A Hymn of Snakes

NINE

My blade dragged against the ground, the training grounds had been given to me for an hour. So I would do what I could here then move somewheres else, the Keepers didn't like sharing with me. So I studied the space of my own. A pair of running shorts and a tank top decorated my skin, my shadowed cuffs on full display. However, I've found that I don't hate them as much as I used too. It wired it's way around my wrists like celtic knots, a symbol of Ithe and I's bond.

There was a pair of eyes burning into my back but I couldn't find the source so I didn't pull too much. A knock came to the door and my head turned to look. Alex leaned against the frame, a smile widened on his face. His royal guards, Jean and Laurent, watched me from behind him. They didn't trust me much.

Alex stalked across the room, parading his posture as his finger skimmed the bottom of a blade. A smile adorned on his face as he spoke, his voice sending shivers down my spine. "Do you remember the last time we did this?" He asked me and I wondered how I could forget. Only then I wasn't as strong as I was now.

I laughed for a moment, putting the tip of my blade into the ground as I flipped a strand of my hair from my face. The worst part about short hair was how it cling to your sweat. "Back when you tried to kill me." Alex walked my way and kicked my sword from the ground. I flipped it until it rested inches from his throat, then it was a threat and now it was a game.

"Then you threatened me and we yelled at each other." The corner of my mouth twitched with excitement, I knew where this was going. However, before we had a chance to really challenge each other he ruined it. "That really was an accident you know, I never intended on hurting you." He told me and I swallowed hard. I didn't trust Alex enough a year ago but I could tell right now that he wasn't lying to me. He had no reason too.

I ignored it, I didn't want to talk about the past any longer than we had too, "I just think you're scared." He was so worried for whatever reason.

"I don't want to hurt you." He told me.

Jean and Laurent stood in the door way and watched, Alex was going to get us caught if he didn't play his cards right. "You won't." I called out willfully, I hit the blade he held as metal clashed. The sound scattered in my arms as I allowed it to slide all the way up to my hand. "How about this, we don't hold back. You can use all the leverage you have against me and I to you." I promised not knowing the weight of my words.

"Magic?" He offered.

The small corner of my mouth flipped, I rolled my lip through my teeth with hunger. Ithe in my ear spilling truths to me. We were so close to each other, I could feel his breath on my cheek. "If I'm allowed." I said, Alex enjoyed my temptation but he didn't drag it on for any longer.

Alex flipped his sword in his hand and switched it over against my chest. A threat hung closely in the air as he pressed it against my skin. His red eyes flashed in a glowing hue, dangerously dark as he watched me. His hunger was spiking, no matter how much he tried to hide it. "I'd like to see you try." He told me, Ithe began in my ear. Hungry little Princeling wants to play. My vision flickered and I knew Ithe was beginning to come out. I contained my shadow back as I stood away from him.

"You asked for it." I whispered.

He lifted his blade to his stance, Alex rotated his sword in his left hand. Stalking around me in circles as I waited, the vibration of my shadow purged into the floor. Ithe flickering alive for a moment, she wanted to help as much as she could. But I wanted to keep her a secret a little longer, I could only imagine what Alex would think when he discovered I shared my body with the dark magic.

I refused to make the first move, he was always stronger than me. I needed to be quicker than him, smarter than him. He would know my every move the way he's studying me. My breathing slowed under my teeth as Alex stepped my back.