had to
look down at them to make sure that they hadn't left the ground. He
had spent the night in a bed just as soft and warm as the one he had
in Lovisa's room, and he had just enjoyed the kind of breakfast he
had only ever seen through others' windows or read about in books:
three fluffy, sweet pancakes with blueberries baked inside and a hill
of thick whipped cream. Of course he had asked for more when he was
finished, but Archmage Leana, his new caretaker, smiled at him
good-naturedly and shook her head. “Just wait until lunchtime,
Magus,” she told him, “and we'll have sugar-plums! Would you like
that?”

“What am I to do while
you're away at the palace?” he asked Leana as he helped the
servants clear the breakfast dishes. They and Leana hadcan
see Lovisa.”

Much
more than he anticipated sugar-plums, Magus anticipated a visit to
his sweet, gentle new friend who had treated him with kindness he had
never been shown before. He finished dressing and half-ran,
half-skipped out to the carriage where Leana was waiting for him. She
smiled prettily when she asked, “All set to go?” He nodded and
boarded, just barely catching himself from flinging into the seat. As
the carriage departed, he rested his head against the window and once
again took in the sights of city that was to be his home from now on.
Home.
The
word just didn't sound right to him, not yet. He tried not to think
about it, instead focusing his attention on the city, which was
leagues ahead of Aldine's capital city in terms of development.
Aldine had never thought—or perhaps did not possess