Viktorija Adelyte Kazlauskas

Chapter Sixteen

When Viktorija opened her eyes, Ismay was sitting in the corner like a scolded child and Jakoba was sitting in front of her. Etienne was sitting next to Jakoba, both keeping an eye on Ismay as if she had thrown puppies and kitten into a bonfire while dancing naked around it.

Looking at her surrounding, they were hiding in a giant tree’s roots. Etienne looked at her, walking over and putting a new cloth on her forehead. He knew they had three days to get the other necklace, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about it.

Etienne knew that she would pull through; Viktorija killed as easily as she breathed, and she didn’t let the monster bit him. To the true monster of Nestanha Village, it wasn’t Viktorija; it was Lynne Serpent; who thought he was above everyone and that he was above the law. Ismay was still alive, Lynne would have killed her the day they were on the same team.

Ismay was glaring at her as Etienne sat down, putting his hand on her shoulder. She was still pissed that Lynne had called Viktorija Princess as if she was someone important. He hadn’t called Launce a Prince, even through he had given him the same ‘present’.

“Was I this bad?” Jakoba asked.

“Again, not quite. You said yourself, even you doubted your actions over the years,” Aldona told her as she put her hand on Viktorija’s shoulder, healing chakra going around her hand. “This one, Ismay, truly believe that Etienne will marry her.”

“Never,” Etienne muttered.

“Don’t talk about Etienne, you’re a miserable peasant!” Ismay snapped, Azuloas appearing in front of her and slapping her clear across the face. Leaving a red mark on her check, Viktorija didn’t know how long she had been out, nor did she know what happened when she fainted.

But something had happened.

“I’m the head of the Vitkus Clan in Sashan, Viktorija is the head of the Kazlauskas Clan,” Azuloas coldly told her as Etienne helped Viktorija sit up. Launce staring slightly, Viktorija wouldn’t be surprised if woke up soon. “If anyone is a peasant, I’m looking at them.”

“Rich merchant’s daughter,” Aldona agreed.

“Don’t hit me,” Ismay growled.

“Then you’ve entered the wrong profession,” Jakoba coldly told her, hands in her lap as she gave Ismay the cold eye. “I’m on the same as Aldona and Azuloas, both have hit me harder during practice, broken bones and bruises are things to expect in this line of work.”

“What happened?” Viktorija asked, Azuloas handing her a water bottle. Ismay just glared at her, even if her red check ruined the image, then again, Viktorija always found Ismay as scary as a drenched kitten. “Etienne?”

“Azuloas, Montgomery and Aldona arrived before he could think of trying,” Etienne told her, he wasn’t going to give her to Aldona.

“Is the princess going to cry?” Viktorija asked as she looked at Ismay, tears going down her checks as she looked outside the cave. Viktorija just looked at her with a blank look on her face, before looking at Launce. “Ismay, please do shut up? I’ve had it and I’ve up for barely an hour, my family; the Kazlauskas Clan, you know how many villages it took to our clan down? Three, and you? You’re from a civilian family, and all you can think about is boys and it’s driving me up the wall! Wake up, this is the reality. No one will put their life on the line for because you’re the one who must put her life on the line to protect your client. Drop out, or train before you get someone killed!”

Ismay just looked at her before fainting, when Viktorija looked behind her. A huntsman was crawling up the wall, Viktorija knew that Ismay was weak willed, but a spider made her faint, how was she going to tell with snakes or anything else that might be venomous?

“That was a long time coming, wasn’t it?” Jakoba asked her.

“Six months coming,” Viktorija admitted, Etienne putting her down as she looked at the seal on Launce’s shoulder. Drawing chakra from her necklace, she put the same seal she had used on her own mark, the combination of Aldona, Azuloas and her own seal will keep Lynne’s at bay, after all, Lynne Serpent wasn’t a Sealing Master, and they had been training in that art for more then ten years now.

“That long? Aldona ripped into me just after we were placed onto the same team,” Jakoba told her, grinned as she looked Ismay. “It’s hard, seeing what could have been. If my grandfather hadn’t been there and if Aldona wasn’t willing to scream bloody murder at me. Telling me that I was stupid and what I was doing would get Launce killed.”

“At least you listened,” Viktorija told her.

“Even the smallest seed of doubt will break brain washing, even as long as my mother tried and failed to make me think I loved Launce,” Jakoba admitted pulling out a blanket and putting it around her shoulders. “Come here, you look like you’re going to faint or fall asleep. I’m still the weakest, so it’s important that they have their hands free, no one’s going to touch you.”

“You’ve got that right,” Azuloas told her. Viktorija nodded before allowing Jakoba to pull her into her lap, almost as if she wanted to make sure she could flee at a moment’s notice. Etienne was sitting next to Launce with Montgomery, almost as if they were prepared to do the same with Launce, she didn’t know if they’d leave Ismay behind.

But if something happened; she wouldn’t be surprised if Ismay died.

“Necklace?” Viktorija asked them.

“We need a Moon necklace,” Jakoba told her, Viktorija nodded before unsealing her spare Moon necklace.

“I have two of them,” she told them. Jakoba looked at her, taking into her hand and tossing it to Aldona. Viktorija felt safe in Jakoba’s arms, something that was rare, and she could count on one hand the amount of people that made her feel like that.

“Sleep,” Jakoba told her, Viktorija closing her eyes. The seals worked against for now, they worked for now and she knew she would be drained of chakra for a while; since all three seals were connected to her chakra network and would use it too themselves going.

Launce was going to be the same, but at the end of the end; it would increase their chakra stores, even if many would tell her that it was bad thing for her stores to be increased. The Snake’s seal might have been affected by this, Viktorija didn’t know what would happen to her.

And Mama’s spirit was no longer with her, having faded by the time she was ten. At least she got to know her and train with her, the limited time that they had together.