Her Reputation (The Empire: Book 1)

by Laura R Cole

  *

  Someone knocked at her door. Princess Phoenix put down her book to answer, waving away Natalya’s offer to get it for her. The door cracked open and Gavin’s smiling face appeared beyond it.

  “Good morning, Princess,” he said, producing a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.

  Phoenix took them gratefully. After everything that had been going on, the sweet gesture made her smile. “Thank you, Lord Gavin. That’s very kind of you.”

  “I was hoping you might want to walk with me?” he said questioningly, extending his elbow to her.

  Phoenix took it, and he led her out of her rooms. Natalya and the others trailed along behind.

  “Have you heard about the demonstration that the heralds are putting on to show how their potions work?” she asked as they strolled through the stone passages. “It’s meant to be for the children, but I admit I think it sounds interesting myself.”

  “I hadn’t, but that does sound interesting.” He smiled charmingly. “Shall we go see?”

  “Please,” she nodded, pointing down the next hall which would lead them to the gardens where the heralds would be demonstrating.

  When they reached the gardens, it was soon apparent that they weren’t the only ones who thought the show wasn’t just for the children. People filled every balcony above and crowded into the open space around the two heralds.

  As they neared one of the last free spaces, Herald Siajan spotted them and waved them closer with a greeting and a bow. Phoenix obligingly approached. Apologizing to the people she displaced, none of whom seemed the least bit put out having to step aside and sit next to her, she curtsied to the heralds.

  “We heard you were going to show off some magic,” she said loudly so that everyone in attendance could hear. “And we apparently weren’t the only ones.” Her statement, though obvious, caused a tittering of laughter from the crowd. It seemed the people were in an excited state and ready to be pleased.

  “Indeed,” Herald Siajan began, flourishing his cape to the side to reveal the many bottles within. The crowd gasped and applauded. He smirked at the reaction and held the position until the noise died down. The herald was apparently quite the showman. As silence spread over the gardens, he reached into a pouch on his belt and drew out a small bottle about the size of the tip of his thumb.

  Herald Kedum took up the commentary. “In this tiny bottle, the great Alchemist has harnessed the power of the sun. When shaken,” he paused, holding a hand out to Siajan who dutifully shook the bottle, “it will light up the space before you.” Even in the daylight, the brightness of the bottle could be seen. Siajan suddenly spurred to motion, making a throwing motion towards the ground as if he was going to smash the bottle against it. But he didn’t, and as soon as the crowd quieted down, Kedum explained once again. “If it were to be smashed, the potion would burst into a blinding flash of light, useful to distract and escape if attacked.”

  Herald Siajan now spoke, tucking away that bottle and producing another. “This one is an illusion.” He gestured to Phoenix. “Princess, if I may beg your assistance?” He held out a hand, and she took it graciously, rising from her position to stand beside him. He opened the bottle and took out a peacock feather. It was cut into two triangles. Phoenix watched him curiously. He dipped the feather into the potion and moved towards her. He paused with the feather a hands-length from her face. “May I?”

  She nodded her approval. He brushed the feather against her cheeks in a flowing motion, tickling her, and she felt a strange sensation wash over her skin. The crowd gasped appreciatively, and she wished that she was not the object of the demonstration so that she could see. Luckily, Siajan produced a mirror out of another pocket in his robes and held it up so she could admire the result as well.

  The reflection looking back at her was stunning. She recognized her eyes and mouth, but most of her face seemed to now be inexplicably covered in a beautiful mask. She lifted a hand to her face but felt nothing. It was truly an illusion of an elaborate peacock headpiece worthy of the finest masquerade ball.

  When the applause died down, Siajan lifted a hand to her face again, this time with a damp cloth. He rubbed it over the same area he’d applied the potion, and again she felt a tingling sensation. When he lifted the mirror again, the illusion was gone.

  “All it takes is the removal of the potion, and the effects disappear.” He thanked Phoenix and led her gallantly back to her seat before returning his attention to the crowd. Kedum had been busily setting up something on a table behind him, and Siajan glanced back at him. The other man gave a small nod and Siajan turned to the crowd with a smile.

  “Do we have any volunteers for a bit more?”

