just happen to possess both, but they are not related in any way. Sorcerer's Tenebrium inhibits a wizard's powers, not a soothsayer's—therefore, at present, you can still harness your clairvoyance."

Maarit felt her heart pounding in her throat at the new revelation.

"I scoured the library for something that might be helpful to you and I found these books," Alexander said, shrugging in modesty. "Hopefully, they might give you some more insight than I can offer."

Touched by his kindness and willingness to help her, she offered him a smile. "Thank you."

Unsure of what else to say, Maarit turned away from him again and opened a book. However, a dozen new questions suddenly formed in her head.

"Alexander," she said, "why do you do all of this for him?"

There was a palpable pause, lingering in the air like a comma.

"Do what?"

She prepared herself and chose her words carefully, knowing he would likely attempt to dodge the question. "Why do you serve Theodoracius? I've asked you before, but you never gave me a proper answer. Why have you not left this castle? What hold does the king have on you?"

The warlock's tongue darted out to lick his dry lips. He took quite a long while to answer the question, as though he could not quite figure out how to formulate his response. "Do you... happen to have heard anything about... Wizard's Indebtedness?"

Maarit squinted at him contemplatively. "I may recall having heard something about it from my parents, though I do not necessarily fully comprehend it. But what exactly does that have to do with—?"

"Wizard's Indebtedness," he enunciated with careful consideration, "is what is keeping me here, tied to the monarch. It is a binding debt—bound, of course, by magic. And it requires me to be, for the remainder of my life, indebted to the blood relatives of the person who has rescued me from the imminent threat of death."

"It was King Tevenot, right?"

He nodded and sat down, sinking into the mattress of Maarit's bed. "Fourteen years ago, when I was fifteen years old, I... I stole some bread from a bakery and was sentenced to execution for it. I was to be hanged, until..."

Alexander stopped his story and chewed on his bottom lip. When he looked back at her, his eyes were swimming with sadness. A sudden sympathy furled around Maarit's heart as she gazed into his face.

"I owe King Tevenot my life," he continued. "That is why I could never defy the late king. That is also why I cannot defy His Majesty now. I am bound to the Rangelov family. Under normal circumstances, when this kind of sorcery occurs, it does not necessarily mean that the witch or warlock becomes a servant. It means that we must simply aid our saviour in any way required. Being a servant to King Tevenot was what he required of me, so that was what I had to become."

Silence overcame them until Alexander rose swiftly from the bed.

"Read them," he told her, gesturing absently to the books. "And think about the king's offer. Is there anything you could possibly want from him in return? I would highly suggest thinking it over carefully. I would give a lot to be in the position to be able to make a demand to the King of Bonvalet."

Then, he swept from the room, leaving her alone with nothing but an opulent room, some books and her thoughts.

And the more she thought about the past few days, the more she came to realize that there was, in fact, something she desired from Theodoracius in return.