by Rana Demiriz
“You’re tiring yourself a little too much, but you have good instincts. You’re good for a beginner,” he said admiringly.
I loosened my muscles to calm my body and used the breath control techniques I learned during my martial arts training without him noticing. “You say I have good instincts, but does it have anything to do with my talent?” I asked, referring to my Azurite powers.
“No, it’s not about your talent. You sense things. That’s your power. Our senses and instincts are two different things. But it’s in your blood. You’re definitely cut out for this. To be The Divine Being,” he said with a monotone voice.
“You’re complimenting me so I that I don’t kill you,” I said with a serious manner, but he preferred smiling. I could swear something shifted in his eyes if the light games on the marbles weren’t so deceiving.
“These are not mere flattery. I’m simply telling you the truth. Besides, you can’t kill me, not with the sword on your hand at least.”
“Okay then, let’s say you’re flirting with me under the name of flattery to stop me from hurting you.”
The way I blurted out the truth made him smile. It was a huge smile. Did my stomach just flutter away?
“Maybe,” he said.
He was clearly implying something. I couldn’t help myself but giggle like a high school girl. “Then, let’s do this.”
This time he attacked first. I protected myself from the blow at the last second. The clashing sound of steel on steel rang in my ear, which left me temporarily deaf. It was really hard to lift the golden hilted sword up because it was so heavy. The gems on his sword under the dim light reminded me of raindrops glistening under the sun, but I didn’t have time to look at the pretty gems. I had to look him in the eyes and try to guess what his next move would be. But all of my efforts were in vain. He probably knew how to use a sword since he was a boy. Did I have any chance against him?
When our swords crossed in the air and formed an X, I had trouble to steady myself. The pressure of his sword was rising every second. In return, I also used my full strength, which was really hard, of course. His short-sleeved black t-shirt left his muscular arms bare, so I could see how much effort he spent by the swell of his muscles. His face showed no effort.
He put more pressure on his sword and closed the distance between us. Our faces were so close to each other right now. I could feel the breeze of his breath.
“You’re pretty strong,” he said. His fresh breath caressed my face. It was annoying how he could duel so nobly without an effort while I was sweating like a pig. His breath was like the refreshing spring air. I was in a terrible condition. I had to change my game plan. I smiled.
“Fighting with you is harder than I thought.”
“No one could ever beat me,” he said arrogantly. While he was so close to me and kept talking, I couldn’t focus on the strength of my arms. Maybe I could find a weak spot because –to tell the truth- it was impossible for me to beat him by sheer strength.
“You’re distracting me,” I said. He released some of the pressure off his sword. He wanted me to win this round.
“You don’t have to be a gentleman,” I said with a fake tone and a matching smile, which I hoped he would notice.
“I’m not being gentleman. I just got tired,” he admitted. I was surprised. The fake smile disappeared from my face, and then he got me off guard. He struck me with his sword swiftly. With the loud noise of steel, my sword flew out of my hand and clashed the floor with a rumble, and I also fell on the floor with that last blow like it was not bad enough as it was.
I looked up surprisedly.
“Rule number one: Do not let anyone distract you and never fell for these kinds of traps!”
He lowered his sword and offered me his hand politely. I refused to hold his hand and got up by myself. I kept staring at him angrily while I was walking towards my sword. If only looks could kill, he would be dead by now. I picked up my sword with a swift motion. I turned to him. He was already waiting for me in the starting position across the room.
“Are you ready for our second round?” he said eagerly.
“Sure,” I said when I finally felt ready. I was in the defense position when the sword suddenly felt much heavier. At first, I gave myself a couple of seconds to pull myself together, blaming it on the exhaustion. I tightened my grip on the hilt. The moment I looked around, the walls started to come down on me. I felt like I was choking. I tried to take a deep breath. The chandelier started to swirl above my head. I heard a loud rumble; I dropped my sword. I held my head between my hands. Everything was getting blurry. I heard another screeching noise, and then I let myself sink into the strength of his arms.
