Only your hangover

Waking up was rather unpleasant. Thankfully your windows were closed so no light was able to get into the room. That didn't stop your head from pounding and your stomach wanting to be outside you however. Apparently your internal organs were upset at your attempt to **** them last night.

You took in a breath and with it pulled some of your magic into you head. It wasn't really a spell, in that you had no designs on the magic itself. One of your previous teachers had told you that magic itself will heal you if you let it flow freely throughout your body. After getting the sorts of general injuries common to kid and seeing them heal in front of your eyes, you started to experiment. Testing how the magic actually healed you. Was it simply accelerating the natural process or was it functioning off your DNA. While the obvious way to test it would be to cut off some part of your body and see if it regrew or just scared over, you didn't want to test it out that badly. So you did the next best thing. You took a candle and burned the hair off your the back on your hands. The fact your hair didn't grow at an insane pace meant that magic wasn't controlling its growth. You pushed magic into your other hand and the hair didn't start growing so logically it wasn't just accelerating natural processes.

After a few years you had actually figured it out. The magic was actually obeying you there was no 'natural' magical healing. After seeing one of your instructors hurt themselves and heal it leaving a red mark behind you asked why they hadn't finished the process, and they said that no magic could totally heal an injury. That made it click. You learned to heal on your own and understood the biological process of an injury so your magic, operating as an extension of your subconscious understanding totally repaired your injuries. Naturally you'd spent some time confirming this, mostly by asking every staff member what happened when they healed themselves and they all gave slightly different answers.

You let out your breath. The magic didn't operate instantly and it made your brain itch so you had to think of something other than it to distract yourself. But now your headache as well as your nausea were gone.

You stretch and open your closet to pull out a tunic and pants. Since the next two days were going to be spent in a carriage riding to the capital you selected clothes focusing on comfort, thick pants that would cushion any bumps on the road and a light shirt that would allow some air through. You didn't know how stuffy the carriage could get, especially if Anastasia intended to get handsy again.

Now dressed you opened the curtains to check out what time it was. With you room facing the rising sun you got to see that it wasn't yet dawn but, from the soft glow, it would be soon. You actually originally worked on your little brain cleaning trick to stop yourself from getting tired. You'd never gone more than a day without sleep just in case the spell has an side effects like stopping you from remembering how to sleep. No point getting reliant on a spell when you don't need to.

You turned to your rooms door and stepped outside. One of the staff members was standing by the door. You wondered if she had been there the entire time since being told to make sure no one disturbed you.

"Good morning young Master Christopher. I hope you slept well." She smiled at you.

"Yes thank you." You smile back at her. "Is anyone else awake?" You doubt she'd know but your father might have left a message with her for you.

"Not yet young Master. Some breakfast has been prepared for you if you need something to help after last night revelries." She must be referring to the hangover you just cured yourself of.

"No I fixed it with some magic. Thank you for letting me know though." You wave her off, you might be average but even you can handle that much on your own. "I'll be in the courtyard." You smile at her and make your way there. Over the last two years you had gotten used to waking up and stretching for a bit.

When you reached the courtyard your wooden practice sword was waiting for you. You were unsure about using metal one since when they failed they tended to turn into shrapnel. The staff had also gotten used to your routine and had it ready for you each morning. It was going to be a real shock to your system when they were gone and you had to do this sort of thing yourself.

You take it in hand and start to run through your forms. You being slowly to wake up your muscles but as they warm up you being to send magic though your limbs. From how it was explained to you there were two way to change your physical attributes. You could diffuse magic though your limbs themselves, effectively giving them limitless resources to work with and healing any damage that use may cause. Or you can wrap magic around the exterior of your limbs, which took the strain off them entirely letting them operate at a much high level than diffusion at the cost of any damage occurring not being healed.

Since you understood the biology of your limbs you knew that diffusing though every single cell was redundant. It was better to wrap bands around your bones to stop them breaking or fracturing, sending threads through your muscles and tendons to heal tears and hold them together, coating only a single layer of skin and reinforcing your veins to keep blood moving and seal any injuries.

The downside of both of these techniques are pretty simple. Become reliant on the magic and your muscles don't develop. It took you a while to figure that out, your muscles stopped growing and began to reduce in size after you first figured the tricks out. It was another reason you used threads for your muscles, it meant they still had to be used and develop.

You sped up the shifting in forms as you sent out the magic. You kept going, picking up speed until you reached the limit. Not your limit the swords. Any faster and it might catch on fire from the friction.

You spend ten minutes running through the forms before you and your muscles are ready for the day.

"You're fast." The comment came from Edin and surprised you. Over the last few days he'd developed a knack for finding you alone, though you usually sensed him coming. You had been so focused on the forms and controlling your flow of magic you weren't paying attention to your surroundings. That was a rather glaring problem you had to work on immediately.

