by A. Kingsley
“I am a good fighter and sometimes a good listener. I will do you a favor and go if my parents allow it. I am curious what you are capable of. I don’t trust magic, you are no exception. I am only keeping my mouth shut because I don’t want to get you killed. Magic is a gift from the Goddesses, good or bad, it is desired. Perhaps people are jealous, but they do not like it and if they find out that you have it, they will try to kill you. They’ll want what you have.”
Clare could not deny him this time, he was right and though she did not want to admit it, she knew this information was true. “Do you notice anything strange,” she whispered, “about Prince Julius?” She was contouring his face with a blend of different colors. While she waited for the contour to dry, she painted on his fitted shirt which clung to him so tightly, it was as if a force was pulling the fabric inwards, enhancing each muscle on his chest. Cassius had quickly moved on from the color of her hair to the ocean blue color of her eyes.
“Not really. I don’t pay much attention to him considering I don’t like him much. Why?” he asked.
“Never mind, I am not sure. May I see your painting progress?” she asked.
He quickly pulled the canvas close to him, the paint dripping a bit. “No. Keep painting.”
Clare shrugged and grabbed a small brush so that she could paint his nose. Long and triangular, another perfect feature on his handsome face. She hummed quietly to herself in attempts to fix the silence, but Cassius had already broken it. He was not good at silence.
“Where do you think this magic comes from? It doesn’t just come out of nowhere. Why did the Goddesses choose you?”
“I suspect my father had something to do with it. I didn’t know him for too long, but it is possible that he was keeping a secret.” She had taken another brush out to draw in his well kept, dark eyebrows.
“I remember him vaguely. The Goddesses might have favored him because of his looks. That long wavy brown hair and those bright blue eyes, he was so muscular. A military hero. He is someone to look admire,” Cassius said.
Clare laughed, “so you fantasize about my father?”
“No, of course not, I am just rather observant.”
She looked up to capture his lips and saw his head titled to the side in confusion. He moved closer to her and studied her nose, round, small and in his opinion, cute. While he was staring, she caught sight of his lips. His bottom lip was slightly bigger than the top lip, cracked a bit and in desperate need of chapstick. They were so close, she pushed his forehead back a bit with her hands. “You’ll see my painting this close,” she laughed, her cheeks blushing as she finished his lips and then moved onto his arched eyes. He had long eyelashes that batted as he talked and covered his dark eyes. He scooted back and continued to wave his brush aimlessly around the canvas.
“I can not capture you at all Pax, you are hard to define.”
She could tell he was almost finished, but she hadn’t even started on his hair. “And you are nosy. Just hang on a while longer while I draw that messy hair of yours.” Clare was enjoying herself, she was enjoying time with Cassius, he wasn’t so bad after all, at least when he was out of his father’s sight. She supposed that this was why they had been close during their childhood, Cassius had still been happy and innocent because his father hadn’t ruined him yet.
Cassius finished his painting of Clare and stared at her, she caught his gaze and they locked eyes as she finished painting the strokes of his messy black hair. If she stared too long she would get lost in him, she would lose herself while trying to figure him out. She placed the last few finishing touches on her painting and then smiled up at him. “I am done. Should we reveal our paintings? This was your idea and you seemed to get upset when I wanted to peak early, so please enlighten me on how this should be done.”
“We will swap paintings on the count of three. How does that sound?”
“It sounds fine.”
“Well then, one.”
He was thumping his legs against the floor. ‘Why was he so nervous?’
“Two,” she was smiling kindly at him.
‘Why was she still giving him a chance?’
“Three,” they swapped paintings. He carefully took hers and she delicately took his.
While Clare had burst out into laughter, Cassius was in shock, his lips could only mouth the word, ‘wow.’ Cassius’s painting looked as if a five year old made it while playing in the rain. His portrait of Clare looked as if it was melting. Her features were smeared and lopsided, her hair was a mixture of orange, cream and blue which was the result of neglecting the water cup. Clare’s painting on the other hand looked professionally done. He looked just as he did in person on the canvas, handsome and stoic. She had almost perfected his features and he was staring at himself with fascination.
“I hope I did not boost your ego that much, you surely lowered mine,” she joked. Watching others enjoy her artwork was always a treat, but watching Cassius who was always so picky, grin at his own face, was even sweeter.
“You did boost my ego a bit. I can not hang it up, that would be narcissistic of me, but I will give it to my mum for her room. She will love it.” He quickly moved on. “So you had fun?
“I did,” she let out a yawn, her eyes were droopy, she had no idea what the time was, but exhaustion was setting in. “I am also quite tired. How are we going to sleep?”
He set down her canvas and began to pick the paint up off of the floor and move it on top of his dresser. He too was tired, but he didn’t want one of them to wake up in the middle of the night and get paint all over the floor, it was a miracle that they hadn’t stained the stone already. “Just in the bed. It is large enough for two. I will do my best to stay away from you.”
