by MJ Prince
I’ve been working on summoning water for the last few sessions and I managed to make the shoreline swell on the first day, but it was hardly impressive. Nothing like Baron’s water tornado from that first elements class. I haven’t managed to do anything since.
Some part of me still thinks standing here with him is totally surreal. Only a few days ago we were at each other’s throats, trying to come up with new ways of torturing each other every other day and now here we are training together? It’s beyond weird. But I’m slowly getting used to it and to Raph’s special brand of arrogant charm. Now that I don’t hate him, as much, I’m actually starting to find his cockiness surprisingly entertaining. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like it, though. He still irritates the hell out of me.
I’m not foolish enough to trust him. I keep expecting him to revert back to being that asshole who made my life on Eden a living hell. I keep thinking that this is some sick joke and I keep waiting for the punchline, but it doesn’t come.
I don’t expect Raph to notice the flicker of uncertainty in my eyes as the doubt eats away at me. But he does and he pauses mid-instruction, taking a step towards me as he studies my face. I feel unnerved, because he’s done this a few times now and it surprises me each time how perceptive he is. I’d always thought of him as a self-centered prick, who cares about nothing and no one but himself. Those uncanny blue eyes are surprisingly observant as they watch my expression in that moment and something inside me whispers that perhaps he’s always been watching.
“What’s up, Jaz?” he asks, his voice surprisingly gentle.
I shake my head slightly then.
“I keep thinking that any moment now you’re going to turn around and firebomb my ass or unleash whatever sick payback you have waiting for me next.”
His brow furrows and I think I must be imagining it, but Raph seems genuinely offended by that.
“You still don’t trust me,” he says flatly.
“Do you blame me?” I ask warily.
He lets out a long breath then.
“No. I promise you, Jaz, this isn’t some kind of sick payback. I offered to help you, so I’m here—helping you.”
I stare back at him, the confusion from that night on the beach when he floored me with that very offer, returns.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask. I don’t think I’ve even allowed myself to ask him this yet.
He looks away then, turning his gaze to look out at the crashing waves.
“I don’t know,” he replies honestly.
I don’t push him. Partly because I can see that he doesn’t have the answer himself and also because maybe I don’t want to know it.
The moment passes and Raph begins the session with demonstrations in the usual way. When it’s my turn, I feel the knot of apprehension in my stomach tighten.
“Come on, Jaz—you need to get past this first one so that we can move to the other elements.” Raph puts on his team pep talk voice and I can see why he’s the captain of the soccer team. He’s good at this.
“So, I’m expected to know how to use all the elements?” I ask again.
“Yes, all of them. Of course, you won’t be able to summon daylight, only I can do that,” he replies with a flourish, and I roll my eyes in response.
“In the same way that only members of the Evenstar Dynasty can summon night. Exclusive sovereign Dynasty powers and all that.”
I walk closer to the edge of the water and I can feel my frustration burning as I try to focus on hearing the pounding of the waves against the shore, feeling the movements of the water. Just as I feel the connection beginning to snap into place, I feel a wall coming down around my senses.
“Argh—it’s no use,” I cry out as I come up empty again.
“Calm down,” Raph’s says evenly.
I squeeze my eyes shut in frustration, but I can feel Raph’s eyes on me. I turn to him finally, to find him watching me, trying to read me. I don’t want him to.
“What is it?” he asks quietly.
My answer is one that I’m certain I hadn’t let myself admit until that moment.
“My first foster parents were nice people. They couldn’t have kids of their own, so they took me in after my mom died. I was only seven, but I could sense the expectations they had for me. I’d be their little angel—sweet, perfect, normal. I guess they soon found out that I was far from any of those things, even then. Things would happen which nobody could explain—the shadows, the shifting elements. Things that I was too young to control, secrets that I was too young to know how to hide.”
I’m vaguely aware that I’m telling Raph things that I’ve never told a single soul. It feels like a damn bursting inside me and I can’t stop the words from breaking through.
Raph doesn’t say a word. He just listens and in that moment, it’s what I need.
“They put me through endless therapy sessions, convinced there was a way to fix me. But it was no use. Their good intentions turned to doubt, then to disappointment and even fear. It’s as if they were scared that I’d one day kill them in their sleep.” The memory of it burns through me, but I force myself not to let it show. The way those endlessly blue eyes are watching me, though, tells me that Raph sees it anyway.
“I was shipped off to foster home number two in less than a year and it went on like that until I learned how to hide my curse. Until I learned how to hide who I was. I guess that after a lifetime of hiding those powers, of blocking them out, the thought of finally unleashing them, scares the shit out of me.”
I turn back to the sweeping horizon, watching the waves lap against the shore as I feel Raph watching me.
“Your powers aren’t a curse, Jaz. They’re a gift,” he says finally. His words touch some part of me I didn’t even know existed until this moment and when I turn to look at him, the look in his eyes is not one I’ve seen before.
He steps closer to me, and although I’m certain that I should, I don’t step back, standing rooted to the spot instead.
