Novels by summering

Together, they exited her temporary chamber inside the palace of the Castellans. The ceilings were high, reaching a thousand feet, decorated with thick thunder clouds that Clara couldn’t quite place if they were mere illusions or not. They navigated through silent halls, past numerous private chambers, until they reached the huge oak doors, leading to the grand ballroom. There were two guards stationed on both sides. As they bowed their heads, pulling the heavy doors open, Clara squeezed Alexander’s arm, her nails digging on the hand-tailored fabric. “Say, Prince Alexander,” she whispered beside him, barely opening her lips, “would you be so kind as to explain what that kiss five nights ago meant and the reason why you ran away as if I was a bee who stung your lips?”Clara could feel the tightening of his arm’s muscles under the layer of fabric. The prince’s jaw tightened and he looked at her narrowingly from the corner of his eyes. Oh, to be reminded of that night. Clara didn’t kno

Grunts and heavy, shallow breathing pierced through the deafening silence of the room. Bullets of sweat traveled down past Clara’s chin as she gripped on tight at the edges of the mirror’s frame. She grimaced as the Castellan’s chambermaid tightened the laced corset around her body. “A little more tight, Princess?” “No, no, please. That’s enough. Thank you.”Clara blew a loud breath through her mouth. The cursed fabric was like a tight vice around her lungs, rendering her incapable to breathe. The chambermaid stepped back and bowed her head and Holly took her place, holding the burgundy and gold ball dress that Clara would wear at the prince’s party. At the mere thought of the fourth prince, Clara’s cheeks were painted red in an instant. There were a lot of things playing in her head. Would Alexander like how she’d look in that fancy gown? That kiss.She heard from Holly that the two royal families decided to order a matching pair of attires for them.That kiss. But wasn’t the g

The night arrived, and so did the masses, turning it into a lively place. Young and old filled the streets with laughter and joy.Caelholme at night was a sea of sparkling lantern lights, a luscious breeze of food delicacies, and a music of sizzling fryers and boiling soups. Food stalls and carts that were not there during the day were now parked at the sides of the square. Tents had been set up along with plastic chairs and tables. It wasn’t the usual picture of Caelholme with people just in for a stroll around the town’s twisting cobbled streets, or to buy and sightsee around the shops, or to have a pleasant chit-chat with friends among fancy tea shops. The scene Clara was witnessing right now was a picture of unwinding, a time for people to vent off. Everybody else was there to simply have fun or get wasted just to forget the rest of their horrible day. Dressed in coarsely woven linen and wool fabric, Clara, Alexander, Maxwell, and Holly blended with the crowd. With Holly’s backg

“A charm is similar to an incantation or a spell; a practice believed to have magic power. It is not something tangible, but any sort of charm can be stored in an enchanter’s possession, may it be precious jewelry or some old photograph. Hiestorans first learned the craft of charm-binding during the Light Age…”Ever since Clara attended Professor Kendrick’s Charms and Relics class this afternoon, her eyes could not set themselves on anything but the girl sitting two rows down from her seat.The rest of the First Class had moved on from their slight ruckus upon the transferee’s arrival and now had shown disinterest in the new girl’s presence. But not Clara. Not when her tiny and petite frame knocked on the doors of her memory. The girl’s paper-white skin and rose blush set Clara keen to know her more. A spark of recognition flickered, but a heavy dark curtain prevented her from remembering.She leaned further to the right, knocking Holly sideways so that she could have a better look at

‘Did she just shut me out of the Royal Residence… where I have the right to go in and out?’ The two guards stared at him, both torn apart from letting him in to keeping the doors closed. Alex could barely process that the princess, who was head over heels for him, denied him entrance. “Alex, you princely prick!” The voice rang like a gong in Alex’s ears and that, too, made everyone stop to see who was mad enough to call such a name to the prince. Seeing it was only Maxwell, Prince Alexander’s right-hand man and royal advisor, the onlookers went about their ways.“Where have you been? I was looking for you,” Maxwell said as soon as he skidded to a stop in front of him. With the way he was breathing so heavily, he must have run a mile. Or he might be walking for hours and hours under the glare of the early morning sun.“And you know better not to worry about me.” Alex bit back a scoff. “It doesn’t matter. What do you have for me?”“King Lucian, your father, had sent his Orin this morn

Clara had barely squeezed herself inside the office when Professor Rhyb hastily banged the door shut. His fast-paced steps, sweating forehead, and shaking hands struck suspicion to the princess. Whatever it was which made him lock all the doors, shut the windows and block every possible exit, she wanted to know; she won’t take just a simple shrug to the topic as an answer.The woody scent and minty breath of lemons and herbal plants wafted around the closed quarters. Various healing instruments were filed inside the wooden cabinets, apart from pots of plants hanging around the hollow walls and littering the floor. His office was so much like the one found in Terralis, the home of earth-wielders like her. She had been in their palace’s Healers’ quarters before, and being in the sage’s office resembled it so much. Professor Rhyb was a satyr, a creature of the earth, but it was no surprise that Blaire would hire a non-air wielder like him. Their kind had mastered the practice of medicin