Mine

ARCHERY

AT NAAL CITY

"No you don't hold your bow like that" Derek chuckled at the way his mate held the bow and positioned the arrow.

" you're laughing at me" I said pouting my lips.

" I'm sorry my love it's just that the way you held the bow you could mistakenly shoot yourself" Derek said.

" But I'm holding it like you said I should " I said .

" Alright let me hold your hand" Derek said and held my hand while he stood behind me with my back resting on his chest.

" See it's not hard, you'll hold the bow like this" he said and positioned the bow and arrow again " and you'll pull it like this " he said and dragged it still holding my hand and shot the arrow which got stucked at a red mark on a tree.

" now I want you to try it " he said and released my hands.

I took a deep breath before releasing it, I held the bow and pointed the arrow towards the red mark on the tree. I held my breath as I shot the arrow but I missed it just a little.

I tired again and I still missed it " arggh why I'm I not shooting the red mark" I growled angrily.

"You're not relaxed, free yourself" he said.

"But I'm relaxed " I screamed " I'm sorry " I apologized.

" it's ok my love, you want to know how I became perfect in archery" Derek said to me.

" Yes tell me" I answered.

,"Alright come here " he said to me and I walked to where he was. He took me under a shade and sat me in between his legs as usual.

"Are you comfortable" he asked me and I nodded my head.

"My father used to take me and my brothers to hunt down animals but before that, he trained us to be perfect in archery".

" I was the last to be perfect cause I always missed my target like you do now. My brothers make fun of me especially Angus. So one day I practiced on my own , I kept on practicing and each passing day Angus will always make fun of me".

" One day I got angry and directed the arrow at him, I saw his face grew pale as I targeted his leg and shot his right foot, I didn't realize what I did till I had shot him. He screamed and alert our parents".

" My mother had rushed out to where we were and picked Angus from the ground who was wailing in pains and blood gushing out from his opening wound, my mother had pulled the arrow out of his foot and glared at me".

" we were little then when I did that, since then my dad took away my bow and arrow and bounded me from using it ever again.

But then I still practiced it secretly which Liam knows about, and it was after I shot Angus foot I became perfect".

" You have quite a temper and also sturbborn too" I said after listening to all what Derek told me.

" You should have known that by now, come let's go back inside you can practice tomorrow" Derek said but I insisted.

" No please I want to practice a little more" I said giving him puppy eyes and pouting my lips like a little kid.

" alright alright I'll come back to get you" Derek said , I stood up from the ground dusting my gown.

" Where are you going " I asked.

", I'll be back just don't go anywhere alright" he said coming close to me and patted my head like a little child.

"Ok I'll wait here while I practiced" I said and he smiled at me and left me all alone.

While he was gone I continued to practice when I heard a familiar voice.

" hey witch".

I didn't even bother to turn around as I know who it was and continued what I was doing ignoring her when I felt her pushed me forward which made me fall to the ground.

"I'm talking to you and you are pretending to be deaf " Claudia said with her arms crossed.

" Are you out of your mind? Why did you push me" I said angrily still sitting on the ground.

"Did you just say I'm out of my mind" she said pointing at herself.

I stood up from the ground dusting myself and looked straight into her eyes " are you talking to me ?" I said looking around.

Claudia got furious as she walked with angry steps towards me and I didn't exactly what came on my mind by pointing the arrow towards her which made her stopped on her tracks.

"Are you trying to shoot me the arrow" she said.

"What does it look like I'm doing, if you take one more step then forgive me if this arrow pierce ur skin and I'm sure you wouldn't want that will you? "I said grinning.

" Good evening ladies" I beard a male voice and saw that it was Liam who was walking to where we was.

"Good evening your highness" I greeted while Claudia ignored him as she was fuming in anger.

"What's going on here " Liam asked and didn't bother if Claudia answered him or not.

"Can't you see she's trying to kill me with the arrow" Claudia said.

" Is that so? " Liam said .

" She started it by calling me a witch" I said.

" would you believe her lies" Claudia tried to put the blame on me.

" Alright it's enough I apologized for what she did" Liam said to me and faced Claudia " you better leave her before Derek sees you here " he said harshly to her.

Claudia lips parted and closed like she wants to say something but the words was not coming out " you actually took her side after all the lies she told you" she finally said.

" I'm not taking anybody sides and by the look of things I think Aria here is practicing and you came here to meet her and cause trouble isn't it? " Liam said.

Claudia couldn't say anything as Liam has said out the truth already, she taught of something else to lie against me but there was nothing.

At the same time I saw Derek coming our direction but there was a frown on his face and I know it's because of Claudia.

When he got to where we stood, he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my forehead even in front of his brother and Claudia I could feel heat rising in my cheeks.

" Are you done practicing" he asked me.

"Yes let's go" I said.

I wanted to leave so I can't continue to see Claudia's face which was red in anger with the way Derek had kissed my forehead.

"I should be on my way too see you later Milady" Liam said and left but Claudia still stood watching us.

"What are you standing there for " I heard Derek said to Claudia.

"She's a witch and you still holding her what if you're under her spell " Claudia said glaring at me, if eyes could kill I'm sure there would be two holes in my body right now.

" yes I'm under her spell any problem with that" Derek said and when Claudia was about to say something he shushed her " you and I both know the reason why you're not dead by now so for the sake of our friendship stay away from her this is the last warning I'll give you".

After that Derek and I left Claudia standing still fuming I heard her call Derek's name but he ignored her.

*

*

*

We sat on the dinning table to have our lunch while eating I decided to ask Derek something I had in mind.

