Summer glanced at Leon briefly, her gaze reflecting confusion, then understanding. He was grateful for her quick wits. She turned to face the lord and his daughter while her guards stepped back.

Playing along, she curtsied. Lady Skylar's curtsy had been a delicate, feminine movement. Summer's curtsy, on the other hand, had a fluidity of motion and a steadiness that spoke of strong muscles and a robust countenance.

Lord Hodges' brows raised as he eyed Summer from the top of her wild curls to the toes of her dust covered sandals. Lady Skylar's smile froze.

"Lady Summer," Leon said. "Lord Hodges and his daughter, Lady Skylar."

Summer nodded gracefully. "A pleasure."

Lord Hodges got over his initial surprise and smiled. "The pleasure is ours, Lady Summer. If you will forgive me, I'm afraid I do not recognize you."

"That's because we've never met," Summer said with a smile.

"Ah, yes. Of course," Lord Hodges said. "Although your parents shouldn't have kept such a lovely young lady all to themselves."

Summer's smile sharpened. She recognized, as did Leon, his attempt at finding out who she was without being too straightforward.

"Thank you for the compliment," Summer said without adding a word.

Leon felt a flare of amusement at the way Lord Hodges' smile tightened in frustration. After a few more pleasantries, during which Lady Skylar's contribution was minimal and uninteresting, the lord and his daughter moved on.

"Well, then," Summer said, watching father and daughter walk away, "that was...sudden."

"I apologize for springing this on you so abruptly. Of course, you're welcome to reject my offer."

She looked at him with a frown, "you mean... You were serious?"

"Of course."

"I thought you just wanted an excuse so that you can politely escape Lord Hodges' talons."

Leon cleared his throat to hide his smile. Talons, indeed.

"I admit it was a spur of the moment decision, precisely to do just that. But I am serious in taking you," he said. "if you want."

"Hmm." she looked forward, her profile was so delicate. Looking at it, Leon found it almost difficult to remember that she could take him down in a fight.

"What would happen if I refused?" she looked at him.

Leon wasn't sure he hid his wince in time. "I will have to find another partner."

"And that is bad?"

He heaved a deep sigh. "At the moment, I'd rather not do that. Choosing a lady could spark unfounded rumors and will throw me in the middle of matchmaking schemes by ambitious parents and daughters."

"Ah, I see. Taking me would be safer. No one will actually believe that little me would be a potential candidate for the position of your future spouse."

Leon noticed the mirth in her eyes, his lips twitched. "Precisely so. I hope you're not offended."

She gave an exaggerated sigh and put her wrist to her forehead, "Ah, you break my heart, your highness. My aspirations to be swept off my feet by a charming prince have perished unequivocally."

Leon chuckled, shaking his head at her. He sobered as a thought crossed his mind. "I must warn you. Some people might interpret your being my partner to the ball as...uh..."

She grinned, clearly amused at his loss of words. "They will think I am more than just a friend. I understand, and I don't particularly care about what strangers think." She shrugged. "I will never meet any of them again after I leave here."

Leon blinked, feeling as though her words were a splash of freezing water in the middle of winter. He knew that she would leave eventually. Of course, he did. So why did her words tighten his chest? He felt...lost. Forlorn?

Nonsense. He shook his head.

"Thank you for accepting the invitation, Lady Summer," he managed to say, then remembered how he'd acted earlier in her room. His anger was usually a cold, calculated thing. He wasn't used to running his mouth off when he was emotional. But Summer, he was beginning to realize, brought out unexpected things in him. And he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

He clasped his hands behind his back and turned to face her properly. "I apologize for the words I'd said earlier in your room."

She looked away with a careless shrug and a smile. Not a genuine one. "They were true, anyhow. I am a thief."

His guilt intensified. "You were put in a position where you had no other choice. There's a difference. You are one of the most honest people I know."

Her brows shot up, and she laughed. "Oh, well. I'll take that as a compliment." She cleared her throat, a smile still lingering on the edges of her lips. "I do owe you an apology, as well. This morning... I should have told you beforehand about the note. Maybe it has cost you an opportunity that won't repeat itself. I'm sorry."

He just realized he'd been more bothered by the danger she put herself in rather than the fact that they'd lost an opportunity to apprehend the criminals. He frowned at her. "That was quite reckless of you."

