Hidden Kingdom

⊱Chapter 38 🗡All or Nothing⊰

Valder leaned forward, resting his arms on the table, "King Kenai, not to be rude or anything but why are you sitting with us?" The others slightly shifted forward, intrigued.

"You guys can just call me Kenai. I absolutely loath my formal title. As for the answer to your question I wanted to come join your group. Hakeem is boring, dragon ancestors know I love him but my bondmate is pretty much a stick in the mud. Don't tell him I said that. You guys seem fun and I want to join in. Is that not allowed?" His eyebrows scrunched as he began to pout. His bottom lip slightly jutting out.

Jayce jumped in before the triplets could make it worse, "No, it is fine. We were just wondering that's all. Usually you are with King Hakeem." The male rider shrugged.

Elysia was going to add on when a shrieking followed by a high pitched nasal giggle startled us from our conversation. We all turned to glare at the culprit in irritation though she wasn't paying any attention to us or much else for that matter. As Frea was literally clinging and hanging off an irritated Bartholomew, the obnoxious giggles continuously leaving her lips in a frenzy.

"Oh great! Look who is back. Bartholomew, yay!" The sarcastic tone slipping into a groan.

Kenai gave an encouraging smile, "Don't worry about him, Avi. You are ten times better than him any day. In both mage combat and weaponry." I smiled back feeling a bit better until I glanced over to where Bartholomew stood. He stare grazing over the group while Frea openly glared. He took a few steps forwards until both Kenai and Serina showed their teeth in a threating display accompanied by hissing. He quickly lost the smirk replacing it with an unsure expression.

Feeling someone else's gaze fixated on the group I turned towards that direction only to make eye contact with King Hakeem, who stood frozen on the threshold. I offered him a smile but his gaze was fixed on Kenai's arm that was still slung around my shoulders. He glared at the arm on my shoulders before moving to look me in the eyes. An unknown emotion flitting through those chocolate pools, my smile more hesitant but still in place. Without notice he turned on his heel stalking back out of the room.

A pressure across my shoulders pulled me out of the trance I had fallen into, "Don't worry about him. He is just in a bad mood right now. I am positive he will snap out of it sooner or later." Kenai reassured, having caught the exchange between his rider and me. "Well, we better go. Your last test is supposed to start soon." Kenai gently helped me from my seat after rising up from his own.

The others following suit as they followed closely behind. Serina up on my shoulder purring in excitement, her thoughts were racing a mile a minute as we were so close to becoming official Blades. Her tongue flickering like she could practically taste the victory. Nothing was going to stop us today, not even Bartholomew.

We walked out to the practice rings where one guy dressed in expensive clothing was being tied up while a group of three people were in the other. Guards dressed in their full gear stood outside of both circles. My gaze traveled back and forth between the two. What was going on? How was this my last test?

Serina seemed to echo my thoughts, "What are we-- well mostly you expected to do here? I am so confused by this scene."

Instead of King Hakeem explaining what I was supposed to accomplish, Bartholomew stalked closer with glare. "Alright listen up. This is a simulation of what you would do in a real situation like this. In one circle is your King" He made air quotations when he said King, "in trouble and surrounded by deadly enemies. In the other circle a family trapped by fire. You can only save one. Choose carefully."

Grabbing his arm roughly to yank him back to face me as he was about to walk away, "What do you mean I can only save one?" Growling out my annoyance about the situation. I couldn't choose, it was a trap either way. This wasn't right.