Aveena: The City of Gold (The Black Knight duology Book 1)

by Destiny Hawkins

“No…no…” Aveena whimpered. She took a step forward, but stopped when she heard Michael cry out in pain. The Knight had driven his sword through Michael’s stomach.

  “No!” Aveena yelled. Only, it wasn’t exactly her. A girl that looked exactly like her ran towards Michael, but was stopped by Avon.

  “This…” Aveena looked down at herself. She could hear her own cries from the other girl and felt her heart throbbing. When she looked back at Michael, she noticed that he was no longer fighting. No longer moving. Dead.

  “No!” Aveena shot up into a sitting position. When she looked around she was relieved to be back in her room.

  The dream played in her mind again. Michael. The Knights. Avon. Death. Somehow, they ended up outside the city walls and Michael was going to be killed. That’s why she couldn’t see him in the future. He wouldn’t live long enough to get there.

  ~*~

  Michael climbed into his bed right before sunrise. His mission to the Zyla Quarter was successful, and he had tired himself out.

  It only felt like a few minutes had passed before there was a knock on his door. He rolled over to his side and glared at the cabin door. It was too early for Yandel to be here this morning, so who the hell could have been knocking?

  There was another quick knock on the door, and Michael gave a loud sigh. He angrily got out of the bed and walked to the door, then yanked it open. “What is it?”

  It was the King’s servant standing outside of Michael’s cabin. He appeared surprised to see Michael looking so angry compared to the first time that he had met him. Gone was that happy-go-lucky guy that he’d met before.

  “The King requests that you come visit him in his office,” the servant announced.

  “Really? This early?” Michael didn’t hide the fact that he wanted to go back to sleep.

  The servant’s eyes narrowed, “If the King wants you to meet him this early, then I recommend that you go happily—and quickly. He’s an impatient man, but to answer your question. Yes, this early.”

  Michael sighed while shaking his head, “And where is Lavier’s offi—”

  “King Lavier. And I will lead you there. I’ll wait for you to change into more presentable clothing.” The servant eyed Michael’s dusty clothing with repugnance.

  “Sure,” Michael slammed the door in the servant’s face. He didn’t take the time to wash this morning and simply changed into some cleaner clothes. He walked back to the door and opened it to see the servant still standing there. What was this guy’s deal?

  “Much better. Follow me sir Knight,” the servant directed.

  Michael looked around to see that some of the slaves were out working again. He knew that he wouldn’t be back in time to give Yandel something to eat and sighed. Hopefully, the boy could find food elsewhere.

  The servant led Michael through the palace, up a few flights of stairs that was guarded by two dangerous-looking Knights, and to a more personal living area with wooden flooring, flower vases, and a lot of sunlight. And this was only the hallway. At the end of the hall were two large wooden doors guarded by another two Knights. The servant and Michael got by with just a head nod and then entered the room.

  This room was very similar to the hallway that they were just walking through, only the walls were painted with red and gold designs, and was about half the size of the ballroom. It reminded him of Master Conowell’s living room, only better.

  Michael stopped in the middle of the floor and admired the view outside the large windows. The city stretched out further than he could see and was filled with tall buildings and many busy people. From here, the people looked happy, but he knew better.

  On his left was a large bed with red sheets and pillows, and on his right was a small bookcase with a chair sitting next to a tall flower vase. Looking further back—

  “Michael?” The servant called.

  Michael snapped to attention and followed the servant to another pair of large wooden doors. The servant opened them for Michael to step inside, and then walked in after him.

  Lavier sat in his office behind a desk. The office had red carpeting with one large window in the back wall.

  The servant cleared his throat to get Lavier’s attention.

  Lavier looked up and smiled, “You may leave Sharime.”

  The servant nodded and exited the office.

  “My King, you asked for me?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, sit down Michael,” Lavier gestured for Michael to sit in the chair across from him. “I wanted to talk to you about Earth, but before we get into that, how are you enjoying your stay here?”

