The Kept Mage

A collection of my own musings, not to be taken too seriously. -HJC

Concept

Prince wants to demonstrate gratitude to lowborn POV character who keeps saving his life by siring a bastard child on her (in order to justify under the table stipend), but she is a working Mage who hasn't got time to be a mother. She saves the kingdom to minimize distractions from her studies of arcane knowledge, and knows she wouldn't be better treated elsewhere.

Characters

Main Characters

• Lyah Cœur (25) POV character, has a small room in the wizard's tower in the royal castle. She is the assistant to court wizard Gaston.
• Court Wizard Gaston Autin (60) He delegates almost everything to Lyah as he focuses on his enchantments, with a few reluctant appearances in court when summoned. Occasionally he will tell Lyah to gather all of "his" apprentices to provide the strength for a major casting, but rarely sees them otherwise and usually forgets their names, all except for Sibylle, who he has taken as his "in-office" apprentice so that he can task Lyah farther afield.
• Huguette Cœur (52) Lyah's mother has a small hut and garden in the middle of the royal forest outside the capital, by King Pankraz von Wihitz's special dispensation. Huguette has geased herself to never reveal Lyah's father. She acts a lot like a traditional witch, but her cat seems to be the only talking animal around.
• Prince Arnfried von Wihitz (25) is a bit of a jock, always off jousting or drilling the army until summoned by his father for some quest. Strong, agile, though, brave, foolhardy, and tactically (if not strategically) brilliant.
• King Pankraz von Wihitz (55) The King treats Lyah unnervingly warmly, with hugs and kisses on the forehead, etc. He has complete trust in her ability to keep Prince Arnfried out of trouble and doesn't give a second thought about assigning her to accompany his son on various errands. He will laugh heartily and wave away any suspicion that the two are romantically involved.
• Queen Isabella von Wihitz (50) is initially cool towards Lyah, and outright cold towards Huguette. But once she uncovers the rumor of a romantic entanglement between Lyah and Arnfried she will work with Huguette to frantically suggest anybody else for Lyah.
• Lady Mila von Beuthen (22) Prince Arnfried's fiancee and the daughter of Duke von Beuthen. She is delaying the wedding until she can gather dirt on her future mother in law. Initially suspicious of Lyah, but warms to the prospect of sharing her future husband, under the conditions that Lyah's role includes ménage à trois and nursemaid. Mila has lost count of the number of assignation plots she has survived (most of these from her extended family), and has as a result developed a mental toughness to match Arnfried's physical prowess. Lyah is uncertain if Mila's dominating personality that she only shows when the two are alone is her true self, or only yet another mask like the demure face she shows to Arnfried. Mila's political and social talents easily cover Lyah and Arnfried weaknesses in these areas, and her dagger will only appear for a moment before it is sunk to the hilt in some enemy's eye. When Mila stumbles into the second level of misunderstanding she'll think "okay, that's hot and kinky", but will eventually become the fourth person to know that's not the case, and that the truth is far more dangerous. Lyah will notice a new mask facing her, and watching her closely, but will get no explanation.

Gaston's Apprentices

The third sons (and one daughter) of nobility who have been sent at the age of six to become wizards under the tutelage of Gaston, which means that Lyah looks after them. All but Sibylle sleep in bunks in a dormitory room next to Gaston's tower, while she has a tiny room for herself next to Lyah's.

For the first year the six year old boys are overwhelmed by the mage conditioning of their minds and the youngest still calls Lyah "Mom", to the amusement of the rest. By their tweens they understand that she is common born and that they outrank her so she has to phrase her orders as coming from Gaston to get their compliance. When puberty strikes she becomes the focus of their fantasies and teasings, until they catch the mass hallucination that Lyah is Prince Arnfried's kept woman and then turn their attentions to Sibylle (Who is very grateful that she has a room of her own and is allowed to put her wizard lock on the door), and other girls around the castle.

• Lothar von Glogau (17) Used to be a slacker, but now is in the last year crunch to learn as much wizardry as possible before returning home to be the court wizard for his family.
• Sibylle von Duala (15) sees Lyah as a mentor, role model of an independent working woman, and rival for the only job that matters. Sibylle is semi-estranged from her family so never returns "home" for the holidays. Every time she visits Lyah's room she visually measures the curtains so that she'll be ready to replace these on that happy day when Prince Arnfried takes "his whore" away. Her own tiny windowless room will revert to being her own closet at that point. She works to remain on good terms with Lyah so that she can continue to consult with her then retired into motherhood mentor, just as Lyah consults with Huguette now.
• Andreas von Komorn (14) is Sibylle's primary tormentor at the moment.
• Rolf von Moscheiken (12) hasn't caught the Lyah/Arnfried delusion, and not perceiving anybody else wooing Lyah, aims to be a teacher's pet with benefits. Sometimes talked into joining the pranks of Andreas when he thinks this might lead to a double date.
• Rainer von Oger (9) sees Lyah as just a commoner and so doesn't see why she should be allowed to order him around.
• Lukas von Reschitz (6) is still in his first few months of wizard transition and hence is the only other person who often sleeps in Lyah's room (in his own small bed that slides under hers when not in use) and tends to call her "Mom" when he's particularly stressed.