  Every hand in the garden shot straight up. Herald Siajan made a show of selecting the perfect kids. He sent these to the table where they all stood fidgeting with excitement. Kedum handed them each something small. It was hard to tell, but Phoenix thought they were bits of fur and more feathers. Once all the children were picked and each had an item, Siajan handed Kedum the bottom he had used to make Phoenix’s mask. Kedum held it before each child, one by one. They dipped their items into the potion and waited to be told what to do with them.

  Once he got to the end of the line, Kedum picked up a small pebble from the ground and plopped it into the bottle. It made a tiny splashing sound, audible in the silent garden as everyone held their breaths. Then he moved to the back of the table and turned his attention to Siajan. The crowd followed suit, and Siajan took up the lead.

  “Now, you,” he pointed to the little girl on the end. “What’s your name, my dear?”

  “Laurel,” she replied shyly.

  “Alright, Laurel. I would like you to turn to the young man next to you and run your potioned tuft of fur over a part of his face. Be careful of his eyes, though; we don’t want anyone getting poked.” He spoke gently to the girl, putting her at ease.

  The little girl turned and examined the boy a moment, then drew the fur in a delicate line across his forehead. Immediately, the illusion sprang to being. It soon became apparent that the fur she held must be from a bull, as two large horns sprang out from the boy’s head. Phoenix’s eyes widened in awe. She wondered how it must have looked to have the mask suddenly appear on her. The horns looked like they hurt, but of course it was only illusion, and the little boy didn’t flinch.

  Siajan went down the line. The crowd gasped and laughed as the children sprouted pig noses, rabbit ears, whiskers out their cheeks, and scaly skin. After he got to the last child, he set them loose on one another, until each of their faces was such a mixture of different animals that they all looked silly.

  “Thank you, children, thank you!” Siajan clapped each of them on the back and shook their hands. They went back to their seats, some wiping off the potion with wipes that Siajan provided, and some – mostly the boys – keeping it on and making animal noises at one another.

  “Now, if I could have Herald Kedum come forward,” Siajan began, looking behind him.

  He trailed off. Phoenix looked as well only to see that Kedum had disappeared.

  Herald Siajan threw his hands in the air and looked to the children. “Wherever did he go?”

  Phoenix wondered the same, as she had been too preoccupied watching the children transform to see where Kedum had gone to. Several of the children near the back of the table, however, seemed to have been more observant. One of them stood and moved forward cautiously, his hand far out in from of him pointing to the ground.

  “There! There he is!” he said, pointing to a large rock on the ground. Had Phoenix not been strolling through these gardens since she had first learned to walk, she wouldn’t have noticed anything out of place about the very large boulder that was suddenly behind the table. As it was, she recognized that it must be Kedum with the illusion of a stone.

  Kedum-the-rock rose. It was an extremely interesting scene to
witness – a stone suddenly moving with human shape. Siajan jumped back theatrically, and the children laughed. Kedum moved – presumably wiping the potion off his head – and the stone suddenly had his face.

  “Amusing and useful,” Kedum said.

  Siajan beamed and turned to the crowd again. “I’m told that one of the impressive things about our magic is the lack of talent required to use it. Any of you who ‘touch the power’,” he still said the words with some trepidation, though he appeared to be getting used to the idea, “will notice that at no time during that demonstration was the power around us disturbed.”

  The two heralds did quite a show, demonstrating not only their incredible array of potions, but also their charismatic personalities. Though Siajan was the more natural of the two, Kedum proved he could be quite the charmer as well. Phoenix noticed more than one lady in the crowd beginning to fan themselves.

  Phoenix clapped with the rest of the crowd before they took a small break. Regina appeared beside them, apparently having shoved her way through the crowd, and sat down next to Gavin. Phoenix smiled at her around him. Regina smiled back and held up several sweetrolls. She handed one to Gavin who took it gratefully, and held one out for Phoenix.

  Phoenix took the sweetroll politely but didn’t eat it right off. She set it on her lap and leaned back on her hands. Gavin ate his quickly, licking his fingers. He thanked and complimented Regina who beamed at the praise. Phoenix could see the flirtation in Regina’s eyes and felt a strange sense of jealously at the attention Gavin focused on the other girl.

