"So," began Earl Alfred. "I'm guessing you've found Gregor."
I clutched the collar of my shirt just to check my clothing was in place. How did he know? Did he see us?
"Did you read my mind?" I asked crossing my arms.
The earl blinked at me. "What? No, Cinnabar texted me. I can't even read your mind from this distance."
"Oh, okay," I muttered ignoring how he implied he could in fact read my mind if he was closer. "Did you just want to ask about Gregor?"
"Well, yes and no. I just wanted to check in to make sure you were alright. Cinnabar said you were panicking earlier."
"Yes-no. I mean..." I exhaled. "I'm fine, I was worried then but I'm fine now. But about Gregor and the bindings you've placed on him..."
"It's just so he won't cause more of a ruckus. It won't hurt him. I've already called his parents, who it seems, didn't know he was even missing. They should really keep that boy on a tighter leash."
"So what's going to happen to him?" I asked dropping my hands to my side.
"We'll have to see when his parents get back to me. I'm feeling a bit more lenient this time since he came to get you. I might just give him a stern talking to and send him back," sighed the earl.
I couldn't understand how nonchalant he was being about this whole situation. "Then why don't you just do that instead of keeping him here?"
"That'll just make me look weak and I can't afford to look weak. The circle of old magic families is very small and people talk. What's happening now will get back to the Lord and I'd rather he not see me as weak since I'm aiming to be his heir," grumbled Earl Alfred.
"Lord...like the demon Lord?" I asked. I had only heard vague things about the demon Lord, how he's all powerful and demands absolute obedience. The demon Lord was meant to be the representative for the whole demon world but no one ever mentioned what exactly the demon lord did.
The earl gave me a stern look, like I had asked an especially stupid question. "How much do you know about demon world politics?"
I shrugged. "No much. The most I know is that it exists, I guess."
"Unfortunately, I don't think you can afford to be this ignorant for much longer. You see the role of demon Lord is passed between the old magic families, each lord must choose an heir from a different family and it is almost always based on who is the most powerful. But because the two most powerful magic families are the Lankeshwar from Motee and that Canaan from Pyropolis are so much more powerful than the others, the role of Lord would pass between them. Since the role of Lord was created there have been only two times where it didn't go to someone from one of those two houses."
"But if it goes to the most powerful families how do you have a chance?" I asked. I recalled how Cin mentioned before that the powerful magic users were the ones with the oldest soul weapons. Did that mean the earl was trying to take their soul weapons away to make them weaker?
Earl Alfred frowned. "The current Lord Ushakanta Lankeshwar, is nearing the end of his twenty year term and has been hesitant to pick a heir. Nestor inherited the Canaan family's soul weapon but married Lord Lankeshwar's daughter."
The world shook around me. "Nestor- as in Gregor's father Nestor?"
"Yes? Was that not clear?" replied the earl, narrowing his eyes at me. He seemed more upset that I was interrupting him than asking another stupid question. I nodded wondering if this was the history lesson Cin warned me about.
"We have a strict rule that one family cannot monopolize the position of Lord." continued the earl. "I suspect the Lord has been putting it off to find some sort of loophole so he can pass the title to Nestor but in less than a year he will have to choose. This is the first time in centuries that my family has had a chance to obtain the title of Lord. I'm on pretty good terms with the Lord I'd rather it not be ruined."
"You see, this whole situation with you, Gregor and the destruction of my property has put us all in a very precarious situation. If I am too harsh it will upset Lord Lankeshwar and if I am too lenient it will disappoint him. I'm not sure how he'll react when he finds out about you. He's very unpredictable, for example when I stole this from his armoury," said Earl Alfred pointing to the shield on the wall behind him.
"He laughed it off. But when Nestor tried to get back his magic when Lord Lankeshwar stole it, he gave Nestor back his magic, fought him and stole his magic again after giving Nestor a thrashing."
"Did he also find that funny?" I asked. Maybe I should give up on trying to understand demons and their behaviour.
"No," chuckled Earl Alfred. "Lord Lankeshwar was furious. It's very hard to gauge his reactions. Maybe he'll find this whole debacle hilarious, maybe he'll level the rest of this manor in revenge."
"So what do you want me to do?" I asked growing bored of his lecture.
The earl straightened his postured. I wouldn't be surprised that he was so distracted by his own sermon that he forgot why he brought me to his office in the first place. "Right. Since your test was interrupted earlier I'll have to arrange another one for you to do later today. But for now you can try to remove Gregor's bindings without the silver tools used to cast them."
"Alright," I nodded and turned hoping to escape. The door was still closed when I reached it.
"And another thing," said the earl.
I turned around hoping that he wouldn't tell me another story. I was eager to return to Gregor. "Yes?"
"Once the other families find out about you they might get curious. So it would be in your best interest to ally yourself with either me or the Canaan family," said the earl scribbling something on a piece of card.
He held up the card and I walked all the way back to get it from him. It was his business card with a seven digit number written on the back.
"If you are calling me from off realm use dial those numbers first," said the earl.
