by Serena Nova
“What did you do?” I asked him, while I rubbed my thumb slowly over his hand.
“I became a King.” He laughed at that a little.
“What did she do?” I really wanted to punch her right then. Nobody hurt one of my guys and got away with it.
“She came crawling back to me, saying it wasn’t her fault. That they had forced her to do it.” He looked back to the sun. A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in,” I said absently. The servant walked in, holding a plate with food for both of us and set it down.
“Everything alright?” she asked us. I nodded and waited until she left.
“Do I need to kick her?” I asked him.
Rayan looked at me. Seeing my serious face, he laughed. “No, it is fine. I told her she could suck it. And decided that I would never fall for anyone again.”
I squeezed his hand before I started pulling away. He grabbed it. “Until I saw you in that throne room,” he whispered, and that made me freeze. His blue eyes had moved towards my lips. I knew what he had wanted.
Instead, I said, “Let’s eat, before it gets cold.” I speared a piece of meat on my fork and started eating. He was silent as he ate–the opposite of me, I was moaning.
“This is so good,” I told him with my mouth full. He chuckled at it. The air around us changed, becoming cooler while the sun slowly set.
“Do you like being a Protector?” Rayan asked me when I had finished my plate.
“Yes. But to be honest, I haven’t been much of a Protector yet.”
He pulled up an eyebrow in question.
“First, we had the Selection going wrong thing, then I came here, and, yeah. Now I’m going to be a Witch.”
“What would you want to be?” he asked me, his eyes roamed my face.
“I don’t know. I’m grateful that I can defend myself with more than magic, that I have these friends around me who like me for me.” It was my turn then to look over the railing, the night was almost full, and the stars were already shining in the dark of it. Rayan snapped in his fingers, and a few lanterns started to burn, coating the roof in a soft golden light, very romantic.
“I love to protect, to help, and to make things better,” I finally said to him. “It is what I want to do, and being a Protector makes it much easier.” I looked back at him, his blue eyes had seemed to light up more in the soft night sky, the lights reflecting in it. Almost if the stars were in his eyes.
“You could do that as a Witch, too,” he said.
“No, you value a Witch too much to let her go to the Gate. If I were a Witch you guys would have never let me go there.” I shook my head at him.
“We do, they are the strongest in this world.”
“That isn’t true. The Protectors who fight by the Gate, who keep us all safe. The families who sacrifice themselves, so you guys can sit here, up high and safe. They are the strongest.”
“Maybe, but they can’t keep the Gate closed,” he said. That had me taking in a sharp breath.
“No, and it seemed none of you four can, either. You can’t say to me you believe that the Nulls are lesser than Witches or Elementals.” I shook my head wildly.
“No.” Rayan looked down at the table. “They aren’t lesser then us.” He looked up at me and continued. “But they don’t know how hard it is to keep it as closed as it is.”
“Tell them.” I crossed my arms. “Tell them, that you guys do everything to save them, too. You guys hoard magical people up here, keeping them away from the fight. It has made the Protectors angry, even in the schools they were divided. You must have known that?” He nodded slowly at that.
“You can’t do this without them, Rayan.” My voice was soft and comforting. I didn’t want to be mad at him.
“That is true, there are so many things we need to do. Being a King isn’t easy, either.” He looked at me.
“Poor baby.” I pouted at him, and he chuckled.
“I’ll tell my brothers what you said. We will change things.” He nodded at me, or himself, and determination moved in his eyes.
“It is beautiful up here,” I said. I’d needed to change the conversation. I didn’t want to ruin our date.
“Yes, it is.” I looked at him and found him staring at me. It had me blushing. A knock sounded again on the door, this one was different from the servant girl. We both looked at the door.
“Yes?” Rayan said, the door opened, and Averey walked out. He nodded at me and looked then at Rayan. “We need you.” And with that, he turned around, not saying sorry or anything. Rayan got up from his chair and moved towards me.