  Michael sat down and swallowed, “It’s nice.” He knew that he needed to say a little more. “The Gem Quarter is a very pleasant place to live.”

  Lavier nodded, “And my niece, she isn’t giving you any trouble?”

  An image of Aveena flying the air board with her arms spread wide flashed in Michael’s mind and he smiled, “She’s fine. Aveena’s treating me well and isn’t much trouble.”

  Lavier nodded again, “You may release her from her room after we are done talking here.”

  Michael furrowed his brows in surprise, but hid the fact that he was excited to let Aveena out.

  “So, about Earth. Tell me, what was your life like there?” Lavier asked.

  Michael thought back to his days as a slave and his excitement dwindled. His mind went back to when they were freed, but how poor they were afterwards, and he felt even more unwilling to talk about it. He had made a deal with the king though, and he was going to hold up his end. “Well, slavery ended about ten years ago. Blacks were freed and could live on their own. My father left when I was young, so my brother took over the household,” he sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

  Lavier’s brows furrowed, “Blacks? There were slaves there?”

  “Yes,” was all Michael could choke out.

  “And the Blacks? Who were they?” Lavier only seemed curious. Michael had forgotten that they didn’t categorize by color here.

  “Blacks are people like me that have a brown skin color. Brown like yours.”

  Lavier’s face slowly formed into a scowl. He couldn’t even fathom being a slave, and only because of the color of his skin.

  Michael cringed at the thought that he used to even be one. Even though his master treated him and his family well, it was still degrading.

  “So, you were a slave then?” Lavier asked.

  “Yes, but they are all free now. I don’t really know how they have developed so far, but I’m sure there are still laws that oppress the black race.” Michael thought of Lavier taking over Earth for a moment, and he didn’t feel so bad about the idea. Lavier would fight against all who went against him and what he stood for. The only problem was that Lavier wouldn’t change anything. He’d just make things worse if he took over. It would be better for the earthlings to work things out on their own.

  Lavier gazed at Michael, and then a smile spread across his face. “Well, no wonder you’re in such great shape. You look as if you were born that way. I’m sure that you were a good slave?”

  Michael jaw twitched, but he did his best not to show any irritation. He just nodded his head, then remained completely still.

  Lavier was satisfied with Michael’s reaction and leaned back in his chair. He had a thing for messing with people’s heads. “So, tell me more. You must know, Raluzans can’t last long on earth. For some reason we start to get sick, but I will figure something out to help us survive a war.”

  Michael nodded. He knew all too well that Raluzans couldn’t survive. Aveena had gotten sick after staying there for only two days. Maybe it was something in the air?

  The first half of their session was about earth. They talked about the animals and different countries, then about the upcoming ball for the new Knights. Their session took about a good hour before Lavier released Michael to attend Aveena.

  Michael did his best to push away the upsetting thoughts of his pa
st on his way to Aveena’s room. By the time that he was halfway there, he had a goofy smile planted on his face. The servants and Knights gave him odd looks as he passed by, but he didn’t care. He finally got to spend another day with the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

  He stopped in front of Aveena’s door and unbolted the three locks that kept her inside her room. He almost yanked the door open when he thought about how he’d be invading her privacy, so he knocked instead.

  There was no response for a moment, but then the golden knob twisted and Aveena stood in the small opening that she gave.

  Michael’s smile slightly faded when he noticed the vacant expression on the Princess’s face, like she hadn’t gotten any sleep in days. She reminded him of the people in the Zext Quarter, only prettier.

  “What is it?” Aveena’s voice was low.

  “Oh, I came to let you know that your two days are up. You’re free to leave your room now,” Michael tried sounding happy, but it wasn’t working. She didn’t look any happier than she did a few seconds ago.

  “Oh,” Aveena sighed. “Thank you. You don’t have to stay with me today, I won’t be leaving my room.”

