He had been feeling dizzy, nauseous, and every other thing that comes with butterflies in his stomach. Ever since he left the room, his body had been rebellious, sickly, and most of all, fearful of something, maybe more accurately, someone.
Run, run, please run. He had heard that in his head too many times to keep count. He did not know why, but he feared he was running mad. The aberrant sun made his pores flood his skin with greasy sweat; it also left him extremely thirsty.
Maybe it was the compounding thought of his very real likelihood of death that made him uneasy; everything from the rapier on his neck to the conversation with Liana made him paranoid.
He had been sharpening his blunt sword, turning to Viola, who was merely staring at him, wanting so bad to alleviate the sickening feeling of dread.
'How can he be so different from his father for three years and still nothing, no noticeable improvement? Is he simply hopeless?.... It can't be Aurelious can't sire a useless child,' she paused, looking at him polish the wrong side of the blade, 'Can he? Have I wasted three years of my life trying to do the impossible?'
Now he didn't hear any of that because she was saying it under her breath, and at his strength, he simply couldn't perceive it. "You know I'll be tempted to retaliate if you keep staring daggers at me, Vio." He said before continuing, albeit in his mind, "It would be nice if you stopped making me both uncomfortable and afraid at the same time."
Viola was genuinely confused about what this boy was on again. "Have you lost your marbles, your highness?"
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, the morning incident..."
"No, I knew what you were talking about, but do you think you could overcome yourself, let alone me?" That struck a nerve; he felt hurt in a way so primal that he had to retaliate without thinking.
"What's so special about you, just some washed-up commander babysitting a worthless prince?" That actually made her pause. He did not know why he said that; maybe he was trying to mask his own fear.
Viola paused, her lips pursing in ways that conveyed far more than confusion. She saw the defeated look on his usually shining emerald eyes.
"You know you should be more like your father, get a bit more courage." She said her tone turned soft.
Is everyone hellbent on comparing me to my parents? He silently thought
"How great was he anyway? The same courage that got him killed, stupid bastard." Now that was a whisper he didn't think Viola would hear, but unluckily for him, she did. He didn't even know he said it himself.
How could she not? She was one of the Kingdom's 72 Legendary-ranked individuals, standing right atop the power structure.
"Say that again!" Viola's body tensed, grip on the hilt of her rapier tightening as her eyes slowly turned white and empty.
"Repeat what I didn't say anything." He panicked and tried to find a way to run.
"Shit, did she hear that? "he internally thought.
"You really are a coward sullying your father's name." She took a pause. "Do you know who he was to mankind?" She said coldly, muscles contracting, pressing on the ground with force, lunging to the fear-stricken Auther.
Raise your sword to the left, do it fast, hurry, for time is against us.
For some Godforsaken reason, he did not question it; that reason was Viola. He did not give him time to even think. The other reason was that he was sure it was a product of his mind, not some external whispers.
He clumsily managed to place his sword to his left, stopping the heavy blow Viola intended to deal at him. But she did not give; she merely bent his elbow joint inward by hitting it with her other arm, increasing the force on her sword and pushing his arm inward till a sharp tear could be heard.
All of his joints were now decommissioned. For some weird reason, he felt no pain, mostly due to adrenaline and the speed and accuracy of Viola's movements. She was gracefully destructive in a way he could not help but admire as he fell to his knees in awe.
"You are not even a drop from either your mother or father, you Lascivious pig." She insulted him while he was still too stunned to move and too flustered by millions of thoughts to properly articulate himself.
Now, this was due to the pain of having your arm nearly blown off by sheer brutality; it made no sense to him why his adrenal glands did not produce like an endless river, cause this pain he felt was so potent that it made him want to die.
Still, he could not scream; he needed to get Viola out of that weird state he had unknowingly triggered. He racked his brain for answers, but all he could think about as he saw her lift her rapier high to the air was near death, and all he could do was shamelessly beg.
"P_P_p_please don't do this, I love you, Viola, I really do. I'm sorry for all the bull..."
He was soon looking at her thighs, his head firmly detached from his body, a wet patch clearly visible on her training pants.
"She gets off to killing people, huh?" There was a pause; his strength was leaving him, his world turning hazy by the minute. "That bitch!"
His eyes turned from mesmerizing jade to a lifeless green