“Sorry, Babe, you can stay here if you want. Enjoy some more of the view.” He looked at my mouth again, merely for him to kiss my cheek. He smiled at me and moved away.
“Thank you,” I said to him before he could close the door.
“It was all my pleasure.” He winked at me, and I shook my head laughing at him.
I stayed there for a while, looking out over the railing to the forest and listening to the sounds that came from it. Then up at the sky, all those stars that looked down at me, it was gorgeous and peaceful.
I was interrupted by a soft knock on the door, I looked at it and waited for the person to open it. It was the same servant girl that had brought our food the whole date.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were still here.” She looked around. “Where is the King?” she asked me.
“He needed to leave, the others needed him,” I told her. She nodded at that and started collecting the plates. I moved to help her.
“Miss, no. You don’t have to.” She laughed softly.
“It is no problem, it is faster cleaned up this way.” I told her and grabbed the glasses.
“Thank you, Miss,” she said when she started walking towards the door again.
Before we reached the door, I felt the air move behind me, something rushing through it. I dropped the glasses I held when something embedded itself between my shoulder blades, the glasses shattered on the floor. The servant girl turned around, except it wasn’t the same girl anymore. One side of her face was missing, her only eye glazed over.
“Purple ducks,” I grumbled at her, pulling the dagger out from my brace at my hip. I couldn’t reach back to my swords, there was still something sticking out of my back. I felt the warm blood slowly trickling down. I crouched a little and waited for her to move. She didn’t do anything, she kept looking at me, the plates still in her hands, which were missing some skin.
“Hello, my dear,” something chuckled behind me. I didn’t dare to turn my back towards the servant girl. I moved to the left, trying to get my back to the roof of the Castle, instead I was pulled back. I clenched my jaw, and tried not to scream at the pain in my back.
Something tsked me. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
“Dear, would you please?” the voice said to the servant girl. She dropped the plates, where they scattered on the floor. Her hands moved towards my knife. I tried to slice her, again I was yanked back. That made me grunt out of pain, I lost my balance and fell down on the floor. The servant girl bent to pick up the knife that had fallen out of my hands.
I looked up to the thing that was holding a chain, which fell from his hands towards my back. I found a person looking at me; dark eyes stared at my face. His hair was chopped short, black and messy. His face might have been handsome if he would have stopped sneering at me. He wore a long coat made out of some kind of leather. His black pants and shirt added to the whole creepy style he was wearing.
“What do we have here?” he asked me. I arched an eyebrow at him.
“A Protector, sir,” the servant girl hissed out. That meant they hadn’t noticed my magic, I stuffed it further back into me, making it disappear. I saw his jaw clench for a second, and his eyes flicked over my face.
“Why is a Protector on a date with a King?” he asked, his voice strong and demanding.
“I wasn’t–” I started.
“She was,
” the servant hissed out. I kicked towards her, hitting her in the legs, and she dropped to the ground with a sickening crunch.
“Please don’t do that,” he said and gave a small tug at the chain.
“Why? You need her for something?” I gritted out through my clenched jaw.
“Yes, I had. Now she is useless.” He looked over at the girl at my feet, crawling around, her legs broken. He flicked his hand towards her, she screamed and then went lifeless.
“Look what you made me do. Now I need to find another one.” He pouted at me and then laughed.
“What do you want?” I asked him. I needed to distract him, find a way to get that chain out of my back.
“It doesn’t matter what I want.” He cocked his head to the side, reminding me of an animal on the hunt. A shudder ran through me. “I will take you as replacement for her,” he said and got up from the railing he was leaning on. He yanked at the chain, and I gritted my teeth harder.
“Come on, stand up,” he growled out. I moved, standing up slowly. He was before me, and I had to look up, to look at his eyes. I had first thought they were black, instead I found them more blue than black. They reminded me of the dark-blue I had chosen for my dress.
