Don't think about it

Sir Weber was dead. Prince Gideon had been informed of his former knight's unlucky end by the imperial guards. He also heard of the other incident at his older brother's mansion.

Prince Sullivan had been very tight-lipped about what happened but the explosion had been hard to overlook. Whatever had been able to wreak such havoc in lord Tristan's presence had to be powerful. Prince Gideon didn't like the court mage but he had to admit the man was powerful.

However, prince Gideon had a sneaking suspicion of who might be behind this little disturbance.

When the imperial guard asked if prince Gideon wished to further delve into the matter of his former subordinate's death. He declined by saying that there probably wouldn't be any evidence. After lord Raven's warnings, he had learned that sometimes declining an investigation was more incriminating for the other side.

After watching the imperial guards leave prince Gideon returned to bed. He wasn't going to settle anything before having a decent rest.

The next morning, he met lord Raven at breakfast. The large dining table was laden with all kinds of food. The immaculately dressed stranger ate with perfect, fluid motions. Prince Gideon was captivated by the performance. He couldn't comprehend how someone could eat a piece of bread that was covered in honey without getting sticky fingers.

"Lord Raven, last night some... things have happened at prince Sullivan's mansion. Have you heard of it yet?"

"I am aware of what happened, yes. A tragedy truly, for such a beautiful mansion to be ruined. Sigh, karma comes for you, one way or another."

"Karma? I have never heard of that word."

"It is a concept where all your actions, be they right or wrong, are tallied and will affect you in some subtle way."

"So you are implying that my brother has done enough wrong so that he has received punishment by fate?"

"Something like that. The punishment isn't always met out by fate. Cause and effect are far more likely to cause you trouble."

Lord Raven appeared strange to prince Gideon. The things he said were novel and curious. At the same time, the answers made it quite clear to prince Gideon that lord Raven was at the very least partially responsible for the explosion at his older brother's mansion.

After breakfast, prince Gideon invited lord Raven to his office. Even if it earned him the ire of the mysterious elite he wanted to know what had happened. He decided that if he was going to ask anyway he might as well state his question openly.

"Lord Raven, what role did you play in the happenings of last night?"

"No subtle questioning? I like it! To put it simply I had placed a curse upon sir Weber as he left. He went to prince Sullivan and intended to betray you by revealing confidential information and that triggered the curse. After that, I merely placed a corpse and stabbed it with prince Sullivan's ornamental dagger."

"You say that as if it is an easy feat. No one has ever been able to even approach my brother without being noticed. You being able to steal something from him without his knowledge is miraculous."

"Well, he seemed rather distracted with the explosion and all that so it wasn't difficult to nab the dagger."

"Be that as it may you have done me another great service. I only hope that Sullivan won't find some way to pin the blame for this onto me."

"Well, technically the blame does lie with you. You brought me here and released sir Weber from your services."

"No need to look at it that closely. More importantly, lord Raven, what should I do now?"

"Sigh, look here princeling. I am not your mother so I won't be holding your hand in everything you do. If you are unsure of how to proceed you may ask me for advice but I must demand to see a modicum of independence of you."

"Then what would you ADVISE me to do."

Prince Gideon purposely emphasized the word advise but the question remained the same. Lord Raven gave another long and drawn-out sigh.

"If you must know, I would suggest to keep going as before. Prince Sullivan tried to have you assassinated so your actions must have been interfering with his plans a great deal."

"But I have been doing that all along! Is there nothing else I can do?

"For now all you did could be used against you. Keep interfering with your older brother's plans and wait for an opening to appear. That is my advice."

"An opening? What kind of opening?"

"No kind in particular. Whatever opening presents itself. As long as you can exploit it to destabilize prince Sullivan's position it will serve its purpose. Don't fret too much you will know when the opportunity presents itself."

Prince Gideon was a little fed up with this whole 'you will know when the time is right' thing. His father always used to say it and so did all the other old people.

"Old?"

Lord Raven's remark scared the living daylights out of prince Gideon. He had only thought about it!

"You really forgot about the mind magic I can use, did you? And this isn't about age but experience. Though a lot of old people do tend to talk like that."

"Is there a way to protect myself from mind magic?"

"If you don't want people to know what you are thinking about then don't think about it. The easiest method there is. Even if I read all your thoughts I can't read something that isn't there."

"Really? Is that the only thing you can advise me to do?"

"You could also try to learn mind magic yourself or learn to think two thoughts simultaneously with an unimportant one in the front and the vital one in the back. Or even better, figure out something new by yourself, that way no one will know how you do it!"