I woke up with a strong urge to check on my barrier. There were no sounds of the alarm ringing but I felt a presence in my periphery even with my eyes closed.

  I carefully opened one eye to take a peek.

  Geoffrey was hovering just outside the barrier field, gazing at me with mild curiosity.

  "Good morning, my lady."

  I sat up and looked him straight in the eye. He was lucky I decided to peek before attacking.

  "Are you here to assassinate me, Geoffrey?"

  "Not today, my lady," he said calmly. "I was simply waiting for you to wake up."

  I didn't like the idea of him watching me in my sleep. Maybe I should extend the barrier to cover the entire room next.

  "I don't appreciate being watched while sleeping. I'd rather you just wake me up next time if you need me." It was best to maintain a polite relationship with him. There was something dangerous lurking under his packaging.

  He took a step back.

  "I will remember that."

  I stretched my arms above my head and took a look around. The barrier had stood the test of night—it still had some charge left, indicated by three stones that still glowed faintly where I had placed them on the bedposts.

  No assassin had come for me tonight. It was possible the last one was just a crime borne from grudge and opportunity.

  Geoffrey had the opportunity, certainly. Maybe he was testing my barrier, figuring out its weak spot. He did actually carve it. He could leave a backdoor. I gave him another once-over.

  "Why were you waiting for me to wake up?" I asked.

  "The breakfast is ready for you," Geoffrey continued. "And there is a visitor from the palace."

  I frowned. I didn't want to waste my day socializing when there was so much to read.

  "A visitor?"

  "Miss Agnes came early this morning."

  That wasn't so bad, I thought. Agnes would be quick if she wasn't planning to hover over me all day.

  "She tried to barge in the room. Insisting she's used to taking care of you."

  That sounded like Agnes alright. Geoffrey as threat vector went up in my estimation. It was no easy task to stop Agnes in her tracks.

  I slipped out of bed, making sure to carefully dismantle the barrier ward. It permitted this only if you were inside. I would have to destroy it if I slipped out without dismantling.

  I will have to research more sophisticated ward schemes later. Maybe a blood-based one, but then I would have to make my bed by myself.

  "Bring Agnes in fifteen minutes. Oh, and the breakfast too." I told the butler, dismissing him.

  One problem at a time.

  Agnes barged in exactly fifteen minutes later. I was dressed well in one of the baby blue dresses I got from the royal family. I expected to be summoned for battery duty eventually.

  "You're looking so cute," she began before her sharp eyes scanned me head to toe.

  "Turn around."

  "Good morning, Agnes."

  "Turn."

  I obeyed. Just to get it over with.

  She pulled my hair up with one hand and used the other to inspect my throat, her gentle precise fingers brushing against where I was wounded.

  "Hm."

  "So, am I healed now or not?"

  She tilted my chin toward the light coming through the window.

  "The tissue is healing quite well. No scarring, luckily."

  "I would have liked a token to remember it."

  Agnes stared at me.

  "You're quite dramatic for a four-year-old."

  Then her eyes went to the stones on my bedposts.

  Her eyes narrowed and she asked, "What is this?"

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Just a little something to keep me safe."

  She stepped closer to the bed to study the stones. I wondered how much she knew about structural magic. It seemed everyone knew more than I did.

  "You're learning structural magic?"

  "I am."

  "And you carved these yourself?"

  "No—I had Geoffrey do it for me."

  Agnes turned over one of the stones in her hand.

  "The butler?"

  "Mhmm."

  "Show me," she demanded. I decided to oblige.

  "Let me set it up. I have to disable it to get out right now." I told her and went to turn it back on. I didn't bother charging it more—it was still holding charge from last night.

  I beckoned her on.

  "Catch me if you can." I told her, lying in bed.

  Agnes stepped forward.

  The loud alarm rang instantly.

  Wincing slightly, I looked up. Geoffrey was standing by the door, his arms crossed.

  "Wow, that's very good," Agnes said, actually looking quite happy with my progress.

  "Thank you." I replied, feeling a bit shy at the praise. I felt my cheeks turn hot.

