That kiss was everything. It was soft, exciting, and dangerous. How could I let myself kiss him? I've been swept up into his orbit and yet I can't find a way out, it's like a black mist is covering it all. Do I want a way out? I don't really know. I just know that this is dangerous and moving way too fast. My mother would keel over and then roll over in her grave because what am I even doing kissing a Human and also what the hell am I doing making a deal saying I'd marry him if we both make it out of this? It's like making a deal with the devil.
Welun what the hell am I doing? Also why did I kiss him? I did want him to. His lips were so attractive, his soft spoken words and hands were so perfectly placed that I could've melted into a pile if he wasn't holding me up. Walking out of our wing I rubbed my palms on my sides, Gods it's hot out here. Addison was talking with Ridoc, turning her head and she saw me and started motioning for me to come over.
"Hey, Addison, I'm sorry to hear about your brother." I placed my hand gently on her shoulder, rubbing her softly with my thumb.
She nodded with a small smile, "It's okay. He's in a better place now anyway. We have to move on. They only gave me a day's worth of grieving which I think is generous considering where we are." Her eyes glossed over, and her small smile faltered to a grim line.
"Yeah…" I trailed off and cleared my throat, "You remember the story on how the Fae and Humans split, right?"
Ridoc and Addison nodded, "Of course. It's like knowledge one-o-one at this point."
I nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm not sure if it's right though." I quietened my voice to a whisper.
Addison scoffed as if my idea was ridiculous, which I'm sure it is, "What do you mean? Why would our ancestors and current parents lie to us? It wouldn't make sense."
It doesn't make sense. But, I can't tell them exactly why. I'm not even sure I can fully trust them, "I was just curious. Lyle seems like a genuine person."
Ridoc eyed me, "What do you mean? He's a Human. We're giving him the benefit of the doubt here but that doesn't mean we can buddy buddy up with him."
I shrugged, "I don't think so. He is a person after all? They can do the same magic we can do. What if…" I fell off once more. I'm sure I sound like a crazy person to them, hell I might even be conspirator and a traitor for all I know.
"No. Absolutely not. Our family has never lied to us. Omitted the truth, maybe, but didn't lie," Addison's lips went into a thin line, she was, in a way, putting her foot down.
Some time passed after we had that discussion. After that we all went our separate ways and whenever we did meet up it's like we all knew not to talk about what I brought up. Thankfully the library is my sanctuary in this place, I hope when we move onto the next island that they also have a library. Whenever I had the chance I went to the library to read that book I found the first day I was here, "Dragons and Humans: A Test of Time" by N. Credian. I think it must've been a misprinted book, it was odd. Some of the facts melted together seamlessly whereas other times the facts don't make any sense. Like the writer didn't know what he was actually writing about. Also why is the name of this book "Dragons and Humans: A Test of Time" if it's not actually describing what is in the book? Sighing I sat back into the chair and started tapping the table with my index finger. Why is this book so weird? Rolling my eyes I shut the book and put it back where it belongs.
Walking back to my room I opened the door and sat on my bed. The days that have passed have been nothing but working out my magic skills and honing my body to fit the new gear that I am putting on it. The Earth magic skill is definitely not for me, it makes my body feel uncomfortable. Thankfully, no one has died since Quincy and Addison is oddly dealing okay with his death.
I haven't seen Lyle since our kiss. Our wonderful, breathtaking kiss. I don't know if it's because of me or because of what but right now our alibi isn't working so well. He stays away from me if he can help it; when we have to go to magic lessons he doesn't walk with me anymore nor does he eat with us anymore. I see him go into his room, but other than that I'm not too sure where he's been.
"Blake!" Ridoc yelled behind my closed door.
Opening the door I put my left hand on my hip, "Yes, Ridoc?"
"Everyone's going to the lake today. Want to come?"
Looking back at my room and then back to him, "Um, who's all going?"
"Me, Addison, Saxon, Lyle and hopefully you."
