The Wizard Prince's Rebel Soulmate

Chapter 7

Aurora woke up with a headache. Without realizing it, they’d finished the entire bottle of wine last night, and then moved on to the limoncello, emptying half the bottle of that one as well. As much as she disliked Leandro, and his whole arrogant behaviour, she strangely enjoyed his company. Apart from being an amazing cook, he was a great conversationalist as well, but she assumed that came with the territory of being a crown prince. He’d probably taken classes on rhetoric and communication.

Sometimes, he reminded her of Matteo. He certainly carried himself with the same sense of entitlement, and a kind of carelessness that only people who never had any issues paying their bills could afford. In other aspects, the two men were completely different; where Matteo flirted cheerfully and made her feel safe, knowing that he would back off if she asked him to, Leandro demanded her attention, enraged her, then surprised her with some kind of gesture that left her dizzy before whispering something into her ear that caused goosebumps to erupt all over her skin.

After telling her his story last night, he’d started asking her questions, but her life wasn’t that exciting before she discovered who she truly was. Or at least she though it wasn’t, because it seemed that he couldn’t get enough from her stories of a regular human life. When he asked her how she found out about her powers, and how they’d been dormant for so long, she just mentioned that ‘a friend’, who was a wizard, figured it out eventually and told her, and that her mother had suppressed her powers with a spell. For some reason, she didn’t want to tell Leandro about Matteo.

She knew that he would look at her with the same pity she saw in Sofia’s, Lorenzo’s and Sandra’s eyes. The same pity she heard in Altea’s and Vanessa’s voice whenever they talked on the phone. He was the only one who didn’t treat her like a heartbroken wreck. Of course, the others didn’t show it, but she knew what they thought. Your soulmate leaving you was a lot worse than a regular breakup. But she’d experienced worse things in life. Nothing came to mind right this moment, but there must have been something. Like the death of nonna. Although she knew that nonna was getting old and would eventually die, it still hurt. Matteo, on the other hand, was still alive and well, and she was holding on to that tiny little piece of hope that he would choose to be with her until the very end. No, mourning someone who died was much easier than mourning someone who was still alive.  

At the end, just before she stumbled out of Leandro’s room to fall into her own bed, he’d wrestled the promise of him joining her for training today out of her. As much as she regretted that promise now, she couldn’t back out of it. Groaning, she rolled herself out of bed and strolled to the kitchen, still in her pyjama, hair standing every which way. All she needed was a dose or two of caffeine and a cold shower.

Much to her dismay, Leandro was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping on his coffee, looking fresh like a flower, grinning at her like he was enjoying her misery.

“Good morning, cara. I didn’t know at what time you usually went for training, so I woke up a little earlier to make sure I wouldn’t miss you.”

She grumbled something inaudible and opened the cupboard, looking for her mug, when she realized that it wasn’t there. Slowly, she turned around and looked at Leandro.

“You’re using my mug.”

He smiled innocently.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that this one was yours. It doesn’t have a name on it.”

Aurora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Nope, she wouldn’t let him get to her this early in the morning. It was just a cup. Her favourite mug, because it was the biggest, but she would just get two refills instead of one. Maybe she should get a mug with her name on it, surely one of those souvenir shops had them.  

She grabbed one of the remaining cups and went to the coffee machine, but the little bit of coffee that was left wasn’t even enough to fill her cup half-way. By now, she was sure that if she wasn’t being careful, she would burn this kitchen down. She silently poured some water into the coffee machine, put a filter in and added the right amount of coffee powder, before switching it on. Back home, she always prepared the coffee the night before, so she just had to press a button in the morning, but here someone was always up before her and by the time she woke up, the coffee was already made.  

While she was listening to the huffing and puffing of the coffee machine, watching the little drops of dark liquid fall into the carafe, she kept her back to Leandro, afraid that she might strangle him if he so much as looked in her direction. It was his fault. Her semi-hangover. The cup. Not enough coffee. It was all his doing, and she didn’t even have the possibility of catching a break from being around him this morning, no, he had to wait for a moment of weakness, when she was tired and tipsy and feeling a little bit better about him because he fed her, to ambush her with his request, so she couldn’t say no.

Finally, she could fill her cup, add sugar and milk and walk back to her room. She couldn’t guarantee for Leandro to stay unharmed at this point, so it was better if she removed herself. First cup of coffee, shower, then another cup of coffee and maybe some food. Definitely some food, now that the slight nausea was subsiding, she realized how hungry she was.

She sipped her coffee while she was getting her workout clothes ready and by the time the cool water of her shower rained down on her, she already felt more alive. After getting dressed and putting her hair up in a ponytail, she grabbed the cup and went back to the kitchen to have breakfast.

“So, I guess you’re not a morning person, then?”

“What are you still doing here, Leandro, don’t you have a room where you can hang out in?” Aurora hissed.

“And let you sneak out with Lorenzo? No way!”

Aurora just shrugged her shoulders and refilled her cup before grabbing a croissant.

