Alther (The Blood of Kings Book 1)

Chapter 1: Forbidden

Since his birth, Prince Alther hadn't fit in with his mother's image of perfect.
King Selwyn and Queen Haven had two sons, and it was obvious to everyone in the castle that the queen had preferred the eldest. And it had less to do with Prince Ashton being the heir to the throne and more to do with Alther having purple blood.
The blood of a wizard.
The blood of a slave.
Because of this, the queen had orderes the guards not to let Alther out of the castle. It was also forbidden for him to speak to anyone in the castle with magic, or to practice it himself.
However, as the years passed, the king and queen found themselves too occupied training Ashton to be king to keep an eye on Alther.
Alther always took advantage of these moments and persuaded his caretaker to let him explore places he'd never been allowed to before.
Today, they'd chosen the gardens for their excursion, as the walls of the castle wouldn't allow anyone to see the young prince.
The castle garden spanned several acres, covered in flora both rare and unusual. Even flowers that couldn't grow in the kingdom were blooming beautifully by help of the gardeners.
Alther's eyes widened as he took in the view, his eyes darting to the various plants and statues that decorated the land. As his gaze fell on one of the many gardeners he stopped.
"Who are they?" He asked his caretaker.
"They're the wizards that maintain the garden," she replied, smiling warily.
"But I thought magic wasn't allowed."
"They work here, which grants them the use of a little magic, but only to tend to the garden. If they're discovered using it for anything else they'll get in trouble."
"Oh..." Alther looked down at his hands. He knew exactly how it felt to be deprived of something that was his, and he could understand why the wizards would accept being stuck as gardeners.
Because at the end of the day, something was still better than nothing.
"I want to be a gardener!" Alther blurted out without thinking.
His caretaker looked down at him in shock.
"That's ridiculous. Why would you ever want to be a gardener when you're a prince? Besides, you'd need to know plant spells to be a gardener," she stated matter-of-factly, as if that would win any argument.
Alther frowned, then cupped a rose bud in his hands. It was true that he didn't know any spells, but that wouldn't stop him.
He focused on the flower, willing it to bloom with all his might.
Grow.
For a moment, Alther's eyes glowed purple, and he felt an energy pulsing through his body and into the flower.
"That's enough, Prince Alther!" His caretaker cried, wrenching him away from the plants.
Alther stumbled backwards, his eyes returning to their usual green.
"We're going back inside now. If you don't tell the queen of our excursion, I won't tell her you tried to use magic. Deal?"
Alther nodded quickly and followed her back to his room. After she left, he opened his clenched fist. He'd unconsciously pulled the rose bud out when she'd yanked him away, and Alther now stared down at the flower.
Whatever spell Alther had used had caused it to grow into the most beautiful flower he'd ever seen. It had no imperfections despite being in his grip, and when hit by the light it reflected colors in a way he'd never seen. It's bright red petals shifted into a bright violet at the ends and Alther smiled, knowing his magic had created something truly wonderful.