"Sweet Rose." He actually seemed amused as a smile of hopelessness morphed on his fine lips. "You already did. You know Alicia by now. She isn't accepting that back."
He took the tickets and slipped them back into the envelope. Placing it back in my hand and tying the ribbon around it, he added, "Put that in a special place. They're valuable and I'd rather we remain alive to experience it."
His words prompted me to store them in the same magical void where I kept my pendulum and ancient books of spells.
"Okay," I agreed, and in a few seconds, the gifted envelope was gone into its safe haven.
It seemed to be perfect timing as two individuals emerged from the second path to the royal maze gardens. The mere sight had me frozen in place as I took in the male.
Rain noticed my sudden rigidity, and one followed look clearly ruined his mood, but also triggered an odd sensation that I picked up on.
The two individuals noticed us, and they too, came to a stop before the unfamiliar woman pointed our way with a pleased expression.
Rainer tried to move in front of me, but I slipped my hand in his and took a step so I stood next to him. The trickling fear that was beginning to boil within me was suddenly silenced by the overwhelming desire to stand my ground.
I put up a fierce exterior, one that wouldn't be dampened by my past experiences - no matter how traumatic they were.
My eyes locked onto those ice-cold ones, the same jewels that looked at me with so much sinister hate more than two months ago.
I could feel the same icy sensation creeping through me, attempting to consume me like the very element that almost trapped me in eternal imprisonment if I hadn't somehow reached Rainer's side.
Now he was here with me, standing next to me with his raging aura fighting hard to not swallow everything around us in pure protectiveness.
Throughout the summer I'd envisioned what it would be like to face Xavier again. To prove that he hadn't won by destroying me and would have no choice but to see me - alive and well. I expected to see those cold, piercing eyes of hate and hear his huffs of frustration at the list of flaws and areas I lacked. I was ready to face his demotivating words and attempts to provoke me like he loved to do, but as we stared at one another from a distance, it didn't seem like the way I'd pictured.
Xavier looked different. His hair was a lot shorter than before, like he decided to get a haircut that left his hair spiked up with one side brushed down to give a wild but sophisticated combination.
He was in his school uniform, which was in perfect condition as usual, but what caught my attention was the slight discoloration on his face. It wasn't something easily picked up on from such a distance, but there was some sort of scar along the left side of his cheek that went past his eyes.
I couldn't recall injuring him during the ice assault, but the sight of it gave me an odd satisfaction because he had to use some sort of makeup to cover it.
What a punishment that would be to his perfectionist ego. To have a scar on your face that can't be covered with magic but mundane, lower-level makeup creations. Priceless.
My attention moved to the woman accompanying him. She had long blonde hair, striking blue eyes with hints of orange, and wore the Purely Divine uniform, which told me she was definitely amongst our crowd of students.
If she was here, that meant she'd just finished the second-year assembly, but this was the first time I was meeting her.
Who is she?
The girl reached for Xavier's hand, and they began walking this way. I could see Xavier's cold eyes go from blank to full-alert mode as the woman's sudden movement shocked him. I could feel Rainer tense up next to me, but I squeezed his hand that was in my grasp.
"I'm fine. Whether I like it or not, there's going to be a time we'll cross paths. Might as well get it over with here and now."
I felt Rain's dissatisfaction, but he remained by my side and didn't comment about it, which was impressively kind of him to support me even though he didn't agree with this.
The woman stopped just before us, her body parallel to Rainer while Xavier was parallel to me. Just seeing him so close was beginning to make my heart drum against my chest as crippling fear fought dangerously hard to creep through my body.
I continued my brave act, my eyes dull of emotion, just like my expression, as I stared back at him. He was fighting hard to hide his own emotions, which I found rather amusing because he was the type to be a smug asshole for the sake of saving face.
Now he wanted to pretend this sudden change of events wasn't driving him insane.
"BROTHER!" the girl cheered, which had me and Xavier slowly turning to look at her properly as she moved to hug Rainer, who looked like he was going to die of annoyance.