  Michael’s smile was completely gone now. What was wrong with her? “Are you sure? I know how you don’t like to be in one spot for long.”

  Aveena frowned, but her voice was still soft, “You don’t know anything about me.”

  Michael pressed his lips together. He felt his face growing hot, and for some reason he was also embarrassed. “No, I meant that—you just seem like—I thought…” He sighed. “I thought you would at least like to get out for a while. Instead of being cramped up in there.”

  “I told you before, that I am far from cramped. You may leave now.” She slammed the door in his face once again, and for the second time, it almost hit him in his nose.

  Michael stared at the door, confused. Someone laughed behind him and he turned around to see Avon was walking out of his room and down the hall. Michael was going to head down that way, but decided to go in the opposite direction. There had to be another way out of this large Palace, right?

  He finally made it back to his cabin and plopped back down in his bed. He didn’t understand why Aveena was angry with him all of a sudden, and at this point he didn’t care. Sleep took him in less than five minutes and he didn’t have a care in the world.

  ~*~

  It was only sunset when Michael woke back up. He took a bath, ate some food, and then took a walk through the Gem Quarter. It still amazed him how the people here lived. They treated slavery as if it were normal, and went about their day like they weren’t doing anything wrong.

  Word must have spread that Michael was a human, because unlike before, Knights were starting to give him odd looks. So far, Michael was the only human in Raluza, but he didn’t really look any different than them. His eyes just didn’t glow, and his ears were rounded instead of pointed.

  He held his head high and did his best to pretend that he didn’t notice the odd stares that he was receiving, but couldn’t hold back from giving a female Knight a goofy smile. She bit her lip while trying to hold back a laugh, but the man next to her only frowned. Michael nodded at him and continued walking.

  Somehow, he had made his way over to the garden. The guard by the gates let him by with only a head nod, and he was good to go. Michael walked through the garden pathway and chuckled to himself when he thought back to his chase after Aveena. He still wouldn’t admit to himself that she could run a hell of a lot faster than him.

  Michael made it all the way to the center of the garden. He’d hoped that Aveena would be there working on her powers, but there was no sign of her. After taking a drink of the fresh water from the fountain, he went to explore more of the garden.

  He stumbled across another path where he noticed how the flowers were more vibrant and also a lot larger than the ones he saw before. The thorns on both sides of him were long, sharp, and thick, warning observers not to touch the flowers. Once he got to the end of the path, he looked around and found yet another statue.

  This one was of Xavier. He knew this because of all the pictures that he’d seen at the bar. The artist must have known Xavier well, because the pictures looked exactly like the intriguing statue in front of him. He wondered what Xavier must have been like, and imagined that a lot of him could be found in his daughter.

  Michael circled around the statue until he saw Aveena standing in front of him.

  Aveena’s soft features quickly hardened when she saw him, “What are you doing here?”

  Michael sighed. She was still mad, but about what? He really didn’t know. “I was just looking around.”

  “Feels more like you’re following me.”

  “Well,” Michael chuckled, “that is my job.”

  Aveena grunted and was about to walk around the other side of the statue when Michael circled to the opposite side and blocked her path.

  “Move.”

  “N-ope,” Michael grinned. He wasn’t going to let her bring his mood down any lower. Besides, no one could resist his playfulness after a while.

  “Y-yes!” Aveena yelled. “That’s an order.” She raised a brow and gave him the death stare, but he still wouldn’t budge. He actually thought that it was kind of cute.

  Michael’s eyebrows furrowed. “Nope.”

  Aveena huffed and went to step around him, but he side stepped in her path.

  “Michael!”

  “Ummm….Aveena?”

  Aveena sighed and folded her arms across her chest. She looked away, but her expression told him that she was tired, stressed, and a bit doleful.

  Michael gave a slight smile, “Aveena, what’s going on with you?”

