Protector (The Full-Blood Book 1)

by Serena Nova

  “You aren’t coming in with us?” I asked him, when he walked past me.

  “No, I thought you two needed some time alone together and relaxing.” He looked to the door. “And I have work to do.” With that he left us alone.

  I looked at Astra, to see a twinkle in her eyes. My face lit up from the idea of a relaxing swim. We both moved towards the dressing room. We pulled open the cabinet with the bathing suits. Astra pulled out a triangle top and some bottom with strings on the side, in a deep dark-red colour. I looked around, finding a black triangle top with simple black bottoms. We both changed, and I grabbed two towels from the cabin before I walked after Astra towards the pool. I dropped the towels on one of the stone benches that lined the walls and dove into the warm water.

  I felt everything relax almost immediately. The warm water washed away the stress and tension inside my body. When I came up, Astra jumped in next to me, spraying me with water. I laughed. When she came up, I splashed her with water, and we played like that for some time.

  “Come let’s–” I started saying, only to be sprayed with water. Coughing, I looked at As. She giggled. “–relax.” I finished what I had wanted to say, and moved towards the underwater bench in the pool. I sat down, placed my arms on the ledge behind me, and looked around. The ceiling had one big mosaic scene on it, showing a night sky dotted with flying dragons. Those were a myth. Still, it was amazingly made. We both sat in silence, and I closed my eyes, letting the water relax me even more. I heard water splashing next to me and opened one eye to look at Astra. She was using her magic to make animals out of the water. A few horses ran past me over the water, they looked good. It had my full attention. She let them run all over the pool. When they reached her again, she formed them into dolphins, swimming in the water, jumping up out of it.

  “It is good that you are here,” I said to her, my eyes on the next group of animals she made, elephants. They walked towards me, lifted up their trunks and sprayed water in my face. I laughed, Astra did, too. It sounded relaxed.

  “Yeah, I’m happy to be here, too.”

  “Did you tell your parents that you are here?” We hadn’t really talked about her parents or Icas Nox.

  “No.”

  “Are you going to tell them?” I turned a little, so I could look at her. I let my arms float on the water, slowly moving them around.

  “No.”

  With that I stopped moving my arms and fully focused on her. “Why not?”

  She turned to face me, too.

  “Then what? Tell them I’m in the Castle, part of the Selection to become Queen. Because my best friend brought me here?”

  I cringed a little at her words. “As, you got yourself here. You are the strongest of the whole school. You mastered three elements, three. That is a lot.”

  She looked at her hands in the water.

  “Look Astra, you are strong, beautiful, and you have a good heart. You can do this, you can become a Queen to one of the Kings,” I told her.

  “No, I can’t,” she said, her voice soft.

  “Why not?” My eyebrows pulled together, worry seeped into me.

  “I can’t. I can’t give them what they want.” She now looked at me, her bright-blue eyes bore into mine, willing me to read between the lines. She stayed still for a few seconds longer making me fidget in my seat. What was pressing on her that she turned from a happy and relaxed woman to this somber person?

  “Astra, what is going on?” I asked her. She moved in the water, hugged herself.

  “As, please tell me. You know you can tell me everything,” I told her, while I moved to grab her hands. She looked at me, tears formed in her eyes.

  “You know . . .” she started, her eyes moved back to the bottom of the pool.

  “What do I know?” I squeezed her hands. She sighed

  “You know how my parents are. How they want the best of the best. How they want me to produce a strong and healthy bloodline. They married me off to Icas Nox because of that idea.”

  “Yeah,” I answered, not knowing where she was going with this. She kept silent again. “As, you are here now. You will win one of the King’s hearts, and you will live happily ever after.” A surge of jealousy entered my heart. As much I had wished everything good for her, the idea of someone else with the Kings nauseated me. I pushed the feeling down; she needed one of them more than I did. It would give her peace from her family, a way to truly escape Icas Nox. All I could think at that time was if she didn’t become a Queen, who knows what he would do to her?

