by Serena Nova
“Wait, you know about Flynn’s sister?” I asked her, nobody had told me about that.
“Yeah, all the Witches and Elementals in the high societies know about that. I’m not going to tell you, though. It is his story to tell, not mine. And if you want to know, you have to stay,” she said with a cheeky smile. I rolled my eyes.
“What you want, is that all? Is that the reason why you want me to stay? To keep you safe from Nox?”
She shook her head. “No, I want you to stay because I don’t want to do this alone, like I said. I need my best friend here. I need my sister here. And I need someone that I can laugh with about all the other Witches that will arrive here for the Queen selection.” She chuckled, and I knew what she meant. They would fall all over themselves trying to get the Kings’ attention, it would be so much fun. For a second, I was mad at the idea of them trying to flirt with the Kings, and my jaw locked up when I grimaced for a moment. I released it and masked it all with a smile. I hadn't wanted Astra knowing I was jealous of the idea of another woman flirting with all the Kings, never mind just one of them.
“Look, if you go now, I will never see you again,” she said, remembering what I had told her, about me living alone in the woods, hiding forever. “And I can’t think of that, never knowing what happened to you. Never again talking about the simple things, like the new bath soap that came out or the new movie they made. Or what new weapon you got.” She chuckled. I had never liked to talk about the next soap or the new make-up, like Astra always wanted. I got excited about a new weapon, jumping up and down excited.
“I need you here,’’ she added.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Astra, I don’t know what I would do here. I’m not a normal Witch, I’m a Protector. That is what I trained for my whole life. I can’t change that, I will be looked at strangely, because of that. It is not something I want.”
“Wait, you are afraid, that if you stayed, that people would look at you strangely?” Astra grabbed my arms and giggled at me. I arched an eyebrow at her.
“You, afraid of what people think? You, the girl who walked naked from the training hall to the other side of the school, to our room because Thalia stole your clothing. You didn’t blush, held your head high and walked back to our room. The whole school was looking at you, yet you made the male teachers run back to their classes when they saw you coming. They gave you three months of cleaning the dining hall for that, even when it wasn’t your fault.” Her voice pitched a little higher. “And now you are afraid of what people will think of you?”
I nodded at her.
She continued, “You also lost that bet with Banu, the one about who could not laugh for the longest about something. Don’t know what it was anymore.” She waved with her hand in the air. “You lost and you had to walk around with a pink shirt dress on, even do your fight training in it. It kept moving upwards, and you kept pulling it down. It was hilarious.” She laughed, and I smiled with her.
“Yeah, the good old days,” I said. “Still, I don’t like it. At school, it was different. We were all young, and, yeah, you know young.” I had no idea how to go against that. She was right, I had never cared about what others thought of me, not really. Merely what Astra or the others who I had let come closer thought of me. And that was it, I didn’t care for the rest. It didn’t mean I would harm them in any way, however I never cared what they thought of me. I’m me. If you don’t like it, there is the door, see ya.
“Okay,” I said to her. Her face lit up with her smile, and she hugged me close.
“We need to tell the Kings,” Astra said and picked up one of my bags, Instead she dropped it back down. “What is in there, the whole arsenal from here?” she joked, fully aware that it was my weapons.
“Yeah, I wanted some new things. So, I thought, why not?” I said, holding my hands up. “They originally belonged to me, anyway,” I whispered that to her.
“No, you didn’t. You can’t do that, that is stealing.” She gasped. It was my turn to laugh out loud.
“I didn’t. Those are my weapons, and that bag isn’t that heavy.” I picked it up, and she grabbed the one with my clothing. We both walked back to my room.
“What are you going to say to the Kings?” Astra asked when we were almost at the room.
“I’m going to tell them that I’m staying. Only, that there will be a but.” I pushed open the door to my room. I didn’t know when it had become my room, but it was.
“What is that ‘but?’” she asked, when we placed the bags on the sofa and moved towards the hall.
“That I will stay, for you. And that I don’t want to compete for Queen. I’m no Queen,” I said to her.
“Yes, you are.” Astra looked at me.
“No, As, I know what you are saying. But I’m not, look at me.” I moved my hands along my body, indicating everything about myself. “I’m a Protector, I care more about my weapons than people.”
“No, that is not true, you care a lot about people. That is why you are such a good Protector. You always want to keep the people around you safe.” She gave me a warm smile.
I ignored her, not knowing how to answer that. It always sucked to hear things that you didn’t want to admit to yourself.
“Like I said, I’m going to tell them I’m not in the running to become Queen. I will tell them that I’m here for you. As your Protector and that is that.” I pushed open the doors to their private quarters. “Are you sure they are here?” I asked her when we walked down the stairs.
“Yes, I told them to wait for us here.”
“You irritating blonde canary,” I said to her. She knew full well that I would have stayed when she came after me. It lightened my heart a little, knowing that the Kings didn’t come after me because Astra told them. We entered their living room, they were seated on the sofa, and as soon as they heard us coming in, their faces all showed a different state of relief. Only Flynn’s face was closed off as always.
“You are staying?” Rayan asked, his smile already on his face.
“Yes. Only–” I started.