CHAPTER 20
I woke up to the pressure of muscular arms, embracing me. My cheek was against something made of cotton: Alejandro’s shirt. It reminded me of the time in Puerto Del Sol when I woke up in Rio’s arms. The first thing that crossed my mind was how different the two brothers were. My thoughts scattered when I realized I was slowly rocking against Alejandro’s body. I guess he was walking.
“Alejandro…” My voice came out as a murmur. I opened my eyes. He looked at me affectionately with slightly darkened smoke-colored eyes. He slowed down his steps.
“Shh! don’t talk,” he whispered.
“I’m fine. I can walk,” I said, but he ignored me. A door opened, and then I recognized that familiar ceiling. We were in Alejandro’s room. He gently slid me into bed from his arms. I felt better when I was on a solid surface. I tracked Alejandro with my eyes. He sat on the leather armchair against the bed. Was he purposely staying away from me?
I straightened up my pillow and sat on the bed. I gathered myself up. Actually, I didn’t feel like I just fainted at all. It was more like waking up after sleeping for a few hours.
Alejandro leaned forward on the armchair skittishly. He put his elbows on his knees. He was rubbing his hands together. His hair cloaked his face. He took a nervous breath and lifted his head to look at me.
“Are you okay?” he asked with worried eyes. Actually, I could make a snarky remark, but the concern and pain in his voice reminded me that I would feel bad afterward, so I told him the truth.
“I’m totally fine. Really, there is nothing to worry about,” I said.
He seemed relieved a bit, but he was still nervous. “Do you have any idea why you passed out?” he asked.
I focused on myself for a moment. I didn’t have anything wrong. “I… I think… I don’t know…” I said at last.
“You didn’t sense anything, did you? If you did, your eyes would turn Azurite blue.” Now, his voice was stripped of all the emotions. I couldn’t tell if he was nervous, relieved, angry, or sad.
“No, I didn’t.” Besides, I don’t pass out every time I sense something,” I said, trying to keep my voice as blank as possible as he did.
“Then, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.” His voice was still blank, and he didn’t seem like he was going to apologize anytime soon.
“No, I’m tougher than that. Not being able to breathe for a long time this morning may have caused this,” I said sarcastically, referring to our little struggle this morning.
He narrowed his eyes. I gave him a fake smile. “You’re obviously not cut out for this much action. I should have guessed.” He passed the buck to me. He still didn’t admit his fault.
“What do you mean? I was doing just fine.”
“Maybe we should have started with a smaller sword. A fencing sword, for example. I’m sure you would handle it better than a regular sword.”
Ah, that condescending, know-it-all attitude…
“Well, a sword is a sword, right? Now or later, what’s the difference? Besides, I just told you that was not why I passed out.”
He looked at me with rage. I guess I was getting on his nerves once again.“Why did you pass out then, little Ms. Divine Being?”
His eyes were darkening. He could try to hurt me again. So I de
cided to go down on a more peaceful road. I rested my head against the leather nightstand. I was confessing the truths. “I am…suffocating…here…”
I couldn’t see his expression because my eyes were closed, but he kept his silence, so I continued to prevent him from misinterpreting the word to suffocate.
“The walls are coming down on me. I feel like I can’t breathe here, meters under the ground.”
He didn’t respond. I didn’t even hear him breath. I think he was still processing what I said. He didn’t expect me to say any of these. I didn’t snap at him. Sometimes plain truth is the most powerful weapon. I couldn’t help but open my eyes because I was wondering what he was doing. Did I open myself to Master of Darkness for nothing?
“Why am I telling you these anyway?” I grunted to myself. I got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom.
“No, no, wait a second!” he called out behind me.
I stopped for a few seconds to prevent my lips from curling upwards. When I finally took control of my face, I turned towards him. He was up.
“I… What can I do?” His voice came out desperate. And only then couldn’t I repress my smile. I wasn’t going to feel sorry for him. He totally deserved that.
“Just try not to strangle me next time!” I said.
“Mia, please!” His voice was lower. He really seemed sorry. It was hard to keep this conversation when he was looking at me like that, but I went on.