  “That is the problem. I can’t.” She swallowed. “I can’t make them happy. I will never make them happy, or get children or a happy ending,” she told me.

  “What do you mean, are you infertile?” My eyes were focused on her.

  She shook her head. “No. I’m . . . I’m gay,” she said. A laugh burst out of me. Astra pulled her hands away so fast, she had pulled me a little forward. “That isn’t funny, Isa!” she yelled at me, her hands splashing up water.

  “Yes, it is, As.” I contained my laughter, swallowed it in, because I was imagining the worst.

  “No, it isn’t. My parents will hate me even more for not continuing the family line, for loving another woman. For being different.” She was shaking. I pulled her in for a hug, and she hiccupped the moment she was sitting in my arms. A haggard breath followed, and I knew she was crying.

  “It will be fine, Astra. I will be there to protect you from all that. You can always come and live with me. And we will find a woman for you to love and be happy with.” I stroked her hair.

  “Are you sure?” she asked me through her crying.

  “Yes, As. It isn’t a big deal, not for me. And we don’t have to tell your parents. But we have to tell the Kings. They need to know that you don’t swing that way,” I joked at her, it made her chuckle.

  “You are right,” she said and pulled a little away.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?’ I asked her. I had never noticed anything about her that may have suggested she liked women.

  “I never knew how, and I never needed to,” she said to me.

  “Okay, now the most important question,” I said to her, a smile on my face. Her face was puffed up from tears, and Astra tilted her head a little. Almost asking me, ‘yeah?’

  “Who do you like?” I giggled it out. “Oh, and why did we talk about all those male teachers when we were younger?” I asked her after that. She laughed. She was the one who always wanted to talk about the male teachers we had. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to share it with you, so I kept it inside. And for the girl I like; I like Banu.” She said it softly while a blush crept onto her face.

  “Not even me?” I asked her and placed my hand in mock offense on my chest.

  “No, not you. You are my sister. That is enough of you in my life,” she answered.

  “Okay, fair enough. So, what’s next? Does Banu know?” I asked her.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered. We had both known that Banu was a lesbian. She had told us when we were fourteen. Her parents were all okay with it, the Nulls didn’t care about bloodlines. They cared about living every day to the fullest.

  “We need to make sure she knows. I think she wouldn’t mind that you have crush on her.” I winked at her.

  “Who has a crush on who?” we heard a woman's voice ask.

  I looked towards the door, finding Violet there, a towel wrapped around her body and a sneer on her face.

  “None of your business,” I told her and focused back on Astra.

  “It is, when it will be important to the Kings,” Violet said as she moved closer to the pool’s edge.

  “Still, it is none of your business. Go irritate someone else.” I waved my hand at her.

  “No, you two need to go,” she said, while she unwrapped her towel. She was a woman without many curves. She had an ugly green swimsuit on, one that made her look like a plant. Her hair was still in a bun on her head, I almost wan
ted to ask if she ever let her hair down.

  Only, I was stopped when Astra to started speaking, “Why?”

  “Because this pool is explicitly for people who have permission from the Kings to be here.” With the last words, she had pushed out her chest a little.

  “We have permission,” Astra answered.

  “Oh, and from who?” Violet asked and placed her hands on her hips as she looked down at us.

  “Rayan,” I told her.

  “It is ‘King Rayan’ to you.” Her eyes narrowed at me, and I smiled back at her. “I have seen scarier things than you,” I told her. This made her blink a few times before she grinned.

  “Are you sure?” And with that she lifted her hands, the water around us rose up into four walls, enclosing us.

  I looked at Astra, and we both laughed, a full belly laugh. That woman forgot who she had in front of her. Astra stood up on the bench, I did the same. The water in the pool had dropped, leaving half of it filled. The other half was surrounding us. Astra moved her fingers a little, forcing a part to open. We both stepped out of the pool.

  “You two think you can go against me?” Violet sneered.

  “No,” I answered. “She can beat you without much problem.” I added while I pointed to Astra.