Lyle's coming? I haven't spoken to him in a week since we kissed and he's going to the lake with a man he beat up in the dining hall, "Sure. Let me put on some different clothes."
"Sure. I'll be out here to walk you where everyone else is," Ridoc shut the door behind him.
What the hell am I going to wear to the lake? I sifted through the clothes in my wardrobe and noticed a pair of beige shorts made of a lightweight material and a half-shirt made of a similar material. How fitting it is that the prissy Winter Court Princess is showing some skin today, but we are going swimming. Quickly changing I put on a pair of moccasins, letting my hair loose I shook it out some with my fingers. Opening the door I quickly grabbed Ridoc's arm and we walked towards the group.
Ridoc smiled and poked me with his elbow, "Nice outfit, Blake. Who knew you conservative Winter Courts could show more than an ankle's worth of skin?"
I laughed, "Really Ridoc? Not you too."
His smile turned into a grin, "I know, I know. I just wanted to mess with you," we paused and he looked around the courtyard, "Looks like they went on without us. C'mon, it's a quick walk over to the lake."
We leave the College and go South towards the forest biome of the island, "Ridoc, can I ask you something?" Our footsteps crunched the grass beneath our feet as we walked through forest to get to the lake.
"Of course, what can I help you with?" Ridoc continued to watch ahead, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Have you seen Lyle at all this past week? I've only seen him go up to his room."
Ridoc shrugged, taking his hands out of his pockets and slowly wringing them, "I've seen him, if that's what you're asking. But, we only talk in short conversations. I'm lucky he even accepted my invite to the lake."
We walked the rest of the way in silence, quickly making it there and there was Lyle talking with Addison on the bank of the lake with Saxon close by. Interesting, he doesn't talk to me but he'll gladly chat up Addison. His black hair was already damp and laying down flat against his forehead, and he was shirtless, the water droplets gliding down his skin and dampening the sand beneath them. Wide and thick scar lines moved from his shoulders and down his back, strange that he doesn't mind showing them but he does mind when someone touches them. And he was beautiful. Me and Ridoc walk up to them on the bank, "Hey guys! We finally made it." He stopped in front of the pair, pointing a finger at them and waving between them, "What're you two talking about?"
"Oh!" Addison exclaimed before hopping up from the sand, her eyes darting between me and Lyle. Her eyes eventually settled on me, "Guess what I found out today! Our Guards are coming to the College. Apparently the whole Quincy thing freaked them out."
I tilted my head and my eyebrows knit together, looking between her and Lyle, "Killing is common at Fafnir. Why do they care now?"
Addison shrugged, "My guess is that what they care about isn't good. Maybe it's because we're the smallest group they've had in a while and they want to keep us alive as possible? Or maybe it's something they're not telling us."
"Enough of the conspiracy theories," Ridoc rolled his eyes, "It's time for swimming! I can probably kick you guys' ass with my water skills."
"Game on!" Addison yelled, getting into the water with Ridoc with Saxon following closely behind them.
I looked down to Lyle who was looking out to the water, "What the hell, Lyle?"
I sat down next to him and he slowly turned his head towards me, "What do you mean, Blake?" his voice was more detached than he'd ever spoken to me before.
"You…you left? I haven't spoken to you in about a week?"
He shrugged, "I didn't leave. You just haven't seen me."
"We're supposed to be convincing everyone that we're together." I grit my teeth, this bastard is getting on my nerves.
I saw the gears working in his head as he shook his head, "I know, but it's dangerous. What if you get hurt? What if they hurt you because I'm a Human and we're not supposed to be together. We're already stretching it pretty thin with me even being allowed on this island."
"I don't care, Lyle. We made a deal," I need what he has. There's probably nothing even concrete on their side but what if there's something new? Something that they don't want us to know.
I could see him thinking of our deal and the different thoughts running through his head. He sighed, glancing at me then moved his eyes back down, "Fine. Do you always get what you want?"