She waved him off. "Yes, yes, I know. In my defense, I was dying of boredom around here. I have no idea how long the investigation will last. Hell, I don't even know why that damned artifact is so valuable."

She cursed like no lady he knew. If his mother heard her, she'd be horrified. His lips twitched. Then her words registered and he tried putting himself in her position. Certainly, he would pull his hair out if he had nothing to do all day.

She was an honest person, he had said. And he believed it. He also trusted her with his life, he realized, unsurprised.

"Would you like to find out more about the artifact?" he asked.

Her eyes sparked with curiosity, but she narrowed them at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"I thought it was supposed to be a secret?" she said. "Something only a select few should know."

"It is," he admitted. "But one of the privileges of being a prince is the ability to determine who those select few are."

She grinned, almost jumping on her feet. "So you are serious."

"Yes," he said with a put on sigh, he was rather enjoying her childlike eagerness.

"I am honored." She bowed deeply until the guards who had been lurking in the background glanced at her. "Your Royal Highness."

And she was back to being irritating. "Just shut up, Summer. Come along."

She trailed behind him, laughing merrily.

*** ***

The artifact was usually placed in the royal museum, alongside several of the kingdom's most treasured items of considerable historical and artistic value. The museum, situated in the city just beyond the castle walls, was open to the public most days.

After retrieving the artifact, however, Leon had made the decision to keep it within the castle walls. No one knew, except for very few people, that the artifact displayed in the museum was a fake replica of the real one. To help that assumption, the museum was placed under heavy guard.

So far, there had been no other attempt at breaking into the museum. The guard was unusually heavy, so that might've been a deterrent, but Leon kept in mind the possibility that the thieves knew the displayed artifact was fake. Especially given the suspicion that there was a mole in the castle feeding them information.

"Where are we going?" Summer asked as she fell into step beside him. The two guards he had assigned her were still trailing them, far enough to give them privacy but close enough to render aid if needed. Not that Leon and Summer weren't more than enough to take care of themselves. The guards were more of a massage than anything else; Summer was still under his protection.

"To see the curator," Leon replied. "He happens to be in the castle today."

The curator was in the underground chambers, beyond several layers of security and guards. The sconces lighting the underground hallway cast long, dancing shadows on the stone walls and floor.

"Why is a curator underground?" Summer asked, her voice echoed in the long, empty corridor.

"This is where the artifact is kept," Leon replied.

She looked at him with raised brows. "I thought it was in the museum."

"An imitation is in the museum," Leon said. "The real artifact will stay here until the threat is removed."

"Good idea."

They reached the double doors at the end of the hallway where two guards were stationed. Leon opened the door and looked over his shoulders at Summer's guards. "Wait here."

"Yes, your highness."

The room they entered was brightly lit with wall sconces and lanterns. Several tables were settled about in a haphazardly fashion. Manuscripts, rolls and stacks of books were strewn all over every available surface and a good part of the floor.

The only hint of order in the room was in a corner where, on a round, high table, the artifact was set beneath a dome of glass.

The man hunching over a table near the artifact was of medium height, his brown hair generously streaked with white, short with wayward strands in every which way. An unruly short beard, colored in the same brown and gray of his hair, covered the bottom part of his lined face.

"Robins," Leon said out loud.

The man looked up, his bushy brows lowered in concentration over what he'd been reading. A pair of spectacles perched on his nose. A smile lit up his face the very next moment and made his warm brown eyes twinkle with a fervor for life that had always been there for as long as Leon knew the old man.

"Your highness!" Robbins greeted, his voice hoarse with age.

Dressed in a gray tunic and black trousers, with a knee-length white coat embroidered in silver. He looked exactly as Leon remembered him looking since his childhood, when his late father took him and Victor to the museum to inspect the latest works of arts or historical discoveries, or when Robbins visited with riveting tales of a past long gone. Robbins was a constant in Leon's life.

"I've been waiting for your visit," Robbins said, moving through the stacks of books on the floor with an agility not betraying his age, his protruding gut preceding him. He bumped into a stack of books but kept walking. "The king and the queen have already visited. You're late, young man."

Summer, observing the room with open interest, had blended in the background without even trying to. Hmm. Perhaps Robbins would have an idea on that talent of hers.

"I apologize, old man." he replied with a warm smile. Robbins was one of the few people Leon made allowances for.

