The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 2

Two boys were chatting quietly as they walked into the room, discussing some vague notion of festival preparations that made it sound as though they had not spoken for at least a few days. By listening, she figured out that the blonde boy with a scar on his lower right jaw was called Warren. He was the tallest of the entire group of students, but had a quiet voice and a hint of an accent that suggested he was local.

Serafina squinted as she tried to hear the rest of the information she needed. The boy Warren spoke to was fluent in Spanish, yet Warren spoke in a broken English that said he was new to the language. Neither showed any difficulty in understanding the other, but it took her a moment or two to discover the shorter boy was called Gabriel. He was Warren's opposite in many ways; short, dark haired and with a deep voice with a naturally loud volume.

Turning to two girls who spoke to a third boy, Serafina raised an eyebrow to see the boy nod to the warlock teacher as though they knew each other. The Sister offered him a faint smile, but continued to unpack books from a cupboard at the side of the room.

Curious.

The red headed girl called Clara had the most annoying laughter, which distracted Serafina from watching the teacher. But, perhaps it was just as well. When she turned back, she found Clara touching her hand to the boy's arm and fluttering her eyelashes in a pathetic attempt to gain his attention.

"Oh, Elías, you are so talented. I know of no other boy who has managed floral magic the way you have," she said, praising him so openly that Serafina was surprised by how innocent he looked. He seemed not to notice the flirting, despite how obvious it was.

"Well, I must admit that I am quite interested in plants and herbs. It soothes me to work with nature," he confessed, smiling happily as they entered the circle of chairs and took their seats together, directly opposite the circle to where Serafina had sat.

Apparently not caring that Elías was oblivious to their flirtations, barely turning his dark eyes or his dark hair in their direction when he spoke, and his body language perfectly relaxed, the girls continued to twitter over him. They could not see what Serafina saw so clearly; his eyes grazed the room, where Elías bobbed his head in greeting to the other boys and even managed a curious nod in her direction. He simply cared nothing for the fluttering fingers touching his arm or knee, nor the girls dressed in the finest black dresses who constantly tried to draw his eyes to their assets.

"Oh, but being interested in something and being good at it are two different things," the other girl protested, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder with a gesture that elongated her neckline.

Serafina almost rolled her eyes at the display. How many times had she witnessed young girls doing the same thing to Jaycob, unaware that he was not in the least interested in them, or any woman. It did, however, make her curious to discover if Elías was a vampire; was that why she wished to show off her neck? Or was it merely an overly dramatic 'look at me' request?

"I do not believe so, Rosa," Elías disagreed calmly. "My mother says that taking a personal interest in the subject of your magic actually makes your ability stronger. When the magic comes from your heart, and not from your academic head, then you will be more successful."

He seemed so proud of the advice, of remembering it and his firm belief that it was the right thing. Serafina figured that meant he was likely the most advanced student and one who didn't need to question his magic. That made him the one she wanted to keep an eye on and the one she would likely learn the most from.

"Your mother must be a very wise woman," Rosa said, grasping his arm to keep his attention.

Elías innocently nodded his head and replied; "She is. She is quite wonderful."