Page 22 of Pawns of Salistya

He reached his hand out to grab mine, giving it a squeeze. ‘I’m so glad we can be that for you, Little One. Know that we also trust you with our lives. You are like the daughter we never had. Nothing will ever come between us, promise me.’ Despite the comforting squeeze, his eyes looked troubled.

‘I promise.’ I didn’t know how to ask what was wrong. V was always capable, always calm, so I let it go for the time being.

With one last squeeze and a smile, he pulled away, standing up to clear away dinner. I followed suit, taking the dirty dishes to the kitchen and readying myself to start washing up.

‘You’ve had a big day, just leave it there Valare. I’ll take care of it.’

‘Are you sure? I don’t mind.’

He simply nodded, nudging me towards the end of the counter before taking my position by the sink.

‘In that case, do you mind if I stay for a bit longer? I wouldn’t mind spending some time in my old room for a while. Being away from reality sounds like a great idea right now,’ I said.

V chuckled, reading between the lines and knowing full well my intense need to have my own space regularly. ‘Stay as long as youlike, Little One. Your room is exactly how you left it last. If I don’t see you before you go, stay safe, stay sharp, and remember what I taught you.’

‘You’re the best,’ I grinned, before heading back down the narrow hallway, up the stairs to the right and into the humble room I called my own.

When Varqel initially realised the potential of my power, he insisted on private training sessions with me at his estate. As time went on and we discovered more of my abilities – including being able to teleport much further than anyone else, levitate both myself and other objects, conjure items from thin air and send them off to a chosen location, move the contents in a room at will, and creating wards that shielded rooms– the more prone I was to being too fatigued to teleport back to the barracks. Despite Varqel’s ability to teleport me back himself, Lyz and V gave me my own bedroom. From there, the fatigue-induced-sleepovers turned into dinner after training and breakfast the next morning. Before I knew it, they essentially became my adopted parents. Apart from Dwyla, they felt like the only true family I had. It hurt not to count my own biological mother in that, knowing full well that my father’s control had significantly limited her abilities to be a good parent, but that didn’t change her lack of involvement or care.

I hurried to the floorboards beside the modest single bed. Hovering my hand over the slightly discoloured floorboard, I reached my magic under the floor, searching for the lock that would only recognise me.

Click.

Got it.

Heaving the floorboard up and pushing it to the side, I looked at the black book laid on the top, the glowing eye blinking as brightly as it had earlier. I grabbed it before clambering onto the bed. Legscrossed under me, I found myself leaning towards the book, intently staring at it like I was waiting for something to happen, almost feeling like I needed permission to open the book.

Knowledge finds those who are meant to see.The words the Nyarellean woman spoke earlier came back to me, but this time it was a male voice. At the same time, the mark below my ear flared up with the same humming pulse I had felt in the Temple. I guess this was as good a sign as any that I needed to read this book.

I opened the book, surprised to see a blank page with nothing but a title on it. Flipping through more pages, I found the same format throughout. Strange.

With a flick of my wrist, the pages turned until the book was back open to the first page, aptly namedThe Beginning. Trailing my fingers over the title, the further I went the more I felt the pulse of my tattoo warm. Much like in the Temple, I felt a surge of power enter me. Eyes closing once my finger had finished caressing the last letter of the title before I could stop them, my mind was launched into a spiralling, black vortex. The sensation of my body fell away as my mind was sucked into a hazy scene.

Chapter 9

Ashriek of giggles filled the air surrounding the daisy-filled meadows as a young blonde-haired woman, no more than eighteen years of age, burst out from behind the trees. She had her floor length dress pulled up so it fell around her knees. She glanced behind her frequently and ran at a pace that gave away her true intentions; she wanted to be caught.

The young woman ran further into the field of daisies, making it only a couple of steps before the man following her burst through the dense forest. He stopped at the entrance of the field. Bright fuchsia eyes glazed with desire, he focused solely on the woman who had turned to face him. She still held her dress as she braced to run at any moment. Her gigglesslowly subsided.

‘So, how are we going to play this, darling?’ he crooned, taking a couple of purposeful steps towards her.

Her answer was to teleport a couple of steps back, smirking in response to the roll of his eyes.

‘We’ve all got tricks up our sleeves, little Minx,’ he reminded her, cocking his head to the side, watching as she inadvertently pulled the dress up to mid-thigh.

‘You bastard,’ she gasped, hands shaking in an evident attempt to stop them from moving upwards.

‘Now, now, we both know you don’t mean that, my love.’ He wore a feline grin and moved towards her, his steps predatory. She released a deep moan.

Dropping her skirts, she flicked her wrist and the shirt he wore ripped straight down the middle, exposing sculpted abs and tight chest. Before he could react, his body was lifted up, levitating off the ground. The young woman teleported to stand in front of him and traced a single finger down the expanse of his torso, stopping an inch below his belly button.

‘My future husband,’ she whispered, biting her lip which elicited another deep, wanting groan, this time from him. The young woman giggled teasingly, levitating off the ground until they were eye to eye. ‘I like the sound of that.’ She reached forward, tucking a strand of his long, wavy, copper hair behind his ear.

‘I’d be concerned if you didn’t, considering the bureaucratic hurdles we had to clear to get the royals to give up their titles. But, it’s finally over,’ he sighed, eyes flickering closed in relief.

She took the opportunity to lean his body backwards, lowering him to the ground. She followed, coming to straddle his hips, and place her hands on his bare chest.

‘I love you, too,’ she said suddenly.

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