I felt the sweat bead down my skin; every hit, every move burning through my muscles like fire, igniting my very soul alight. The lights fell heavy against my exposed skin and my movements felt nowhere near as precise or as powerful as they usually did.
I was distracted.
Not by the fire in my muscles or the heat of the light.
I was distracted by thoughts of her.
Camilla Fairchild has me completely side-tracked, and it was beginning to drive me mad.
I step back from the sparring bag with a deep sigh, letting my weapon loosely hang at my side, my fingers tightly gripping the handle for leverage. Recently, all I seemed to think about was Camilla. Before, any thought of her was fuelled by annoyance and frustration; at her recklessness and disdain for rules, but now everything had changed.
Now, all I could think about was that kiss.
The kiss I'd been replaying over and over in my mind.
With a frustrated exhale, I lift the stick to eye level, straightening out my posture and within a second I land a harsh and loud blow to the bags side, the vibrations recoiling off the stick and through my sturdy bones. I re-do the same maneuverer several times, getting leverage on my stick as I twist my arm and shift my waist sideways, the stick slamming down like thunder onto the bag.
I needed to focus, and the only way to get my feeling out seemed to be through sparring.
I spend the next few minutes repeating these moves, my weapon coming down harder and reverberating louder each time, and as the minutes pass by I become more and more transfixed by the power of my movements and the emotions running through me, that I barely even notice that the was weapon blistering my skin and tearing the bag.
Though, right now, I couldn't care less.
I throw the stick upwards into the air, watching as it drops into my dominant hand and I strike the end into the bag, my eyes carelessly flickering over the exposed white inner tissue seeping out of the torn hole, a hole created through my own volatile actions.
"Promise me you won't go through with it."
I instantly stop my actions and turn blankly to a seemingly anxious Izzy, whom I barely noticed enter until she spoke.
"Promise me you'll say no." She states again, loudly and desperately, staring intensely at me. I furrow my brow in confusion at her, running a hand loosely through my damp hair as I narrow my eyes.
"What are you talking about? Say no to what?" I ask with confusion, a frown covering my features as I take in Izzy's exasperation. I had no idea what she was talking about, but if it had Izzy, the queen of flippant, looking worried, then something must be seriously wrong.
Like I don't have enough problems right now.
"They're gonna make you marry." She states, her eyes low and expression grave.
"Who's they?" I scoff, my eyes flickering back to the sparring bag as I shuffle my weapon in my hands, not wanting to hear whatever nonsense Izzy was conspiring this time.
"Our parents are making plans for both of us." Izzy replies and I almost instantly feel my heart drop and a frown over take my features.
"No, you heard wrong" I growl, my face hardening as I stoically shift back to the my hand slamming down the stick several times, the strength of my hits splintering the wood and shaking the bag.
Marriage?
There's no way.
"It's true Alec!" Izzy exclaims, her hand swiftly coming forwards and gripping my weapon, halting my movements and keeping me locked in place, my body frigid and eyes pointed down at my sister.
"They need a political alliance quickly to restore our family name and our influence at the Clave."
I jeer infuriatedly, my hand roughly pulling my weapon back from Izzy's grip as I step back, confusion and disbelief written across my face.
My parents wouldn't do this to me.
I knew we needed to fix our relations and maintain our power, but getting me married?
That's a step even I wouldn't take for the Clave.
"I knew Clary Fray would come back to bite me in the ass." I snarl, my hand coming up to roughly rub at my tiresome face, the possibilities becoming overwhelming, and my annoyance at how down hill everything had become was angering me further.
"What about Cam, Alec? Or is she a good kinda bite in the ass" Izzy asks teasingly, a small smirk on her face and I can tell she's trying to cheer me up, or distract me from the shit storm that was happening.
But not even Camilla could distract me from what was happening.
"Wait, when I'm getting married, what are you doing?" I ask, blatantly ignoring Izzy's teasing, as I direct my questions expectantly at her. "They need me to convince the Clave to placate the Seelie's somehow." She mutters, sadness evident in her face, but the anger bubbling in me made sympathising much harder.
"You're playing the diplomat? Again? That's my job. That's what I'm supposed to be doing!" I exclaim, my voice rising slightly as I glare at Izzy, watching as she closes her eyes and sighs, seemingly as upset as I was.
Though at least she wasn't getting pushed into a forced marriage.
"I know that." She sighs "But I'm the one with ties to the Seelie's."
I scoff, my eyes rolling as I step back and walk over to the nearest table, banging my stick harshly against the countertop, the sound recoiling through the room. " Is that what you're calling it now?" I sneer, a humourless laugh escaping my lips and despite not wanting to be cruel and hurtful to Izzy, my own emotions seemed to be getting the better of me.
"Alec, I'm on your side" Izzy exclaims, the hurt evident in her eyes as she gazes incredulously at me.
Though, it's not exactly hard to believe that this would piss me off.
"Really?!" I exasperate, striding forwards "I have followed every rule. I've given up everything!" I exclaim, my body much closer to Izzy and I could tell she hated this, she didn't want any of this to happen, and yet here she was with the better end of the stick.
And per usual, I was the one with the short end.
"We'll find a way out this Alec" She pleads, her hand carefully resting on my shoulder, her face desperate for me to stay calm. "You won't have to give anything up, you won't have to give her up, I swear"
At the mention of 'her', my eyes snap to Izzy and I feel myself thaw, the blocked emotions flooding through as I contemplate what all of this could mean for Camilla.
For us.
Don't get me wrong, we hadn't even talked about what happened, but I knew that the prospect of me getting married would ruin everything, and after everything that's happened I didn't want that, not when we were so close.
"Screw the rules. Screw them. Screw all of this." I snap, my arm swiftly pulling away from a distraught Izzy as I begin to leave, trudging away with my mind spinning and blood boiling as I think about what my life had become.
I've given up everything, and none of it has been enough.
"Alec" Izzy calls, "We can fix this, we'll talk to Jace, he and Cam can to talk to-"
I immediately turn on my heel, narrowing my eyes down "Don't tell Camilla." I say lowly, my voice vulnerable and face stoic.
I didn't want her to know about this.
She can't find out about this.
"Alec, she's going to find out, and if you don't tell her, you'll be hurting her all over again" Izzy pleads, coming forwards to reason with me, but my sharp glare stops her in her tracks, and I watch as she sighs, and nods, defeated.
"Fine, I won't tell Cam"
HI GUYS!
So, here is another chapter. I know, round of applause for me :) It's an Alec POV and honestly this part hurt me bc poor Alec, this obviously sucks for him, but stay tuned to find out what is means for CAMLEC.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. (Even though it's kinda short)
And if you did make sure you VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE.
I will see you all next update x