CHENG’S STORY WAS INTRIGUING, although a bit far-fetched. The King of Lion sword was the only weapon that could defeat evil, and Paegeia had plenty of that!
He told me that once flesh-eating plants had devoured people in their sleep. The only way they could kill them was when King Alexander destroyed them with the King of Lion sword. King Louie had used the sword to vanquish a fog that would dissolve whoever entered it. The sword could defeat every supernatural entity, no matter the form. Cheng believed that the blood of King Albert and his family was special. Not like alien blood or something strange, but that it contained trace amounts of magic, because the sword had been in the possession of Paegeia’s true rulers for thousands of years. King William had his arm severed by it, and after the incident, the sword acquired the ability to destroy evil. Whatever the reason for this sword’s magic, I felt safe in the knowledge that there was a weapon like it out there. Cheng also said that Goran was still alive, trapped in Etan, and that he had tried to steal the sword through dark magic. As he explained how Goran had harnessed his dark magic through the blood of wyverns and by forcing his own dragon to commit horrifying deeds, my knees trembled and my heart pounded.
Goran wanted to destroy the sword so it wouldn’t pose a threat to his dark sorcery. With the only weapon that could kill him gone, he would become invincible if he ever broke out of Etan. The people of Paegeia believed that if Blake succumbed to his evil, Goran’s magic would be able to control him. This new information scared the living crap out of me. I shivered involuntarily as if icy fingers were tracing patterns on my spine.
If Cheng’s theories were right, Lucian was wasting his time and Arianna had really high hopes.
I now understood why Sammy worried about her brother so much. She believed what Cheng did and knew, deep down in her heart, that her brother would never be claimed. Returning to my room from the meeting with Cheng, I forced myself to think about something else.
Tomorrow was my first session with Lucian, and the butterflies in my stomach started to do a happy dance. I’d never looked forward to Art of War before, but I hoped he would be able to transform me into a warrior, as he had with Becky. I did pause, however, as I wondered if he was really the slave-driving demon she’d accused him of being.
That night I fell into a dreamless sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. I guess Cheng’s information was too much to dream about, even for the mysterious woman who haunted my dreams every night.
THE NEXT MORNING I felt incredibly well rested. I assumed it had something to do with the mysterious woman not appearing to me. The lady must cause some sort of an emotional drainage while I sleep.
To sum it up in one word, breakfast was uncomfortable. George had started following Becky around, and he even sat at our table. He completely ignored the other guys’ remarks and had a look of admiration on his face whenever Becky spoke.
Sammy gawked at him, forgetting to eat her breakfast, while Becky tried to ignore his unexpected behavior.
My first class of the day was Latin. I didn’t understand any of it and every foreign word made me feel as if I was going to explode. Leaving one punishing class for another, after Latin I was rewarded with Arithmetic. I didn’t have anyone tutoring me in Arithmetic, so I was basically doomed. Even though I was struggling, I was determined not to ask for help; they might end up having Tabitha tutor me, and believe me, dealing with Arianna was more than enough.
MOVING THROUGH ANOTHER less than excellent day, I was relieved that it was lunch until I realized Becky had another riddle she wanted me to answer. Lucian begged me to give her the answer too, and Sammy simply rolled her eyes while stirring her vegetables.
“Okay, let’s hear it,” I said.
“There was a green house, inside the green house there was a white house, inside the white house there was a red house, inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?”
They all looked at me in anticipation, and my mind wandered back to Dad again. He’d asked me this riddle before.
“It’s a watermelon,” I said, trying to mask the sadness inside my voice at the memory.
She hopped up from the table and ran off at a breakneck speed, excited to tell the chef her answer.
Lucian stared at me, concerned about my sudden shift in mood. “You okay?”
“My dad asked me that one not so long ago,” I said, shrugging in defeat and letting the emotions roll over me.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He gave me a soft kiss on my temple and stroked my back. The bell rang, and he insisted on walking me to my class. I guess he was scared Brian was going to try to steal me away or something.
We didn’t talk much as we made our way through the halls and parted with a quick kiss.
THE DAY ENDED with Art of War, which meant I was going to have a double period if I included Lucian’s session too. I barely had the strength to walk to my dorm and take a shower just so I could sweat again. It didn’t make much sense.
When I got out of the shower, it was time to meet Lucian. I forced myself out the room with a soaking body vest lumped in my arms. Unfortunately, the vest wouldn’t retract into a disk when it was wet.’
“Enjoy,” Becky said, without taking her nose out of her book.
I found him inside the dome waiting for me. He was practicing moves that made me stare at him like an idiot. He wore black pants with the body vest I’d only seen in Wetherley’s and Co. He wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath, and his muscular arms could make any girl’s knees tremble. I closed my eyes, thinking how lucky I was to call him mine.