"Vixen, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to use these paths during school without royal permission," Rainer announced as she pulled away to look at him.
"I did get permission," she huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Why are you being a grumpy ass when we’ve just seen each other? There's no way that assembly was shitty enough for you to be in a bad mood."
"It's nothing," Rainer coldly replied, though his eyes could probably write Xavier's will if they had the ability to do so.
"Hmph. Ya right," she commented and followed up with, "I'm still working, so I can't stay long, but oh!! Are you Rainer's girlfriend?!" The moment her eyes locked onto me, her voice went up an octave or two, and now she was admiring me with starry eyes.
"Hello," I greeted, though my voice was rather flat.
"Oh my. Where are my manners?" She nervously giggled and waved. "Hello! I'm Princess Vixen! You can just call my Vix or Vixen. I'm Rainer's sister," she introduced.
"You two are related?" It was the first time hearing Xavier's voice as he croaked the question out. My eyes locked on his for a moment before he looked away and muttered, "I'm leaving."
"Huh?" Vixen gasped when Xavier tugged his hand out of hers and began to leave.
"Xavier! We're not done with our session!" Vixen declared with a stern voice that had him stopping in his tracks. I didn't need to see his face to feel his irritation all the way over here, but Vixen didn't seem to mind as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine. Remain there but give me a minute to be polite. We're going to work on that bad attitude of yours. You ain't getting a pass from Alicia if you keep acting like a selfish prick with a stick up your ass!"
I had to blink a few times to stare at Rainer's sister. Her appearance gave off the perfect 'innocent cutie' vibe, but her sudden shift in tone when she addressed Xavier was as though she was now talking to her child.
Rainer looked just as shocked as me, but he soon recovered and asked, "You're still working?"
"Yup. Have one more hour left of therapy sessions, but I ran out of time due to the assembly. I'm sorry we can't stay and chat more. I shouldn't have intruded on your little date." She winked my way before she patted Rainer's shoulder. "You did well, brother! No wonder why Mom's already planning a wedding!"
"Wedding?" Rainer and, surprisingly, Xavier said at the same time, which resulted in me peering to see Xavier’s reaction as he glance over his shoulder to us before his eyes met mine once more.
He couldn't hide it fast enough for me to see that slight flicker of pain.
The mere idea of me potentially being married hurts him? Good. So, so good. Will he now realize he did this to himself?
Vixen sighed but bobbed her head. "You didn't see? She made a whole book of potential venues for you and your lover. Clearly, you had to be hitting it off well with her for Mother to go serious wedding researching. I can see why she's excited though." Vixen winked as she looked between us. "Anyways. We'll catch up later. I'm busy for the next few weeks so I may barely see ya, but I promise we'll talk soon enough," she assured Rainer before glancing back at me. "Such a pleasure to meet you, sister-in-law!"
"S-Sister-in-law?!" I gasped.
She laughed and began to walk past Xavier
. "C'mon, Xavier. Forty-five minutes and you'll be free from my grasp to go live life."
Xavier didn't say anything as he immediately moved to catch up to Vixen, who was walking so fast, I wondered if she was doing it on purpose to get on Xavier's nerves.
"That wasn't what I expected," I commented.
"Tsk. Alicia knew," Rainer declared. "No wonder why she told you to not let anything ruin your day."
"Alicia and her riddles." I sighed and noticed how my hands now shook violently. Rainer noticed as well, and soon enough, he was grabbing my hands.
"R-Rainer?"
"Are you okay?" He got to the point as he lifted my hands in his and inspected them like I'd hurt myself.
"I'm okay," I quietly answered, and followed with, "That was unexpected, but I didn't quiver in front of him. He didn't have ownership of me. Honestly, he looked so uncomfortable. I feel like a bitch for saying this, but I enjoyed the look of shock that took over his face when Vixen mentioned a wedding."