Robbins laughed, a deep belly sound, adjusting his spectacles that kept sliding down his nose, which magnified his eyes. "oh, well. You are here now."

As Robbins stood before him and patted his arm, Leon turned slightly to include Summer in their conversation. "Allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine."

Robbins blinked, then furrowed his brows. "Oh dear, I did not see you there."

"Robbins, Lady Summer."

The old man looked at Summer for a few moments before smiling. "A pleasure to meet a friend of the prince. A rarity I must admit, Lady Summer."

Summer smiled, glancing at Leon with shrewd amusement. "The pleasure is all mine. Just Summer, please. And yes, I do agree, it is very rare for brooding, taciturn people to make friends, even when they are royalty."

Robbins laughed again. "Indeed. You did very well, your highness. Having friends who are not afraid to point out your shortcomings is a feat to be cherished."

Leon sighed. He should've known the two of them would get along well. Too well for his own good.

"My shortcomings aside, I've brought Summer here to see the artifact," Leon said. "She's the one who found it."

"Ah, yes, yes," Robbins said, looking at Summer with intent. "I heard the story. I must thank you, young lady, the artifact is too precious an item to be left in the hands of miscreants. Precious and dangerous."

"Is that so?" Summer said, glancing at the harmless artifact in the corner with clear doubt.

"Summer would love to know more about the history of the artifact, Robbins," Leon said, "I thought you'd be the most qualified person for that."

Robbins' eyes brightened as he rubbed his hands together. "Indeed! How delightful. The artifact is such a well guarded item that not many people even know of its presence. I would love to share what little knowledge I have of it with a young, fresh mind."

"I would be honored to listen," Summer said, sharing an amused glance with Leon.

Keeping knowledge a secret was torture for Robbins, even dangerous knowledge such as that of the artifact. He was of the mind that knowledge not shared was useless.

Robbins gestured to a table near the artifact, surrounded by four chairs that Leon hadn't noticed amidst the chaos in the room. They sat down. Leon and Summer across from Robbins.

Robbins scooted forward. He pulled a crumpled handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his spectacles before putting them back on. They slid down the bridge of his nose immediately.

"Let's see. What exactly do you know about the Artifact, young lady?" Robbins asked.

"Nothing, except that it's of great value to the kingdom," Summer said. Leon leaned back and watched them, amused. He didn't know who was more excited, Robbins, for sharing his knowledge, or Summer, for sating her curiosity.

Robbins' face brightened further if at all possible. "The artifact is rumored to be thousands of years old, even more. It has been inherited by generations in the Springwood kingdom."

Summer leaned forward. "Has it always been in Springwood's hands?"

Leon was curious as well. After what Summer's mother had said, that the artifact was theirs to begin with, whoever they were. He wondered if it had always been Springwood's possession.

"In our records, the artifact has been lost for a period of time before it was found a few centuries ago."

Found? Or stolen? Leon wondered. Hmm.

"Some call it the Gift Medallion. It is said to amplify a person's natural gifts," Robbins said. "Take his highness for example, he is known to be one of the strongest people in the kingdom and beyond, physically speaking."

Leon shifted in his seat. If only Robbins used another example.

"Inflated rumors," Leon mumbled.

Robbins wagged a finger at him. "Not a word. In theory, if he were to wear the medallion, his physical strength would become preternatural. He might be able to knock down stone walls with his bare fists."

"Or bears," Summer added with a sparkle of humor in her eyes. Leon gave her a long look.

Robbins laughed. "Or bears. In a way, it is believed to unlock one's magical abilities."

Leon could tell Summer was skeptic. "So one just has to wear it?"

"Obviously not. Our records of the artifact are very sparse and old, some of them might have been forged, but it is agreed upon that a certain set of conditions has to be met for the Medallion to activate. What those conditions are, no one knows for certain. There are several theories, one of them states that people belonging to certain blood lines are more susceptible to the Gift Medallion's effects. They are called the Blessed blood."

"Blessed blood..." Summer mumbled, making a face. She was clearly as dubious about all of this as Leon was.

Robbins continued. "Some say that the Royal line of Springwood is one of those with Blessed blood. It is even said that the very first Springwood ruler was powerful enough thanks to the Medallion."

Summer raised her brows at Leon. Leon sighed. "Just theories. Most likely pushed by our ancestors to make the royal line appear stronger than regular people so the latter would be more open to being ruled by them. If we really could activate the Medallion, we would've done that by now."

