"Is she going to be okay?"
Malachi's voice was the first thing I heard. We had gotten to the infirmary, probably. I kept my eyes closed and my body as limp as possible.
"We won't know until we run tests," an elderly female voice said. "Just get her to a bed."
"How did this happen?" Malachi demanded. "One moment she was fine, the next she just dropped.
"We'll find out," the healer said. "Let me examine her."
I felt Malachi setting me down gently on a bed. His hands lingered for a second before he pulled away.
"Please wake up," he said quietly. So quietly I almost missed it. His voice wasn't commanding anymore. It was scared. "Please be okay. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."
He sounded genuinely terrified. Like it really mattered to him.
I almost opened my eyes then, but the rawness in his voice stopped me. If I opened my eyes now, he'd know I was awake. He'd know I'd heard him.
I kept my eyes shut.
"She'll be fine," the healer said. "You need to step back, Your Highness. I need to run a full assessment."
Malachi didn't move for a moment. Then I felt him stepping away.
"Do everything," he said. "Please. Find out what's wrong with her."
---
I woke up hours later to find the infirmary room dimly lit. Evening light was coming through the windows, golden and soft. I had fallen asleep mid-pretence.
Malachi was holding my hand.
He was sitting in a chair pulled close to my bed, asleep. His blonde hair fell across his face. He looked breathtakenly handsome.
"She's awake," Pearl said from the corner.
Malachi's eyes opened immediately. Completely alert.
"You're awake," he said. His voice eased up.
"What happened?" I asked, keeping my voice frail and confused.
"You collapsed," Des said, coming over to my bed. "Right in the middle of class."
"The prince brought you here," Pearl added, giving Malachi a cute look.
The healer appeared in the doorway. An older woman with kind eyes.
"You gave everyone quite a scare," she said, checking my pulse. "We ran some tests while you were resting. Full workup. It seems like a case of mana exhaustion but we'll know when we get the results tomorrow."
Malachi finally let go of my hand. I felt the loss immediately.
"Will she be able to return to classes?" he asked.
"We'll see what the tests show," the healer said. "For now, she needs rest."
Des and Pearl said goodbye. Malachi stayed some minutes, looking like he wanted to say something. Instead, he just squeezed my shoulder and left.
The next morning, the University's chief healer arrived.
After the assessment incidents, the University was paranoid about anything unusual. A first-year collapsing had them worried.
Master Aldus was tall and severe. He came in carrying a folder thick with papers and test results from the night before.
He read through the results slowly.
"Suspected condition is Mana Exhaustion," he said, reviewing a page. "but your physical health is looks fine. No signs of weakness or anything wrong."
He set the papers down and examined me directly. He checked my heart, my reflexes, my eyes. He held his hands over my body, magic flowing through them, scanning. His expression shifted from neutral to confused to baffled.
"Your reserves," he said finally. "How much do you have?"
"I'm ranked One star," I said quietly. "I tested as a weak mage."
He made a strange noise. "No. You're not."
I stared at him.
He pulled out a crystal from his pocket. "This measures magical saturation. Let me show you."
He walked over to a shelf in the infirmary where some magical artifacts were stored. He held the crystal near a staff.
The crystal glowed faintly.
"That staff has moderate magical power," he said. "This is what a two-star mage looks like."
He held the crystal near another artifact, a necklace with intricate runes.
The crystal glowed brighter.
"This one is stronger. A four-star level," he said. "Now watch."
He walked back to my bed and held the crystal near me.
The crystal went white. It was so bright I had to look away as it shattered into pieces.
Panic crashed through me.
"That's... that can't be right," I said, my voice shaking. Actually shaking, not even fake. "Maybe the crystal is bad. Or maybe I'm interfering with it somehow. I don't have that much power. I can't. I tested as one star."
"The crystal isn't bad. You're overflowing," Master Aldus said, staring at the broken pieces on the floor. "Your reserves are beyond full. Way beyond."
No," I said. "There has to be a mistake. It could be that I'm just... I don't know, stressed. Stress can affect readings, right?"
"Not like this," he said.
My mind was racing. If he told the professors about this, they'd investigate and figure out that I was lying about everything. And if they found out I had this much power, what else would they want to know?