  The princess’s eyes met Michael’s and her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes said that she was in agony, but her face told him that she was angry. Her lips were slightly parted like she wanted to say something, but then she closed them tight together and walked around him.

  Michael spun around and watched as she walked away. He thought about just heading back to his cabin, but then…He could never turn down a challenge. He had to at least get her to smile. He jogged up to Aveena and walked next to her. She cut her eyes at him, but then focused back on the path in front of her.

  “Soooo, Aveena,” Michael started. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.”

  “It obviously is.”

  “It isn’t.”

  “Is too.”

  “Is n—ugh!” Aveena’s frown deepened.

  “I thought we made a promise never to keep secrets from each other,” Michael whined dramatically.

  Aveena clenched her teeth, and took a deep breath, “Michael, go away.”

  “But it is my duty to make sure that you get back to your room safely.”

  “I can get back just fine. I have a lot on my mind right now, and I don’t have time for this.”

  “So, what’s on your mind?”

  Aveena grunted and picked up her speed.

  “Is it…how you’re going to break the seal?”

  Aveena’s face grew hot, and she was happy that they were almost out of the garden. The only way to break the seal was for her to lose her virginity. She really wished someone would have told her that before.

  Michael sighed loudly. He stopped walking and grabbed Aveena’s wrist to stop her as well. “Well, before you go to your dungeon room, I have to tell you something.”

  “About the seal?” Aveena was curious now. She turned around and faced him. “What is it? Is there another way to break it?”

  “No,” Michael chuckled. “I didn’t say that.”

  Aveena’s hopeful face fell back into a frown. Michael was starting to believe that it would be stuck that way forever if her expression didn’t change soon.

  “Then what is it?”

  “I went to visit Tayen, the leader of the organization. I told her about Lavier, and how he’s waiting on your seal to fad
e away before he tries to kill you,” Michael scratched the back of his head as he took a nervous breath. “She wants you to break the seal and learn how to control your powers. That way when Lavier comes after you, you can fight him back and take the crown. She kind of wants me to help you do that.”

  Aveena stared into Michael’s eyes. She could read him almost as clearly as Tayen could, and what she saw made her furious. He couldn’t have been serious? If this was supposed to calm her down then it did the complete opposite. It’s not like she didn’t want to fall in love and do whatever came with it, but to know that she pretty much had to do it before she was even ready infuriated her. And to think that he was offering himself to help her with it!

  Michael stepped back when he saw Aveena’s eyes glow a bright gold this time. They were no longer the white that he was used to…but solid gold. The angry expression on her face didn’t help either. She looked terrifying.

  “Um…Aveena?” Sweat beads formed across Michael’s forehead. She was definitely a lot scarier than Tayen.

  Aveena gave a low growl. She felt heat building in her chest, and a handful of power slamming against the seal trying to break its way through. She didn’t understand why she was so angry, because she more so felt embarrassed about the whole situation.

  Michael gave a nervous laugh, hoping that she wasn’t too upset. He definitely wasn’t ready to die, and she looked like she was prepared for murder.

  Aveena saw the odd expression on his face and calmed down. She wasn’t sure why he looked that way, but then brushed it off and walked away.

  This time, Michael didn’t follow after her.

  ~*~

  The next few days that passed, Aveena chose to be alone. Every day that Michael came to get her, she would tell him that she was staying in, and if she wanted to visit the garden, she asked him to stand outside of it.

  Michael decided not to argue with her each time. He figured that she was busy thinking about what he had told her the other day. Maybe there was a better way to let her know?

  Aveena couldn’t focus around Michael when he was present. She was constantly working on manipulating water in her room or by the fountain, but just knowing that he was nearby was distracting enough. After he brought up how she had to break the seal she was furious at first, but then she came to terms with the idea. It was almost like something within her awakened and went wild inside of her. All she could think about was his hard body and beautiful full lips, made perfectly for kissing. She wanted Michael in more than one way, but she knew better than to get involved with him. If only he knew better than to get involved with her.