She's Mine

Chapter 30

Since leaving Rowan's manor, it had felt like there was a constant weight on me, a heaviness I couldn't explain. Everyday spent with the king and queen had been torture, endless abuse; and that weight were like bricks attached on my arms, my legs. Dragging me down each step. Yet with the fleeting moments I had with Grayson, that weight would disappear, vanish as if they were never there.

I was with him now, keeping a breathable distance between us, as I followed him to his training room. His raven hair was from reaching distance and battling with my strange attraction to him, I tried to keep my hand still, and not reach for that one loose curl hanging on his forehead.

It had only been a couple of days since I came here, to his kingdom. And I believed that once I began living with him, this pull would fade away, but to my great misfortune, it seemed to only be getting stronger. Yet I continued to push it down, try and bury it like I did with everything else.

Yesterday night, whilst we were all having dinner I had asked him if he could start training with me, since I had felt like I had gotten weaker. I wasn't confident with my skills anymore.

I raged silently, as I remembered what they had done, what I could not do. I still remembered the promise I had made to Emily, the promise I made to her kingdom.

I was going to help, make it better. But before that, I had to become better myself. It would have been feeble to try and fight back now, my powers were a mess of highs and lows, my physical abilities lacking from the absence of Rowan's training.

Suddenly, my heart set ablaze when his eyes flicked to me and our gazes met. His burning gold eyes were sharp and cold with clarity, yet heated with something else. Something that always made me feel like I would melt in my spot.

His lip quirked, his eyes sparkling, "What is it you wanted to do today?"

"I want to train physically," I said, looking away from him and at the brilliant blue sky, imagining the wind on my skin, "I don't want my magic to be my crutch,"

He didn't reply, and I was turned my head to look at him. My heart thumped harder when my gaze fixed with his.

I had to stop reacting like this.

"So," I said, "How is war going?" I asked, expecting him to brush off my answer with an ambiguous one. I was still the daughter of his enemy.

"Fine,"

I don't know why I asked. So I just looked away again, my eyes dropping to the ground and then back to the windows, and I wished my wings could appear again, so I could fly away from the awkwardness growing.

"Have you thought of going back?" He asked after a very long minute, and I remembered him asking me something similar; when he had first brought me here.

I looked at him for a second before looking away again, "I don't want to go back. Not until I'm strong enough to overthrow them,"

"They are your parents,"

"My parents died a long time ago," I said quietly, and the words were familiar in my mouth.

"You truly don't care for them?"

"They have done things that no parent should ever do, I may share the same blood as them, I may carry their genes, but I want nothing to do with them," I clenched my jaw as my mind decided to resurface the memories of living with them, the weakling I am for giving up, for letting them hurt me.

He was silent for a while before he said, "We're losing the war, you know."

Shock splintered through me, and I felt myself hold my breath as I waited for him to go on.