Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

Bernard and Ronan were sitting in the study and playing a game similar to chess. Light jazz music was playing in the background, and the scent of rain permeated the air. The window was open, so they could listen to the sounds of the storm outside. Rainstorms were becoming less frequent as the month ended. Zeph and Lili will start school at the start of next week, and the two grandparents were discussing their future plans.

"Will you continue to stay with us or do you plan on moving into your villa once the semester starts?" Bernard moved his piece forward and blocked Ronan's advance.

"We originally planned on moving to the villa once my wife arrived, but plans have changed." Ronan leaned back and rubbed his chin while he thought about his next move. "Sharon found out that Genevieve is pregnant. Lili's going to have a little brother." He moved a piece and knocked one of Bernard's off the board.

Bernard's eyes widened. "Congratulations my friend," he said while raising his glass of brandy. Ronan joined him, and they toasted to the good news.

Ronan smiled. "With that said, it would be a shame to employ people to manage the villa with only me and Lili living there. If you don't mind, I'd like to extend our stay here."

"Of course you can. You're both welcome to stay as long as you like. I have plenty of room here." Bernard moved one of his pieces to the far side of the board and knocked off one of Ronan's.

"It won't be too long. We're making an arrangement so that Genevieve can join Sharon when they come here. Afterward, I'll head back to the capital to assist my son. Sharon, Lili, and her mother will stay at the villa, while we deal with the problems in the capital." Ronan moved a piece to an open space, hesitated, then placed it closer to Bernard's pieces.

"How is the situation in the capital?" Bernard moved his piece to eliminate the one Ronan just moved. His friend's face darkened.

Ronan sighed. "Good move." He leaned forward and studied the board. "The public is filled with anti-noble sentiment. There are several small groups denouncing the behavior of the aristocracy. Some of the dirty deals came to light. I just don't want my grandchildren getting mixed up in anything if the situation gets worse."

Bernard saw his friend make a brilliant defensive move. "Very nice. Now I'll have to think of a new strategy. Do you remember that reporter problem we had?"

"Of course," Ronan answered.

Bernard told Ronan about Eli's investigation. "Do you think they might be connected?"

Ronan scratched his chin. "It may be. From what I can tell, the whole situation is aimed at keeping the nobles distracted. Since Asperitus has little strife, they might have tried to distract you this way instead. Not all dukedoms are as peaceful as yours. The reason may be the fact that you abolished all other noble positions in Asperitus, leaving you the only lord in the entire duchy. Much of the unsavory practices done by aristocrats have been performed by the lesser nobles. That doesn't mean the other dukes can escape responsibility. After all, they allowed those under them to run rampant. In some cases, like the Kravich duchy, they actively looked the other way while taking bribes."Ronan's voice took an edge to it.

"No need to tell me about the aristocracy's corruption. After what happened to my father, I've done my best to keep nobles out of Asperitus, despite the demands of the council. My adoption of a democratic council for each major city and their surrounding areas have proven to be very effective. Using scrying and truth spells does wonders for politics. It makes scandal and corruption investigations easy to resolve." Bernard smirked.

"True, if only it was legal to use on nobles." Ronan harrumphed.

"The Congress of Nobles would never allow it. They want to protect their interests after all. Well, the only reason it works here is that I have absolute authority over the duchy. The populace also supports its use because it keeps their politicians honest. Bernard moved a piece forward. "By the way, I win."

Ronan stared at the board and blinked a few times. He inspected it once, then twice, and finally a third time. "Damnit!"

Bernard laughed loudly. "That means you have to eat the leftovers from Bianca's new pizza recipe." He looked at his friend and smirked.

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Lili was lying in bed belly down while video chatting with her friend. Once in a while, her feet would kick back in forth in the air while they talked about something funny. The image on her tablet depicted a young blond girl her age. She had green eyes, slightly tan skin, and pointy ears.

Ivy Alcott was a half-elf. Her father was a marquis in the Phillips Dukedom. She and Lili met during a banquet and became close friends. They weren't able to visit each other often, because her father's work needed him to stay in the dukedom. Now, she was calling Lili to catch up and ask about a certain rumor she heard. They talked about what each other had been doing lately. Lili said she was going to have a baby brother, and Ivy congratulated her. Eventually, Ivy decided to ask the question that's been on her mind for the past week.

"I heard an interesting rumor recently." Ivy hinted at her friend.

"Really, what kind?" Lili didn't actively participate in gossip, but Ivy always found the more interesting tidbits.

"There's a rumor going around that you're engaged to the heir of the Malston family." The half-elf stared at Lili, paying close attention to her reaction. Instead of embarrassment, she saw amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Zeph! No way." Lili scoffed." That rumor's been going around here too. We even had to deal with some reporters." She sighed. "He's not my fiancé. He's my rival," There was a hint of fire in her eyes when she said rival, and she raised her fist. "We're training together so we can get stronger."