  He then leaned back on his hands as well, his left one just overlapping Phoenix’s right. His pinky and ring finger brushed lightly over hers. She was surprised by the thrill the touch sent through her. Perhaps her feelings towards the boy weren’t as platonic as she had convinced herself they were. She had been holding out for some amazing event to prove whether or not it was meant to be, but perhaps Regina was right; magic didn’t have to be involved. Maybe it was just this feeling that meant it was real.

  She glanced up and found him looking at her. She smiled and didn’t move her hand.

  “Aren’t you going to eat your sweetroll?” Regina asked.

  Phoenix glanced at Regina with annoyance, though she masked any from showing on her face as she gave her a smile. She reluctantly removed her hand and sat forward to nibble at the roll. She then passed along her praise to Regina as well. The girl wore a rather smug expression as Phoenix swallowed the last bit. The heralds had resumed their show, though it was becoming increasingly clear that it was no longer geared towards children. The younger ones were beginning to look bored as more and more adults and mages asked increasingly technical questions.

  Gavin leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Do you mind if we go somewhere a little more private?” He glanced over at the mages in her entourage who were all listening to the heralds with rapt attention. “I hate to tear your mages away from this discussion, but I must admit it’s getting rather tedious for those of us who aren’t professionals.”

  Phoenix nodded. She had lost the train of conversation several questions back. She rose from the grass and caught Siajan’s eye. She curtsied deeply to him once again.

  He paused his explanation to bow back to her. “Thank you, Princess, for your audience. We hope that our demonstration was informative.”

  She nodded. “Extremely, and I thank you both for providing it. I’m afraid that duties call me elsewhere, but I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about your great empire and your customs.”

  Formalities out of the way, she moved as inconspicuously as possible out of the gardens. Before leaving, however, she turned to the mages and held out a hand.

  “Why don’t you stay and see what you can learn from them? I’m sure that I’ll be alright for the afternoon in Natalya and Alina’s company. There is much to be learned by those who understand the explanations staying here.” Natalya looked ready to argue but closed her mouth before any words came out. She apparently thought that learning more about the strangers’ magic would be more beneficial than the mages following Phoenix around on a walk as well. Natalya nodded to the mages, giving them leave at stay as well, and they eagerly returned to the discussion behind them.

  “That was kind of you,” Gavin commented, gallantly moving aside to allow her to go through the archway out of the gardens first.

  Regina watched Phoenix go with an odd expression, and the princess idly wondered about the girl’s strange behavior. She soon forgot it, however, as Gavin drew her into conversation. Before they had gone far, they ran into Gavin’s mother.

  “Lady Aria,” Gavin greeted her in a stiff voice.

  “Gavin. Princess.” Lady Aria nodded to both. “I was hoping to find you here.”

  Phoenix was surprised and couldn’t stop an eyebrow from rising. “Oh?”

  Lady Aria cleared her throat daintily. “I was hoping that I could entice the two of you to have lunch with me.”

  Gavin interrupted Phoenix before she could answer.

  “I’m afraid not today. We’ll have to take a rain check. We were just on our way to the towers. And we just ate.”

  “Oh.” The lady was clearly disappointed, and Phoenix felt a knot of guilt in her stomach. “Are you sure? I had the cooks make your favorite,” she offered hopefully.

  Gavin’s face darkened. “How would you know what my favorite is?” he asked icily.

  Phoenix’s discomfort grew. She hated to see the two of them at such odds. Gavin glanced over at her and his expression immediately softened. He gave her a small nod and turned back to his mother. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me. It’s very thoughtful of you to have found out what I liked. Perhaps we could do something tomorrow.”

  Lady Aria did not look satisfied, but she nodded. “Tomorrow, then.” She glanced at Phoenix. “Will you be able to join us as well, Princess?”

  “It would be my pleasure, Lady Aria. Thank you for the invitation.”

  Gavin gave the woman a small bow and led Phoenix away. Phoenix glanced back over her shoulder to see Lady Aria sadly watching them go. Her mouth moved as if she had thought of saying something else to persuade him, but whatever it was, she didn’t say it out loud.

  Her gut ached at the woman’s pain. At least she thought that was what it was. She was beginning to feel rather strange…