“I told you she would demand something, pay up Ray,” Cian said and held his hand out towards Rayan. I chuckled, at that, and Averey pulled up his eyebrow.
“I would have done the same.” I answered his unspoken question.
“So, here is the ‘only.’ I’m not going to be in the running for Queen.”
“Why not?” Rayan asked, and his eyes widened.
“You don’t want to date one of us?” Cian asked, he had his arms folded over his chest, his muscles bulging under his clothing. It almost made me say yes.
“No,” I said while I looked at the wall behind him. So pretty that wall.
“Hear me out before you guys start asking questions.” I moved towards one of the chairs and sat down. “I was raised as a protector, that is all I know.” I held up my hand towards Averey. “And yes, I know how to use my magic, it is a natural thing for us, and yes that is it still for me.” He nodded with that, his question answered.
“I’m here to stay for Astra. I can do a job here, protect her.” I pointed towards her, she was still standing next to one of the sofas. “She is a handful,” I joked.
“Only you are a Witch, sweetheart, a powerful one,” Averey stated.
“Yes, I know that, thanks for the reminder.” I almost growled the words out at him, but forced myself to level my voice before I spoke.
“Why do you guys want me in the running for Queen?” I asked them. This made them all look at each other, and none of them answered. It made me feel empty again.
“We, uh, you told us that you defeated three Ilunias,” Averey started with that. “And your magic, we have felt it from time to time. It feels powerful.” The others nodded with that.
“And we need to know for sure that you aren’t bonded to one of us. If we let you walk away, we may never find someone to help us,” he said. He had my attention then.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, s
liding towards the edge of the chair I was sitting in.
“That isn’t something you need to know right now.” Flynn’s deep voice sounded throughout the room, I looked up at him. I was a little shocked at hearing him talk but also happy to hear his voice again. I already liked his deep strong voice. If I was a bimbo, I would have swooned hearing him talk.
“Uh, what?” I looked back towards Averey, waiting for him to tell me what it was. He shook his head.
“Okay, save that for another time then. Still, I don’t want to be a Queen,” I said, now crossing my arms over each other as I leaned back.
Averey sighed. “Isadora, we didn’t want to do this, but you will be in the running for Queen. We need to test you, too. We can’t let you go without it.”
I shook my head and licked my lips. Nothing had gone smoothly that day.
“Okay, let’s do that now then,” I said.
“It isn’t that simple, and we only do it when the other Witches are here, too. It takes time to prepare, and we don’t want to do it with one now,” Cian told me.
I huffed out a breath. “Okay, fine, I will wait for that test. Still there are a few more things. One, I will not be introduced to the others as a Witch. Second, I will keep up with my training as a Protector. I hope you guys have room for me to train?” I arched an eyebrow in question to them.
“Yes. The other exit of this room, through the door on the other side of the hallway and then the last door right outside from there,” Flynn said. I almost stared at him, he had said so much. I knew he had said that much at once already. Only, every time I heard him speak, he grabbed my attention.
“You can train there whenever you want,” Averey added, and my head whipped to him and a quick smile spread over his lips. It had me blushing for a second, busted.
“And about you being introduced as a Witch, we have to inform the Council of this.” Cian started.
“No.” I answered back. “Look I’m going to stay, I’m going to go along with the whole testing thing for the Queen stuff. But no, please don’t,” I pleaded. If too many people knew that I was a Witch it would have led to questions. If there was one Witch or Elemental who knew my ancestors, it would mean that I would be screwed. And not the fun kind of way.
“We will keep it silent as long as we can,” Rayan said. I looked at him, closed my eyes, and breathed out. I bowed my head a little to him and relaxed a little more.
“So, what are these tests?” I asked when I got my emotions back in line.
“You have to go on dates,” Astra said. I looked at her, my eyes wide.
“Dates, you mean with them?” I waved my hand towards the Kings.
Rayan grabbed his chest and said. “Ow, the pain of rejection, it is too strong.” And he let himself fall to the side on the sofa. It made me chuckle a little, and he winked from where he lay on Cian’s lap.
“Yes, that is one part of the process. You go on a date with each of us, or more if we want.”
“I thought it was a magic thing, like hocus pocus, poof, and you can see if we are a match?” I waved my finger through the air. “Why the dates?”
“We need to like the Witch, too, or at least see if we don’t like them. And the test shows that if we aren’t compatible together, we could still bond. Only, it wouldn’t work as well. If we liked the Witch and we are compatible, we would bond, and we would be stronger for it,” Cian explained, while he absentmindedly moved his hands in Rayan’s hair. It looked sweet, I could have watched them all day long.
“And what if you are each other’s soulmate?” Astra asked. I looked from her back to Cian, that was something I had wondered, too. What would happen if you were more than compatible, if you were meant for each other?
“Then you would be a Natural Bond to each other, you would be the person’s other part,” he explained. “It would mean that you would be not only stronger, you could become more powerful. It depends all on the person with whom you are bonded.”
I looked at him and narrowed my eyes a little, not totally getting what he was saying. He saw my look and explained it again, this time differently.