“You were born a god and made to live like a human. There is nothing normal about you and you should be fucking proud of that —because there is nothing good about being normal.”
He says every word with a conviction that floors me, as if he wants me to believe every word in the deepest, darkest parts of me. In those broken parts that I long ago learned to hide.
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out because in that moment, I have no words.
“Are you ready to try again?” Raph asks then.
This time, there isn’t a shred of hesitation in me, not a shred of doubt left. As if by just those words, he was able to change something inside me that I’m certain will never be the same.
I nod silently and take a deep breath. I follow his instructions as he guides me through the first few moments again.
Nothing happens at first. I search for the connection, but this time, I hold onto it, getting past the initial apprehension. The connection comes to life inside me, like an almost visible chord, drawing me to the water.
I don’t realize what’s happening until Raph’s hand grabs mine, and he’s dragging me up the beach, away from the shore. We’re not fast enough though, as an impossibly large wave comes towering over us before crashing down.
My scream is drowned out by the waves, and the only thing stopping me from being swept out to sea, is Raph’s arms around me, pulling me away from the water.
As the waves retreat, I find myself pressed up against Raph’s muscled body, his very wet, muscled body.
His t-shirt and sweats are soaked through, as are my hoodie and leggings.
I can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up my throat and Raph is laughing along with me. So, we stand there laughing like a pair of lunatics, although I almost just drowned us both.
“God, Jaz—next time, try not to aim for yourself—or me for that matter,” Raph says, once the laughter subsides.
There’s an awkward moment, when we both realize that we�
��re still holding onto each other and neither one of us seems about to let go. Every inch of his body is solid muscle and the feeling of his hard body pressed up against the softest parts of me feels too good. I desperately try to smother the raging hormones rising inside me, but it’s difficult when Raph’s impossibly blue eyes are burning like twin flames as they look into mine.
I pull back first, aware that my face is on fire.
“I think we should get back,” I say after a moment.
Raph hesitates, but nods after a moment.
“Okay,” he replies, his voice sounding gruff.
Baron, Keller and Lance are sitting around the kitchen island, in the middle of having breakfast, when we walk through the front door.
Conversation stops as they notice two things—one, that I’m laughing at some lame joke that Raph’s just made, like we’re old friends instead of enemies, and two, that we’re completely soaked.
“And where the hell have you two been?” Keller asks, still eying our soaked through clothes.
“Training,” Raph replies evenly, walking towards the kitchen island and swiping a piece of toast from the pile that Lance is buttering.
“Training?” Keller repeats. “Care to elaborate?”
I’m still standing by the door, unsure of whether to follow Raph to the kitchen or go directly to my room to change. Raph and I may have called a truce, but I have no idea where I stand with the rest of the Dynasty heirs. Although, of course, I know that they take his lead.
Raph makes the decision for me.
“Come here and get some breakfast in you, Jaz. I’ve been listening to your stomach grumbling all morning.”
I roll my eyes. He’s right though, I didn’t have time to eat before we left the house at 5:00 a.m.
“I’ve been helping Jaz catch up with elements training,” Raph says in reply to Keller’s earlier question.
All three of them look at Raph as if he’s just announced that he’s renouncing his throne, and running away to join the circus.
“Right,” Lance says slowly.
“So … is this a new thing now?” Keller adds, quirking an eyebrow.
I admire Raph’s unruffled demeanor because I sure as hell feel awkward under their scrutiny.
“Yeah, sure,” he replies with a shrug, draping an arm around my shoulders casually.
“We’re like best friends now.”
I choke on my next breath and Baron grins at my reaction.
“Er—I think that’s taking it a bit too far,” I say, stepping away from Raph’s grasp. His arm drops to his side and I think I might be imagining it, but I catch a glimpse of disappointment in his eyes.
“Raph’s just offered to help me out and I’ve accepted,” I add, as I walk round to the only empty stool which is on the opposite side of the island.
It also happens to be next to Baron, and I don’t miss the look in Raph’s eyes as he watches Baron pass a piece of toast to me.
“Except, aren’t you two meant to hate each other?” Lance says.
“Is that what it was?” Raph says innocently, although I’m confused by his choice of words. Baron doesn’t seem to be, though. Neither does Keller.
“Yeah, I distinctly remember that Jazmine here blew up your car,” Lance replies with a smirk.
Baron and Keller snigger at that. Raph shoots them a filthy look.
“Well I guess that explains where you two have been sneaking off to every morning,” Baron says with a shrug.
“Layla is going to lose her shit when she finds out,” Keller mutters. I stiffen at the mention of the girl’s name, but Raph just waves the comment off dismissively.
“Anyway, if you need any help—I don’t mind teaching you a thing or two about winter and ice,” Keller adds after a moment. She catches the look of surprise on my face.
“Raph here may have the reputation of being the best of the best, but don’t listen to all the hype. No one does winter and ice like I do,” she adds with a grin, which I feel myself returning.
Raph just rolls his eyes in response, devouring another piece of toast.
“What the hell, me, too,” Lance says. “I can help you with autumn, fire and earth.”
