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I eat breakfast fast, scarfing down whatever Gwenny has put on my plate without really tasting it. I normally have more respect for food since I have gone without it so much before, but I just know that whatever Aiden's surprise is, it's going to be good. It at least will be a break from magic practice where I still haven't figured out how to harness that warm feeling that seems to control the strength of my powers. A break from magic training will probably be good for both of us since his frustration at my inability to consistently wield magic has been leading to us fighting. I wonder if we fought a lot during our marriage. Aiden always talks about it so fondly, as if it was a perfect time. But I've gotten the feeling that he didn't know how powerful I was in my past life. Maybe that made things different.
Regardless I'm excited for the break, even as he leads me to the top of one of the east turrets in the castle, somewhere I hadn't yet explored. When we get there, my eyes about pop out of my head with amazement because there's a huge man waiting for us, although I'm not sure that man is the right word to describe him…more like huge creature. He looks like he's a statue that has come to life. He's the same stone-grey color all over. His most distinguishing feature however, besides the tiny little horns at the top of his head, are the huge bat like wings that extend from his back. They take up almost the entire side of the room he's on.
Staring at his wings, I can feel my own start to flutter under my skin. I brace myself as they shoot out of my back, causing me to stumble once again from the change in weight. The stone creature snorts once, as if he's laughing at me. Aiden also has a look of mirth on his face. I glare at the both of them.
"This is Lexington," Aiden says, gesturing to the creature I have decided to call "stone face," since he laughed at me. "He's a gargoyle as you can see."
I give "Lexington" aka stone face, an appraising stare while he gives me one in return. It's still amazing to me that I live in a world where all the fairy tale creatures that I read about my entire life have turned out to be true. An insane part of me wants to ask him if he knows Quasimodo, but I thankfully control myself. There's no need to let on to this stranger that I'm slowly losing my mind.
"Lexington is going to be your flight instructor. He obviously has a lot of experience with flying, experience I unfortunately cannot provide you with."
Because fairies don't have wings I finish for him in my head. That's still a mystery I have to uncover. Lexington gives me a small, stiff bow.
"It's a pleasure," he tells me in a low, gravelly voice that fits him perfectly. I nod in return.
Aiden claps his hands suddenly. "Now that I've made introductions I'll leave you two to start. I've got some meetings to attend today. I'll be by later to check on your progress."
Waving goodbye, I again wonder at what business he's attending to and when I'm going to be included. It feels strange that after a few months here, I still know nothing about the kingdom's affairs, and I haven't been formally introduced back to the people.
"Are you going to stand there, or are we going to start?" Lexington says, startling me out of my musings.
"Is that anyway to talk to your Queen?" I ask him snottily, still annoyed at Aiden's behavior.
"Forgive me, Your Highness," he replies wryly. "Just making sure you're awake. However, enough with the pleasantries. First thing we need to practice is your ability to call your wings and retract them at will. You look like an awkward goose at the moment, and quite frankly it's hard to watch."
I gape at him. It's actually refreshing though that he's not afraid to give me a hard time. Aiden gives me a hard time and pushes me, but the rest of the people that I have met here, although very small in number, are overly polite no matter how hard I try to get to know them. Even the three guards that Aiden has following me around, have yet to say anything to me but one syllable answers. Looking around I notice that Aiden didn't leave them with me today. He must trust Lexington quite a bit.
"Alright, how do I not look like an awkward goose?" I ask Lexington, giving him a smile to let him know that I'm not mad at how he's acting.
Lexington claps his hands, the noise sounding like a small avalanche since he's made completely from stone. He gives me a huge smile, showing rows of even grey teeth. I decide at that moment that old stone face is going to be my new best friend.
I'm retracting his best friend status after an hour of being tortured by him. He's trying to get me to have control of pulling my wings out, and hiding my wings, but it hasn't been a successful hour.
"You've got to relax," he admonishes me for the hundredth time, clapping his hands with frustration.
"You try relaxing when you have one hundred pounds of feathers attached to your back," I reply dramatically. My wings actually don't feel that heavy at all, it's just that their presence throws my equilibrium and balance off.
Lexington rolls his eyes at me. It's a somewhat funny sight because the stone of his eyelid makes a scratching noise every time he does something theatrical with them.
"Let's start again. Picture the wings as an extension of yourself, which they are. Imagine them being in a compact space in your body, that you're hiding them away."
I take a deep breath and try to clear my mind. Imagining the wings folding up and slipping inside of my body, I keep the picture in my head until Lexington says something.
"Well looky there. You finally did it," he responds sarcastically.
Taking a quick glance backwards, I see that he's right. I give a small squeal of happiness that I finally did it. It only took an hour of trying about a million times…
"Let's practice that a few hundred times more and then I'll be satisfied you've got it," he tells me, and I give a groan but allow my wings to pop out once again. Getting my wings to come out is the easy part. I'm even managing to stumble only a small bit now although Lexington doesn't seem satisfied with my progress.
In and out, in and out, my wings go back and forth until my entire back is sore with my efforts and I'm sweating profusely. It's been hours, but now my wings glide smoothly when I call for them. No stumble, no intense concentrating to get them to go back in. It's probably such a small thing, I should be able to control something that is a part of my body. I feel an immense sense of accomplishment though, and the proud look that Lexington has in his eyes feels really good.
I hear footsteps coming up the stairs and Aiden appears, looking perfectly fresh as usual. Whatever kingdom business it was, it must not have stressed him out too bad. I get the feeling though that not much stresses Aiden out. I get the sense that he's far too dictatorial for anyone to step too far out of line. Again I wonder what our relationship was like. If he tried to control me or if we were partners.
"Successful day?" Aiden asks, surveying my sweat soaked body.
Lexington nods. "Show him, Your Majesty," he says.
I notice that he's much more deferential with Aiden around. I guess he knows who's really the boss around here.