  “Yeah, not tonight,” she said, and with a movement of her hand, the water dropped back into the pool.

  “You would think that the people in the council would be stronger than this,” I told Astra, while we walked past Violet who looked at her hands.

  “Yeah, you would think so,” Astra answered, grabbing the towels, and we moved to the door.

  “I will get you two, and I will find everything out!” Violet screamed to us. We both chuckled when we reached the dressing room. We wrapped the towels around our bodies, picked up our clothing and moved outside. We had stayed longer in the pool than I thought. When we walked out of the door, the sky was turning darker, a few stars even shone. We walked towards the castle, barefoot, the grass tickling them.

  “She was really weak, wasn’t she?” Astra asked me, when we were almost back to the castle.

  “Who do you mean?” I asked her.

  “Violet, that woman, who threatened us?”

  “Oh, her? Yeah she was. Maybe she didn’t rest enough?” I answered her when we entered through the small side door that would lead us towards the training halls and then to the servant’s area of the building.

  “She looked surprised when I cut through her magic, though, like she didn’t expect it.”

  “Maybe you are stronger than you thought?” I said to her. I pushed open the door and let her in. We were both headed towards the bigger hallway when we walked into Averey.

  “Hi, ladies,” he greeted us. His eyes moved over my bare legs and up over the towel and then settled on my eyes. “Had a nice swim?”

  ‘’Yes. Oh, and Astra needs to tell you something,” I said while I nudged her a little.

  “No, Isa, not now,” she grumbled.

  “Yes, now. It will be easier. You don’t know what Violet heard,” I told her, giving her a pointed look.

  “No,” She grumbled and walked away.

  “What’s going on?” Cian asked when he opened the door. He looked at Astra, who had stormed away and then focused back on me. His eyes trailed the same path as Averey’s had done.

  “She doesn’t want to be in the Selection to become Queen. Because she doesn’t like your hanging bits,” I told them. Their eyes went wide for a second.

  “Oh. That is fine, we knew already,” Cian said. This had me blinking stupidly. “Wait, you knew?” I stumbled out.

  “Yes, we figured something from the first moment we met her. She wasn’t checking us out as much as others do,” Averey said, while he looked at me. His eyes narrowed, and a blush crept onto my face.

  “Why are you keeping her in the Selection then?” I asked them.

  “Because if she is part of the Selection, she will be safe from Nox,” Cian told me.

  I looked at him. “Okay, keep her in the Selection until it is solved or I can get her away,” I told them and turned around after Astra. Before I could crawl into my bed, I needed food. I called for a meal and while I waited for that to come up. I took a shower and changed into my pyjamas. When the food was brought up, I started eating at the small table, while I looked out of the window. The night sky turned darker with me watching it. When my plate was empty, I moved to my bed, it was time to put this day behind me. I wondered what tomorrow would bring, and with that I fell asleep.

  17

  “Get up.” Someone pulled the blankets away, making me shiver when the cold air rushed over my skin.

  “As, shut up.” I tried to reach for the blanket, instead to feel a leg next to my bed. A very muscular leg. This had my eyes flying open. I looked at the person who was standing next to my bed. And for a second, I had hoped I was dreaming.

  “What do you want, Flynn?” I grumbled at him. I moved to grab the blanket out of his hands, but he pulled them away again.

  “Training, five minutes,” he said and threw the blanket back on the bed.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked after him.

  “Training, in five minutes. Get your butt out of bed.” He glared at me.

  “Or what?” I asked with a smile on my face. I liked the bossy version of Flynn.

  “Keep on going, and you will find out,” he said, while he folded his arms in front of his chest. It distracted me from what I had wanted to say. His arms bulged with the movement. Before I could react, he moved towards me, picked me up, and threw me over his shoulder.

  “What the duck?” I yelled at him and hit him on his ass, I kept hitting him, slapping his ass. His well-formed ass.

  “Don’t.” He growled out, the rumble of his voice vibrated through me, making my body react. I hit him again, just to see what would happen. He smacked me back, his hand hitting my butt, and I squealed. I never squeal. Flynn bent down to pick something up, I couldn’t see what it was. I slapped his ass again.