I shrugged, "As a Royal it's kind of implied. You don't?"
He shook his head and his mouth set in a hard line, "No. My father isn't what you'd call kind."
We sat in silence after that. Saxon, Ridoc, and Addison came up from the water with smiles on their faces. Addison stuck out her tongue to Ridoc, "Told you I'd win!"
"Yeah yeah whatever. The only reason why you won is because Saxon decided to take me out."
"Blake, why don't you and Lyle go in the water? Go see which of you wins?" Addison looked between us.
I looked over to Lyle and tilted my head with a nod; should be a win, "I'm game."
Lyle got up and wiped his hands on his sides. He turned towards me and held out his hand, "C'mon then. I'll kick your ass any day." His ego is bigger than his fat head.
Grabbing his hand he lifted me off the ground effortlessly and with a smirk I walked towards the lake, "I doubt it, babe. Let's go."
Let's see how he feels about that. But he doesn't skip a beat, instead of me thinking he'd mess up it was the opposite. He smirked at me; the bastard. Getting into the water it was lukewarm and the sand beneath my feet was soft; Lyle and I waded towards more of the center of the lake where the water was about an inch below my waist.
"Ready, Princess?" Lyle raised his hands beneath the water and poised himself where his right arm is high and his left arm is lower and partially farther back.
I fix my feet on the ground, my right foot is forward along with my right arm and my left foot is back the same with my left arm. I opened my palms and nodded at Lyle. His well-defined thick torso glistened wonderfully against the small waves in the water. I'm distracted. Water magic is all about fluidity and a sense of calmness, when you bend the element it feels like water ripples from your heart to the ends of your fingers and toes with a cooling sensation. Moving my legs back I accentuate my body and let my arms and go in a circle, grabbing the water from the lake. The water was in a cylindrical form and it was held in the air, and then it was about time to toss it to him. I'm not sure if he is aware, but Water and Air elements are the strongest in my skill set. Lyle's stance was a bit more rigid than mine, not sure if that's on purpose or he doesn't have the best training with this element but I guess I'm about to find out.
Throwing my arm out in a quick motion I send the water flying to him, he moves his hands in a circle and catches the water then he spins around and sends it back to me. Interesting. I quickly force my hand down, sending the water into the lake and it splashes, sending some small waves towards me. Putting my hands in the water I pull my arm back and push the water with my palms, creating a bigger wave. Lyle once again deflects and forces the wave down.
How frustrating.
Gritting my teeth I pull my head side-to-side to crack my neck. Afterwards I clear my throat and gesture towards him, "Well, I guess it's your turn?"
With a smirk he brings his palms down towards the water, and raises his palms up slowly, building a wall of water. Holy shit. Suddenly, the water throws itself at me and I yelp, pulling my hands in the middle and pushing them apart causing the water to split down in half. My muscles were already fatigued. I bite my lip and putting my right hand beneath my left I twirl them slowly and push down causing the water to lift me several feet in the air. With a grin I keep my left hand to my side with my palm splayed out with a tension to keep myself afloat in the air. With my right hand I grab water in a sphere and start hurling it at Lyle. He rolls his eyes and starts deflecting them, but his movements aren't fluid like mine. It's like they're part of the Earth movements? His arms are strong, and he uses the whole arm to deflect the spheres whereas if he were using Water movement he'd use languid movements to move them back and down to the water. Suddenly, were I paying attention this might not have happened, but he sends a water ball straight to the water that's keeping me afloat.
I fell down in the lake, the water overlapping my head. Swimming back up to the surface I sputter.
"Enough!" I yell and with some aggression I push the water apart from my body except for my feet, "You won."
Using my right hand I point towards the shoreline and let the water take me over to the sand. After getting to the shore I dropped my left hand and the water that was holding back from me came back together as if I never disrupted its natural flow. Taking my palms and pushing down the water, leftover droplets run down my torso and my legs to dampen the sand. Still wet, but much better.
