Chapter 28: Testing the Waters
A gift?
Elys stared at the envelope in her hand. The piece of stationery was light, about the size of her hand, rectangular and black with specks of golden glitter. It was fancy to say the least.
What gift would a small piece of paper contain?
A promissory note of riches? Title of a land property? There were many things that monarchs could gift their children once they were wed.
In the case of the princess’ fallen kingdom of the North, being as all of their people were warriors through and through, the customary gift to a royal child would have been a division of an army to command.
Or a pretty weapon imbued with magic
Sometimes even one that is just ceremonial if the child wasn’t that much favored.
Items imbued with magic were rare to the Northern Kingdom of magicless people. It was only after Elys’ father inherited the crown did he start giving such gifts to royal children of his siblings on their weddings.
King Alaric Whitecaster was one of the few exceptional men that ever sat on the Northern throne. One of his greatest achievements was that he was the very first of their people to learn magic from scratch during his overseas study.
Not only was he the first Northern king with magic, he also was one of the most beloved by their people.
He was kind, compassionate, and had an eye for his constituents. No wrong deed was left unpunished accordingly. Strict but still loving, he was respected not only by his people, but that of the opposition – to a certain point to say the least.