"You are taking this rather well." I blink surprised at R.J.'s reaction to my return. He throws his head back and laughs a deep laugh again.
"I did not want to be king truthfully. But it was to be my duty as the oldest child since you weren't here." He clapped me on the shoulder and flashed a wide toothy grin. "But now you're here and can have your kingdom." A look of realization dawns on his face.
"This means I get to be a little brother now instead of just a big brother. Oh my god. This is going to be so much fun!" He pumps his fist and holds up a hand for me to give him a high five. I give him a half hearted high five but he doesn't seem to care about my lack of enthusiasm.
"Forgive my intrusion your majesties but introducing the queen mother, queen Chandra." The guard bows deeply as an older woman walks in. She's tall and lighter than anyone else in the room but she has an air of confidence about her. Her round light brown eyes have a hint of mischief in them that doesn't seem like it belongs but at the same time does. She looks older but not as old as she should be in order to be Rodrick or Vivienne's mother but then again they don't really look as old as they should be to be my parents. Does everyone in this family get pregnant early or something?
"Hello darlings I hope you didn't start without me. Where is my precious grandson?" She goes over to Jackson and pinches his cheeks lovingly as he wraps his arms around her. Next she heads over to R.J. and kisses his cheek before stepping back and giving him a once over. "Boy you get bigger and look more like your daddy every time I see you." He chuckles and just shakes his head.
"Cassandra dear," She calls out looking toward the couch but Cassandra doesn't even move. "Sit up straight love it's un-lady like to slouch." Cassandra sneers but quickly masks her face before getting up and making her exit saying she has homework to finish.
She then turns to me holding her hands out in a gesture that I took to mean step forward to her. I extended my hands to her and the moment we touched a spark flew between us making me jump back yet she just smiled and grabbed me in a big hug.
"My granddaughter has returned praise Ro!" She plants a big a kiss on each side of my face. "I wish your grandfather was still alive to see you return to us. Now show me your magic dear so I can see just how great you are."
"I uh I can't do any magic." She tilts her head and looks at me like I just grew a second head. "But of course you can dear. You just have to feel your magic coursing through you and command it."
"But that's just the thing, I don't know what that feels like. I didn't even know I had magic until today." She takes a minute to study me, grabbing my face once again and turning it every which way before looking me in my eyes. She tuts then closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and hums for a minute or two.
"Ahhh that's what it is. This is old magic at play here. Where did you say you found my grand baby again Rodrick?"
"She was in the human realm mama, we're still waiting for the soldiers to bring the people she was living with to us. We have our best trackers on this." She tuts and turns her gaze back to me. "I can unlock your magic child but it will be hard to control since you didn't learn how to when you were young like most children. Here put this on."
She slides a gold ring encrusted with small rubies and diamonds interlocking with each other off of her finger and places it on mine. "This ring will help channel and control your magic until you can do it on your own." She leans in to whisper in my ear. "It will also give you a portion of my magical knowledge so you'll have head start learning." She leans back and places a hand on each side of my face again.
"Now repeat after me as best you can. Try to get the pronunciation as close as possible cause this is old elven magic and they are very precise with their words for different spells." She clears her throat and stands up straighter and I mimic her body language as best I can.
"Nur' er an un raa, aashht'tun dun, err y gnae tuu ichh." She pauses and I repeat after her to the best of my ability. I believe I'm pronouncing everything correctly as Rodrick appears behind her with a wide smile and a thumbs up before moving back out of my vision. I continue to repeat after her for a couple of minutes and I notice her hands begin to glow a gold color.
"Ise'thra sae neomre torath liartha!" As soon as I get the final sentence out my body begins to tingle and get warm. It's almost like my whole body is going numb and burning up, it's uncomfortable but something in me refuses to submit to this feeling. My vision starts to fade as the feeling of pins and needles begins to cut through that full body numbness but I try to fight to stay conscious.
The last thing I see is my grandmother saying something to me but at this point I can't hear her as blackness takes over me.