𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗'𝚜 𝚁𝚑𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚖

Chapter Three: A Shard Of Glass And A Dangerous Argument

The week passed smoothly. Time seemed to go faster, knowing there wasn't going to be a deadly fight each evening. And very soon, it was Friday. I'd managed to sneak off on Thursday to get to the flight club without Nikolas finding out. Ever since the stupid conversation with him, it's been harder to fight. It's been difficult to think straight. Instead, my thoughts wandered to Nikolas usually, and a firm punch to my face was the only thing that could drag me out of it.

"I told you you shouldn't have—" Nikolas starts.

"I can't go back there without any money, Starling," I say. "And I'm not going to give him the small bit he's given me, so I'll do a fight once or twice a week and get my fucking money," I brushed my hand over my jaw, annoyed by the ache that was rather relentless. It wouldn't go away. It just hurt all of the time.

We walk in silence for a long ten minutes. Then, while we walked down the staircase to the courtyards where Amir and Selina likely waited, Nikolas spoke again. "Elias?" He says.

I sigh, turning my head to look at him. "Yes?" I ask.

"You're— You're a really stubborn person. I get the feeling that if you really wanted out, you'd find a way out," He says. "Are you sure there's not something else that's making you?"

"Like?"

He hesitates, pausing before walking down the staircase once more. "Like maybe you're brother?" He says. That wasn't what I expected him to say. "I don't mean it in an offensive way. I just meant that, well, it's normal, I guess, not to quit something in fear someone you might care about could get hurt?"

I shake my head. "That's not it, not entirely," I say.

Nikolas pauses again. "Could you tell me what you think it is? I won't tell, I swear," He says. "I just want to know so I could help, maybe,"

I glance at Nikolas before looking down at where I stepped. "Honestly? I want to challenge Lucifer himself to a fight," I say. "And I want to win,"

"What— What would happen to Lucifer?" He asks.

I push the doors to the courtyard open. "Arrested," I answer. "Then it's my turn to be in charge," I only added that because I knew Nikolas wouldn't ask any more questions. Not with Amir or Selina around. At least, I hoped not.

I sat down beside Selina, watching them as they played some sort of game. Chess. Why wasn't I surprised? "Did you two really drag that out here?" I ask.

Selina glances at me and pauses. "I still don't think Deimos gave you that bruise," She says.

"Deimos gave me this bruise, Selina," I insist, rolling my eyes.

Selina looks back at the game. "I wouldn't have thought he'd pull a stunt after you broke his nose," She says.

I look down at my nails and wonder where Cyrus is. I glance around me. The courtyard was empty, besides the occasional studying student. "I'll be right back," I murmur, standing up.

"Where're you going?" Amir asks.

"Just checkin' on a friend," I say with a shrug as I walk over toward the doorway.

I walked over to where Cyrus sat, leaning up on the tree with a cigarette between his lips. He glances at me. He moves the cigarette from his lips and breaths a puff of smoke away from the both of us. "Hey," He hums. "You ever get tired of fighting?"

I tilt my head, confused by the question. "Sometimes," I admit. "Do you?" I take the cigarette from his hand and lift it to my lips.

He pulls a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and uses his lighter to light a new one. "Lately? Yeah," He admits. "I'm really tired of it," He lifts the cigarette to his lips again.