She was just about done when Lorenzo came to see if she was ready. He didn’t show any reaction when Aurora told him that Leandro would be joining them, but Aurora knew he wasn’t a big fan of the Southern Italian crown prince either.

It was hot at the quarry, but Aurora and Lorenzo started right away with some hand-to-hand combat training, to get that out of the way before the sun was too high in the sky. Leandro watched them for a few moments before taking a stroll around the area. Aurora decided to ignore him and focussed on her training. Lorenzo didn’t hold any punches anymore, but she managed to get a few hits in here and there, even though she was mostly in defence.

Afterwards, they started working on her control over the earth, her weakest power. Aurora knew that it was important to train all of her powers equally, but she couldn’t help but feel a little angry that Leandro was here, seeing her attempts at moving earth from one spot to another. She’d rather train with fire or water, to show him that she was capable of controlling her powers. At least her anger fuelled her power, and Lorenzo praised her for making progress.

By that time, Leandro had joined them again, a frown on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Aurora sighed, not wanting to look at his disapproving scowl any longer.

“Why are you learning how to fight without your powers, but not with your powers? Instead of digging holes, you should learn how to use the earth to attack or at least, defend yourself.”

Lorenzo glared at him.

“It’s important that she learns how to control her powers before she starts using them on someone else. Controlling the elements is difficult, trying to attack someone without being completely comfortable with them could have dangerous results,” he explained, but Aurora could hear the suppressed anger in his voice.

“I can fight with fire and water,” Aurora interjected, “it’s earth and air that I’m not strong enough in yet. So should it come to it, you don’t have to worry about me, I’m perfectly capable of defending myself.”

Leandro didn’t look convinced.

“How much time do you think we have until you need to fight? It won’t be long now. I heard you started gathering your people, which means King Riccardo knows, and he will not wait until you’re strong enough to attack. He will simply get rid of your little rebel group as soon as he can, and you won’t be prepared because you’re slacking off here.”

Aurora was fuming, but she tried to stay quiet, or she would say or do something that she would regret. The worst part was, that she knew he wasn’t completely wrong in what he was saying. They had been ignoring it, but the fight was coming, whether they were prepared for it or not. And she’d rather be prepared. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her say that.

She turned to Lorenzo.

“I think I’m done for today, let’s go back and have lunch.”

“Oh no, cara, you’re not done. How do you want to get better if you’re training part-time?”

“You know nothing about my training, so how dare you comment on it?” she snarled at him, watching as he stepped closer.

“I’ve seen enough today to know that this is going to be useless once King Riccardo finds you.”

Leandro was now standing right in front of her, close enough that she felt his breath on her face when he talked. She straightened her shoulders and raised her chin up high.

“I’m not going to take training advise from someone who couldn’t protect his kingdom against King Riccardo. At least I was a baby when it happened to me, what’s your excuse?”

Not giving him the opportunity to respond, she turned around and marched straight back to the car, while Lorenzo followed right behind her.

Leandro made it to the car just in time, or they would have left without him. The drive back was silent, but Aurora could see that she’d hit a nerve with her last comment. But she couldn’t bring herself to apologize, he should learn to talk to her without making her mad. There were a million different ways to tell her what he thought could improve her training, but he had to choose the one that made her look weak, Lorenzo incompetent, and Leandro like the knight in shining armour, ready to save the day. Well, she didn’t take kindly to cocky, arrogant boys like him, and he should know that he was a guest in her kingdom and should behave accordingly. They had the same social status, and she wouldn’t cower in front of him and kiss the ground he walked on like his other girls probably did. The thought of him with other girls made her angry all over again.

Back home, she walked straight into the kitchen to get some lunch, while Leandro went into his room. She scoffed. He better stay away from her for a while. And no way would he join her for training ever again.

She quickly made some scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese and toasted a slice of bread. That would be enough for now, she had to take a shower and go downstairs to meet Sofia for her afternoon lessons. After putting her plate into the sink and cleaned up from her meal, she walked towards her room.

Suddenly, the door of guestroom number three was yanked open, and a large hand grabbed her arm and pulled her inside before she had a chance to react. The door was closed behind her, and she groaned when she was pushed against it, her back painfully hitting the hard wood.

“First of all, I would like to point out that we weren’t exactly attacked by King Riccardo, so all my training was useless when half of our people turned against us.”

Leandro’s voice was even lower than it usually was, and he was back to whispering next to her ear.

“Secondly, I am of royal descent, which automatically makes me stronger and more powerful than Lorenzo. I can take your attacks, no problem, if you even manage to get past my defences. If you want to fight against a king, you should train with a crown prince.”

Aurora was breathing hard, he was holding her against the door, and even if she could move, she wouldn’t. He smelled fresh, as if he’d just taken a shower, and she could hear his heart beat fast close to her.

“And lastly, I couldn’t take it if something happened to you if I could prevent it. Just the thought of you getting hurt, especially by that bastard Riccardo, makes me want to plunge this entire kingdom into darkness just so he won’t be able to find you.”