Prompt: Fantasy AU’s

The High Mage’s Apprentice (Snippet 3)

“Here she is, Your Highness.”

A guard brings Mai to a room, where the Crown Prince sits at a table.  He gestures for her to sit, and she takes a seat across from him.

Now that she can take a longer look at him, he appears to be right around her age, or perhaps a bit older.  As before, he wears a serious expression, that dazzling smile from three years ago nowhere to be seen.

Mai gulps.

“After questioning your uncle, I have a basic understanding of the situation.  However, I still need to ask you a few questions.”  He folds his hands over the table.

“Y-Yes?  …Your Highness?” she asks weakly.

“You said you came up with that charm yourself.  Were you aware that it was magic?”

She shakes her head frantically.  “No!  I don’t know anything about magic!”

“You’ve never had a teacher?  Never received training?”

“Never!”

He puts a hand to his lips, thinking.

Mai goes on.  “But…but even if that was magic, I don’t understand why I was wrong to use it?  I was only helping the flowers!”

“It’s not the fact that you were using magic.  It’s the fact that you, an unknown entity, were doing it on the palace grounds.”

She blinks.

The Crown Prince sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you’re not merely playing ignorant and explain.  There have been many assassination attempts made on the royal family in past years.  Therefore, we try to maintain tight security and monitor any suspicious activity on the palace grounds.”

“You thought I was an assassin…?”  Mai’s mouth falls open in horror.  Honestly, she barely knows anything about the royal family.  News trickled in to her rural village slowly, and even then, she’s never taken much interest before.  She’s certainly never heard about any attempted assassinations.

“You were snuck in, were you not?”

“Yes…but I didn’t think it was anything wrong!  My uncle said there was an opening…he offered me the job…”

“You didn’t go through the proper procedures.”  He taps his finger on the table.  “We have them for a reason.”

She gulps.  “I didn’t know…”

“You may be able to stumble into positions based only on family connections where you come from, but it doesn’t work like that here.  Do you understand?”

Mai trembles.  “…Please, forgive us.  My uncle only wanted to help.  My parents are both dead.  I had nowhere to go…”

The Crown Prince sighs again.  “He’s not really your uncle.”

“…What…?”

“He confessed to us, quite readily, that he only happened to live in the same residence as your uncle before he passed away, and that is how he received your letters.  You have no real relation to this man.”

Mai feels cold.  She’s been deceived.  Why didn’t she trust her own instincts?  She knew something felt off about the man.

So she is truly all alone in this world.  With nowhere to go, no one to turn to, hardly any money of her own to speak of.  No, besides that, would she even be able to leave this place?  Would they continue to imprison her, or even worse…?

Blinking back tears, Mai leans forward to make one last desperate plea.

“Please!  I was fooled!  I didn’t mean to do anything wrong!”

“No, it appears you didn’t,” the Crown Prince relents.  “You are, indeed, just a fool.  The ones in the wrong are your ‘uncle’ and our so-called palace guards.”  He sighs heavily.  “Honestly…this is why the kingdom is on the brink of ruin.”

“Then…?”  Can she dare to hope? 

“However.”  His eyes turn to her, cold as ice.  “Ignorance is no excuse.”

A chill runs down her back.

“Needless to say, you have lost the job.  Normally, we would require you to serve time as well.  But I am willing to overlook this, on one condition.”

“Wh-Which is…?”

A small smirk plays on his lips.  “You become my apprentice.”

“Your…what?”  The Crown Prince’s apprentice?  What does that mean?  Also, what is with that scheming look?  Where has her sweet prince gone?!

“After all, it would be irresponsible to allow you to roam free without learning how to control your abilities.”

“If you say so…”  But what does that have to do with her becoming his apprentice…?

And then she remembers.  What did her uncle say about the Crown Prince the other day?

“I heard…the Crown Prince is visiting a neighboring kingdom…” she mumbles numbly.

He looks briefly confused.  “Yes.  That would be my brother.”

His brother.  She didn’t even know the Crown Prince had a brother.

“So you are…?”

“The High Mage.”

Of course.  Mai clutches her head.  She really is a fool.

GHW2021 Ghost Hunt GHHQ Csakuras fantasy AU submission

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