Before I forgot that he had a knife with a chain in my back, I punched him in his kidneys, causing him to grunt a little, only to chuckle after it. I punched him in the face, hard. Still he kept chuckling. My back was hurting with every move I made.
“My dear, that tickles,” he said, still laughing.
“Oh, it does, does it?” I said to him, and I moved closer to him, doubting myself for a second before I slammed my mouth against his. He froze, his lips tense. I moved my hands behind him, searching for the knives the servant had forgotten on the table. When my hands reached the metal, I snatched it up. Then I felt his mouth move a little, softly against mine, and it was my turn to freeze. With the knife in my hand, we stood there. His tongue darted out, and I moaned a little. I freaking moaned. This had me snapping out of my haze, and I slammed the knife between his shoulder blades. He grunted against my lips, and I stepped back. Wiping my mouth, I reached back towards the chain and yanked it out, a growl of pain escaped with it. I had to take in a few breaths before I could do more.
“Sneaky bastard,” he grumbled. Still his hands moved towards his lips, and I shuddered at the look he gave me. I didn’t spend too much time analysing what that shudder meant.
“Don’t fuck with me,” I snarled out at him and threw the chain at his feet.
“Mmh, don’t tempt me,” he said and pulled at the chain; it wrapped around his arm, showing me muscles, where the chain wrapped around, turning into black ink on his skin. I grabbed my swords from my back and looked at him, the weight of them a comfort in my hands. I crouched low and shifted my weight, ready to attack him.
“Later,” he saluted me and jumped backward off of the balcony. I ran over and looked down, I saw nobody. And seconds after, the door opened.
“What is going on?” Averey’s low voice washed over me, and I relaxed.
“Not sure,” I answered him. I was still looking for the man who’d attacked me. I sighed and turned around.
“Why is there a dead servant on the floor?” Flynn asked, looking a little closer at the girl. “And why is her face almost gone?” He looked at me.
“Not sure,” I answered him now, I cringed as I placed my swords back.
“Are you alright?” Averey moved towards me, his face full of concern.
“I will be, need to clean it.”
“Clean what?” Flynn stood up and moved towards me, he turned me around, and both men were silent for a minute.
“Who the fuck did that to you?” Flynn growled out.
“Not sure,” I said again, feeling like a broken tape recorder.
“What do you know?” Averey asked when he moved into my line of sight.
“I had the date with Rayan, you came in and took him with you. Then this servant girl,” I pointed at the dead body on the floor, “came in and started cleaning the plates. I offered to help, and when we moved towards the door, something buried itself in between my shoulder blades. The girl turned around and was like that.” I nodded again to her, and then I realised something.
“Ew, gross she touched my food.” I shuddered at the thought, then continued talking.
“Then there was this thing”–I wasn’t sure what I would say to them. I kissed it, and to be honest, I had liked it. – “with a chain, which was attached to the knife in my back. I scared him off. I think.” I pulled down my brow. “And then you guys came in.”
“Why did you come in?” I asked Averey. Flynn was still at my back, holding something against my wound.
“We felt magic, something breached our defences.” Averey now looked behind him towards the forest.
“I don’t know what it was, except that it’s gone now.” I moved away from Flynn and started towards the door. I wanted to shower and sleep.
“Where are you going?” both of them asked at the same time. I turned around, my hand on my hip.
“Taking a shower and going to bed,” I told them, then turned around and walked towards my room.
24
I woke up slowly, my shoulder was still sore from the encounter the night before. It had hurt when I got under the shower and washed it clean. After that, Flynn had stopped by with bandages. He helped me dress it, and it was really sweet, but I made him leave fast. I wanted to sleep, wanted to forget that kiss.
