MATURE FANTASY** slow burn* 🔥 He is a predator who thought he captured an ordinary girl... but her mind is sharper than any of his claws.
Ariana lives in the shadow of her monstrous father in a world barely held together by a treaty. Until her l...
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Eislyn and I sat with our backs to a building on a small hill watching the sunset. My muscles were sore from the training we had just finished. It started hand to hand and ended with us using wooden staffs.
The setting sun was warm on my face, and I tried to focus only on its feeling to clear my mind. Lately, the only time I felt at peace was when I physically or mentally exerted myself. Sitting peacefully was no longer a solace, for my mind raced, diving deeper and deeper into the worries which brewed within. Over and over, I replayed the sicarios of my approaching escape.
I also thought of Erik, wondering why he had not yet made time to see me. Those thoughts had me feeling foolish. I was simply a prisoner. Why would he make time for me when he had more important things to do.
Iver's comment the other day perhaps caused me the most unease when he casually stated that one did not need to be a seer to know that I would soon be free of the Lysians. Though he had never mentioned it again, I was terrified to ever ask him what he meant by it. Yet I could not unhear it. I could not shake the feeling that he somehow knew what I was planning.
Eislyn picked up one of the staffs, absentmindedly balancing it horizontally on one of her fingers while observing the view. "You have done well with training." She turned to me while still balancing the staff.
I scoffed. "Yeah, sure."
"You disagree?" She let the weapon roll off her finger and fall to the ground.
"Lysians have no weaknesses." I pointed out.
"That isn't true." She smirked and asked, "In a fight of a Bavadrin against a Lysian, who would win?"
"C'mon." I did not answer, for it was apparent.
"What? Not sure?" Her voice then got louder. "What do you think Iver?"
Surprised, I looked around and found Iver stepping out from behind the building.
"You're getting good at that, Eislyn." He smiled, joining us, though he remained standing and leaned against the building while we sat. Eyes that now seemed even more clever than before viewed me from where he stood.
Did he know I intended not to return from this next trip home?
It was impossible unless he could also be a seer?
"Well?" Eislyn turned to him. "Lysian or Bavadrin."
"Lysian." He answered.
"Clearly," I commented, rolling my eyes while trying to get the thoughts of him being a seer out of my head.
"It's to your advantage that everyone thinks this," Eislyn smirked.
"How so?"
"Who has more to lose?" She pointed out.
"The loss would be the same for either side," I answered. Whoever lost would do so with their lives. The cost was the same.
Iver joined in to help lead me to the answer they both wished for me to find. "Sure, but who truly has more to lose? Think of who everyone expects to win..." He laughed when reading the look of confusion on my face. "You have more to lose, and so in a fight, you will give it your all. A Lysian fighting you will never truly give it their all, and that gives you a chance. You would fight like your life depends on it while the Lysian may get distracted, arrogant event, and make a fatal error."