“Wait a second. You can’t help it, right? Then let’s make a deal. Next time warn me before trying to strangle me, so I can do some breathing exercises beforehand. What do you say?”
“Mia, stop it!” he said, but he didn’t sound angry. On the contrary, I could hear the pangs of remorse in his voice.
“But there might not be a second time, right? So let me think… Maybe this time you can… Beat me up! That’s the only thing you haven’t done yet, right?”
“Enough!” he said.
I was scared, but I wasn’t going to yield. I tilted my chin up. “No, it’s not enough! Because at first you kidnapped me, dragged me all around, and bruised my wrists, and then you slit my throat with a sword!”
“I thought I explained myself to you about that,” he said, waving his hands towards me like it was a perfectly valid excuse. That was the final straw for me.
“For God’s sake, Alejandro! You slit my throat with a sword! A damn sword! What could possibly be the explanation for that?”
I was screaming like mad. I totally lost myself for a moment there.
“I had to spill your blood, Mia.”
I took two angry steps towards him. “Is it one of those damn graffiti? Which prophecy nonsense is this? There wasn’t anything like that written on the wall.”
“Of course, there wasn’t Mia,” he said calmly.
“Broke into the Light Temple, kidnap The Divine Being and slit her throat! Is that what the prophecy says? Damn it, is that? Tell me? And then you came and covered my mouth like you haven’t done enough! You tried to strangle me!”
“Damn it, Mia, calm down!”
I screamed. “I won’t, Alejandro! I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I can’t give you any more credits,” I said hopelessly.
“What did Rio do to you?” I think he thought I was talking about both of them, automatically including Rio. And then suddenly it dawned on me. Now, all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.
“I see. How could I miss that?” I said with a fake tone. I scoffed.
He gave me a wary look. “What is it?”
I snorted noisily. “Did you also born to love me? Did you grow up listening to stories about me? Tell me, Darkness! Answer me!”
He burst out a deep, loud hearty laughter. I was sure his laughter could be heard all the way from the halls of his underground palace. In fact, I wondered what the guards were thinking out there. Alejandro’s laughter was echoing through the room just seconds after my raging screams…
“What’s your problem, Mia? Being out of breath apparently didn’t do any good for you,” he said thoughtfully. “I guess I could make an exception for you this time.”
I made him a low curtsey. Even slightly bending down on one knee and bowing created a pretty disturbing, fake, and humiliating image. “It’s an honor, Master of Darkness. Sorry to take your valuable time. Thank you.” My voice was so artificial that it even disturbed me. I guess that was out of line, but it was too late now.
“Breathe first, thank me later.”
What would you do with a Darkness who couldn’t shake off his arrogance? I yielded because he was giving me good answers.
“I’m going to take you up to the roof for a while,” he said.
I nodded. I couldn’t argue with him. These walls -windowless and dark- were suffocating me. I really couldn’t breathe down here. He opened the door. At first, Simon sneaked a peek at Alejandro, and then he gave me a worried glance. He was probably checking to see if I was still alive. We heard the rattle of Eva’s high heeled shoes. We all turned in the same direction.
“Everything is okay up there, master. Maria told me that your new documents have arrived. I left them all on your study table. Also, a call from…”
Alejandro slightly raised his hand, and Eva stopped speaking right away. “Mia and I will be on the roof. We want to get some fresh air.”
Eva was both surprised and angry for being interrupted. She nodded and made way for us. Alejandro opened a door that led us to a room which I guessed was the living room. The paintings on the walls, ceramic vases on the end tables, and statues accompanied the wide and cozy-looking red sofas. Whoever furnished here did brilliantly. He made the art objects pop by keeping the furniture as plain as possible. Like the dining table and the chairs in the dining room, the end tables had little wood carvings that complete the overall decoration, like they were extensions of the art objects, yet never stand out too much. I saw the elevator room right beside the wide bookcase. Alejandro called the elevator and reached out his hand to Eva. After rummaging through her pockets for a while, she handed out a key to him. When the elevator arrived, Alejandro opened its door for me. The elevator cabin was empty, just like I assumed it would be.
