by Serena Nova
Protector
The Full-Blood Series: Book One
Serena Nova
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
The End . . . Almost
Tiran
The Real End
About the Author
Protector is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the production of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Serena Nova
Cover art by Idonea Covers
All Rights Reserved. Nothing from this publication may be reproduced, stored in an automated database, or made public, in any form or by any means, be it electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or any other means. Without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Edited by Michelle’s edits
Interior Formatting by Abigail Davies at Pink Elephant Designs
This is my place to escape. I hope it will be yours too.
And mom, I know you are going to read this.
Please skip chapter 26, thank you!
And for my amazing, crazy and loving team that helped me through this all. Thank you for being part of this weirdness, for not laughing too hard or get to angry for me spamming you with spoilers.
O and don’t forget the boyfriend, thanks honey!
1
“I’m one of the last Full-Blooded Witches alive,” I whispered to Astra, my hands fidgeting in my lap. I’d never told this to anyone. My grandmother told me to keep it a secret. Astra looked at me, her eyes wide, saying nothing. Her mouth opened and closed. I rubbed my hands on my pants, trying to stay calm, instead I wanted to jump up and walk a hole in the ground. Okay, so maybe I have a slight nervous fidgeting habit. “You need to say something,” I tried to whisper to her, but my voice pitched higher.
“Why are you a Null then?” Astra whispered back.
The sound of footsteps silenced my reply, we hunched down behind the bookcase we were hiding behind, holding our breath. Astra put out her Witch light and covered us in a shroud of darkness again. Our hiding spot was a secret. I bit my lip and focused on the sounds around me, attempting to hear if the person was coming closer or walking away. Our school had a night curfew, and the teachers were strict with following that rule.
They patrolled the school at night, keeping everyone in line, and making sure we kept to the rules. We never followed that rule. Luckily, we’d also never been caught. Still, it was always nerve-wracking when we heard them walking right past us. The soft blue glow of a Witch’s light casted shadows across the walls, only to never reach our hiding spot behind the enormous bookcases, which filled the library we were hiding in.
The library had been built first, this massive building was now encased by the rest of the school. When the sun hit the few windows it had, the golden light filtered into the library, showing the dust that danced around. Inside, the library was packed with bookcases. Staircases swirled up towards the second floor to the galleries above, which were filled with even more books. The center of the building was left open, allowing you to see the interior rafters. In front of the windows, were seats with cushions, with side tables next to them, for students to place books on. On the ground floor, were rows of tables, accompanied by desk lamps and comfortable chairs. In the front, stood the librarian’s desk, where the librarian could aid students in signing out their books and also answer their questions.
The librarian was an old lady, her grey hair was always in a neatly-placed tight bun on her head. She loved floral prints and never wore plain-coloured clothes. She looked like a nice old lady, with her wrinkled face, however she turned out to be the nightmare of the school. She was always so strict with the rules; kept on saying we needed to whisper when we were in the library, and lift up the chairs, not scrape them on the floor. She made us place the books back where we found them, exactly where we found them. She never cracked jokes, or got one, so we made fun of her by asking the most strange or personal questions we could think of.
Astra and I once asked when she had her last period. We were dead serious, or that was what she thought. Her face turned red, and she tried to give us an answer. Nothing really came out, and before she could get mad, we walked away, giggling. To be honest, it wasn't nice to torment the old lady. Only, she made it hard to be nice towards her; her rules needed to be followed no matter what, and her punishments for not lifting up chairs were always strict. One time, we had to clean all the beams of the roof. Another punishment was to clean the lower shelves of the bookcases. She always gave us these strange punishments.
One time, she made me reorganize the whole library, alone. I kind of deserved that one. I hadn’t slept well for almost a week, and I was cranky as a pig who hadn’t eaten for weeks. So yeah, I ate in the library, pulled the chairs out, started yelling at someone, and almost burned down the building. To be honest, I didn’t mind it; it helped me relax, and she let me read all the books I wanted. I got to know the old lady during that week. And once you’d broken through her tough exterior, she was a real nice lady; the absent grandmother everyone wanted. She reminded me of my own grandmother. Sweet but strict. I kept working in the library after that, helping her out, and reading as many books as I wanted.
I found this alcove one day while I was rearranging the books on the shelves. It had been hidden well, and I had almost missed it. I dropped a book next to the bookcase; after picking it up and hitting my head on one of the shelves, I found out that the bookcase was placed in front of an opening, an alcove. There was nothing inside, just a small bare area. I placed some pillows in the space to make it more comfortable, and you could find me there when I wanted to escape the world or talk with Astra–in our own secret hideout.