Lyle moves up beside me and with a snap of his fingers the water dissipates off of him and into the atmosphere. What was that? My eyebrows knit in and I stare at him cooly, "What the hell was that?"
He looks me up and down, then with the pointer finger and his middle finger in a straight line he sends a breeze on me; instantly drying me, "You wanted a fight? Did you not?"
I scoffed with a roll of my eyes and I bit back, "I was expecting to win that fight."
He laughed, "Well, Princess, don't underestimate your opponent. You don't know what they, or me, have been through. Clearly I'm better than you at your own game. Hell, your Court's own skill."
My eyes widened and I hissed, "Listen, you–"
He took a step forward and looked down at me, "You what? You're going to call me filth too? Or are you too good for that?"
I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in disbelief, "No. Of course not."
"Then what were you going to call me, brat?" His bulky arms folded in front of his chest and he leaned downward ever so slightly to meet me in the eye.
Addison gasped and Ridoc started laughing, "Nothing, Lyle! Welun, you're so infuriating!" I started walking away.
"And you're being a brat," he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards him, "Don't walk away. We're talking."
Yanking my wrist away from his burning touch I slapped his chest. Oh…it was so firm, "I'm done with this conversation and I'm leaving before anything else happens."
He took a step back after I slapped his chest. Walking away I trudge through the forest towards the College. Who is he to call me a brat? In fact, he keeps calling me a brat. And what the hell kind of bending was that? It's like he used different element bending and used it towards this. This is so embarrassing and so frustrating. How can he, a Human, be so good at the magic that we use everyday? Do they use it everyday too? Is it a part of their community like how ours is? Or is he special because he is a Prince that he has special access to? Getting to the College quickly I practically ran up the stairs. I can't wait until this is over and we can move onto the next part.
The next few weeks go by without a hitch. Earth training went rather well, everyone can do the basic movements and even some advanced ones. Water went by quickly with everyone except the Fall group; I'm guessing it's because they're too aggressive to appreciate the artform that you need for Water bending. Air bending went by rather quickly too, since Water and Air use very similar fighting styles it was quite easy for everyone to feel how it's supposed to be used. Even though you are fighting for air most of the time. This week we're on the Fire element and I am, unfortunately, terrible at it. I don't really want to be good at it, considering it's not really in my wheelhouse but I need to at least do the basic movements.
The Fire element is based on long-range attacks and movements, so stiff arms and legs with multiple quick strikes. Fire is all about being quicker than your opponent and striking them first before they can strike you. Standing outside in the field several feet apart I widened my feet about shoulder width apart and let my arms fall loose. In front of us is a torch with a lit fire and our objective is to take that fire, make it bigger, then throw it back to the torch and successfully light it. Seems easy enough.
Lyle was standing to my right and his jaw was tight, his stance rigid. He seems more aggravated the more we go on through this class. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt today and you could see his back scars peeking on his shoulder blades. They're a dark reddish pink color that's raised and rougher than the rest of his skin. I wonder… I look over to the Fall siblings and notice the same colors trailing up their arms like proud branding. I can't tell if it's the same in terms of how it feels, but I know that they're the same in terms of color, which probably means that those are burn scars on him. What happened to him?
The Professor was explaining the proper technique, he held out his hand and with a quick turn of his wrist his fingers bent like a claw and he pulled his hand towards him. The fire hurled itself towards him which he grabbed between his hands, making the fire spin between his hands, his fingers still bent. He slowly pulled his hands apart, relaxing his fingers slightly and the fire grew twice the size and with his left hand he pushed the fire away back to the torch successfully connecting. The flame was twice the size and it roared. Okay, great now I have to do that almost flawlessly or else Professor is going to have a field day picking on me again. Maybe even give me a bad score.
"Okay, everybody, now it's your turn. Don't sizzle each other, alright?" The Professor's shoulder shook with a chuckle.