I had to convince him he was wrong.
"I might just naturally talented," I said, trying a different approach. "But that doesn't mean I have tons of power. Maybe the crystal is measuring something different."
"That's possible," he said, but he didn't sound convinced.
He continued examining me. Everything about me was impossibly healthy.
But then he frowned.
"There's something else," he murmured, his hands moving through the air near my chest. "A resonance. Pure...intense... almost divine in nature. I've never seen anything like it."
I tried to think of what to say to throw him off, but nothing was coming to mind.
"Like what?" I finally spoke.
"Like something sacred is living inside your body," he said. "But that's impossible."
He spent another hour examining me, taking notes, muttering to himself. I lay there the whole time, panicking internally, trying everything I could think of to convince him that what he was finding didn't mean anything.
Finally, he stepped back.
"You're in perfect health," he said. "Everything checks out. But there's this resonance I can't identify. It's fascinating. A medical curiosity. I'll file a report with the professors."
Oh no. My blood went cold.
"Wait," I said. "Do you have to? I mean, maybe it's nothing. Maybe you should run more tests before you report anything."
He looked at me. "Why would you not want me to report what I found?"
"I just... I don't want to be a spectacle," I said, which was true. "Can't you just... keep it private?"
"Medical findings need to be documented," he said. "It's protocol. Don't worry. It's just a curiosity. Nothing to be concerned about."
But I was very concerned. Extremely concerned.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. My plan was simple. Fake an illness that will get me kicked out of A-class. Make Kai and others lose interest and disappear back into the background. Who knew that the University will send it's chief healer that only attended to high profile cases to check on me?
My plan had utterly backfired...
***
Within two days, I had visitors.
Master Kaine came by. Master Aldus returned with more questions. Pearl and Des visited everyday and some classmates also stopped by.
On the third day, Kai showed up.
He stood in the doorway for a moment, looking uncomfortable. His keen eyes scanned the room, took in the empty chairs. Then he stepped inside.
"Hey," he said. His voice was quieter than usual... awkward.
"Hi," I said, surprised. I hadn't expected him to visit.
"You look better than you did in class," he said, coming to stand at the foot of my bed. He didn't sit. Didn't try to get comfortable. Like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to stay.
"Yeah. I'm feeling better," I said carefully.
"That was scary," he said. "When you fell. I thought... I didn't know what was wrong with you."
"I'm okay now," I said. "Just needed rest."
He was quiet for a moment. Then: "I'm glad you're okay. I was really worried."
Something about the way he said it made me look at him again. He seemed a bit off, his hands slightly clenched at his sides. There was a look in his face… something that felt like more than just friendship.
"Thanks for checking on me," I said.
He nodded, awkward again. "I should go. You probably want to rest."
"Kai, wait," I said before he could leave.
He turned back.
"I'm happy you came," I added quietly.
He smiled slightly. Genuinely. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
He left after that, but not before I caught the slight relief on his face.
I sat there in the dark infirmary, watching the door where he'd stood, and felt bad a bit about my lie.
An hour later, Professor Thorne walked in.
"Amara," she said, pulling up a chair. Not asking permission. Just sitting. "I've been reading Master Aldus's report on your condition. It's quite interesting."
My heart started racing again.
"He ruled out any illness... Instead, he says your magical reserves are significantly higher than your assessment indicates," she continued. "And there's something unusual he detected. A divine resonance, he called it."
I tried to look confused. "I don't really understand what that means."
"Neither does he, apparently," she said. "Which is why I'm here. I'd like to understand what's happening with you."
"I don't know what to tell you," I said. "I have no clue what's going on. Maybe his equipment was faulty or something."
Professor Thorne's looked amused... maybe annoyed.
"Master Aldus is the finest healer in the kingdom," she said coolly. "His equipment is not faulty. And his observations are never 'nothing.' Either the assessment was somehow incorrect, or..."
She let the sentence hang there. Waiting for me to fill in the blank.
I didn't.
"Or you're hiding something," she finished.
"I'm not hiding anything," I said, too quickly.
She raised an eyebrow, then stood up, smoothing her robes. For a second, I thought she was leaving. Relief started flooding through me.
Then she turned back.
"I think we need to redo your initial assessment," she said.