A Spy

When Nicholas walked into Marcus' room he had to hold back a laugh as Marcus' expression was clearly one of pain.

The transference of mana was not supposed to hurt, as a matter of fact some journals had recorded it to have the same effects as an aphrodisiac.

"Your highness, you should be resting." Regan's face was full of concern as Nicholas and Regina walked into Marcus' room.

Just a few moments ago, Nicholas was unconscious in Regina's arms as another surge of memories flooded his brain. Luckily these ones were more useful.

When he finally came to, he began to worry about Marcus.

Dion did not want him to help his brother, he was worried that Nicholas' true power might be exposed if they helped Marcus. But Nicholas insisted, Marcus was the only one among his brothers that had shown him any kindness. Nicholas was not about to let him suffer for protecting him and helping him escape.

"Nicholas?" Marcus asked as he opened his eyes, surprised to see his brother recover so fast. "How are you walking and well?"

"The same technique that will help you already helped me. Let me do it if you don't trust my ministers." Nicholas told his brother as he pushed forward, refusing to hide this part of his magic as Dion wanted.

"I thought you could barely do magic?" Marcus asked as he gave Nicholas an odd look. It seemed that he was studying if Nicholas was lying to him, insisting on helping when he couldn't.

"This is different." Nicholas told his brother as he placed a hand on the crystal and another on Marcus' mana mark. "This isn't my magic, I'm simply a bridge."

Marcus bit his lower lip as he looked at the crystal under Nicholas' hand. It glowed and mana seemed to flow within it.

"Will it hurt?" Marcus asked his older brother.

Nicholas couldn't help but frown, at that moment the fifteen year old Marcus truly looked like a child. He couldn't help but wonder how much of their childhood they had missed.

Based on what he could recall, they were never truly children, simply options to be trained to take over as king someday.

They were made to fight amongst themselves to see who would come out on top. No wonder Edward, Zeph, and Owain had not formed true brotherly bonds with the others, some day they would have to kill each other.

"It won't hurt." Nicholas promised his younger brother.

"Okay, do it. I trust you." Marcus' tone was stern and no longer childlike. He had pushed away whatever vulnerability Nicholas had seen earlier.

Nicholas gave him a nod as he began transferring the mana from the crystal, through himself, and towards Marcus.

At first he questioned if he would be capable of doing such, he had only moved mana in dire need and not on command. He had to help Marcus survive at the time, and now he was simply healing his brother.

Nicholas recalled the feeling and used that to transfer mana.

To his surprise, it worked. Soon enough Marcus' mana mark was glowing and almost full. The crystal in Nicholas' hand didn't seem to have lost much mana, making Nicholas wonder how much mana was stored in it.

"Your highness, too much mana will cause mana poisoning. Don't forget." Dion warned Nicholas as he glanced at Marcus' mana mark. The intricate green mark on his arm was filling up, prompting Nicholas to lift his hand.

Marcus gasped when the connection was severed, while Nicholas unconsciously continued to siphon mana into himself.

"Your highness." Dion said as he tried to pry the crystal from Nicholas' hand.

Unfortunately, the crystal seemed to have bonded itself to Nicholas' hand making it almost impossible to put down.

"Dion." Nicholas hissed as he tried to let go of the crystal.

"Brother, is something wrong?" Marcus asked as he tried to figure out what the fuss was all about.

"Nothing, nothing, rest." Nicholas said, shaking his head. "I'll go ahead, I still need to rest too."

"Alright." Marcus nodded as he continued to eye his brother with caution.

As soon as Marcus was settled Nicholas rushed out of the room, his eyes and mana mark were both glowing brightly as the crystal began to sink into his skin.

"What is happening?" Nicholas whispered to Dion as he held out his hand.

Half of the crystal had now embedded itself in his hand and was crawling towards his mana mark.

"I have no idea, your highness, we've never seen anything like this." Dion told Nicholas as he glanced at Regan, wondering if the other minister knew more.

"Aggghhh!" Nicholas screamed, his voice echoing down the hall as the crystal fully sank into his skin, adding itself to his mana mark.

From the corner of his eye he spotted someone ducking and hiding in a corner.

A spy, Nicholas thought to himself as he took deep breaths, struggling to recover from the pain of the crystal and his mana mark combining.

"Get that person!" He ordered Regan who had not even noticed that someone had been spying on them.

Regan and Dion were both quick to act on Nicholas' command, running after the spy.

It didn't take long till Nicholas heard screaming from the hallway the spy had run to.

Nicholas couldn't help but hope that no one else could hear them. It would be an utter disaster if someone had shown up and caught what was happening.

"Your highness, he's a Liber spy." Regan declared as he showed Nicholas the blue mana mark on the man's arm.

It was small and faint, making Nicholas wonder if the man could even do any magic.

"Take him to my office." Nicholas ordered as Regan kept a hand on the man's mouth, stopping him from screaming.

Luckily they weren't too far away from Nicholas' wing of the palace.

Once they were inside the office, the man was bound but not gagged. Nicholas wanted to know who had sent him and why he was spying on them.