"Always a sceptic." Robbins chuckled.

"A realist. I guess my mind is too limited to believe in magic," Leon replied.

Robbins laughed and adjusted his spectacles. "Well, I am not the only believer. You do realize that most of the royal unions made in our world are based on the Blessed blood theory."

"How so?" Summer asked.

"People who subscribe to the Blessed blood theory believe that certain combinations of bloodlines produce stronger offspring. Let's take his majesty the king, for example. Her Majesty, Queen Serene, belongs to a strong line of nobility in the East. Over there, they call it a name other than Blessed blood, but it is the same theory. Blessed bloodlines. So marriages in royal or noble circles have always been results of matching Blessed bloodlines."

Summer glanced at Leon. He nodded. "Ria, too, was from an old family that held such beliefs."

"Do you believe in that as well?" She asked.

"No. Like I said, I think these are just old stories, even though some old-fashioned people like to believe otherwise," Leon said.

Robbins wagged his finger at Leon again. "You need to open your mind, young man."

"Until I see proof of the contrary, I will just keep being close-minded," Leon said. He leaned forward. He'd come here so Summer could learn about the Artifact, but also so he could pick Robbins' brain about the theft.

"Why do you think the Northerners want the Artifact?" he asked the older man.

Rubbing frowned, adjusting his spectacles. "Hmm. So Snowridge's involvement has been confirmed?"

"Mostly," Leon said.

Robbins sighed. "A multitude of reasons, I imagine. You realize that before the current political systems were put into place, the continent looked very different. For once, the south of Snowridge and the north of Springwood have been one nation. Mind you, this was thousands of years ago. And as much as I want to believe the contrary, the records we have in Springwood have been written by Springwood historians, so they are bound to have a certain degree of bias."

He fell quiet, humming to himself. After a moment, he shrugged. "If you want to ask me who the Artifact belongs to originally? I can't give you a clear answer without compromising my ethics. But I can tell you that it has been in Springwood's hands for as long as the kingdom has been. That is almost a thousand years."

"Does it matter?" Summer asked. She was looking at Leon. "Does it matter to whom the artifact belongs?"

"No," Leon said. "It's the property of the kingdom at this moment, and it must be protected as such. It doesn't matter if it is a piece of metal or a work of art."

Summer cocked her head aside. Leon waited for what she had to say, but she just looked back at Robbins.

"You do actually believe that people could have magical abilities," Summer said at one point, seeming genuinely curious.

Robbins laughed. "Oh, I know I must seem like a crazy old man whose head is in the clouds, but yes, I do believe in magic." His eyes sparkled. "You can call it magic. I call it gifts. Every human being has gifts. Talents. Some people might recognize their talent and work on it, others might live their entire lives not knowing that one thing in which they excel, whether for lack of experience or belief.

"There are artists who could paint a resemblance of a person so vividly, you would think the painting was alive, while another person cannot draw to save their life. There are people who can understand and manipulate the laws of nature to develop medicines, while others cannot understand even the most rudimentary of physics or chemistry. Some people can wield a sword like another limb. Others can cook the most heavenly of dishes out of scattered ingredients. Why shouldn't all those talents be considered magic?"

"So that is what magic is according to you?" Summer asked, leaning her cheek on her hand, a small smile playing on her lips.

Robbins leaned forward. "Extraordinary talents by ordinary people. That is how my mother used to describe it to me. And I tend to agree. Why limit ourselves to set definitions when we can make our own? I bet you have some gifts of your own, young lady. Gifts that others might find extra-ordinary, but that come naturally to you. Who's to say they're not magic?"

Leon smiled. "She does."

Robbins' eyes widened. "Oh?"

"She can disappear when she wants to," Leon said.

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't disappear," Summer rolled her eyes.

"You might as well," Leon said.

"You're more likely to be gifted, since you're of Blessed blood," Summer said with a hint of teasing.

Leon grunted. Now she found another source of teasing.

"What else is there to say about the artifact?" Leon asked Robbins, who was all too glad to regale them with more outlandish stories about the medallion and magic and powers of a time long past.

--- ---- ---

Thoughts?

I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Don't forget to vote and comment.

Also, if you notice any mistakes, please let me know! I appreciate it.

Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.