We used this corner to gossip about the teachers–for Astra, it meant talking about which teacher was the hottest. For me, it was talking about the hard training Instructor Lavina put me through. Instructor Lavina was the combat teacher and solely trained the Protectors. Astra, as a Witch, got totally different classes than me. The Protectors were trained to keep the Witches and Elementals safe, and the Witches. . . . Well, they learned to be a Witch.
And now we were discussing my heritage.
This would be the last time in our secret hiding spot; we were almost done here; graduating. The Witches would go through a selection process, while the Nulls, would show off their skills as Protectors.
That’s what I would be doing. I would be showing off my amazing fight skills. After that, I’d disappear, like my grandmother had told me to do. It was something I’d promised my grandmother a long time ago, however I wasn’t sure I wanted that anymore. The only thing I knew, was that I had to tell my best friend what I was. She needed to know . . . or maybe I just wanted to tell someone the truth, someone
I trusted. I wasn’t not sure . . . I couldn’t handle the heavy weight of it on my heart–not telling my best friend, it felt like a burden that had been strapped to my chest.
We were both frozen as we waited for the footsteps to leave. The light dimmed, and the person walked further away.
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Astra asked when we were sure that the teacher was gone.
“I wanted to, I didn’t know how or when. I promised my grandmother.” I shrugged at her, only she couldn’t see me; we were still in the dark. Without a word, I made a light ball form in my hand. My light wasn’t as blue as the other Witches, it was more of a pure white. Astra stared at my hand, as I gave the light ball a small bounce to lift it a little above my palm, I let it hover in the air.
Astra followed the ball of light with her eyes, her mouth opened again. “I-I didn’t really believe you, when you said you were a Witch. Now seeing, the light . . .,” she said, trailing off. Her eyes were still wide. She shook her head as if clearing her thoughts. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” she whispered again.
“I wanted to. Only, my grandmother kept me from saying anything. The day she placed me here at the school, she made me promise never to tell anybody what I am. It’ll mean my death.” And she didn’t say it nicely, she shook me roughly whilst she made it really clear what she meant by death. I sat fidgeting with my hands in my lap, thinking about that memory. I looked up at Astra. Her eyes were downcast, and for a second, I thought she would start yelling at me, until she looked up and tears shone in her eyes.
“It’s okay,” she whispered softly and grabbed my hands. I knew it was the right decision to tell her. From the moment I walked into this school, she became my best friend. She believed I was a Null but never cared about it, or gave me shit for it. Astra was always there for me, always. “What can you do?” Astra asked me.
I expected that question. Pressing my lips together, I blew out a breath and said, “Everything.” I kept my eyes focused on her, waiting to see her reaction to it.
“You-you . . . ‘everything?’” She did not whisper that at me. I placed my hand over her mouth and made a shushing motion.
Pulling my hand from her face, I said, “Sorry, I’m kind of nervous.” I gave her a crooked smile and wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. Astra just smiled back at me, she didn’t care about it.
“You really meant it when you said you are a Full-Blood?” Astra asked me, this time she whispered.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I never told you before.” I kept looking at my hands in my lap.
Astra grabbed my hands again, squeezing softly. “It’s okay, Isa. I would have liked it if you told me earlier. But I get it.”
We stayed silent for a few minutes. Letting that all sink in before Astra started speaking again. “Are you . . .?” She paused, and I waited for her to finish her question. I had an idea of what she wanted to know. And I knew that I would lie about that, for her safety. “Are you family of the last Queen?” Astra's eyes were focused on me. I kept my face as neutral as I could, not showing that my heartbeat had picked up.
“No,” I answered. Knowing I needed to say more, Astra could be too smart for her own good. “I’m not sure who my parents were. Gran raised me. She told me that they went into hiding when the Gate opened and stayed in hiding after that.” That was partially the truth.
I could see her thinking about that, hoping that she would accept that half-lie for the truth. Knowing that I’m the last Full-Blood already made it dangerous for her. Telling her that I’m the last Savill Royal alive? No need to add more danger to all this.
“What are you going to do now? When we graduate? You have to go through it as a protector, right?” she asked me. I let out a breath that she had accepted the lie. Still, my stomach cramped with it, and the lie added a new heaviness to my heart that I hadn’t had before. Feeling gratitude towards Astra for believing me, for having her as my best friend, and relieved for her question, I gave her a small smile.
I could see her thinking of something else when her eyes widened. “Are you going to test for the Selection?” she asked me, her voice pitching a little higher.