The thought made my lips curl up slightly as I muttered, "I'm happy that it poked at his pride. He actually looked distraught at that moment, but it made me happy, which makes me feel a little bad as a person, but I won't lie that it gave me a bit of satisfaction."
Rainer nodded and hugged me, his lips pressing on the top of my scalp.
"It did make me feel amazing at his level of distraughtness, which I also agree makes me feel shitty as a person, but he deserves to feel a fraction of the burning torment you endured last year."
"At least your sister is nice."
"That we can both agree with," he assured me. "You'll come to realize my sister is a little naive, but with her being a therapist, she has no choice but to aid Xavier, I guess.”
He didn’t sound too pleased about the idea, even with the understanding that his sister really didn’t have much choice if she wanted to follow through with her job.
“Let's take a soothing bath to relax after that intense encounter,” he concluded and added, "Maybe she'll be able to knock some sense into his brain, but we'll see. She's never failed at being a therapist thus far. I think she’ll be able to help him somewhat. Not like I give two cents."
"I doubt a princess of light like her can cut through whatever Xavier's got going on, but it'll be nice to see if she can," I suggested, already wishing we were back in our kingdom home so we could enjoy the rejuvenating waters.
"Let's go enjoy a bath," he encouraged again. “Seeing as we’re off this week, we can go home and do other things.”
“Home,” I repeated, and saw the glint of excitement in his eyes at the idea of us enjoying some more time together before the storm of school hits us.
"Yes. Let's return to the birthday shenanigans," I declared with excitement as he chuckled and kissed me gently.
The year has begun, and I've conquered a tiny bit of my insecurities for the better. Baby steps.
Move Forward
"Rainer."
I stopped him from walking further, which made him let out of a huff of frustration. I knew he wasn't directing it at me, but I wasn't going to let him be in a grumpy mood on a night like this.
"Can we talk?"
"We're going to be late."
"The show starts in two hours. We aren't missing anything," I countered.
He looked over his shoulder to give me a look, but I stood my ground, which forced him to give in. "Fine."
He walked over to my dorm bed and sat down. The creaking sounds of the bed always made me smirk because I wondered if it could handle Rainer's fae weight. I decided to sit on the stool chair, just so I could face him instead of sitting next to him on the bed.
That would lead to other things if I wasn't careful and then we'd truly be late for this event if I had to get back into this long, jeweled-up evening dress Seraphine had gotten for me the moment she heard we were going to the exhibit.
"Come sit here," he mumbled.
"If I do that, we're not talking," I acknowledged.
I'd be lying if I didn't say the sexual tension was through the roof right now with me enjoying how damn sexy he looked in his white suit with a gold dress shirt and white tie with tiny gold dragons.
His hair was up in a man bun for what felt like the first time, which made me want to strip and lick him right up.
Got to tame the addiction.
"Why are we having a talk?"
"You've been angry all week, but I figured it would go away by now," I acknowledged. "Since it hasn't, I figured we could address it once and for all."
"You already know what's pissing me off," he declared.
"Do you mean the fact that the headmaster put Xavier in some of our classes when he originally agreed not to? Or are you referring to the fact your sister has to continue giving him therapy all year long because she's making good progress with him?" I suggested the two obvious problems before a third one popped up. "OR is it because Xavier's new partner for this year is your sister?"
"All three are shit," he stubbornly declared.
"You're not wrong about that," I agreed and moved a few of my blonde curls from my face. "You realize your anger isn't going to change anything."
"I'm going to get us moved out of those classes," he huffed.
"Rainer." I moved my stool closer so our knees barely touched. Reaching for his hands, I lifted them up before squeezing them gently. "You don't need to go to that extent. What are the chances the headmaster is doing this on purpose?"
"He is doing it on purpose," Rainer huffed, though his eyes were clearly checking out my cleavage, which was pretty eye-catching in this golden dress.
"Then why are you going to fall into whatever trap he's setting up?"
