Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Queen vs. Ice Princess

Her Gracefulness, the Queen of Shadows, let herself fall onto the mattress. If “mattress” even applied. It was one miserable pace wide, two and a half long, stuffed with malice and murderous springs. She tolerated it anyway.

The towel she tossed arced across the room and landed dead-center on the coat hook. Even bone-tired, she refused to miss.

It had been so long since she’d last visited this broom-closet excuse for a room, long enough that nostalgia might have tried its luck. She rolled to her side and studied the bed. 

Goose down it isn’t, but a queen adapts. 

Besides, her muscles were rebelling. This sigil business was proving to be a pain in, well, everywhere. She needed a solution for containing dark essence, and she needed it quickly. Practicing outside at night while dodging Gifted students and mosquitoes was not ideal.

Maybe those lectures on rejuvenation and mana-stabilising sigils deserved more than a passing glance. If only she’d bothered to listen to her tutor. She blinked at a fleeting image of a beige-robed middle-aged man flooding her mind before vanishing. 

Odd. Who?

Anyway, who needed dull old lessons when your veins overflowed with endless mana?

(Humility had never been her strong suit. Surely that much was obvious by now?)

Right? Wrong.

Turns out, the answer was everyone. Turns out, consequences existed. But hey, her skin had just stopped punishing her for her hubris.

Small victories. Sleep now. Schemes later.

She buried her face in the pillow, trying to ignore the fact that it felt as though it had been stuffed with twigs and spite. She was just starting to slip under until the latch clicked.

Eydis cracked an eyelid. 

Astra glided in, moonlight sliding across silver hair that never frizzed. Silver hair wasn’t rare, since Damien had it too, but his prehistoric muscle couldn’t hope to compete. Eydis assured herself the sight was entirely unimpressive. Objectively speaking, with no subjectivity involved whatsoever, Astra had the kind of beauty that turned heads and silenced weaker souls.

Not that Eydis had ever been weak. 

And certainly not over something as trivial as a face.

Dignity had its limits, but not that low.

Astra stopped, towel draped across lean shoulders. “You’re staring. Silently.”

Eydis froze.

"Examining the décor,” she answered into her cushion. "Beige. A colour that whispers, ‘I’ve given up, but politely.’”

Astra’s lips twitched. “Careful, Eydis. The ‘beige’ might start feeling self-conscious.”

Banter. From Astra. She must be exhausted.

“Twice before sunrise and you manage humour,” Eydis said, rolling onto her back. “Will compassion be next?”

Light sparked in Astra’s eyes, perhaps amusement. “At least you’re no longer analysing me like an equation.”

“You remind me of someone.”

“Should I ask?”

“Silver hair, litely charming,” Eydis said with a smirk. “And a knack for complicating my calendar.”

"That was so close to a compliment. Then you ruined it,” Astra deadpanned.

“Just the hair, really. The subject in question was only entertainment.”

Astra’s fingers tightened around the towel. “Entertainment? So your bullies were also minor inconveniences too?”

“According to the academy? Apparently.”

Astra resumed drying her hair. “Everyone was afraid,” she murmured. “Even you. Until now.”

Eydis, sensing a shift, pushed up, crossing the room and caging Astra between her arms on the bed. 

"The Student Council President sees more than she lets on. If she wanted to know the truth, she’d find it.”

"That's a question for her." Astra didn't take the bait. "Do you think it's unfair, the way they treated you?"

"Fairness is a concept for lesser beings, Astra. Weakness, however, is something I will never tolerate,” Eydis whispered near her ear. “Tell me, roomie. Why did the pre-amnesia Eydis let the school trample her?”

Astra's eyes became unreadable. "We never really talked. Except for—" she stopped abruptly.

"That one love poem," Eydis finished with a sigh. "Do you still have it?"

Astra mumbled a negative, her gaze dropping to the floor.

How curious…

The scent of Darkwood drifted from Astra’s hair; Eydis breathed it in on reflex. She nudged Astra’s chin with a fingertip until their eyes met. In those crimson depths she saw herself, clear, curious. 

But there was no anger, no irritation in Astra's eyes. 

“Do you care about me, Astra?” Even she was surprised by her own question. 

