Lessons on Cruor Magic

Dion grabbed Nicholas by the wrist, stopping him from leaving the room.

"Nicholas, return to your chambers first, get your limiters. Your brothers and your father cannot find out about how powerful you truly are." His expression was serious and dire, making Nicholas nod in agreement.

He knew that Dion only wanted the best for him, their lives and his own life all depended on if Nicholas would survive the bloodbath after King Alexander's death.

"I know." Nicholas nodded as he left the room and did as Dion instructed before heading out for his lessons with his father and brothers.

The moment he slipped the limitters on he immediately felt its effects. He felt weakend, Nicholas could feel that something was missing, it was as if he were incomplete.

'Our magic is part of our essence.' Nicholas recalled his late mother saying a long time ago.

He smiled at the memory, this time it made him feel good rather than sick. It was probably one of the few memories that he had cherished.

"Your highness, your father will not tolerate tardiness." Regan called from outside his room.

Nicholas groaned as he headed out and looked around, unsure of which way to go.

"Down the hall, take a right, third hallway, turn left." Regan had noticed that Nicholas did not know the way to the training grounds. In order to ensure that others did not pick up on the prince's lack of knowledge, Regan tried his best to keep his voice low.

Nicholas nodded his thanks as he followed Regan's instructions.

As he turned right, Nicholas noticed something odd about the palace's layout, the main hall was circumferential.

From what he knew, that wasn't the traditional shape of a hallway within a place or any large building. He made a mental note to ask Connor or Dion the next time he managed to speak to them in private.

By the time Nicholas and Regan finally made it to the training grounds, all of the other princes and princess Brie were already there.

"I was starting to hope that father had forgotten to invite you." Prince Owain hissed from the other end of the training grounds, making sure everyone heard him.

Nicholas was surprised to find that only Brie had any companions, with her was Ryenne, whom he noticed Owain was watching when they arrived.

For some reason, Owain's interest in Ryenne infuriated him more than his brother's insults.

"Have you gone deaf too?" Prince Owain mocked again as he walked towards his younger brother, laughing.

"Ignore him." A voice that Nicholas recognized to be his younger brother, Prince Marcus, told him as the young man stood next to him.

Marcus was a little bit shorter than Nicholas, but he had a more muscular build. Unlike his brothers, his skin was fair, but he had the same raven black hair, something that seemed to be a Cruor trait.

"Why do you have a servant with you, Nicholas?" Owain was not looking at Nicholas, rather he was looking at Regan who was standing by the door to the training grounds. "Oh wait, is he a bodyguard? Are your ministers worried that you would get hurt while training?"

Nicholas glanced around the room, only to find that his eldest and second eldest brothers were ignoring Owain as they chatted among themselves.

Brie on the other hand was busy speaking to Ryenne who seemed to have been flattered by Prince Owain's attention.

"His Majesty, King Alexander III of Merlen." A herald announced before Nicholas could answer back at Owain's insults.

Everyone who was not a member of the royal family, quickly fell to their knees, while the princes and princess Brie simply bowed their heads.

"Everyone who is not my child, out!" The king's voice boomed across the training ground, making Nicholas glance at Regan.

The man simply nodded at him as he left the room, followed by Ryenne who was the only other non-member of the royal family in the room.

The king's men also left the room, leaving the king with his sons and daughter.

"Come forward, I have a story to tell you before we start." The king gestured to his children, his tone was still cold and unwavering.

Owain glanced at Nicholas and gave him a mocking grin before walking closer to the king.

Marcus glanced at Nicholas as he placed a hand on his older brother's shoulder and nudged Nicholas to walk forward with him.

As his children gathered in front of him, the king looked each in the eyes before finally speaking.

There was no smile on his face, not any expression of fatherly love. To Nicholas, it seemed that the king simply saw the royal children as his responsibility and not true products of love.

"The magic of the Cruor line is sacred." The king began to explain as his children gave him their full attention. "No outsider has ever been allowed to learn about how we harness our magic. It is even rare that the females of our line are allowed to witness it."

Nicholas glanced at Brie who simply nodded at the King.

"As heirs to this power, I expect all of you to respect the fact that no one is to learn about how we use our magic." The king instructed them, to which the princes nodded.

Nicholas frowned at the thought that harnessing his Cruor magic would be different from harnessing this Corporali magic.

It was difficult enough that he had limiters on him, but now he was completely clueless as how to use his own powers.

"Pair up." The king declared as Nicholas and Marcus quickly moved to the side.

"No, no, you can't hide behind Marcus all the time, brother." Owain hissed as he pulled Nicholas aside, leaving Marcus to train with the king himself. "How will you learn if Marcus keeps fake training with you."

Nicholas bit his lower lip as he knew that Owain would definitely embarrass him in front of their father.

"It's nice to see you two boys finally changing things up." The king called from where he stood next to Marcus. "Now, Owain, you know that your brother has difficulty with his magic, be gentle."

"Of course, father." Owain bowed and smiled before turning to look at Nicholas, his blue eyes began to glow.

"First lesson, brother, defend yourself." Owain's tone was mocking as a wave of energy quickly slammed into Nicholas, throwing him across the room.

"Defend yourself!" The king called out as he sparred against his youngest son.

At the other end of the training grounds, Brie watched Nicholas and Owain as she laughed at Nicholas.

"I think I can defend myself better than him, father." Brie added as another wave of energy, this time coming from the ground up, thew Nicholas in the air.

"Return to your training." The king hissed at his two elder sons as he noticed Prince Edward and Prince Zeph stopping to watch Owain beat up Nicholas.

Nicholas felt as if his soul had left his body, as he crashed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Heal yourself or something, brother." Owain shouted and laughed as Nicholas groaned, struggling to stand back up.

"Maybe another jolt will help you tap into our Cruor magic." Owain said in a loud voice, making sure that the king heard.

One of the King's greatest frustrations was the fact that Nicholas could not tap into his Cruor magic, that much Nicholas remembered.

Owain sent another powerful blue blast towards Nicholas, but this time it didn't hit the younger prince, much to everyone's shock.

A bright blue pillar of energy stood in between Nicholas and Owain, much to everyone's shock.