Viridian

Chapter 22

"It's time to wake up, Princess," Cato says, nudging me awake.

"What time is it," I garble, half awake.

"Five a.m." I let out a stressed sound at his response, pulling the covers up over my head. "Adhira," he laughs, his voice huskier in the morning, as his arm circles around my waist. "As much as I would love to stay in bed with you all day," he grumbles, causing shivers to run through me, even beneath the covers. "My sister may become... difficult if you ditch training, especially if she finds you in here."

"I mean this in the nicest possible way, Cato," I call, my voice muffled by the covers and pillows. "I want to stab her. Nowhere fatal, just a good stab in the leg or something." Cato's grumble of laughter runs through me before the covers are pried away from my face leaving my pink and black hair in staticy disarray. "You better get going," he whispers in my ear before releasing me to climb out of bed. I suddenly feel chilly without his body heat hugging me.

"Cato..." I start, caught off guard as I turn to see him walking towards the bathroom in nothing but his boxers. "I can sense your arousal, Princess," he grumbles, turning to face me, arms crossed as he leans his shoulder against the doorframe of the bathroom. Snapping out of my trance, I glare at him. "Ahh," he exasperates, bringing his hand to his chest, feigning pain. "Careful with that, Princess, I might spontaneously combust," he jests.

"One can dream," I smile.

"There she is! I was wondering how long it would take for my girl's snarky attitude to return."

"I'm not your girl, Cato," I raise my eyebrow, as I pull the covers away from me, plopping to my feet. Cato's eyes seem to wander the length of my body, still in nothing but his shirt, before they make it back up to my unamused face.

"Oh really?" he smirks, his eyes glowing but his body remaining in the doorway.

"Yes," I grit out, the word tasting bitter in my mouth.

"You can live with the lie temporarily, but next time, Princess," he starts. "Next time you are beneath me, I will make you admit the truth."

"I wish you all the best of luck with that," I snark.

"I do love a challenge." I roll my eyes at that, the green of Cato's flashing from my movement before his eyes return to normal. He turns, making his way into the bathroom as I gather up my clothes from the ground, put my jeans from yesterday on, and make my way out the door.

"You seem tired," Najiba states plainly, as I run into the training room at 5:30 am in my green long sleeve workout top and black shorts, my hair loosely put up into a messy bun. I didn't have much time to get ready by the time I got back to my room. "I didn't get much sleep last night," I state, checking my mental border to make sure she would not be able to read my thoughts. That's the last thing I need.

"Did I ask for an explanation?" Najiba snarks, polishing her dagger with a rag. "Just don't let it interfere with your training," she tells me before nodding at Nox. "He tells me you're decent with a dagger." I smile internally at the approval, even if it's not from her.

"I'm alright," I shrug.

"Don't feign modesty with me," she looks up from her weapon momentarily. "It's just as bad as lying."

"I've had some training."

"Have you ever taken a life?"

"No...," I stutter, caught off guard.

"And yet you were planning on taking my brother's?" she cocks her eyebrow in amusement, flipping the knife in her hand before throwing it at the wall, hitting the moving target a guard was practicing on without even looking. "Were you really so ignorant to believe you'd be successful? What would you have done with the body? How would you have cleaned up the blood? How would you have dealt with the weight of taking a life?" I think about that for a moment. What would I have done? I don't know....

"Killing someone," she starts, crossing her arms. "Takes strategy... planning. The weight of it is forever a part of you, that weight only slightly lessened to know the person you killed was a monster," she pauses. "But you didn't know that, did you? Did you even do your research before you—"

"How many people have you killed?" I cut her off, refusing to think about my own actions.

"Two," she states, confusing me further.

"But I thought—"

"Two people, Highness," she stops me. "To people who were good and innocent and who had people who cared about them," Najiba pauses. "Monsters however... one hundred eighty six to be exact."

"Ancestors above," I breathe.

"That is what the Creon are, Adhira, monsters. They don't deserve your pity and they certainly don't deserve my mercy," she says, with a wicked smile. 'And believe me, they don't get any."

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Hello... I don't really have anything to say here... so yeah. Nicole out! Peace babes!

 - Nicole Winters