“No. As, I don’t want to be that. I want to go home, to my house in the forest and live a quiet life,” I lied again. The short reprieve of the heaviness shattered fast when I replaced it with more lies. I haven’t thought this all through, I thought while giving myself a mental eye roll.
Astra snorted. Yeah . . . me . . . a quiet life. We always got into trouble at the school. Maybe it would be different when I was living in my own home, without other people around me, boring and alone.
“I would never be part of the Selection, Astra. It is your place, not mine,” I promised. Placing my hand on top of hers.
“Why did you tell me this?” Astra asked. “Why now?”
I looked into her eyes, finding curiosity and nothing more. I started to speak. “Because you are my family. You are the person I trust with everything I have. And I didn’t want to leave here and never have told you who I am. It’s lonely.” My throat tightened up, swallowing away the tears that pooled in my eyes. “I needed you to know.” I finished, one tear falling down my face to splatter on our hands. She wiped away the fallen tear then looked me in the eye and nodded. She got what I was saying and dropped it all. Not asking more about it or wondering why, and I was relieved with that, I couldn’t handle more lies. We talked about the last days of school and what Astra would be doing after we graduated. Her parents and family were really strong Witches and Elementals, she had a great future in front of her. If she made it through the test, it would mean she would get a good chance of a high place in society.
And when she won the Selection, she would also be in the running to become a Queen for one of the Kings. The Selections were held every year when the Witches graduated from school. Nobody knew what they needed to do in the selection process, it was always kept a secret. One thing we knew for sure, was that the strongest were chosen to go to the castle, who would then add to the new government of this world. That's how it had worked for years. They get further tests in the castle, and after that, they can choose to go for a position inside the government or choose to be married off to someone from the highly established houses.
When the Kings were ready for marriage, they used the Selection to find their future Queens. That meant that this Selection would be more important than other years, because they were searching for their Queens. Not once had they found their perfect match, in over three years. They still kept looking for the right Queens. This was great news for a Witch like Astra, it meant she still had a chance at becoming a Queen, with her being powerful and all.
For Astra to become Queen would be the best way out of her miserable family. They may be the strongest but they were also terrible and harsh on her. For her, being the strongest Witch in the school meant that she had a really good chance to win the Selection. I believed that Astra would be an amazing Queen, and it would shut up her parents about it. Which would be a nice bonus.
And for me, I would go through the Protector test and graduate, and then I would go away. Only there were a few things wrong with that plan. First, I wouldn’t see Astra anymore, second, I would have trained my whole life to become a Protector to end up sitting on my ass, and third, I didn’t know if I could ignore some things from my past. Like my parents, who were still alive. At least I thought they were, though I’m not sure where they were now.
They had left me with my grandmother, and she died five years ago. She left me alone in this world, she left the house in the woods as my heritage. Which was great, but that’s it. I wanted the family she told me about when I was younger; she told me about her daughter, my mother. That she was a Full-Blood Witch, too, and that my dad was a Full-Blood Elemental. She always said I looked like my mom. Gran also told me that I have the stubbornness of my dad. She didn’t know my dad for long, because he left shortly after I was conceived.
In almost all ways, I lo
oked like my mom when she was younger, the same black hair and brown eyes according to my grandmother. She said my mom was too stubborn and too caring for her own good. She also told me I was the spitting image of her mother, my Great-Grandmother, whom I had never met. The biggest thing that would be different between my mom and me was that my body was trained as a Protector, all muscles with female curves. I had hips and boobs, not too big but nice to grab. I was 5’8,” a little taller than most girls, that was fine by me. I loved working in the sun, giving me a nice tan, I burned easily, which I got from my dad. So, thank you for that, dad.
“What do you think the Selection will be like?” Astra asked me, interrupting my train of thought.
“I don’t know,” I answered her.
“It is a test, right? So, we have to show how strong we are. The strongest are sent to the castle,” Astra said, her hands fidgeting in her lap, showing me she was nervous about the whole selection process.
“You know, As, you are the strongest one here. So, stop doubting yourself.” My voice pitched higher with the emotions behind it. I breathed out and continued, “It will be fine, and you’ll probably have to show your powers, do some spells and tricks, you will be great!”
She nodded at me. Still, I could see there was some doubt in her eyes. Her stupid parents placed so much pressure on her. They wanted her to be even better, they wished she was a Witch, which she wasn’t. They had hoped by mixing their genetics, they would make a Full-Blood. Except they weren’t enough, and now Astra had to live with that, they blamed her for it.