"Thanks." You accept the compliment even if it wasn't sincere. You were perfect aware of your averageness. "How are you feeling?" You put the sword away and walk over to him. Much like you he was wearing a thin shirt, though like all of his clothes it was loose. Though his pants seemed tighter than his normal fair. Probably to make the long sitting that was coming more comfortable.

"F-fine just a bit of a headache." He brushed some of his long hair out of his face as he say it, covering his head a little, so likely a bit more than he was letting on.

You put him not curing it down to his lacking of understanding. You considered teaching him a little but it wouldn't be quick and you imagine the Academy will explain it better than you could anyway so you just smile at him. "You did drink a bit." You take a seat on a bench near you and wave him over.

He approaches then hesitates. "Y-yeah. um. About the um. Do you remember much?" He was clearly edging around what happened with Anastasia. You certainly don't blame him for his momentary treachery, especially since he tried to make up for it and help you afterwards.

"Not much just that we talked and drank a lot." He was clearly embarrassed and you saw no reason at all to embarrass him further.

"Oh-ah ok." He sounded both relieved and disappointed so maybe he was expecting a thank you for trying to help. Something you weren't inclined to give since he was just making up for his actions. He did at least sit down to join you. As he did you noticed that due to his tighter pants you were able to see that it wasn't just his hips that had grown. His ass in the tight pant was much bigger and firmer than you thought he would have.

"Do you practice much?" You asked, from his ass he must work out in some way. He looked over at you and slide a little closer to you. Your hips were almost touching reminding you of how willing your eyes had been in their gazing. Hopefully he hadn't noticed, you really didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"Not really. Never been very good with swords. I'm much better at enchantments." He looked over at you then his eyes flicked down at your hips touching. "Anastasia did show me how to stay healthy though. She said it would help me look good." He smiled shyly before turning to look ahead.

The two of you looked out over the courtyard enjoying each others company. From your seat you can see the forest stretching out before you. The estate was on a hill so you were able to look over the top of the tree and get a surprisingly expansive view. The sun was just starting to come over the estate behind you and caught the mist rising from the trees.

"I am going to miss this." You wistfully comment as for a moment the forest is illuminated. Leaning back to enjoy the sight. You used to think the glow from the mist looked like fire. Now, after all your time around magic and aura it looked like the entire forest was alive radiating a golden light.

"Wow." Edin breathed out. He leaned back and accidentally put his hand against yours. He froze and glanced at you but you didn't really care so made no comment. He relaxed and the two of you watched as the run burned off the forest mist.

"Young Master Christopher young Master Edin?" The voice came from one of the staff members, no doubt here to collect you for goodbyes. You nodded to them and they returned to whatever they were doing before being sent for you.

You sucked in a breath and blew it out. "The capital awaits." You stood up waiting for Edin to join you.

"Yeah." He stayed seated so you started walking figuring he wanted so more time to look at the scenery, hard to blame him it was difficult to leave since you know it might be some time before you see it again. "Hey Christopher." You turned and saw him bashfully running his hands together. "I just wanted to say, about last night, um. You're my first friend as well."

You smiled at him. "Thanks Edin." He looked like he was on the verge of saying something else but didn't. Presumably he was struggling to decide if he should mention his betrayal since you told him you had no memory of it. "Lets go, I'm sure the princess will want to be off quickly."

With that the two of you left the courtyard and made your way to the front of the estate. As you went you ducked into the kitchen and wolfed down some of the left overs from last night making sure to avoid anything alcoholic.

When you and Edin reached the exit you saw your father standing just inside the door waiting for you. Edin hung back as you went over to him.

Rather than say anything he held out his hand. In it was a ring. Gold with a band of black around the middle. It looked very plain, no family crest on it or any sort of imagery. You then relaxed your vision to actually look at it and were surprised that it while it did some magic that magic consisted of some dot running along the black band.

Not sure what this was you took it out of your fathers hand. You felt his aura flinch when you did and looked at him concerned. His eyes were watering. He sucked in a breath. "Your mother said it was yours." Neither he nor anyone else had said barely more than a few words about your mother in all of your eighteen year so he had all of your attention. "Said that on your eighteenth I was to give it you and that you would understand some day." Tears were fall from his face.

You'd wondered why he hadn't found someone else and now it was so obvious it was almost insulting to him that you didn't already know. He still loved her with everything he had. "I wish I met her." You say wrapping the ring in your hand.

"Yeah me too. She'd have been so proud of you." He seemed to regain his composure for a moment before he lost it and started crying. You wrapped him in a hug and even though you'd never met her, even though you to this day remembered your mother and father from your previous life, you cried for the one you'd never get to know.

After, you weren't sure how long, you felt Edin approach and delicately put a hand on your shoulder in support. You pulled back from your father who looked to have almost stopped crying. You put your hand over Edin's and smiled at him. "Thanks." He smile back and pulled his hand away.

