Starlands - Mated To My Bully

Two

I pass the kitchen to find a letter waiting on the table for me. I scurry across the floor to catch it before anybody else. Aether must have placed it there for me. He is the only one who isn’t mean.

He isn’t kind to me by any means, but he doesn’t go out of his way to hurt me. He has white hair which is always messy and dark brown eyes. He is the kindest out of the four, and everyone at the institution makes it clear. They rarely approach the inviolable’s but if they do, it’s always Aether they go to.

He empowers sunshine and when he is happy, his skin glows with warm radiance. He is always warm and often walks around our home half-naked to make up for his high body temperature. He’s already passed eighteen, all the males have, which means they already have their powers. I’m still waiting.

Aether can fire rays of light bright enough to blind, hot enough to burn like lasers, and warm enough to melt. He can turn his heat and brightness up and down as he has mastered his skill in the short time he’s had them.

I look around for him but don’t see him anywhere as I grab the letter and run back up to my room. I slam the door behind me as I slide the chair under the handle as a form of lock. The doors don’t have locks here. Homes are protected with magic by the males and if you don’t have that magic then you can’t protect your home.

You can only imagine the pranks fae males got up to the first couple of years here. It slowed down as they began to turn eighteen and put protections on the shared homes. I can’t spell my room, so I’ve always placed a chair under the handle. If someone walked in whilst I was getting changed then the consequences would be detrimental.

I sit on my bed as I rip open the envelope, eager to see the words on the page written in my favourite handwriting. Cursive so swirly that sometimes you need to turn the paper in your hands to try and make out the letters. Always making the e on Clove extra swirly so it looks like it accidentally says Clover.

My sweet Clove,

It has been six hundred and ninety-five days since I last saw you. I haven’t been trying to count them, but I have been counting down the days until I can see you again.

Your last letter said you are doing well and I can’t help but worry that you have lied to me, dear. I know that you have struggled with your housemates and keeping up with the strength of this institution but you should be proud of yourself. You made it into the higher institution when you only ever expected to be the weakest in the class of the lower institution.

I know this can mean more pressure and I don’t want you to ever feel like you can’t tell me. Tell me all of your problems and grievances. If you have nobody to speak with then isn’t it best that you air yourself to me? It won’t trouble me.

I always tell you, child. The truth floats through the air like silk. Even when it hurts, it only becomes heavier. Lies cut like knives, even those meant to protect.

I miss you dearly, star. You will always be the brightest sky in the star to me. Please look up at the stars tonight. I’ll be looking at the same sky and when I see them twinkle, I will know you’re watching.

All my love,

Grandma

I wipe the tears away as I hold the letter to my heart. It has been so long Grandma. I’ve been counting too. I only receive one letter a month and every single one is from my Grandma. Sometimes, when she thinks I may need it the most, she calls me Star so I don’t feel forgotten.

I was born as Nova. The twin sister to Clove. When I was thirteen, I lost my parents and brother in an accident. They were too close to the forest. Too close to the beasts. One minute they were there and the next they were gone. I can still picture the beast in my mind.

I see it every time I close my eyes. I see the blood and hear the screams and I see myself standing there, frozen in time as I watch in silence. The beast doesn’t see me and sometimes I think it was a dream, but I know it wasn’t as they are no longer here. I was standing there watching and it didn’t see me. But I saw it.

One day I will slay that beast. I will get my revenge. It’s why I became Clove. Well, it wasn’t at first. Grandma pretended it was me who died with my parents. She wanted to give me more to my life. Give me more opportunity than to be a homemaker and she said to protect me for when I turn eighteen.

She only ever says to protect me, but she never says from what. I have concluded that she assumes I’ll come into power when I turn eighteen. I am strong because I train. I know things because I learn. I am nothing special though.

A rattle shakes my door and I hear the remark as two bodies walk past. Rune and Grove. My other housemates. ‘He should be called Clover. I’ve never seen such a feminine male.’

