Chương 39: Chapter Thirty-Six

As soon as Stella and Beth finished casting their spell, we headed out. New schedules would be provided to us tonight, and we would begin the core classes tomorrow. Which meant, we had the rest of the day to ourselves… And I didn't know what to do with it. Stella bent down as we walked, smiling at me in a way that I had learned meant she was going to start a conversation I would be more comfortable not having.

I tried to think of something to derail whatever she was going to say into a safer topic, but she was too fast.

"Sooo, Princess," she almost sang, and I groaned. Beside me Beth chuckled.

"How does it feel going from common villager to one of the most important people here?" I looked ahead, trying to ignore her, but she poked me in the side.

"None of that! Answer me," she whined, poking me in the side.

"Beth, help out here." As I hopped to the side to avoid Stella's prodding finger, Beth's hand came down on my shoulder. I sighed, resigning myself to the topic.

"I've been hoping it would go away if I ignored it," I said, jolting when Stella's finger found a ticklish spot.

"Knock that off!" I growled.

"Why would you want to ignore it?" Beth asked, her eyebrows quirking.

"Because then I wouldn't have Aunt Larissa and Uncle Anders trying to set me up with their son Trevor for starters," I grumbled as we turned a corner only to run into said prince. His blue eyes looked me over with a combination of humor and resignation as his perfectly styled hair shined in the sunlight streaming in from the windows. He was carrying a bag similar to mine, and appeared to be on his way to a class.

The three girls with him did not share in his humor and were looking at me as though I was something foul they had found on the street.

"Princess Lyra," he greeted me politely, giving me a nod.

"Uhm…" I stumbled over my words before an image of Mom's face during her countless lectures on etiquette flashed before my eyes.

"Prince Trevor." I gave him a small curtsy. The one Mom said was for the royal family, who weren't the reigning king and queen. How many curtsies are there? Nine. Prince Trevor's lips quirked up in a small smile.

"Please call me Trevor. It seems we have similar views on my parents' current… personal directives." I cleared my throat and felt my cheeks warm.

"It would seem so," I agreed, looking past him to the girls next to him.

"But my parents won't force me into a relationship." I smiled at him.

"They've already positioned themselves between your parents and me on the matter." His smile grew.

"That's wonderful. Still." He paused, touching his lips as he thought.

"We should get to know each other," he declared after a moment.

"It will demonstrate to my parents that I'm trying. And we will likely have to work together in the future, so getting to know each other now could be useful." The girls behind him tittered to each other at the prince's words.

"I would like that," I lied, ignoring the knot forming in my stomach.

"Good. Then until then." He nodded to me again and walked around me and past Stella and Beth, who had gone spontaneously quiet during the encounter. The girls quickly followed Trevor, glaring at me as they passed.

"You met the prince," Beth whispered to herself.

"Met him, it sounds like the King and Queen are trying to tie him to her!" I could practically hear the capital letters as Stella exclaimed. My shoulders relaxed as Trevor and his girls rounded another corner.

"And what was that?!"

"What was what?" I asked, bringing my eyes back to Stella. Her posture changed, back straightened and voice took on a deeper tone. Prince Trevor… I couldn't help the laugh that escaped.

"You got to study magic since you arrived. I studied…" I waved my hand at Stella's posture.

"That."

"That's boring," Beth commented, and Stella nodded her agreement. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"That's scary. You have no idea how… motivating Mom can be when trying to get topics like that through to me." Stella's lips quirked.

"You told her it was boring, didn't you?" I shuddered.

"Only once. And never again." Stella laughed at me as we started walking again.

"My Mom can be like that too."

"Same," Beth agreed.

"Where are we going anyway?" Stella asked as we stepped outside.

"And it's good that your parents are intervening. The reality is you would be setting yourself up for heartache. We don't live as long as demons." Stella stared off into space as she said that, so I poked her on the side, causing her to jump.

"I intend to drag my friends with me into eternity. So don't go thinking you're going to wither away," I quipped, thinking about the topic only momentarily before my mind went to a glowing potion that recently sold for a ridiculous amount.

"Oh, the demon's going to give the hapless human immortality for her soul." Stella joked, clutching her chest.