A look of disappointment flashed across Ivy's face, but she quickly replaced it with a smile. "Is that so? I should have known that there was no way you'd have a fiancé." She smiled playfully. "Are you sure he's just a rival? There's nothing else going on?"

Without a delay, Lili answered, "We're friends too. Why do people keep thinking we're engaged? He's not even my type."

That got Ivy's attention. Lili never showed interest in boys before. "What's your type?"

Lili put her finger on her chin. "Well, he's got to be cute, needs to be a good cook, and he should take care of me whenever I want. He should also be smart and gentle."

Ivy laughed. "So...," she thought for a second to remember the Malston boy's name that Lily said, "What's wrong with Zeph? Is he ugly or dumb?"

Lili shook her head. "No, he's actually pretty smart. But he's not cute at all. He's got too many muscles. He's not ugly either. I guess you could call him handsome."

Ivy's eyes widened. "Handsome huh? Send me a picture. By the way, I thought you'd like a buff boyfriend, seeing as how you idolize your grandpa."

"Nope. Grandpa and grandma said they loved each other because they complement what the other is missing. I'm gonna be super strong, so I need a gentle boyfriend." Lili spoke with confidence while she sent a picture of Zeph to her friend.

Ivy tapped on the message and saw the face of Zeph Malston. Something inside her changed. It was like a switch in her mind had been flipped. Deep black hair emphasized his silvery blue eyes. His face was on the cusp of masculinity as he was on the verge of adolescence. There was something about this boy that took her breath away.

Lily looked at Ivy curiously. Her half-elven friend was zoned out and staring at the screen. "Ivy, hello?" She tried to get her attention for almost a full minute.

When Lili shouted, Ivy finally recovered from her stupor. She looked at her friend and felt a little jealous. "Lili, do you believe in love at first sight?"

"I guess? My dad always says he fell in love with mom the moment he met her." Lilli's head tilted in confusion before she suddenly realized something. "Ivy, did you fall in love with Zeph?" She saw the girl blush bright red. "But you haven't even met him yet. How do you know you would even like him?"

It took a moment for Ivy to recover from her embarrassment. "I'm not even sure it's love. I just felt something when I looked at his picture. Like, I needed to meet him. I don't know. I've never felt like this before." Ivy put her hands on her cheeks and shook her head.

"Hmm, if you want to meet him, I can introduce you to him."

Ivy's eyes widened, and she stopped shaking her head. "Really! That would be great. When do you think it'll be?"

"Not long, just give me a minute." Lili got out of the bed and left her room.

"Why, what are you doing?" Ivy saw the background behind Lili change. It looked like she was going down a hallway.

"I'm going to introduce you to Zeph. He's in the other room."

"You're in the same house?" Ivy was confused.

"Yeah, I'm staying over at his mansion," Lili said like it was no big deal.

"You're living with him!" Ivy's mind blanked out for a second. All sorts of thoughts ran through her head, but she reminded herself that Lili was a blockhead when it came to romance. Suddenly, her perspective changed. A door opened, and she saw the boy from the picture drinking from a bottle of water. He was in a tank top, and she could see his muscles. She covered her eyes as her face turned bright red.

Zeph was taking a break from practice with Bianca when he saw Lili barge into the room holding a tablet. There was a bright red blonde girl covering her eyes on the screen. Semara and Bianca were in the room and also saw the odd scene. They didn't know what to do. Lili broke the silence.

"Hi, Zeph!" She lifted the tablet so that the screen was eye level with him.

"Uhm, hi Lili. What's up?" He didn't know how to respond in this situation.

"Remember that favor you owe me?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I want you to talk to my friend. She wanted to meet you." Lili handed him the tablet.

"Okay?" He tilted his head while he brought the tablet closer to his face. "Hi there, I'm Zeph." There was an awkward silence. The girl took a deep breath and composed herself.

"Hello, Zeph. My name is Ivy Alcott. I'm Lili's friend." Ivy's heart was beating really loud. She wanted to use proper etiquette and introduce herself eloquently, but she could barely manage to look calm at the moment.

"It's nice to meet you, Ivy, so what did you want to talk to me about?" Zeph waited for an answer.

Lili watched her fl.u.s.tered friend and laughed. Then she got impatient. The awkward silence wasn't helping, so she decided to answer for the half-elf. "Ivy thinks she might have fallen in love with you when I showed her your picture. Since we don't know much about love, I thought she should talk to you and see if she could figure anything out."

Zeph's eyes bugged out. Bianca and Semara had to cover their mouths to keep from laughing too loud, and Ivy screamed. "Lili, why did you say that?"

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