"I haven't finished the tests. You said you'll offer me a job after," I replied glancing at the rose embossed on the corner of the card.
"Tristan, you're a plague." The earl paused, taking in a sharp breath. "However you're involvement with Gregor and therefore both the Canaan and Lankeshwar families complicates things and might be more trouble than you're worth."
I put the card into my pocket. "So?"
"So think about it," said the earl opening the door with a flick of his hand.
I nodded and quickly left his office. I headed to the library before returning to my room. I opened the door and Cin was there but instead of her laptop she had her hands on a glowing glass orb.
"Did you like your surprised in your room?" she asked taking her hands away from the orb which swiftly went out.
"Yeah," I muttered taking my box of darkness from the table.
"Did boss offer you a job?" she asked.
"I think so? He was a bit vague... he gave me his business card and said some ominous things about allying. He also called me a plague...I don't know if that's a good thing," I replied.
"That's a compliment," laughed Cin. "When he offered me a job he called me an abomination."
"That was a good thing?" I asked trying to not question the logic.
"Well, to boss it was." smiled Cin. "I'm a technically a Suther magician but I was born in the fairy world so I have some compatibility with fairy magic. Boss really likes fairy magic, all his work from the illusions to the tethers is inspired by fairy magic even though he casts them using demon magic. What are you doing with your box? Did he give you another test?"
"Um...kind of. He told me to try and remove the bindings placed on Gregor," I said.
"Oh right. Good luck," said Cin placing her hands on the orb which started to glow a bright white light.
"Thanks."
*
Gregor had worn his jean and t-shirt which were still covered in cement dust when I returned. He smiled when he saw me.
"Are you alright?" he asked walking up to me.
"Yeah, Earl Alfred wanted to talk to me," I replied.
Gregor closed the door behind me. "What about?" he asked leading me back to the bed.
"Lots of things...can I ask you something?" I muttered gripping my box in my hands.
"You're already asking me something but sure," smiled Gregor sitting back down on the bed and pulling me onto lap.
"Are you... a prince or something?" I asked.
Gregor laughed. "Did uncle Alfred tell you or did you finally put two and two together?"
"I don't know how you never told me," I pouted. "Surely between me stealing your magic and now you could have mentioned it. You could have at least mentioned how important your family soul weapon is."
"Yeah, but I wasn't sure how you'd react. I didn't want you to treat me differently," said Gregor placing his chin on my shoulder.
"How would I treat you differently," I asked rolling my eyes.
"I don't know. I just didn't want that to be a factor," said Gregor.
"Well, to be fair. If the evidence hadn't become overwhelming I probably wouldn't have realized. You don't act very prince like," I joked.
"Oh? And how would a prince act?" asked Gregor.
I smirked. "With more tact and grace. They'd be more well refined, proper and arrogant,"
"You've obviously never met princes," laughed Gregor.
"And you have?" I asked.
"A few in the circles my family runs in. My father's family hasn't been in power in centuries and we aren't as influential or well to do as most. I think without our soul weapon we would have faded into obscurity by now," said Gregor.
"So it was a big deal when I stole your shadow huh?" I whispered.
"Mm...kind of but just for me. One of my siblings would have inherited our family weapon instead of me so in the grand scheme of things it wouldn't have been such a big deal," replied Gregor wrapping his arms around my waist. "And that's all in the past, so just forget it."
"It was on Saturday... and today's Wednesday," I rebuked.
"Yeah," whined Gregor. "But still technically in the past."
"Technically," I smiled and opened my box. "Let me go for a minute."
"No," pouted Gregor hugging me tighter.
"Come on Gregor, I want to try something," I said trying to pull away.
"Urg...fine. But I want to flirt more after," said Gregor releasing me.
"You do realize flirting usually leads to kissing and kissing leads to being abruptly interrupted right?" I said taking out a black cube.
Gregor pursed his lips. "It didn't happen when we were in Hesperia."
"Oh- you mean the time I went crazy on your charm spell and then got poisoned by your magic?" I replied.
"I guess," groaned Gregor. "What is that? A shadow?" He took the cube from my hand and studied its shiny black surface.
I shook my head. "No, it's a piece of the eternal darkness."
Gregor dropped the cube which fell silently onto the bed. "Are you serious? How-how did you get that? Where did you get that from?"
"From a well inside a volcano. It's not that strange is it? I heard you charge magical items but lowering it into the well," I said picking up the cube.
"Magical items and you- a living breathing flesh and blood person are different. Like- charging a phone is something normal. Putting your finger into the socket and taking a bull of electricity out is different," said Gregor with wide eyes.
"I guess, but this is safe. It's like a shadow but just more of it." I evaporated the cube into vapour and remade it to show Gregor that I was in control.
He stared at me with his mouth open. Gregor paused before speaking again. "I'm surprised you haven't accidentally created a black hole."
"If it makes you feel any better Earl Alfred called me a plague?" I laughed at Gregor's over reaction.
"If anything that makes this all a bit more terrifying," said Gregor with a nervous smile.