I shake my head and smirk at the comment. Being called feminine doesn’t offend me, I’m glad I don’t look masculine. It only worries me that one day someone may check. When I needed to become Clove, it was too upsetting to say his name and be him. Grandma called me Clover. We were to never say the name Nova again, which is why she sometimes calls me Star so that we remember who I am.

I hear Grandmas words you will never know the importance of a name until it's gone.

I try and ignore them. I always try my hardest to ignore them but sometimes something comes over me and I need to let the anger out. So then I do. I shove the chair across the room as I throw the door open.

‘If you have something to say then maybe you should have the balls to say it to my face.’ I stand there clenching my fists and Rune looks me up and down before laughing as his eyes catch my fists.

‘Are you going to punch me, Petal?’ Petal because Clover is a wildflower and he believes I should be a female. He’s called me Petal since he stole one of my letters from Grandma when I was sixteen. He said it looked like Clover and that the female name suited me.

He hasn’t since called me Clover. Just Petal. Sometimes I wish it was because he saw me as a flower, blooming and beautiful, growing in this world. I blink back the thought as I stalk over to him. He is incredibly beautiful. A chiselled jaw frames the bottom of his face. Piercing ocean eyes and chestnut wavy hair up to his ears.

Where Aether is incredibly handsome, he is the kind one. Rune is the pretty one. He’s been perfected by the gods and he knows it. So much so, that he sleeps with both males and females. He can get whoever he wants, except me. He tried. If I could be Clover then I’d have probably given in.

He’s not only charming but his power is reigning in a storm. He can cause disasters in his wake. Ripping buildings apart, cause the earth to crack as far down as he wants. He can bring lightning, thunder, tornados. Not only can he cause them, but he is a whirlwind.

Not only charming, but funny and loud. Whereas Aether is charming in an old-soul kind of way. He is calm and gentle. Rune is goofy and silly. He’s the class clown and the joker.

Rune tips his chin up at me, even though he’s already taller. ‘See something you like?’ He asks and it’s then that I realise I was staring. Drinking him in whilst I was standing so close. I raise my fist but Grove grabs it and then proceeds to slam me into the wall, my fist still in his as he squeezes.

‘Remember your place, weedling.’ He says as his other hand comes up to grip me by the throat. ‘You know what happens when you try and rise above us. We won’t be so nice next time.’ They weren’t nice the last time but I’m in the mood to goad.

‘A weedling is a small weed. Do you know what happens when they grow near the big weeds? They kill them. Regardless of Clover not being a weed, when it grows in the grass it pushes everything out. The larger weeds don’t survive in its presence. It may be small, but it’s much more fierce. So maybe.’ I push at his chest with all my strength, whilst hooking my foot around his ankle.

Grove stumbles back but he doesn’t fall like I intended. ‘You should remember your place and remember that places can be taken. They aren’t permanent.’ Grove is lost for words as Rune chuckles.

I feel myself begin to drift up in the air as I sit on a bed of clouds and float down the stairs before swiftly falling flat on my bum as the cloud disappears. I look up the stairs to see Rune hanging over the balcony. ‘There’s only so much he can handle, Wildflower. Best to quit now.’ He winks before turning and walking away.

He’s right. I do need to be careful around Grove. He’s fire. Literally and metaphorically. He can’t control his temper very well. He’s exceedingly protective of his friends, or brothers as they call each other. When it comes to Rune, he would happily burn anybody alive who would so much as look in his direction.

Grove is a beast of a male. He’s even taller than the others, his body is ripped but he isn't lean, and his muscles are large. His chocolate hair falls to his shoulder but is often worn in a bun. His hazel eyes flicker between green and honey brown. When he’s angry they are more brown with flicks of gold, as if they are catching fire. When he is happy, which isn’t in my presence, his eyes are a softer green.

I don’t usually speak to Grove. He’s unpredictable and dangerous. My sparring matches are usually against Rune and Emrys. Rune does it in a jokey way as if we are friends. We are not. He never actually treats me like a friend when the sparring stops. Whereas Emrys does it with pure venom.