He is so effing hot.
When he turned around I pretended I’d just walked in and hadn’t been gawking. “You’re late,” he said in a harsh tone. He looked away. When he turned to face me again, a smile lurked in the corners of his mouth. “This is going to be hard, isn’t it?”
I giggled at his internal struggle. “Can we please just rest for a while, I just finished with a fighting class.”
He squinted and contemplated my request. “It’s not my fault.” A huge teasing grin appeared on his face, and my stomach made another flip. My body vest was still icky and sweaty from my previous class, and I almost gagged when I pulled it over my head.
I picked up the heavy sword from the cupboard and dragged it all the way to where Lucian waited patiently. The screeching of the sword on the floor should’ve made me cringe, but I was too tired.
“Elena, how heavy is that thing?” He reached out for it, and I gave it to him without answering. My body language said enough.
He laughed softly. “I think I just found your first problem.”
“What?”
“This one is way too heavy for you.” Lucian went back to the cupboard and replaced it with another one. “Here, this is much lighter.”
I took the sword from him and felt the difference immediately. “You want to say my problem this entire time was that I was using the wrong sword?”
“Yes, that’s why you have to be early for class so you can choose the right weapon.” He smiled again.
“You sure this weapon can protect me? It looks so thin.” I examined the blade skeptically and barely saw his sword coming straight for me. My reflexes kicked in, and I blocked it, just the way Professor Mia had shown me in class on my first day. He came for me again, and I blocked that one too. He was so fast I barely saw him move, but he was right about the sword. It was as if I’d found my Excalibur and had become King Arthur.
When he finally stopped, I gasped for air and pressed a hand against my burning side. He laughed as I struggled to take a breath and playfully slapped away the hand I had raised in surrender. Becky was right. He was a slave-driving demon.
“One thing I can say, your reflexes are really good, Elena. I don’t recall seeing that before in a first-year.”
I gave him the whatever look.
He chuckled. “I’m serious, no joke.”
“You’ll say otherwise when you see me sparring with Collin,” I said, wincing at the thought.
“Get here early and you might show him a thing or two,” he said and forced me to get ready for another round.
“Don’t you ever get tired?”
“I’ve got plenty of energy left,” he said, pounding his fist on his chest and jumping up and down like a boxer.
“Oh, please, you’re going to kill me if you say the break is over.”
“That’s your second problem; you’re nowhere near as fit as you need to be. So I suggest a two-mile run every morning.”
I grunted.
He gave me a hard slap on the ass that made me shriek. “C’mon, Elena, you’ll thank me after a month.”
If you live that long, I thought as I narrowed my eyes.
He chuckled seductively, making me forget why I was upset. Then he attacked me again. His blows grew stronger after each swing.
I blocked two of them and landed on my butt. I didn’t want to get up, but when he offered me his hand, I had no choice.
“Becky was right, you are a slave-driving maniac,” I said, still out of breath.
“You complain on the first day, sweetheart, I see hard times for you,” he joked.
I hoped it was a joke.
He only gave me thirty-seconds before he attacked me like a samurai lunatic. It didn’t look so hot when I was facing him. I blocked five of his blows before my strength got the better of me, and I found myself flat on my back once again.
He pulled me up one more time, not accepting my surrender. It carried on like that for the next hour. When we were finally done, I thought I was going to drop dead right in the dome. I lay on the cold floor, and placed my flushed cheek to the cool surface. He could leave me there, I didn’t care.
He came to sit down next to where I’d almost passed out. I heaved like someone who had run for two days straight and my parched throat made me feel like puking. “You’re not bad, Elena.” He touched my leg.
“I beg to differ.”
“I know you don’t see it right now, but I wasn’t kidding about that run. So I suggest you go to bed early. I took it easy on you today.”
I gave him the excuse me look.
“Get up and take an afternoon nap. You look like hell.”
“I can’t.”
He shook his head, then a playful grin appeared on his face. He picked me up, threw me over his shoulders with ease. I squealed playfully and laughed as he carried me to my room.
I felt his hands on my legs, pulling me gently off his shoulder. When I reached his waist, he held me in place, and my legs automatically wrapped around him. Our lips found each other, and we kissed for a long time. It turned into a different kind of war, and I finally understood the phrase ‘Love is a battle field.’
He grunted and chucked me on the bed.
“I have to go, before I do something we might regret,” he said, and I could hear the strain in his voice.
I laughed.
“Am I too much for you, Prince Lucian?” I teased him, looking at him suggestively.
“Sweetheart, you have no idea,” he whispered, leaning down to give me another soft kiss before forcing himself out the door.