“You have to look at it like this, you would become one. You would bring your magic to the party, and the other, your bonded, would bring hers to it. Meaning you could use double; your own and the amount the other has. It is almost like a rechargeable battery. However, one is the battery and the other the charger. But.” He held his hand up, so I closed my mouth. I had wanted to place a joke in there. Come on, who wouldn’t have? Charger, battery . . . two people.
“It works the other way around, too. You become more powerful than you already are. Only, that is when you have a Natural Bonded. Meaning that when you find your ‘soulmate’ as you called it, Astra, you would Bond without a ceremony; it would happen naturally. You will feel a pull towards the other person, or that is what the books say. We haven’t had a natural Bond in years.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see Astra looking at me, a question in her eyes, and I shook my head. It was not the time for it. I'd had the same idea as she had. Because if I ever found my Bonded, I would be even stronger than I was then, and the other would probably become Full-Blood level strong.
“Is that why you guys have this whole Selection thing? To find a Natural Bond?” I asked Cian.
“No, we have these Selections, so we can find the closest thing to a Natural Bond. That is why we have these tests, dates, and in the end, the Bonding ceremony.”
“Okay, so dates.” Rayan moved to a sitting position. “When do we start?” he asked. And I rolled my eyes. “You figure all that out, I’m going to unpack,” I said as I got up, and for the second time that day, stepped out of their living room. I needed some time to think.
14
I reached the room, picked up my bags, and moved them to my bedroom. I needed to train and get my head back in line. And my emotions needed to be shoved so far in the darkest corner of my mind, that I could focus on what was important without distractions. And not on the dates, or the Kings. Definitely not the Kings.
I changed into a pink sports bra, a black tank-top, some sweatpants, and my sport shoes. I placed my swords on my back and left the rest of my weapons in the room. Before I walked out of the living room, I concentrated on my magic and pulled a little up. If I was to stay there, I needed to secure my room. I sent out my senses and pushed out my magic with it. Imagining it as a bubble, I began blowing it up bigger and bigger, so it would fill all my rooms with a small layer of magic. Some magic nobody would see and only the strongest would feel. I placed another layer over it, this one infused with a warning for me, almost as if I had placed a few strings around the room. I would feel the pull if someone walked into the room. That was one trick I had learned from Gran, she had found it important that I knew how to protect myself. I had never used it in school, too many people would have noticed.
When that was done, I left my room and went looking for the long way around to the training rooms. I didn’t want to walk through the Kings’ quarters again, and I had wanted some peace to think and empty my head before I started my training. I walked left, reached the stairs and went down those. We had never gotten that tour from Rayan. I needed to ask the directions from one of the servants. He looked down his nose at me, then at my swords; after spotting them, he answered quickly. An Elemental, then; solely they and Witches acted like that around Protectors.
“Behind the stairs are double doors, they lead to the work area of the Castle, walk the first hallway out, go to the right and walk that hallway out. You will reach another double door to your right. Never go into that one. Those are the Kings’ Quarters. You can’t go in there, except when you are invited. The door to where you need to be is opposite their rooms,” he said and moved away before I could thank him. Not that I had wanted to, still it would have been polite. I moved towards the doors he mentioned and walked into a hallway, the windows to my right showed the garden again, I loved the light they let in, lighting up the ha
llways. I reached the end of the hall and turned right, and kept walking. Coming past a lot of different doors. People walked past me, some gave me a small nod and others ignored me, or they were too busy to notice. I saw a few other Protectors walking around, they nodded at me.
When I reached the end of the hallway, and the double doors to my right, I turned left and opened the simple wooden door. I entered another hallway, this one smaller and darker. I heard the clashing of steel on steel. The grunting of people fighting and training. I was in the right area. I moved further, finding a door at the end in front of me and one on my right.
I opened the one to my right. I guessed correctly, this was the indoor training room. It was filled with men and women working out. Some were fighting together, the weapons smashing. Sounds reverberated through the room, the hard clanging made me feel at ease right away.
I looked around, they had climbing walls, boxing sacks, a wall filled with weapons on my right, and high windows that let in light to my left; I could see the outside training fields, ringed by a wooden fence. There were a few people out there, too. I wondered how many Protectors the Kings had in the castle. Today was the first time I had seen them or noticed them. That needed to change. If I wanted to know more about Nox, I would need help. I started to prepare myself for my training. When I looked around to find a good spot to train, someone interrupted me.
“Why are you standing there? Place your weapons there and get in line!” a male yelled at me. Three lines on his right arm showed me that he was a third chief. The third in line for chief and the fourth in line after the commander. And that would be Flynn. I arched an eyebrow at him and looked over the group of men and women standing behind him, all spaced evenly and with their hands behind their backs. They seemed to be starting a training session. I smiled at him; that would be a nice way to warm up. I removed my swords, placing them against the wall, and walked up to the rows of Protectors. Before I reached a spot, I found Lars–the Protector who had driven me to Icas Nox’s house, He gave me a small nod and turned his head, indicating the empty spot next to him. He was standing in the second row, and I moved towards him. On the other side of me, stood a woman. I nodded at her, and she looked me over and then looked back to the front. I looked back at Lars and shrugged. He simply smiled and also focused back to the front.