Clare grabbed a book out of her suitcase and set it by the bed in case she couldn’t sleep. He left a candle on for her as well and once he was done cleaning, he climbed into the left side of the bed. She climbed into the right and stared up at the ceiling. Her innocence was fleeting. The only people that she had ever shared a bed with were her sister and her parents. She remembered when she couldn’t sleep, she would sneak into her parents room. Wade would roll over so she could squeeze in between him and Gracielle. He would put an arm around her and pull her close, he promised to fight off the nightmares and he always did. Sometimes Sage and Clare would have sleepovers. They would spend the evening in one another's rooms, discussing the day's events and their dreams for the future. They would play games until the night turned into day and then they would fall asleep as the sun came up. When Sage had nightmares, she would come into Clare’s bed and sleep by her side. Clare often did the same. Neither had to wake the other person up because their presence was enough. Boys had fallen for her when she was a child. She was constantly asked to dance and asked on dates, but she had always turned them all down. She had never shared a bed with anyone romantically. Sure Cassius and her were nowhere near touching, but it was a level of intimacy she had not prepared herself for. She had not kissed anyone and he had slept with many. They were so different. ‘No matter how many times they painted would she ever be enough to satisfy him? Would his dim castle fulfill her?’
Her thoughts ceased when he spoke, his voice very low and scruffy. “Goodnight Clare,” he said
she blew out the candle in hopes that there would be no need for it and went to sleep.
Cassius V.s clare
The next morning when Clare woke up, the sky was high up in the sky and Cassius had already left. He had opened the curtains and left a note on the nightstand along with a tray of food. Clare sat up and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. She was glad that he wasn’t here to see her, her hair was messy and sticking up in almost every direction. Gazing to the nightstand, she picked up the small note. His handwriting was messy, rushed and loopy. ‘Training.’ Well that was the Cassius she knew, brief and blunt. She reached over to the side of the bed and picked up the glass of orange juice. She took gentle sips, the tang of the juice helping
to wake her up. She was halfway through a muffin when Cisily bursted into the room.
“Clare!” she beamed, shutting the door behind her. The girl had already gotten dressed. Cisily was wearing an emerald green day dress that complimented her skin and her eyes nicely. Cisily plopped herself down on the other side of the bed. “Oh keep eating, I was just wondering how the surprise went. Cassius would like you to come see him train and I was told you wanted me to come! You are so kind! Would you like me to pick out your outfit?”
Clare swallowed another bite of her muffin. “Oh well sure, you can pick it out, you did a good job helping me yesterday.”
“They agreed that I could take you out to the city for some shopping later today, would you like to come? Cassius will be tagging along, but not to shop with us, he’ll be shopping with Theo. Aunt Adria feels bad that her sister’s son, my brother, is alone a lot, so he’s coming with us. You can meet him then.”
Shopping was right up Clare’s ally, she agreed to the suggestion and stuffed another bite of the muffin in her mouth. “Did he bring all of this in here? How long have I been sleeping?”
“I am not sure when he brought it in, I know Cassius begins classes and training quite early in the morning, before the sun comes up. As for you, it is still the morning, do not worry. Do I have permission to search your clothes for an outfit?”
“Yes you do, it wouldn’t be the first time.” Clare leaned back and finished her food as Cisily went to work. The girl had a lot of energy for the morning, but she did not mind. “Do you have a lover?” Clare asked her as she watched her go through her clothes.
Cisily had chosen Clare’s classic white day dress. It was long and would go down to her ankles and flow to the floor behind her. It hugged her snuggly in the chest and had two puffy sleeves. There was a corset type stitching at the waste and lace trimming the bottom of the dress.
“Oh no, I don’t have a lover, but this is quite a lovely dress, you should wear this one today.”
“It is one of my favorites, you made a good choice,” Clare grinned.
Cisily laid the outfit down on the bed and paired it with the plain white flats that Clare had brought. “I don’t mean to rush you princess, but we really do not have all day. Though I am sure the longer we take the longer Uncle Erebus will make my cousin train just so that way he can show him off.”
Clare took one last sip of her orange juice. When her feet hit the cool floor, she stretched her arms above her head and twisted her torso in attempts to wake herself up. “I will meet you by your quarters in twenty minutes. Will that be alright?” she asked the girl.
“That will be alright, I will pick out some jewelry and gloves for you, you did not seem to pack any.” She waved to Clare and then headed out the door, shutting it gently behind her.
Once Clare was alone, she gathered up her clothes and headed over to the mirror. On the counter, she noticed that Cassius had left his brush, cologne and gel scattered about, he must have been in a hurry. She moved his things to the side and brushed out the knots in her hair. Her loose curls began to puff when she brushed them, but she reversed the damage with a hair cream to smooth them back into place. She quickly shed her nightgown and replaced it with the white long day dress. After she made sure that her cheeks were rosy and her eyelashes were curled and darkened, she set her laundry on top of her luggage, slipped on her flats and headed back to Cisily. She only had to knock once.
