HECATE

VI

Asterias’ POV

She was like snow, beautiful but cold. Asterias noticed it the first time he saw her and now he saw it again. She had a cold air aura surrounding her. She was there physically but mentally? She was detached. Even when her gaze softened a fraction as she looked at him with curiosity and that smile that made him want to f**k her on the spot, she remained untouchable. The way she spoke about such elaborate thoughts as if it was the most casual thing in the world made her even more beautiful in a deeper sense than simply physically. Another thing that fascinated him was the opinion she had regarding every supernatural being and how accurate it was.

He shared the same thought when it came to the nature of them all.

When he asked her whether she feared him or not, he never even expected her to answer with yes in the first place, since she seemed like a woman who would bow to no one, much less fear anything. In that sense, they were very similar to each other. They both were well mannered and polite when needed and yet they were distant. Their smiles were like shards of ice, beautiful and yet everyone knew they were simply superficial, eliciting fear in most.

That thought remained in the forefront of his mind as Arcene drew blood from him. He would need to find more blood to drink now that Arcene was tapping into his reserves.

She then told him to demonstrate his powers on one of the blood samples she took, explaining that it was safer that way. Asterias kept glancing at her as she observed the extent to which he could still control the blood without losing control and never saw her expression change for even a second. She simply looked at the black blood that he moved and bent into different shapes with a contemplative expression as if she was looking at an equation that she could not yet solve. That somehow bothered him. He felt the need to see the face she made when she let down her guard around him previously. Her features became a lot softer, and she simply looked adorable when she blushed with a surprised expression…

He hastily supressed those thoughts before his mind could start wandering. It would be best for both of their hearts, if she even felt the same attraction to him that he felt towards her, to not go down that road. He would still put in an effort to get to know her as a friend because he knew that he wanted to be at least that to her, a friend.

“How come it was so easy for you to find the vein for the venipuncture? Also, it seems like you have analysed blood samples before seeing that you work so efficiently with the microscope.” His curiosity finally got the better of him and so he couldn’t help but ask her.

“I attended medical school when I was fifteen and got my license to be a doctor when I turned nineteen. I did my internship and residency to become a surgeon in record time because the other surgeons saw that there was nothing left to teach me.” It was impressive that at the age of twenty, Arcene was already a surgeon and worked in a hospital, which meant that other, older surgeons approved of her.

“What do you specialise in?”

“I specialise in cardiology, but I also perform neurosurgeries whenever they need me to. The hospitals in Paris and the surrounding cities call me every now and then when they have cases that seem to be hopeless because they know I have great interest in difficult cases. I studied medicine without the help of magic and even during surgeries, I did not use magic at first because the most important thing for me is to get the basics right before I use an external factor to make surgeries easier. The survival chances of patients have visibly increased ever since I started incorporating magic, so I have been experimenting on different procedures and techniques in my free time, which yielded positive results.”

Asterias thought it was strange. No matter how naturally gifted she may have been, it was a miracle that she was good enough to actually specialise in two fields as well as successfully use magic combined with medicine, which no one had attempted before. Not only that, during his travels, he had heard many people talk about her and that they wanted to attend the classes she taught at the ‘Royal Institute of Sorcery’, no matter what species or age.

Everyone who knew about her reputation admired her and wanted to be taught by her. Even his men knew about her and often spoke about how they would love to meet her at least once. He had never paid much attention to them and thought it was ridiculous to praise a young woman this much when there were people out there who were probably much more talented or skilled but he now saw that he seemed to be wrong.

“You seem to be talented in many areas, be it medicine or magic. That is very admirable.” He said those words with the attention of genuinely praising her, instead, her answer was not what he expected. At all.

“Saying that I am good at what I do and brushing it off as me simply being talented makes it seem as if I have not put any effort into learning anything. I spent hours studying ahead of the curriculum to be able to enter university and study medicine at such a young age and then I did the same to be able to graduate early. I then sometimes spent days at the hospital without sleep and practised sutures and surgical methods so I could improve while doing the necessary paperwork for the institute and the management of the castle. Magic was a bit different in the sense that I have a high affinity for it but I still had to practise night and day to get where I am. I don’t like to think that I am talented, I simply work very hard in order to achieve my goals.” She was right.

He never put much thought into it but what she said was right. He did not improve his skills simply because he was so talented. He definitely had talent but Asterias put a lot of effort into his training so he could get to the level of skill he was at currently.

Her ideologies kept surprising him in a very positive way and even though he knew that he was considered intelligent, he was somewhat upset at himself for not thinking of that. In that sense, he was thankful to her. She kept showing him new approaches despite having spend so little time together and he appreciated her even more for it. It was then that he made a decision.

He did not care about holding himself back despite there being no way for them to be together. He wanted her and he would make sure to get closer to her and then win her heart.