Astra didn’t jerk away. Her voice, when it came, was low and husky. "Trouble seems to cling to you like a shadow.”

Eydis chucked. "Shadows,” she corrected. “Keep this up, and I’ll start thinking you find me charming, Ice Princess.”

“Ice Princess? You're getting creative, Shadows." 

Eydis grinned and leaned closer, close enough to catch the flecks of violet in Astra’s eyes, like distant constellations, quietly burning.

"Had no idea people called you that, did you?”

“No. I just don’t care what they think.”

“Not even a little?” Eydis challenged. “You’d be surprised how often never isn’t quite never.”

Astra froze, though the pulse under Eydis’s fingers raced on. She ignored the heat blooming in her chest and drew her hand back.

Information. That's what she was here for. Focus.

“You care,” Eydis said, her voice slipping softer than she meant.

“About you?” Astra asked.

“About Natalia. About the others.” When Astra stayed silent, Eydis pressed on. “You mentioned missing students today. Who were they?”

Astra tensed. “Elites. Four from Tiffany’s circle. Vanished.”

"The ones with the trust funds and political connections?" 

Astra nodded.

"Not exactly the company I keep,” Eydis said. “Maybe this danger you mentioned doesn't apply to me after all."

Envy hadn't noticed anything odd inside the campus yet. The culprit had to be working outside then. Great. An investigation that began everywhere but here.

“—safer,” Astra murmured.

"What was that?"

Astra sighed. "Stay within the academy grounds."

So it is true. Eydis mused. 

Had the students vanished during weekend home visits? Or somewhere between the crowded market stalls on town trips?

“Is that an order?” she teased.

Astra muttered, “It’s a suggestion.”

“Ah, but I enjoy my freedom. Unless you plan to escort me yourself, Lady Knight.”

Astra gave a flat look. “Requesting a royal escort now? Also, breathing room would be nice, Your Majesty. You are on top of me.”

Eydis blinked, then laughed quietly.

“Must be my poor eyesight. Distances keep lying to me. These muscles too.” She gestured behind her. “Entirely rebellious.”

Astra looked almost amused, then, unexpectedly. wrapped her arms around Eydis’s back.

"What are you—?” Eydis’s breath caught as Astra’s fingers found tension and pressed, kneading away the tension that had accumulated over the week.

Heat rolled off her, settling on Eydis’s skin. Instinctively, Eydis gripped Astra’s shoulders for balance.

Astra stared at a lone cobweb by the window, pretending indifference, though Eydis felt her gaze dip to her lips again and again. Not surprising, considering her mouth kept humiliating her with every pleased little sound.

“That certainly shut you up. A public service, really,” Astra said coolly, or tried to, because she couldn’t quite hide the faint flush dusting her cheekbones. With one last press, she released Eydis. “Move.”

Eydis stretched, sighing in contentment, when the realisation landed.

Oh. 

Of course.

She was sitting on Astra’s lap.

Quite literally enthroned.

"Astra, very persuasive,” Eydis mused. “Though next time, a little warning first?”

"Someone has to. A record-breaking two minutes of silence.”

“Not entirely silent…” Eydis countered. "Perhaps I should strive to be even more insufferable, wouldn't that keep your hands occupied, Lady Knight?"

Astra’s breath skipped, though she recovered fast. Hoodie over head, nearly sprinting for the door. “…Perimeter check.”

Eydis watched Astra disappear, feeling an unwelcome warmth in her own stomach. She hadn’t expected the touch, the reaction, or the way her own skin still tingled where Astra’s hands had been.

"Sneaky Ice Princess," she murmured. But patrol? Didn't Astra just return?

Face buried in the pillow, Eydis inhaled lavender shampoo and, beneath it, something richer, warmer.

Astra’s scent.

Horror prickled. And then came the horror. Now that she recognised it, she couldn’t unnotice it. 

Couldn’t push it away.

Focus. Track the Elites, confront Gluttony. The town centre might hold answers. And if not… well, her shopping list wasn’t getting any shorter. Cheap arcana wouldn’t restock themselves.

She flipped open her notebook and sketched sigils from memory.

Hopefully, she thought, this one doesn’t explode.