Cursed mage

The place I get to rest is technically a dorm room. The other three beds are empty of marks, though. I took one of the lower bunks. Would be something to have other people living with me. Doubtful something like that would happen to a crown prince.

"But I'm..." I shake it off looking at myself in the mirror above the dresser. Knowing all the rooms are the same isn't shocking. The clothes are normally just whatever the knights offer. Minus the nobles coming in, who bring in quality higher than what's offered?

The person staring back at me... Looks nothing like the images found in the artist portraits of the crown prince. Looking at myself like this... Does my father not see himself in me?

"I'd question more, but..." I touch my cheek. Maybe I don't look like I fit in. "The royal magic works for me." I don't have control. Now I don't even have a teacher. Odin is gone.

Shaking those thoughts away, I drop on my bed to think over the Sworenyx. It's dangerous because it's a large aggressive beast with thicker hide and build. The magic inside of it doesn't make it smarter nor capable of casting. It's all internal. Stamina and health type boosts. I look at my hands. Sometimes that's how it feels for my magic. All internal boosts.

A feel of magic zaps me. I sit up looking to the door. My room is locked, so the teleport to spell would be sent to outside my locked door. It's part of why I always pick locked closed doors.

"How are you here and not at home?" The king?!

I stand up and slowly reach the door. "Um... Father?" I open the door and get him pushing inside. I hold the door as he stands in the middle of my room. "I passed. You said that."

His eyes thin staring at me. "I reviewed everyone. You were not there."

I tilt my head. "I was under Hydrangea. I faced the Sworenyx."

"You?" The king growls out. As if the entire idea was ludicrous. "How?"

"I didn't need any magic for anything the test should offer. I used my magic to counter the Sworenyx."

The king glares at me for a long moment. I'm holding the door for him to leave. But he doesn't. He starts pacing my room. I sigh letting the door close. "You are not ready to face the trials of the knights."

"Clearly I am if I passed the tests." I point out.

"What name did you give them?" The king stares out my lone window. It'll offer dawn by the direction and nothing for evening. For now I'm using the given lantern for my light. Not that I truly need it.

"Thomas. No last name. You don't need one."

"For nobles you do." He spins on me. "How could they not tell you're crown prince?"

"Am I crown prince?" I eye him. The king refuses to catch my eyes. He focuses on the mirror. "You made a big announcement a few weeks ago that I was a bastard you'd never look at again." I scan him and motion to myself. "So why are you acting like I'm your child? Am I? Or aren't I? If I'm not, drop the tracer. I don't care if I'm prince or not."

The king rushes me taking personal space I'm not comfortable with. "You never say those words again."

"Which words?" I refuse to give him allowance. I refuse to coward in his presence. I know when we're compared, he's far greater, but it's time I stop acting the child. I passed. I'm a knight trainee.

"What will the counsel think when they learn you did this?" The king steps back still eyeing me but from a better distance. Much prefer not feeling the heat of his breathe. I'm only a shy shorter any more. I'm not a kid. "Knighthood is for adults."

"And when is that? Because to take the knight exam you need to be fifteen. That's when you joined. Did your father act like you were too weak to?"

The king's anger makes sense. I did kinda go around his back. And I am trying to drag the truth out of him. Since the tests that were given marked me as the legitimate crown prince, I still have the titles, but I can't be the crown prince next to the king. He acts out. The idea was to wait for six months without Odin around before retaking all the magical tests. It won't matter, though. I know who I'm related to.

Sometimes, though... I wish I wasn't.

The king stares at himself in the mirror for a long moment. His words are calmer, lower. "My past is my past." He slowly focuses on me. "Stop playing games and join the castle. Quit this nonsense tirade and be the one the country can look up to."

"If I quit, I can never join again. I can push off graduation, but not quit." I point out.

"You don't belong here."

"I belong with Odin. I have little to no control of my magic. I can trust it'll listen, but never the how I wish it did it as. I'm lucky the magic didn't disqualify me from the exam. It could've." I cross my arms. "If you want me to give up on knighthood, bring Odin back. Even if he can't use the royal magics, he can teach me how. He's used to working with difficult magics. That's why you hired him. You make him regret ever joining the castle."

The king's anger returns. I know why. Odin is a sore topic. "I'll find a better trainer."

I rub my face as the king stalks out. "Better... Ha." It was a spell to find me the best trainer. I mean the spell was done a decade ago, but... Is there really a chance someone can be classified as better by now? Probably not. Especially after he's learned so many of my tricks and habits. He knows where I go and how I trick others to get there.

"Exhausted." I turn off my lantern and lie in the bed. The dark surrounding is comforting. Normally there was some light coming from somewhere. Now... The only real noises are other knights and the sounds of the world outside. There's no lights peering in my window or coming from the door.

Absence... It's nice.

Not that I think I'd hate having a roommate. Just... Royals never have roommates unless they were marked as knight guard. I could try requesting someone. Seems pointless.

I roll on to my side. The bed isn't 'exquisite' as one of my servants called my normal bed. It's not as big or covered in soft things. I never needed it. That one night sleeping in the stables was a definitely 'don't wanna repeat', but any bed should be fine. It's not too hot. It's not too cold.

It'll get too hot. And if I stay past December it'll become too cold. I'll deal. That's how life is after all. I don't know how to use cold magics well enough to keep my room nice. This works.

"I succeeded..." I whisper into the bed as the day's weight has me drift off into sleep.