  She continued on, making me feel silly for having thought she was being nice. She was just being Agnes.

  "The design is primitive. But it's stable."

  "Well, thank you." I said, hopping out of bed.

  "You're welcome."

  She moved away from the bed and folded her arms.

  "You built this in a day?" There was no shock in her voice anymore. Perhaps my evaluation made sense to her now. I was of course an adult, in disguise.

  "Yes."

  Agnes glanced toward the doorway where Geoffrey stood quietly observing the scene.

  "She's a quick learner, isn't she?"

  "So she is," he replied.

  Agnes reached for my arm next.

  "Now show me the armlet."

  I was wondering how they were going to collect the charged rubies now that Agnes couldn't do it like a thief in the night. Maybe I would get some answers now.

  I extended my arm obediently.

  The rubies were shining, fully charged and ready to be replaced.

  Agnes unclasped it handily and slid it off me.

  I immediately felt the cluster unfurling as magic unfocused and began flowing around with ease once more. It had become a habit to always have this on. The last time I took it off it was to throw a big magical punch.

  She took out her toolkit and began picking the stones out one by one for storage.

  "What do you do with them?" I asked, hoping for some answers. The confrontation had to happen eventually.

  "They are stored in the palace reserves for use in emergency," she said simply. "You stressed them far more than expected. We will have to be more regular in replacing them."

  "What do you mean, stressed them?"

  "The rubies can only store a certain amount of energy before breaking in catastrophic ways," she said simply, pulling a small velvet pouch from her belt.

  Inside were several of the dull replacement rubies.

  Geoffrey quietly placed a small tray beside her without being asked.

  Agnes carefully set the dull rubies in the armlet.

  I watched the process with interest.

  "Keiran said the armlet was for regulating my magic output so I could use it like everyone else."

  "It is. It regulates your output and stores any overflow when you use magic."

  "I feel my magic clustering around it when I put it on. Even when I am not using magic."

  She gave me a look.

  "I didn't realise you could feel magic internally. Not many can."

  She wasn't going to be any help understanding what this actually did to my magic.

  Next time in the library, I was going to have to study magical foci.

  Agnes finished her work and clasped the armlet back on me.

  The magic flow immediately became disturbed, clustering around the armlet. I would get used to it soon enough, I thought.

  "There you go."

  She tapped the band once more and looked at Geoffrey, holding the pouch of dull rubies out to him.

  "Make sure to replace them every day. I will collect when I visit."

  She ordered him like he was a subordinate. She didn't give me the pouch to replace them myself.

  Geoffrey agreed readily, taking the pouch.

  Agnes moved toward the window and glanced out toward the garden.

  "Once you're fully healed, the palace requires your presence."

  Finally. I had known it wouldn't be so easy to get them off my back after all this fattening up.

  "For what exactly?" I played dumb, cocking my head to the side.

  "You know what."

  It didn't work.

  "The city's defensive systems require you," she continued matter-of-factly. "The nation benefits from your supplemental power."

  They did fine all this time without me.

  "Your neck will be healed completely by next week. We will begin then."

  I stared down at the armlet on my wrist. I stared out the window and thought about the library. The other mages risked death—at least being a battery was easy for me.

  Agnes finished gathering her tools. I watched her leave, thinking only of how to make the best of the time I had to myself.

  "You are healing well," she said. "Don't be reckless."

  "I am a good kid." I mocked her.

  Her eyes flickered to the ward stones around my bed.

  "That you are."

  She walked toward the door.

  "Rest well this week."

  "I will."

  Agnes left.

  I made my way to the library.

  The library felt invigorating in the morning, the filtered sunlight casting the reading nook in a soft, inviting glow.

  The books I had left in a pile the previous night were still waiting where I had abandoned them.

  Good. I was glad no one had cleaned up my curated selection.

  I sat cross-legged on the carpet again and pulled out one on the theory of magic.

  One week where my days were my own.

  I ran my fingers along the spine before opening it.

  I had to learn as much as possible.

  I flipped the book open and began reading.