“I can help with water, sea and storm,” Baron adds. “Although, conveniently, it looks like you’ve already started on that.”
My eyes dart to Raph, who looks back at me innocently.
“I think I’ve got that covered,” he replies and Baron just rolls his eyes.
Conversation moves on to an upcoming soccer match and parties as we finish our toast and coffee. It strikes me how surreal it is that I’m sitting here having breakfast with the same people that, a few weeks ago, I thought were going to kill me in my sleep. I can’t deny that I like sitting here with them and that their company, although alien, makes me feel something that I haven’t felt in a hell of a long time.
The next few weeks fly by and it feels like my feet don’t even touch the ground as I go from training with Raph at the crack of dawn, classes, staying after school in the art studio, hanging out with Dani and also now training with Baron, Lance and Keller after classes.
It’s not like Raph and I have started hanging around together at school, but I get the feeling that word about our truce has spread throughout Regency pretty quickly anyway, because the distasteful looks are gone. People no longer avoid me as I walk down the halls and some people that have never even spoken to me before, stop to say hi. It’s surreal to say the least. The guys at school still keep their distance, though, and although I try to quash it, I have a sneaking suspicion that Raph has something to do with that. Although I don’t miss the looks thrown my way—whenever he’s not around, of course.
Layla still makes it clear that she despises me whenever I have the misfortune of bumping into her. In fact, now that I’m spending all this time with Raph, she seems to hate me more than ever. Frankly, though, I couldn’t care less.
“So, Raph is helping you with what exactly?”
“Elements training,” I reply for like the millionth time. Dani has been grilling me almost every day at lunch since I’ve started training with Raph. She’s convinced there’s something more to this. But I’m not. Raph is well … a king in this place—he can have anyone he wants and that includes Layla, the most beautiful girl in the school, who also happens to hate my guts.
He seems to have calmed down with the orgies and groupies, for whatever reason lately, and strangely, Layla also doesn’t seem to be glued to his side like she usually is. But I haven’t forgotten that he’s a player. Pure and simple. His offer to help me out with elements training means just that, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let myself read any more into it.
I mean, it’s not like Raph doesn’t flirt with me. In fact, every other thing that comes out of his mouth is some kind of innuendo. That’s because when he’s not being a scary as hell asshole, being charming is part of his nature—flirting, to him, comes as easily as breathing. He probably isn’t even aware that he’s doing it. There are still days when I think it’s completely surreal that we’re no longer at each other’s throats. Things do, undeniably, feel … different. I peg it down to the sudden absence of animosity. I heard once that hate, once gone, can leave an empty hole in a person. I feel that now, I guess, but what that hole will be filled with, I don’t yet know, or at least I’m not ready to know.
“That’s all—are you sure there’s nothing else you want to tell me? Come on, Jazmine, you spend almost all of your free time with Raph St. Tristan now—the hottest guy in this entire school, no wait scratch that, on this entire planet, and you’re trying to tell me that there’s nothing else?”
“There’s nothing to tell because nothing is going on.”
A shadow falls over our table and I look up to find a guy that I recognize from our calculus class standing over me. I can’t remember his name, but I think he’s also on the soccer team. He has light brown hair and hazel eyes—really good looking in that wholesome, clean-cut
way.
“Can I join you?” he asks. Dani and I exchange baffled looks, but I nod dumbly in response.
“Devon, right?” Dani asks.
“Yep, I’m in your calculus class.”
I nod again, pretending I knew his name all along.
He gets straight to the point then.
“Jazmine, I was sort of wondering if you know, we could go out some time. If you’re free.”
I gape at him, because I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me out before.
“Like on a date?” he adds, flashing a brilliant smile.
I open my mouth to answer, but I’m interrupted by Dani who is staring at something behind me.
“What the hell …” she trails off, as another shadow falls over our table.
I follow her gaze and look up to see Raph standing over our table. I notice that the tables around us have gone quiet, too.
He looks pointedly at Devon, who now looks visibly paler. I look on in confusion, as he gets up without another word, and goes back to his table.
I turn back to Raph, who is looking back at me nonchalantly, as if he hasn’t just scared off some poor guy who was in the middle of asking me out on a date.
“Hi …?” I say tentatively, although I have no clue what he’s doing here. We may now be spending most mornings, and if I’m honest, most afternoons together, but we still sit at our respective lunch tables. Him at the table in the center of the cafeteria with the popular crowd, me with Dani in the corner near the patio doors.
“That seat taken?” Well, it clearly was taken before he scared off that poor guy.
He’s usually so confident or just downright cocky, but he seems oddly uncertain just then as he stands over our table.
“Are you feeling okay?” I ask.
He looks confused for a second.
“Yeah, why?”
“Because you’re asking to sit with me at lunch? I think you might be lost?”
He rolls his eyes as he drops down on the seat next to me.
Dani gapes at him, as if God himself had just deigned to grace our lunch table.
Her eyes grow even wider as he drapes an arm around the back of my chair, as if he owns it.
