chapter 10
1119 Words
AVELORA
“So what is your goal, Avelora?” he asked again gently as he finished fixing my training gear. I was grounded in my spot, and even though I had always wanted to be stronger, it felt like it wasn’t goal enough compared to what he had said.
“I want to be strong enough to stop being weak,” I finally said. I just wanted to leave the bottom rank. There was no grand motivation. I wanted to stop being somebody’s servant everywhere I went. I wanted to stop being looked at like I was replaceable.
I expected him to laugh at me, to say something dismissive, but he just stared at me.
My motivation can never make sense to him. He has never been at the bottom. He was spoon-fed everything from the beginning. He had power, respect, and a name that carried weight.
“You’re not weak, Avelora.”
I met his eyes, expecting mockery, but I was met with sincerity instead. It unsettled me more than laughter would have. Before I could process it, he quickly looked away.
“So we start with planks.”
I nodded, following his exact footsteps.
He took his form and stayed there, not breaking a sweat even after the one-minute mark. His breathing remained steady and controlled. I knew he was stronger than me in any form and space, but I still wanted to prove myself. Not to him but to me. So I clenched my teeth and remained in form even though my whole body was shaking.
My arms burned. My stomach trembled. Everything in me was urging me to drop.
He glanced at me, not a single sweat broken, his eyes studying me before casually getting up from the position he was in. He didn’t say anything about my little competition.
“I won,” I said as I fell to the ground. Ungracefully, might I add.
“We were in a competition?”
My mouth was ajar. Sweat was coming out of every part of my body I didn’t know could sweat, and he asked that?
“Yeah, and I won,” I said with pride.
He smirked, took in my position from head to toe, and went, “At what cost?”
He is a jerk.
“Lie down.”
I have avoided touching him as much as possible today, but how did lying down become part of the training? I quickly crossed my arms on my chest.
“It is too early for you to be demanding that.”
He looked at me with a deadpan look, disbelief flooding his handsome features. He didn’t even dignify that with a response.
He walked straight towards me, still wearing his poker face. Each step was slow and almost calculated. Two of his hands gently placed on my shoulders before he made me lie down on the mat.
My heart thumped against my chest so wildly I thought he could hear it. Something stirred restlessly under my skin. I strangely began to hiccup, the nerves catching in my throat. I felt ridiculous and exposed.
He shook his head, casually staring down at me as if I was the crazy one here.
He then proceeded to get off me. Then he placed his leg on either side of me before casually lifting my leg up.
For a second, my brain stopped working.
He told me to lie down for sit-ups.
I screamed internally. My whole face turning as red as a tomato.
“Did you burst a blood vessel during your competition?” he asked as he straddled my legs in place, holding them steady.
I avoided his eyes and tried to divert my attention away from the fact that he was holding me right now and something inside me was jolting with electricity. My senses felt sharper. I could hear his steady breathing. I could smell him—clean, warm, and comforting. It made my stomach twist in a way planks never could.
“Count,” he said calmly.
I started the sit-ups, forcing my body to move even though my thoughts were spiraling. On the fifth one, my muscles screamed. On the eighth, I pushed back harder, stubborn. On the tenth, I almost collapsed.
His hand pressed lightly against my ankle to steady me.
After the twentieth one, I began to feel the pain in my lower back, but I wasn’t going to stop until he said so.
“That’s enough,” he finally said.
He sat down beside me. “We’re going to rewrite your goals,” he said after a beat of silence.
I looked up at him.
“Your first goal is simple,” he mentioned casually. “Make it into the Sovereign.”
What? The Sovereign? How was that supposed to happen? I was the weakest of the weakest, and the Sovereign contains the best of the whole academy.
People will laugh if I said joining the sovereign was my goal.
“You know that is impossible for me, right?” I should be realistic with whatever goals I had.
“Impossible?” he asked. “Okay.” His acceptance triggered something. I knew I had no chance, but him agreeing so easily…
“Every student in the Sovereign has one or more special powers,” I explained, and he just nodded. He is getting on my nerves. “I don’t have a wolf, so I can’t even shift. I’m not a healer. I’m not a seer…” He still did not reply.
“How do you expect me to get in?”
He got up and shrugged. I followed suit.
He walked in front of me while I listed every reason why I was never going to qualify for the Sovereign.
“I’m not strong at all. I have a bad back…”
He had stopped, and I had no idea until I hit my head against his back.
“Ow,” I complained as I rubbed my head.
“Don’t you think all the reasons you listed are the same reason why you remained bottom ranked?”
My mouth opened, wide agape. Maybe because he had been kind of nice to me, I totally forgot he was a foul, ugly-mouthed prince.
“You have a bad back?” He chuckled, condescending and annoying. He was mocking me.
“Why not say you have a bad leg too?”
I looked up at him with murderous intent. I want to kill him.
“There, there,” he said slowly. “Make sure you keep this determination in training.”
My body must have moved on its own because I only realized I had kicked him only after I did it.
- Writer