Now that I was awake, the only thing I could think of was that damn kiss. I had convinced myself that it had been necessary; if someone liked pain, it wouldn’t help kicking them. Meaning, if I had wanted to get close enough to grab the knife that was behind him, it was the only way. I threw the covers off and hauled myself up. My shoulder blades burned a little at the movement. Being a Witch meant fast healing. Still, we weren’t immortal, and things still hurt. And a knife between your shoulder blades wasn’t something that one night of sleep would fix.
“Can I come in?” I heard someone ask and looked up to find Banu standing there.
“You already are.” I chuckled at her.
“What happened?” She motioned to my banded back.
“Was attacked.” I got up and moved to my clothing.
“What are you doing?” she asked me and moved more into the room.
“Training,” I said while I pulled on a tank top. I hadn't wanted to change into another sports bra, it would have taken too much time. I pulled on my sweatpants and training shoes, grabbed my blades, and walked past Banu.
“I’ll get the rest, we can train together,” Banu said while she kept walking behind me.
“Sure. I’ll wait,” I told her. Shortly after she left, Flynn walked through the door.
“Why are you out of bed and dressed like that?” He looked me up and down.
“Training,” I answered him as Banu and the others walked up to us. “You ready?” I asked them and started walking away, just for Flynn to follow us.
“My King,” DeeDee started, “can we help you with something?”
“No,” he answered.
“Okay,” she said and gave me a lopsided smile. We kept on walking in silence after that. Flynn stayed close to my back. It was comfortable, having him there. We reached the training rooms, but it wasn’t as busy as the last time I had been there.
We moved to the back of the room where there were mats on the floor. We started our warm ups. Flynn stayed and watched, leaning against the wall next to us. I ignored him and stretched. It was hard, I could feel his eyes roaming over my body.
“Let’s spar together,” I told the others. I paired up with Banu, and DeeDee and Lena paired, too. We started standard training, moving around each other. Kicking out, slamming our fist at each other, ducking and moving again. I started breathing harder, feeling the pain in my back quickly. I pushed myself harder, wanting to forget the pain, the memory of his kiss. I was distracted when Banu kicked out, swee
ping my feet from under me. She jumped on me and smiled.
“You're dead,” she said. I breathed out slowly and nodded at her.
“You are distracted by something or someone.” Before I could say something to her, she looked over at Flynn. I nodded, knowing it was better to have her thinking it was him; well partly, it had been him, all of them. And I had gone and added a fifth. I groaned a little because the idea of fifth man around was great, heavenly, amazing, and terrible all at the same time. Flynn had moved towards us when he heard me groan. His hands were by his side, flexing, and his jaw was taut; his eyes moved over me.
“You are done,” he gritted out. Banu got off of me and held up her hand, instead for Flynn to bend down and pick me up, holding me against his chest as he started moving.
“Uh, what?” I protested at him.
“No,” he growled out. I sighed and placed my arms around his neck then laid my head down against his chest. I waved at the others who now laughed at me.
“Where are we going?” I asked him when we were in the hallway.
“My room,” he said softly and moved towards their Quarters. My heartbeat picked up.
“Why?”
“I need to clean your wound. I have supplies,” he said, and he pulled me closer to him. I breathed in his scent, the lemon and burned wood, which made me think of home, filled my nose. We reached their Quarters. Only Cian was in the main room when we walked in.
“Flynn, what are you doing?” he asked when he saw me in Flynn’s arms. Flynn growled, so I answered for him.
“Helping.” And I gave him a soft smile and winked before we made it through the door that led to the staircase and their rooms.
When we were in the hallway, he walked into the third room. He gently placed me down on a large bed to the left.
“On your stomach,” he demanded. I did what he asked, my head on my arms as my eyes followed him around the room. His room was simple, a cabinet, two chairs, with a small coffee table between them. Bookcase to one side of the room and windows that let in a little light. There was another door, probably leading towards the bathroom. He moved towards the small cabinet next to the door we had come in. It was full of bottles with labels on it. He grabbed a few, placed one back and then moved towards me. He placed the bottles on the nightstand and looked at me.