//Song: Tongues - Joywave ft KOPPS (something a little fun for once)
My head collided with the soft ground again. I groaned against the sudden pain that burst from the back of my head. The ground was soft due to early morning rain which cushioned the fall A bit—but it still hurt.
"Have you forgotten my lessons already, Emylin?"
I groaned as I pulled myself up into a sitting position. "No. You're just fast." I stretched my back, pushing my chest out as I rubbed the back of my head.
"Maybe it's time for a break," Damien suggested.
I shook my head, standing. I grasped the trunk of a tree as I did, careful to keep my balance. "No. I can do this."
"I also don't want to kill you," Julian teased. "It's all right to sit down for a moment."
Damien chuckled. "You can watch me beat your tormentor for a while."
I spectered next to Damien a few feet away, settling into a chair we set up in the backyard next to Leah's. Leah barely glanced up from her book in her hands in her own seat.
"Fine, I won't argue with that," I sighed. Suddenly, I remembered a game Damien and I would play as children in the woods. He was a soldier and I was a Lady. He had to fight for my favor as he had seen other men do in yearly tournaments in the Underworld.
I cleared my throat. "Please, Damien," I announced loudly with laughter in my voice. "Defend my bruised ego."
Damien laughed and I knew he recognized the game. He pushed himself against the trunk he leaned against and straightened his frame. "It will be my honor, my queen." He stood in front of me, bowing gracefully just as he had done when we were kids.
As Damien turned towards him, Julian laughed. "Am I going to regret training you?"
Damien stood almost ten paces in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back. "Perhaps Em should be the one to count us down, as per sparring rules."
Julian shrugged. "Sure. Just don't hold back. I want to know what I'm working with." He looked at me, his eyes glittering with excitement. "I've never fought anyone this powerful on my own before. It'll be fun."
Immediately I knew what he meant. He's fought Damien when he was possessed once before. The difference that time had been he fought with Asmo, Oren, Azazeal...they hadn't fought one on one on their own before.
Damien immediately recognized it as well. "Are you sure?"
I bit my lip. "Julian, are you sure?"
Julian spectered in front of me suddenly, placing his hands on either side of me on the armrests. He propelled himself forward, pressing his lips against mine.
It was so sudden, I lost my breath.
He pulled away, whispering tenderly in my ear. "Don't worry, I'll let you massage my sore body later tonight."
I pushed him away as I laughed, my cheeks burning.
He appeared in front of Damien again, his hands clasped behind him as well. "It will be the only way I can properly assess him." He looked right at Damien. "No holding back?"
Damien nodded. "I give you my word."
I bit my lip.
"Don't worry," Leah said quietly in her chair next to me. "We're on our own out here. There isn't another house for miles and we're up in the mountains. No one will notice any disturbance in the woods."
I swallowed, looking at the men. I hadn't even been worried about it until she mentioned it. I sighed. "I don't know..." My heart beat fast. I didn't want anything to happen to either of them but I also knew we couldn't waste any more time.
Julian saw my hesitation but knew as well as I did we couldn't wait. We couldn't put off the inevitable. Not any more.
We needed to train. We needed to fight. We needed to defeat Mal.
They all looked at me but Julian nodded towards Leah. "Leah, please."
Leah didn't hesitate and instead waited only a moment. "Gentlemen. Begin."
There was a flurry of color and clanging of swords but otherwise, I couldn't see them actually attack each other. Something moved in the trees, making the wooden barks echo in the otherwise silent clearing.
"He was taking it easy on me," I breathed in astonishment.
"You're still weak," Leah answered quietly. "But yeah, he was taking it easy on you."
I watched something clash in the distance. It sounded like thunder but there were no clouds in the sky. "If Mal is anything like Damien --and Damien says he's still weak-- we're going to need all the help we can get."
"If they're right and she has Asmodeus, the heir to the throne, on her side and they're both at full power, we're going to need a lot of help."
I swallowed. She was absolutely right. I didn't turn towards her, afraid I would miss something in the spectacle in front of us that I could probably catch. "You should train with us. Julian should teach you too."
I heard Leah's large earrings ring as she shook her head. "No, Damien--"
"Damien should see that we need all the help we could get. You're involved now. You should at least be able to protect yourself."
"I was trained a bit by Damien then by Oren and some of the Guard." She gave a small laugh. "It's important for the queen to know how to defend herself, they told me."
They told me the same thing in the beginning too and I had ignored them. I had preferred to be in my apartment in the human world. I was such a moron.
I looked at her. She was watching the men fight, her eyes going back and forth in the clearing as if she was following a tennis match. She wasn't amazed at what she could see or not see --she was sad.
Summoning a small amount of magic, I blocked all sound from around us, making sure that Julian and Damien wouldn't be able to hear my words. "I'm sorry for setting you two up. I thought he really did fall for you. That it could be love at first sight. I thought that was why he proposed--I didn't know--"
She shrugged. "It's all right. I did. He didn't." She smiled again though it wasn't cheerful. It right down broke my heart. "I wasn't right then. Dark magic controlled me because I didn't know how to control it. But I've gotten better it doesn't influence me anymore. It's like breathing fresh air." She looked at me then. "You have dark magic now, too. Don't let it happen to you."
I looked away back to the fight. Damien suddenly appeared in the middle of the clearing followed half a second later by Julian who pushed him into the ground so hard dirt rained around them. A large crater formed beneath them as they clashed swords again. As fast as they appeared, they disappeared again into the woods.
I swallowed, thinking on Leah's words. "What do you mean?"
Leah bit her bottom lip. "You weren't born into dark magic, you've been pushed into it." She shrugged. "I can't lie to you, it's part of my bargain with Damien. I can't knowingly put you in danger so you can trust what I tell you. I'm only speaking from my own experience maybe yours will be different. You're much stronger than I am." She sighed. "As queen, you have more dark magic than I did. Is it compatible with your own magic? Will it twist you like it did with me? Or will nothing happen at all?" She shrugged. "I don't know."
I wanted to believe she was lying. I knew the Leah before would have done anything to kill me or push me away from Damien--she had almost succeeded.
But as I thought on her words I realized, even if only a little, she could be right.
It wasn't until I accepted my role as queen and sat on the throne that I felt even remotely well with dark magic. It ruled within me until I reached Elysium, then they both lived in harmony within me.
Or did they?
I gingerly touched the dark mark on my chest with my fingers. What magic had I been using to specter? To train with Julian? To put up the shield around us then?
Dark or Light?
Did Julian know? Did Damien?
Could they? They grew up with dark magic and knowing what it meant and how to control it. Leah, like me, had been raised human— oblivious to magic.
I looked at her. "Damien's bargain— you can't harm me. Or lie to me."
"Or willingly risk your life or betray you, yes."
I swallowed. "You wanted to prove yourself, right? Well, here's your chance. Help me with this. Prove that you're sorry. Help me and I will talk to Damien. Here is your redemption, Leah. Help me."
She nodded enthusiastically, excitement in her eyes. She reminded me of a small child in her eagerness. "I promise I won't let you down."
••••••••••••
Good, I hope? I promise more excitement soon!