" Derek" I called him.

"Yes " he answered.

"Can I ask you something"

"What is it my love"

"Uh can you tell me your past relationship with Claudia" I said.

" Is anything bothering you" he asked and tucked my hair behind my ear.

" no uh I just want to know why she's acting like this, is there anything between you both in the past" I asked.

" There's nothing between us we were just friends and nothing more but...." He paused.

.

"But what ? " I asked.

" In the past before I met you my mother and her parents already said I'll get married to her if I didn't find my mate but luckily I found you but even if I didn't find you till now I won't still get married to her".

" Do giants get married too" I asked cause I remembered when Elia was asking me if I don't want to have a rememberable wedding day.

"Yes my love if course we get married but I want you to say far away from Claudia I have a feeling that she's planning something evil with my mother, I fear your life is in danger but I won't let any harm befall you" Derek said with worry written all over his face.

But why will the queen his mother behave that way to her own son I asked in my mind.

"I think I need to go back to my family to learn my powers so I can protect myself and also get to know my family better and it's also safe for me there" I said sadly though I didn't want to part with Derek but I have to be strong and stop depending on Derek always just like my other half Ari said to me the first time we met in the ocean.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Derek asked and touched my cheek by now we had finished eating our lunch as the servants came in to clear the table.

We now stood at the window which has become our favorite spot. " I want to be able to save myself from trouble , I want to be strong like you but I don't want to part with you" I said as I placed my palm on the windowsill.

" We will still meet ourselves my love our soul is connected now as my mark is on your neck" Derek said and touched the spot on my neck which tickled me.

" but won't people see me as a witch as I have powers now" I was scared of what people will think or say about me.

"Let them think whatever they want".

*

*

*

AT QUEEN CLARISSA'S ROOM

" I thought I told you not to act rashly you should try to make the girl trust you but you did otherwise" Clarissa said to Claudia.

" I'm sorry my queen I just couldn't bear to see Derek's mark on her stupid neck" Claudia said clenching her fist.

" Wait for the right time he might think I'm a bad mother but I'm doing the right thing for him" Clarissa said and touched her forehead before sitting on a couch with her leg crossed.

"It will be so hard meet her as she is always with him".

"Patience my dear patience" and Claudia could only sigh.

She couldn't do anything than to wait as the queen had said.

AT BEAUTIFUL CITY

"Celine celine are you alright" Caleb held Celine before she could fall.

Right after Celine had woken him up she had lose conciousness and he had quickly caught her before she could fall.

He touched her forehead and it was burning hot ' had she been sick before ' Caleb thought in his head when all of a sudden he heard someone laughed.

He looked around the cold room where he was and saw a man the person who had killed him.

" Fredrick" he called his name through gritted teeth.

" Welcome back from the dead, I never knew love could do such a thing" Fredrick said as he started to move round the room.

" What the f**k are you talking about "

"Oh you don't know ok let me tell you before I kill you for the second time".

" I'd like you to try "

" Shut up you rat don't you see that she raised you back from the dead and got affected".

Caleb turned back to look at Celine who was unconscious in his arms as though she was sleeping. He touched her forehead again and it was worst than before.

"If not for you fool it wouldn't have been like this, you mongrel killed me at first all because of sh loves me and not you. You were so jealous because we were going to get married and...."

" Enough of the rubbish you're saying I don't have time to listen to that now let's get it over with just a few more minutes now the guards will be here and I have to kill you again before they arrive" Fredrick said.

Caleb gently dropped Celine on the bed he laid and faced Fredrick.

" yeah you drop her I don't want her getting hurt ".

Caleb didn't waste time as he moved fast at Fredrick who didn't expect it at all and threw a punch at his face .

Frederick staggered backward and spat blood out of his mouth , he used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth clean " wow you've gotten better than the last time".

Out of thin air Fredrick brought out a dagger which he held in both hands using his index finger telling Caleb to come right at him again.

" yeah you drop her I don't want her getting hurt ".

Caleb didn't waste time as he moved fast at Fredrick who didn't expect it at all and threw a punch at his face .

Frederick staggered backward and spat blood out of his mouth , he used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth clean " wow you've gotten better than the last time".

Out of thin air Fredrick brought out a dagger which he held in both hands using his index finger telling Caleb to come right at him again.

Caleb and Fredrick fought each other tearing thier sick and throwing punches.

Frederick kicked Caleb right at the stomach making him squeezed his face in pain but he didn't mind as he managed to move fast towards Fredrick.

Caleb managed to pick Fredrick and throw him to the ground and held his neck about to slice it when the door opened and the guards entered.

"What's going on here" one of the guards said there were about ten guards.

Caleb who held Fredrick's neck pushed him away when Fredrick said " I can explain this man here tried to kill me and also hurt the princess" .

Caleb's eyes widened in disbelief " what? He's lying ".

"So why is the princess laying unconcious on the bed".

" I didn't hurt the princess I swear he's lying" but the guards didn't listen as they tied Caleb's hands together and took him away.

Though not many of them knows about Caleb's death and as it was the time of night they couldn't see his face clearly.

"You can't do this to me when you don't know the truth" Caleb said but it fell on deaf ears and his eyes met with Fredrick who was smiling at him and waving his hand saying bye.

When the guards finally took Caleb out of the room the other guards wanted to carry Celine when Fredrick Volunteered to carry her " let me please " he said and scooped Celine into his arms gently.

"Lead the way please " he said and the guards nodded their head and led the way with Fredrick following behind.

"See darling you can't run away from me I told you" Fredrick whispered into Celine's ear as they left the cold room .