I couldn’t stop smiling, but I was so tired I dozed off a few seconds later.
It felt as if I had only been asleep ten minutes when Becky’s alarm clock went off.
“Becky!”
“It’s not mine, it’s yours,” she yelled back.
My eyes flew open. I didn’t own an alarm clock.
“Elena, shut that thing off,” Sammy growled.
I saw a small digital clock right next to my bed, showing it was 4:45 a.m. The sun hadn’t even risen yet and I had to get up. I struggled to climb out of bed. I crawled to the bathroom and managed to take a sniff. I needed a shower badly.
I needed the shower for my aching muscles; the knots made it feel as if I’d carried weights on my shoulders. This guy was really messing up my routine. Usually I took a shower after exercising, not before.
I pulled on some sweatpants and a shirt, hoping it wouldn’t be cold. When I got out of the bathroom, it had grown lighter outside. Unfortunately, my joints didn’t want to work; my knees didn’t want to bend, which made the stairs extra challenging.
I found the slave driver stretching near the cafeteria. He took one look at me and tried to suppress his laughter, but failed miserably. Only when I pointed my finger in his face and gave him the not now look did he bite his lip, which made him extra hot. I turned my head away so that I could at least stay mad for a minute.
“You should have stretched yesterday. Sit on the floor. Let’s see what we can do.”
The moment I tried to bend my knees, I tipped over and he caught me right before I landed flat on my face.
We both laughed as he lowered me to the ground and started to stretch my limbs like a physical therapist. The pain as he pulled my legs to my head brought tears, but when our eyes met, they disappeared. I felt better afterward, but it wasn’t what I’d hoped for.
We used the last half hour for a run. His pace was fast and my lungs burned after five minutes. I had to make him stop by the lake so that I could catch my breath.
“I—can’t—go—on.”
He jogged in the same place. “C’mon, sweetheart, we still need to do some crunches.” He chuckled.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“You see how unfit you are?”
I wanted to hit him with my fist in the gut, but I didn’t have the energy. Instead, I grunted.
“Can we please go back now?”
“No, Elena, c’mon.” He pushed me from behind and forced me to run again. I held my breath, wishing for the pain to disappear.
“We’re almost there.” Lucian sounded as if he hadn’t run at all.
“I would so like to kill you right now,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I don’t believe that,” he said, and it made me giggle.
I followed him to an open area right next to the lake. Seeing an opening in the brush, I collapsed on the ground and lay on my back, heaving. “This feels good.”
“You ready for crunches?”
“Urgh! Fine, let’s just get this over with.”
We had done about a trillion crunches when my stomach felt as if it was about to tear. I didn’t know if I would ever feel anything other than this excruciating pain again.
I was so glad I had tutoring with someone else today. Then I realized it was Latin with Blake, and my throat closed up. If he was the best at it, I’d just have to deal with it like I did with Arianna.
Lucian made sure we stretched afterward, before we walked back toward the dorms. After shower number two, I didn’t feel as stiff as before. I was still busy gulping down muesli and yogurt in the cafeteria when the bell rang and I was forced to lumber off to class.
The day flew fast and before I knew it, it was already lunch.
“Elena!” Sammy yelled my name. She and Becky were sitting at a different table today, because the princess wanted to sit at the table where we usually sat. She was such a pain in the ass.
“So anyone get the riddle yet?” I asked, showing Arianna that switching tables didn’t bother me.
“No, but I’m getting my saddle,” Becky said, bouncing on her pillow.
“Saddle?” I looked at Sammy.
“Dragon saddle.” She rolled her eyes.
“George finally let the tailors take his measurements this morning.” Becky ignored Sammy’s eye roll.
“When a Dragonian claims a dragon, Clifford and Brook’s tailor makes your saddle. They were here today to take George’s measurements.”.
“And why is that exciting?”
“Elena! It means that I’m finally going to feel what it’s like to glide with him in the air,” she said as she closed her eyes and sighed.
“Well, when you put it like that, getting a saddle sounds pretty cool.” I tried to sound excited for her, but the reality of it scared the jeepers out of me. It was definitely the height thing.
“Way cool, it’s like a girl’s first kiss,” Becky said.
“You’re finally getting your saddle?” Lucian placed his tray of food on the table and plunged onto the pillow next to me. He gave me a quick peck on the lips then took a bite out of his pizza.
“Going to, next week,” she said, launching into the story all over again.
We finished our lunch quickly, forced to listen to Becky going on and on about what kind of leather she’d chosen and the type of buckle and rope she’d picked out for the reins.
When the bell finally rang, I curled up my lip. I wasn’t looking forward to class.