  “Do it again, and you won’t be sitting for the next few hours,” he said when he started moving. He walked out of my room with me bouncing on his shoulder.

  “What are you doing? I’m not dressed for training.” I told him, he ignored me. “Flynn, put me down.” I hit him in his side this time, but he didn’t react.

  “Come on man, put me down.” I said and smacked his ass again. He smacked mine back. “Ouch,” I mumbled. Only, everything inside me heated up. Never knew I would have liked getting spanked.

  “I told you.” His voice was low, almost husky.

  “You like doing that.” I grumbled at him. I knew he was laughing, I could feel it vibrate through me. I crossed my arms as much as I could in front of my chest and pouted the whole trip to the training grounds.

  It was still dark outside when we reached the empty training field. The lights didn’t really reach the centre of the training area where we were standing. Flynn moved the arm away that was holding me onto his shoulder. It made me slide a little down his front, and for a second, I expected to be dropped to the ground. But a hand held my ass, slowly letting me slide down his body. His hand moved up towards my back, while I moved down his body. When my feet reached the sand, I just stood there. My body was pressed against his, feeling all the hard muscle of him. I pushed away a little and looked around in the dark. I made some Witch lights and pushed them out into a circle around us, letting them float a little above the ground. Flynn looked at them, rubbing his chin when he slowly circled around. He shook his head, when he faced me his eyes narrowed, and he said. “Your Light. It isn’t blue.”

  I shrugged in answer, not really knowing how to explain that one, I changed the subject. “Where are my weapons? I can’t train without my swords.” I placed my hands on my hips. Flynn pulled two swords from his other shoulder. I looked at him, stunned. “How the canary did I miss them?” I mumbled at myself.

  He still answered me, “You were
giving my ass attention.” There was a half smile on his face. And for the first time, I saw a twinkle in his eyes, they were there for a second and then gone. Still, it made my breath hitch, and I forgot to move. Flynn moved towards me, my swords in front of him. I mentally slapped myself, and grabbing my swords, placed them on my back.

  “Ah, not naked anymore.” I sighed.

  “Naked?” he asked me.

  “Oh, yeah, you know.” I moved my hands towards the handles of my swords. He pulled up his eyebrow in response.

  “You know, naked without your weapons.”

  “Wait, you felt naked without your weapons and now you’re not? You are half-dressed you know that, right?” He looked me up and down, his eyes skimmed over my stomach and then dropped to my sweatpants that were hanging on my hips, to end on my bare feet in the training sands.

  “Yeah. Let’s train, Flynn.” I told him as I moved a little away from him. I stretched first, reaching my arms over my head, making myself as long as I could, and stretching my back. I kept my breathing even, slow. I bent forward and stretched more. I heard Flynn moving, he was stretching, too. I went through my standard routine, stretching everything. When I was done, I pulled out my swords, their ring sounded through the air. The hilts were wrapped in leather, smoothed down from use. I gripped them and took up my first stance.

  “You want to warm up first?” Flynn asked me. I nodded and started moving. Flynn stayed on the other side of the ring, and he started moving, too. I kept going through the basic moves of the Protector training, flowing through them as water flows through a river. Dancing around the circle, while Flynn moved in rhythm with me. We both worked through the basics, and when we were done, neither of us was even out of breath.

  He started moving again, now he used his magic. All four Kings were masters in all four of the elements. And Flynn used them all, almost if he was dancing with them. You could see when he made it through to Fire, that it was his favourite. His whole body moved easier, and the Fire flirted around him, as if she was a lover of his.

  I stepped back to watch, my eyes focused on him. His movements, his strong legs that kicked out, his arms that punched a non-existent person. He jumped in the air, kicked out, and landed in a crouch. I knew my mouth was hanging open, and probably reached all the way to the floor. The fire lit up his face, casting shadows over him. His dark eyes shone bright while his whole body seemed at peace.