"He shouldn't be acting petty when he knows his son is a dick. You don't see Alicia defending him."
"Alicia's the colder parent, remember? She's the type that just doesn't have mercy on well...anyone." I smirked at the mention before I continued, "Maybe his dad is seeing something we're not seeing behind the scenes. At the end of the day, this is his school and though we may not need the education this school has to offer, it will benefit us in the long run, including Alicia's training. We shouldn't forgo it over Xavier. You'll be with me in every class anyway."
"Still doesn't make it fair for you to be uncomfortable," he grumbled, and I was suddenly in his lap.
"Hey?"
"You're taunting me, and I can't concentrate," he muttered under his breath while holding me tightly against him. I giggled but let myself relax in his hold as I rested my head on his chest. One of his arms was hooked around me while the other rested on my lap.
"I just want to make sure you're safe," he finally admitted. "Wasn't last year's torture enough? You proved them all wrong. Showed them who's boss and that you could overcome everything they threw at you. I'd never seen a woman strive so hard to prove a point, but you did that and more, which left them with no other choice but to accept you. Why is it that you have to deal with this shit?"
I lifted my head to look up at him as he lowered his gaze to me.
"You're so damn precious and everyone knows it, even the damn king. He knows who you are, and yet he's still trying to cause a mess for the sake of his son's comfort. It just annoys the hell out of me."
"At least you know how you’ll handle things when you're king one day," I suggested. "Though, I'm not sure if we'd make our own academy."
"If we did, everyone would attend. It wouldn't be split into two versions," he confessed. "I don't like that we're separated when some of us carry both traits. Neglecting one only makes you weaker in a sense, and it's our job to help our generation grow strong enough to face the world outside of the academy if there comes a time they want to explore that world."
"You think we could manage to create something like that?"
"Definitely." His eyes seemed to brighten a little like he could see the whole thing unfolding in his head. "No matter if you carry light or darkness, you’ll be able to mingle and learn. Classes would be base
d on what would benefit you as a whole, not solely specific to one element all the time. Of course, Fae Rose and Shadow Rose have many good traits, but there's a lot I find that could be fixed or gotten rid of completely."
"It's something we can work towards," I suggested. "I wish we could see a glimpse of the world outside of the kingdoms."
"We will today," he revealed. "The exhibit is happening in my kingdom, yes, but the phoenix exhibition occurs outside. It's heavily guarded to make sure there's no interference, but you'll get a beautiful glimpse of it."
"Really?" I squealed in excitement. "Now I'm really pumped up for it."
"I'm glad," he replied with a smile, but I noticed it didn't reach his eyes.
"Are you that concerned about your sister?"
"She's naive," he muttered. "He'll easily manipulate her."
"You have to have some hope in her, Rainer," I reasoned. "You had hope in me."
He met my eyes and reached out to put his hand on my cheek.
"There's a big difference, Sweet Rose. You may have tried to see the best in our people, but you realized that if you always allowed your heart to be open for anyone to kick, it wouldn't be long before it stopped beating," he reasoned. "My sister, on the other hand…her heart is so damn big, and she wants to save every single person. To understand why they think the way they think and see how she can fix them. Some people can't be fixed, and when that happens, she gets upset and tries her best to figure things out. I don't want her obsessing over trying to fix Xavier. He's done his share of hate."
"You don't think Xavier can ever change?"
"He's been an ass since day one when I met him. Sure, did he get it easy as a kid? Probably not. I can't vouch for what has happened to him in his childhood, but from the many encounters I dealt with, he was a fucking jerk. He bullied me, and promoted others to rain on my parade. I may have known better and didn't fall into his desires to make me feel inadequate as I grew older, but it doesn't mean he wasn't a big thorn in my side. People like that who've been jerks all their lives don't just change. I'm not expecting him to change drastically, either, but why should my sister have to deal with that fucker? I just wish he'd be out of my life, period."
Fae Rose Academy: Year Two (For The Purely Divine Book 2) Page 17