The door was flung open. The girl took Clare’s hands in her own. “White looks so gorgeous on you and so will silver.” From her hands dangled a thin silver chain, at the very bottom was a small butterfly charm. She clipped it around Clare’s neck and then reached beside her. “Would you like a pair of gloves?”
Clare peered past her and to the window. The sky was fairly sunny and she did not expect it to be cold just yet. “I am alright, thank you.”
The two of them took their time as they made their way outside of the castle. Cisily explained that she could not ruin her good outfit by rushing. Clare didn’t mind, the stroll through the castle grass was nice and the sun warmed her up. The grass eventually opened up to a grey, large, dome shaped building. She assumed that this was the arena. A pair of guards let them inside. There was a long stretch of dirt, Cassius stood in the middle of the arena, a black hilted sword in his left hand. He had a sparring partner across from him. He was a lengthy boy with not much muscle, his skin was the same shade as Cisily’s, his hair was short, curly and well combed.
“Oh my gosh!” Cisily exclaimed, “that is Theo! This should be good, come on.” She grabbed Clare’s hand and rushed her to a seat in the front row. Clare smoothed out her dress and sat down on one of the black folding chairs. She scanned the arena for Erebus and when the coast was all clear, she sighed in relief.
“From what I heard, I didn’t think Theo fought,” Clare said.
“He does fight, but he does not like it. He probably filled in, the other boys must have been too busy.”
From across the arena both boys stopped their sparring. Theo was panting hard, he had his hands on his knees as he shifted his eyes over to the crowd. “Cis? What are you doing here?” he shouted, setting his sword down on the ground, so that he could fully recover himself.
Cassius was dripping with sweat, but he appeared to be in much better shape. “Clare, you made it.” His voice was warm and raspy from how tired he was. “You said you're not much of a fighter huh? I don’t believe you. Once I am done with Theo, I would like to see you fight.”
Cisily turned to her in shock. “Clare is he seriously asking a lady to fight? If you'd like me to I will go grab my aunt.”
“No it is fine,” she told the girl, Sage had taught her a thing or two about fighting. “Fine!” Clare shouted.
“I can not believe that you are going to fight in the dirt in your white dress, surely you are something else Clare,” Cisily told her.
“You clearly haven't met my sister,” she replied. Clare knew that if Sage were here, she would never let Cassius beat her in a fight. She would be cheering her sister on and shouting at the top of her lungs. At the thought of her sister, she frowned. It felt as if they were further apart then a few hours, she sincerely hoped that Sage was doing alright. She let the thought go, she would see her sister soon.
Theo and Cassius commenced their training. Their swords raised in the air and clashed together. Clare was surprised that nobody had gotten hurt. Cassius seemed to show no mercy as he swung fiercely at Theo. Though Theo was not as well trained, he was still swift and agile. Even if he did not care for training, it was clear that he had been forced to endure it. Eventually Cassius had his sword pointed right at Theo’s stomach, an attack his cousin couldn’t block. Clare could feel an odd sensation bubbling through her, her fingers began to twitch and she shoved them under her leg. Her body was waiting for blood to be spilled, but Cassius stood still and Theo backed away from him. Theo dipped his head in defeat and the two of them shook hands after concealing their weapons. The horrible sensation stopped and Clare snapped back to the present when a voice called out to her, “Come on Clare! Let’s see what you’ve got!”
Clare stood from her seat and moved down to the dirt field. Before she greeted Cassius, she greeted Theo who was heaving for breath. She placed her fingers around his torso and gently straightened him. “You know, in order for the air to flow, you must stand straight,” she told him.
“Must I?” he stammered out, as he straightened himself up. He towered over her, he was a few inches taller than Cassius and he hadn’t grown into his body. He swayed on his feet as he spoke, “it’s nice to finally meet you again Clare, it has been a long time since you have been here.”
“It has,” she agreed. “It was nice to meet you Theo. Go keep your sister company, I have a man to beat.”
Cassius greeted her with an extension of his hand. She gripped his sweaty palm and shook it before pulling away. His hair was almost covering his eyes and she had an urge to fix it, but she d
idn’t, she stood still, staring up at him. “Did you like your breakfast?” he asked her.
“I did, thank you.”
“It was nothing,” he turned to face the stands. “Will you two go fetch me some water please? I will meet you both afterwards.”
Cisily stood up in outrage. “I guess, but how dare you make us miss the fight! I will see you later and I want all of the details.”
When the two had cleared the arena and it was just Cassius and Clare, Clare clenched her jaw. “Why did you make them leave?”
“Something in me doubts your magic is just healing.” He unsheathed his sword and it around in circles. “Would you like a weapon or would you like to do this without them?”
“Drop the weapon, I am afraid one of us will get hurt if we use them.”
“Fair enough.” Cassius put his sword away on a rack that held about five other swords. His was by far the most elegant and personalized. A black hilt with a large diamond in the center, the blade long and shiny, the words, ‘life or death,’ carved into the metal, in cursive.
