The Wizard Prince's Rebel Soulmate

Chapter 4

To his credit, Leandro ate the entire sandwich, even though it was a little dark on the edges, and Aurora managed to get him to go back to his room and rest, just like the doctor ordered. She went back into the kitchen and grabbed some ice-cream out of the freezer before sitting down at the table and thinking back to the rollercoaster the evening had turned out to be.

She couldn’t figure out what Leandro was doing here, and he didn’t give her a chance to ask him, he was too interested in finding out how a princess everyone thought was dead, was sitting next to him clearly alive and well. Maybe she’d told the story too many times, but to her, it wasn’t all that interesting anymore. She hadn’t even known who she was, it wasn’t as if she had done anything heroic or dangerous. She’d just lived her life, as a human, without even knowing that witches existed, never mind that she herself was one.

Aurora didn’t know if they could trust Leandro, but she knew that his kingdom was at war with King Riccardo, and the enemy of her enemy was her friend. At least she hoped so. And it would have been unethical to just leave him there without helping him. Sofia had made the decision to bring him here, and she would just have to trust her aunt to not put them in harms way.

Sighing, she put the nearly empty ice-cream tub back into the freezer and, promising herself to ask Leandro a couple of questions tomorrow, she went to sleep.

The next day started out just like all the days prior. After a quick breakfast, Lorenzo whisked her away to the old quarry for training. Today, they focussed on water instead of fire. Her powers had grown to the point where she didn’t need any bucket of water close by, but she could pull it from underground, or collect it from the plants around her, or even extract it from the air if the humidity was high enough. It was her second strongest power, almost as strong as fire, although she secretly preferred fire over everything else. Maybe because Lorenzo told her that her father favoured that element as well, and it made her feel at least a little bit connected to him.

They ended the training with some wind to dry them off, and Aurora enjoyed the way it played around her, tousling her hair, like a caress from a friend. When they got home, she immediately went to take a shower and strolled over to the kitchen to find some lunch.

“Where did you run off to this morning?”

His voice startled her, but she didn’t allow him to sense it.

“Training,” she muttered, inspecting the contents of the fridge, as if something edible that didn’t need anything more than heating magically appeared if she’d just stared long enough.

“With the old man? You’d be better off training with someone stronger,” he chuckled and Aurora tried to keep calm. Why did he have to be so rude?

“Lorenzo was my parent’s personal guard and he is Sofia’s soulmate, so I think he is more than capable to train me,” she snapped. “And who do you think would be a better trainer? You?”

She turned around and let her gaze run over him.

“A small gust of wind could knock you over right now. And I know how to call for that gust of wind.”

Satisfied with his irritated expression, she dedicated herself once again to finding food for herself before she had to starve.

Suddenly, she felt darkness creep up around her, as if the shadows cast by the furniture were growing, becoming three dimensional, covering everything that had just been cast into the bright sunlight of a summer day. She couldn’t even see what was inside the fridge, even though she was standing right in front of it. Alarmed, she closed the fridge door and held out her hand, summoning the fire from within her, but it didn’t illuminate anything. Although she could see the flame, the orange and yellow licking at the palm of her hand, everything around her was still dark. She knew she could let the flame grow, but she was afraid of burning the kitchen to the ground.

“The small gust of wind wouldn’t even see me,” Leandro whispered in her ear, his low voice sending shivers down her spine. She hadn’t even noticed that he was standing next to her.

Acting purely on instinct, she moved her other hand in his direction, trying to prove him wrong by aiming just that airflow he mocked towards him, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, until she tumbled against his hard chest. Even this close, she couldn’t see him, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel scared.

All those lessons from Lorenzo came back to her, and she extinguished the flame, quickly turned around, grabbing the hand that held her wrist with her free hand and squatted slightly. When she felt that his balance was thrown off, she bent forward and lifted up, before letting him roll of her back. A low thump told her that he’d landed on the floor, making her grin. Of course it wasn’t fair, not only had he not expected it, and she was sure he didn’t mean her any harm, but he was probably still hurting from the day before. Well, that would teach him to underestimate her and Lorenzo.

As the shadows retracted, Leandro slowly came back into sight. Groaning, he rolled onto his belly and pulled his legs under himself, slowly pushing himself up on his elbows.

“You hungry? I was just about to make some lunch,” Aurora asked innocently while watching him get up.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Aurora wasn’t sure if he was referring to his need for food or to his injuries, but she shrugged, being fine with it either way.

With her back to him, she heard his careful footsteps moving away from her, towards the living room, before the TV was switched on. She couldn’t help but chuckle. She managed to surprise him two times in two days, and for some reason, that made her feel incredibly proud. The arrogant crown prince of Southern Italy was getting a quick lesson in how to treat the women of the other two kingdoms, she just hoped he enjoyed it as much as she did.

Settling yet again for a sandwich, she ate quickly and rushed downstairs, knowing that she was already late for her afternoon lessons with Sofia, but to her surprise, her aunt wasn’t in her usual spot on the couch next to the entrance. Aurora walked around the library for a little bit, but couldn’t find her. She wasn’t worried about her, but it was unusual that she was missing a lesson.

Wondering if her aunt was with Sandra, she walked towards the conservator’s room in the corner of the first floor.

“Hey, Sandra,” she greeted her friend, but a quick scan of the room revealed that Sofia wasn’t there. “Have you seen Sofia?”

“Uh, I think she’s with Lorenzo. Why?” Sandra replied absentmindedly while trying to piece together the dark brown leather cover of the book in front of her with a pair of tweezers.

“It’s time for my afternoon lessons, but she isn’t there. But if she’s with Lorenzo, I won’t bother her,” Aurora added. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Sandra replied.

“What do you think of Prince Leandro?”

Her friend stopped her task and looked at her.

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m just wondering if it was such a good idea to bring him here. I mean, this is supposed to be our hideout, and we don’t know if he’s on our side or if he’s going to sell us out to King Riccardo.”

Sandra c****d her head, as if she was trying to figure out the meaning of Aurora’s question.

“You know what happened to his kingdom, don’t you?” she finally asked her. “King Riccardo is the reason there’s basically a civil war going on down there. His parents are stuck in Sardinia. I’m pretty sure he’s not very fond of King Riccardo right now.”

“I know, but…” Aurora chewed on her lower lip. “Do you know what powers he has?”

“The Royals of Southern Italy have control over light and darkness,” Sandra answered.

“Makes sense…” Aurora mumbled, ignoring Sandra’s inquisitive look under her raised eyebrow. “I’ll go and take a nap then. Maybe we should take another shot at girl’s night this evening?”

“No, thanks. I’m all girl’s nighted out from yesterday, it might take me a while to recover,” Sandra commented dryly, making Aurora laugh as she walked out of the room.

She didn’t get far, as soon as she stepped through the door, she bumped into Leandro, who held on to both her wrists and pulled her flush against him.

“You know, if you have any questions about me, you can just ask me yourself.”

Why did he insist on whispering next to her ear instead of having a normal conversation with her?

“Would you have answered me?” she asked, noticing how breathless she sounded.

“Of course,” he answered. “We'll have dinner tonight, and I’ll tell you all my secrets if you tell me yours. I know you don’t have any other plans, so don’t even think about saying no.”

He let her go and she stumbled slightly before straightening out her legs.

“I’ll see you later, cara.”

And with a smirk she wanted to wipe off his face, he turned around and left.