"I must resist!" I rolled my eyes at Stella's antics and kept walking. The more she talked, the more my mind was drawn to my potion making equipment.

"I'm not a demon. So your soul won't be required."

"You're not a demon?" Beth asked beside me. I shook my head.

"I'm an Aetherborn," I stated, having taken the lead.

"It's several evolutions past demon," I stated absently. Our dorms were just ahead, but I realized that Beth and Stella had stopped moving, so I turned to look at them, tilting my head.

"I could have sworn I told you that before," I commented.

"If you did, I thought you were talking about a demon subspecies," Stella said, while Beth asked how I could possibly have that much mana.

"I told you about the fruit I had to eat to survive, right?" They both nodded.

"It turns out they give a small increase to your mana pool when you eat them. And I mean small. But when you eat them almost exclusively for years…" I trailed off, my mind briefly going to the Pampaw Fruit's nastiness. Both girls' eyes expanded.

"How did we not know about those?" Beth breathed. I could only shrug, not knowing.

"Come on. You can walk while you think about it," I said, moving back to pull both of them by the hand and immediately becoming annoyed as I realized I looked like their younger sister or something. I hate being short.

"Where are we going?"

"Why are you in such a rush?" I changed the topic without addressing their behavior. It's not like I was shoving coins down their throat. Beth and Stella's questions turned into a jumble, causing me to have to think about what they said before answering.

"We're going to my room." I held up a finger briefly before adding a second.

"And I'm going to do exactly what I promised." Both of them squinted at me as though they didn't know what I was talking about. I smirked. They would find out. I couldn't tell what Stella and Beth were thinking as we sat at the small table in my sitting room. A glowing potion in front of each of them. I was sipping tea that Narith provided before moving off to the side of the room until she determined she was needed again.

Apparently, she had decided that my friends visiting my room warranted being on her best behavior. I tried not to scowl as her antics continued to leave me off-kilter as I watched Stella and Beth stare at the bottles in front of me. Finally, I had enough and sat my tea cup down with a clink.

"They are perfectly safe," I stated blandly.

"These can't exist," Beth stated, reaching out and almost touching hers before pulling her hand back.

"Of course they exist. You saw me make them," I shot back.

"But… immortality…" Stella's voice was soft, and I rolled my eyes.

"First. It's not'immortality'." I changed the pitch of my voice at the word. They were being ridiculous and I was going to let them know what I thought about that.

"It's ten years. No aging for ten years. You'll need another one after that, otherwise you start to age normally again."

"And that's not immortality?!" Stella's voice had gone high.

"No," I stated blandly.

"It's ten years."

"If you sold this…"

"I did," I snapped.

"That's what cured Princess Ariana. And I can just make more, so it's no big deal."

"She gives us immortality potions and it's 'no big deal,'" Stella joked, reaching for hers and opening it. Beth shrugged her shoulders and picked up her own.

"How much did it sell for?" Beth asked, bringing the vial to her lips.

"About forty mithril." They both began to choke on their potions. Luckily, neither spat them out. And they both screeched the number I quoted them with eyes as large as saucers.

"Finish them." I crossed my arms.

"But forty mithril… I can't even…" Stella trailed off.

"I'm not going to talk to you until you finish your potions," I stated, simply leaving them to their various exclamations. I wondered if I should work on my level. I could probably buy more soul shards. And buying them sounded way better than going to a dungeon to get them… It only took a couple of minutes for Stella and Beth to realize I was serious about not talking to them, and they finished their potions.

"I can't believe I just drank forty mithril," Stella admitted while Beth's wide eyed look said she agreed. Ten years. I will have to remember to make more before then.

"So, what do you think our classes are going to look like tomorrow?" I changed the topic without addressing their behavior. It's not like I was shoving coins down their throats.

"Spells and Casting, Basic Dungeon Theory, Potion Crafting, and Runic Grammar," Narith said, coming to refill my cup and place cups in front of Stella and Beth now that they had finished their potion. A condition I set for them getting tea. I smiled at the course list.

"I'm looking forward to it," I commented, nodding to myself as Stella and Beth slowly crawled out of their shock and we started discussing what types of spells we wanted to learn.