A few chuckles went through the crowd and we all started fixing our bodies to mimic the Professor. Rolling back my shoulders I make my legs stick to the ground, rubbing my toes into the soil to give me a better grip on the dirt. Slowly I held out my right hand towards the fireball sitting on top of the torch. Please don't let me fail this test. My blood began to sizzle and warm under this magic. Thankfully, the bright fire started hurtling itself towards me and with a wince I grabbed it with my right hand and forced it between my right and left hands. Oh my Welun I actually caught the thing. Flexing my fingers to the shape of claws I hear the fire hiss beneath my control and when I slowly relax my fingers and pull with my hands the fire groans and gradually gets bigger. Okay, okay, slowly Blake. I slow my pace and slowly pull it apart some more to where it is the size of a large melon. Biting my lip I quickly turn my palms out towards the torch and push the fire away from me towards the torch.
The fire hissed. C'mon, connect. It connected with the torch and roared back to me. I did it! Looking around the Fall siblings are sitting on the grass watching others try to learn their skills. Addison was also finished. Looking over to Spring I see Rhiannon, Raleigh, Ridoc, and Remington all arguing with each other on how to do it properly. That can't be good, the Spring Court never argues. Ridoc and Raleigh were finished, their high torches dancing in the wind. Rhiannon and Remington were having troubles though. And Lyle? Lyle was sweating profusely and his jaw was set tightly. His torch's flame wasn't bigger, nor did it look like he was trying to make it bigger. My eyes traveled to his hands, they were balled up into fists by his side.
"Lyle?" I asked quietly, "Are you okay?"
He side-eyed me and released a breath, "I'm just not the best at Fire. It's actually my worst."
"Well, I can help you. Fire isn't my best subject either but it'll be good practice for the both of us."
He did a big breath intake and moved his feet apart, pushing his heels into the ground, "Alright, what now? Do I just summon it towards me?"
I smiled and nodded, "Yes, summon it. It will move rather quickly so be prepared to catch it. Once you catch it with your dominant hand, take your opposite and trap it inside. I will tell you the next steps once you get there."
He nodded, closing his eyes he breathed heavily. Opening them he took his right hand and summoned the fireball and within seconds it flew to him and he did exactly as I said. He caught it and contained it with his other hand.
"Great! Okay, now what you're going to do is flex your fingers to where they look like claws. It's like sinking your fingers into the fire without actually doing so. After that, you're going to slowly pull your hands apart while also relaxing your fingers. Lastly, you very quickly turn your palms back towards the torch and push it away from you. And that's it."
Watching Lyle I see his jaw tick and with a grunt he slowly changes his fingers to the shape and starts moving his hands apart. The fire hissed and moved around within his hands but begrudgingly it grew double in size; he quickly flips his palms around and pushes the fire towards the torch. And it connects.
"Hell yeah, Lyle!" I exclaim excitedly and rush over to him with a hug.
Hugging him was one of the most comforting things in the world. His muscles flexed to where he hugged me back. Wrapping his arms around my body he kept me close to him. Breathing in his scent he smelled different than us; he smelled woodsy with a slight hint of sweat that actually complimented him. Pulling away from him I smiled up at him and his eyes went up and down, eventually making it to my lips.
A scream erupted and we jumped apart. Running over to the scream I stop. Rhiannon lay on the ground, completely burned and not breathing. Raleigh screamed, dropping down to her sister. Oh no… Getting on my knees I put my hand on her shoulder while shivers wracked her body with tears falling from his eyes. Ridoc and Remington stand above her body looking down at her with a solemn expression. I touched the grass and closed my eyes, willing flowers to pop. Eventually, they came; the flowers bloomed like a crown around her head. They were beautiful pinks, yellows, and oranges. Thank you Earth for allowing me to bloom these flowers for her.
"Everyone back to your rooms! The day is over!" Professor boomed across our group.
Lyle forced me to my feet and grabbed my hand, walking us away from them and back to our Wing. Poor Rhiannon. I wonder what happened?