Alejandro was right behind me when I nervously stepped into the elevator. I saw the hesitant look in Eva’s eyes but whatever she saw on his master’s face made her stay behind. The door closed right in front of our faces and just like that we were alone in the wide and luxurious elevator cabin. Damn it!
He put the key in the hole and turned it, and after that, he pushed the highest button: Eight. So, in that case, the hotel had eight floors. While the elevator was slowly heading up, I tried to stay away from him as much as possible. I literally clung to the other side of the elevator. The distance between us kept getting smaller and smaller. It was really hard trying to look tough and not to be swept away by his charm and be afraid of him all at the same time.
Suddenly something unexpected happened: The elevator stopped on the fourth floor. The doors opened, and three tourists stepped in. Then I remembered they accepted tourists to the hotel as a part of their disguise. They were speaking French among themselves. I got out of my corner and approached the tourists. Alejandro realized what I was trying to do. He held on to my arm without them noticing. I had to stop. I prayed that the man standing beside us would realize the strange situation I was in. I think God answered my prayers because the man glanced at us like he read my mind. I wanted him to notice Alejandro’s hand holding me down, but Alejandro was smart enough not to let that happen. He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me to himself. I was surprised. I had my heart in my mouth as his hair caressed my cheeks. I was afraid he could hear it.
The man smiled at us. Even though it required a lot of willpower, I moved my head away from Alejandro’s cheek. Alejandro pressed my hands tighter against my stomach.
The man gave us a fearful glance and turned his head immediately. Right then, I heard the sound of the elevator door. It opened. We
were on the seventh floor. The tourists didn’t realize something was wrong. This was my last chance.
When the last tourist got off the elevator, I made a move forward, but it was in vain. The door closed and he was so strong that even slightly raising the pressure on his arms made me feel like I was just punched in the gut. My stomach hurt so bad that I had to lean on him. I rested my head on his shoulders and closed my eyes.
“Please let me go,” I whispered breathily. I was breathing so fast, even I couldn’t make out what I said. He leaned down. His hair was tickling my ear.
“I can’t let you go,” he whispered. As his masculine yet kind voice echoed in my head, my toes started to numb, and my head spun, but this didn’t have anything to do with my talent, exhaustion or the lack of breath. It was all about his enchanting smell and the energy he radiated through his skin. And also the way his hair tickled my ear, his breath and also his voice… Everything about him was perfect. I have never felt such complicated emotions before. I couldn’t make sense of any of this. My emotions were like an overflowing sea, spilling out of me and at the same time hiding behind a high mountain. He was perfect. The Master of Darkness was perfection. He obviously didn’t belong to this word. This kind of being couldn’t possibly exist within the borders of the earth. It wasn’t just possible. Suddenly I remembered thinking the same things about Rio. I was wrong. Yes, Rio might also be perfect, but not as much as Alejandro. Alejandro was definitely flawless. Even the most famous artist in the world wouldn’t be able to portray him as perfect as he was. But he could sculpt Rio’s statue, and that was the difference.
“Don’t do this to me, please. Set me free,” I whispered.
Instead of enjoying the moment, I opened my eyes and raised my head. What was I doing? I wasn’t his kind of a person. I couldn’t be. I felt the overflowing waves retreat behind the high mountain.
I pushed back his hands that he crossed over my stomach. He automatically released me. The elevator doors opened wide before we could talk or glance at each other. I threw myself out of the elevator. The elevator went down. I walked forward. There wasn’t much of a sight to see. There were rooftops as far as the eye could see. When I looked farther away, I realized the sun was about to go down. Everywhere was painted in a different tone of orange. Reds, yellows, and some pinkness were hidden among the color scheme… The sky looked magnificent. The sun was being generous today. Suddenly I missed painting. Up until last week, the only responsibility I had was my tests. Look where I was now. I wondered how my tests turned out. The term was going to end this Friday. Now that I thought about it, these were all minor problems. I wouldn’t even call them problems anymore.