Father-in-Law

“Heilke.”

“Yes?”

“Heilke.”

“What is it?”

“Heilke.”

“Yes, August?” Heilke said, patience wavering.

August repeated her name several times. It felt unreal that she let him call her this informally.

“If you abuse your right to call me Heilke, I’m going to continue calling you ‘Marquess Vin Gardner’.”

August shook his head hard.

They sat in the carriage that belonged to the Crowell family. The inside was padded from the ceiling to the floor with a wine red velvet. The ride was smoother than most, possibly due to a spell the Crowell family had cast.

“Heilke?”

Heilke tilted her head.

“Yes?”

“To request an audience with your father, are you sure it is alright if the excuse is your hand in marriage? Does he let you have the full say? Would you be uncomfortable with this? We might have to genuinely become engaged. I’ll continue to think about more excuses but I think I won’t be able to come up with any.”

“Yes, August. It is alright if you use the excuse. I can't think of anything else you can request an audience for either. You don’t seem like such a terrible person to be engaged with so I don’t mind.”

August felt his ears warm up.

As the window view showed trees with long leaves and white flowers, Heilke tapped the napping August’s knee.

“We’re here,” she said gently.

August stirred to Heilke’s soft touch, sat there dazed momentarily, then snapped back to the plush seat of the carriage.

“Ah. Yes. Thank you,” he said, stiffly.

The interior of the mansion was much larger than the unassuming exterior. Was it the brightly coloured walls and sparsely placed furniture, or could it have been caused by another spell?

“Wait in here,” Heilke said, guiding August to the waiting room.

He had been in his fair share of rooms, but even the ones in the Royal Palace could not compare to this one. It may have been due to this room having more of an association with Heilke, making it seem more spectacular than it should be.

*

“Father.”

“What is it?”

“What are you doing with the Crown Prince?”

The dark haired man’s lit up.

“Oh? Are you curious?”

Heilke shrugged.

“The Crown Prince offered the largest mana crystal in exchange for creating a false calamity,” he said. Then with a deranged smile, Björnn Crowell continued. “Isn’t it such a great opportunity to improve our ability to manipulate magic?”

Heilke scrunched half of her face.

“How many things can we summon with this crystal? What other spells that go beyond our current ability can we do?”

“Father. It’s going to doom the kingdom. You can’t control it.”

He whipped his head back to Heilke.

“You never know if you don’t try.”

“But I do know.”

“What would you know, Heilke? Not my passion nor my goals, that’s for sure.”

“You haven’t shown me control, father. Just last night, a monster appeared at the place of my graduation.”

He sighed.

“Before I show you ‘control’, what did you bring into the house? Something something Vincent or something?”

“August Vin Gardner,” Heilke said curtly.

“Ah right. That notorious son of the Duke. What’s he doing here?”

“I’m not too sure. He asked if he could come with me when I mentioned I was going home.”

“I see. Well. Let’s see what he wants.”

*

August waited nervously in the room. He could feel his heart beat increasingly, and the sweat build up around his neck.

The doors swung open to an average sized middle aged man, with Heilke calmly walking behind. Even though he was not that huge, he gave off an intimidating aura.

“August Vin Gardner, welcome. What are you here for?”

“Thank you, Lord Crowell. I am here to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

Björnn Crowell retained his neutral expression. August started to panic as the prolonged silence crept into his bones.

Heilke whispered to her father. “Let’s go to the crystal now.”

“Ah yes. Good idea. If you’d like to be my son-in-law, you must learn to appreciate my research.”

Heilke yelled, “Dad!”

“Here,” the man said, as he handed both Heilke and August the base of his robe. “Hold on tight.”

Purple light shone brightly beneath them, enveloping the surroundings. Once the light faded, the open waiting room was nowhere in sight. Just a rock cave, though clean and appeared to be sturdy.

“Come with me.”

The three walked through a tunnel, their footsteps echoing throughout it. Soon enough, August spotted a familiar glimmer of light.

“The crystal…” he murmured.

Björnn angled his head towards August. “Sorry?”

“Nothing,” August replied in a tizzy. “Just that the light is drop-dead beguiling, nothing I could ever hope to witness.”

The robed man grinned. “Right? You sure have an eye for things, young man. Unlike the person you’re trying to pursue.”

Heilke lightly snorted while rolling her eyes.

They arrived at the large crystal, less purple than August remembered.

“Behold,” Björnn Crowell announced.

Mesmerised, August reached for the crystal. Without delay, Björnn smacked August’s hand with an accompanied ‘ah-ah’.

“No touching,” he said.

As though reacting to human presence, the crystal shone. The light swirled, a vague circle with text appeared.

“It’s a work-in-progress, you see. I would rather anyone not to fiddle with it.”

Heilke stared at the crystal.

“My daughter, do you understand now?”

She called August with her eyes.

“You’re just like your brother, you know. So adamantly against my research, yet requesting to see the crystal.”

“My brother has tampered with this,” she said to August under her breath.

August subtly nodded in acknowledgment.

“I see how beautiful the crystal is, father,” Heilke said to Björnn. “But it does not overpower the grim, revolting thing that is the future, where all that’s left is blood and gore.”

“Heilke,” the wizard said.

“Father.”

“Heilke.”

August couldn’t stand the tension in the cave.

“Father-in-law, I may have a solution for you.”

The father/daughter duo instantly snapped their heads to August.

“What did you call me?”

“What did you call him?”

The sudden aggression staggered August so he tried to cover up his slip-up by feigning ignorance.

“What did I call Lord Crowell?”

“Whatever. You may continue with proposing your solution.”

“You should work with Heilke to prevent the overrun of monsters.”

Björnn raised an eyebrow. “Heilke?”

“You know. Since she can control magic with precision. And powerful magic.”

“Uh-huh,” Björnn said, sceptical of the point August was trying to make.

“And since she doesn’t have a contract, she can help you.”

Björnn raised his other eyebrow. “That’s really suspicious of you. Are you gunning for a sorcerer’s contract, or the marriage?”

With a stoned face, August said; “Marriage. Without a single doubt.”