"Make sure you wear it. Your mother hated jewellery, said it got in the way during fights. But that, that she always kept close." He smiled at the memories and you looked at the ring again. The magic still showed the dots, twenty in total evenly spaced around the band. You ran a finger over it but felt nothing. It looked too small your any of your fingers and before you could asking for some string Edin presented you with some.

"If I need to keep my hair out of my eyes." He bashfully said still offering it to you.

"Keep this up and I have to find a way to make it up to you." You take the string from his hands. As your fingers touch his hand he smiles a little then looks away from you. He was very easy to embarrass.

You loop the ring around the string and tie it around your neck. It felt comfortable. Like it was supposed to be there. Oddly it didn't feel like the feeling was entirely yours. You looked at the ring again but there was no magic beyond the dots and they were just decorative.

"You two best hurry, the princesses are already waiting for you." Your father put a hand on your shoulder. "You've no idea how much you are going to amaze people."

It felt a little patronizing but he was your father and was supposed to think you were better than you actually were. "Love you dad." You said as you and Edin left the house and walked down to the carriage.

Just as he had said Anastasia and Isabelle were standing by the carriage. Isabelle looked oddly subdued but you weren't complaining, a two day trip with her was going to be if nothing else stressful. Anastasia on the other hand looked like she was about to die. She had numerous illusions to project the same appearance she had before the night of drinking but you could see through those like glass. Her eyes were red and sunken, her cheeks hollow, her lips looked dry and she was doing her best to only look at shadows and avoid light.

"Ready to leave." You say quietly.

"Voice sore?" Isabelle asked much louder getting very slightly flinches from both Anastasia and Edin.

"No. Just don't want to be loud." You answer at the same volume you started with. "But if we don't go soon it might be a three day trip."

Isabelle looked like she wanted to say something else loudly but Anastasia got ahead of her. "Yes. Christopher join me in the front." She put a hand on the carriage's step and climbed inside. Isabelle looked annoyed at her sister but kept quiet.

You hadn't actually looked at the carriage all that much, too occupied with lets be honest, a very attractive woman who was lavishing you with attention. Up this close you were surprised by how plain it looked. No garish adornments, no extravagant carvings, just a rather plain wooden carriage.

You joined Anastasia in the front and saw the carriage's trick. The outside may be plain but the inside was lavish. You lean back to look into a window and after relaxing your eyes saw the illusion. Looking inside a window it looked like a basic carriage. behind the illusion the interior was covered with finery. Soft cushions, a wide seat and a surprising amount of both head and foot room. You could actually stand up in it without grazing the ceiling.

Anastasia was sitting on the bench doing her best to look serene. You check the illusion again and see a muffler spell so no one outside the carriage would hear anything inside it. Despite your best intentions your mind immediately went to all the ways that muffling could be used by a health man and woman.

Anastasia let out a huff and you realized that you were standing in the doorway. "Sorry." You whisper and close the door taking a seat as far from her as you can. She is hungover and you doubt she'd be even close to willing to put up with you flirting or anything else.

You hear a knocking and look out the window to see the carriage begin to move. You don't feel any inertia from the movement so maybe you didn't have to bother with cushioned pants after all.

"I need to lay down." She said then spun and put her head in your lap looking up at you. Then again the pants might have been a good idea.

"You don't need the illusion." You comment because all the mental faculties that should be shutting you up were too busy trying to keep your blood every where but the place her head was resting against.

She froze and glared at you. "I was too hungover to focus on them." She say as she rolled over to look away from you. You did see her drop the illusions though.

You don't know what to do with your hand so you just sit there trying to pretend this wasn't happening. Which led you to wonder why this was happening. This seemed an insane acceleration of their relationship. It might be possible that she didn't want Isabelle to see her hungover but she could have had Edin present. You weren't sure if she was aware of whatever Isabelle's intentions were concerning you.

Perhaps this is just an extension of the flirting she had done previous. Since you had spent little time together she was trying to speed up your relationship, encourage loyalty beyond the **** contract with physical affection.

Perhaps it was because of the contract. She didn't think of you as any form a threat because of it. Though she must be aware that it only had a latcher compulsion spell to suggest you obey her, even if you didn't nullify it it wasn't very strong. Unless there was something about the contract you hadn't understood and you were under its control.

Considering the situation the easiest way to test if you were being controlled would just be to hurt her. If you were unable to do that than it is likely you missed a part of the contract's magic and were under her control. If you were you would have just hurt the princess and proven you aren't under her control, there is no way that doesn't end ugly for you.

While you were pondering this Anastasia had drifted to sleep and you had unconsciously drifted your hands to her. One very gently stoking her hair, the other resting on her stomach. Her hair was silky and her stomach was soft but had some firmness of muscle beneath her skin. If she woke up or otherwise became aware of your touching she made no move to displace your hands.

Seeing her sleeping like this... Well you thought back to your ideas about the contract. Either her efforts to speed up your relationship were working or the contract was working. Looking down at the peacefully sleeping princess you doubted you'd ever be able to hurt her.