Inner Darkness (Book 2 of Dragonfire series)

Chapter 6

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My head was pounding as I slowly opened my eyes. I was laying next to Cullen with my arm wrapped over his chest. I tried to move my arm, but I felt extremely sore, like I had worked out nonstop for the past twenty-four hours. Cullen sensed me stirring and slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He brushed my hair back and I gave him a weak smile.

"My head hurts," I buried my face into his shoulder. He got up and went into my bathroom to grab me some Advil and a glass of water. I thanked him and chugged the pills. After half an hour, I felt good as new. I got dressed and we walked down to the cafeteria together. As we walked through the hallways, I saw a sign posted on one of the stone walls.

The Day of the Royals will be held this Saturday at Spell Stadium in Magix. There will be several royal families, such as the Royals from Jeevika and Ethne.

I turned around to look at Cullen, who was standing a few feet behind me.

"Why didn't you tell me your family was going to be at the Day of the Royals?" He rubbed the back of his neck and took a shaky breath.

"It's really nothing, pretty boring actually-"

"No, I want to come! What exactly is it?" He spoke as if he has explained it a thousand times before.

"It's a day dedicated to honoring royal families from around the universe. There is a ceremony where the prince from each family that attends demonstrates his power in front of the entire arena to represent his family. It's not as fun as it sounds." Why is he undermining this event? It sounds like a huge deal!

"I want to be there, if that's ok with you. Who is from this planet?" I pointed to the word Ethne on the paper, but I didn't get a response. I turned to look at Cullen, confused for a second, but then the lightbulb turned on. "No fucking way." I felt the heat running down my arms like water.

"Alena listen, it doesn't mean anything, I told you that!" Yeah maybe to you it doesn't.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure she gives me the death stare every time I'm with you and for some reason she feels very competitive towards me, even though she doesn't even know me, but that probably has nothing to do with you, right?" I rolled my eyes and walked away. What is going on between them that he isn't telling me? Why is he acting so weird? Suddenly, I wasn't feeling so hungry and I returned to my room. I was halfway to my bed when I heard a knock on my door. I sighed angrily and threw open the door.

"Cullen did you not take the hint to leave me al-" I cut myself off as I saw who was on the other side of the door. Professor Waylon looked at me awkwardly. "Oh my gosh I am so sorry I thought you were someone else!" He chuckled and waved it off.

"It's alright Alena, I was just coming by to see if you wanted to come up to my office and have an hour session together." Perfect! This is exactly what I need to take my mind off things. I graciously accepted his offer and went upstairs to his office. The first thing he had me do was meditate. Even though I wasn't great at it, it was necessary to calm me down and relax.

"Alena, I want you to hold your dominant hand out in front of you, palm facing up." I extended my left arm as he said. "I want you to picture a small ball of fire in your head about the size of a tennis ball." I furrowed my brows as I created the image in my mind. "Make sure the ball is still and doesn't quiver at all." The ball wasn't moving in the first place so I was ahead. "Now, slowly transform the ball so it is now a ring with the center hollowed out. Slowly." I felt myself start to sweat as I really tried to keep my flame under control. After a few minutes of struggling, I gave up. As I opened my eyes, I saw a small puff of smoke in my hand. "Your hand held the same fire that you imagined in your head. You did well, we can continue another time. Before you leave, I'm going to chant a spell to help your powers relax, this will also give you some energy."

I reluctantly agreed as I sat back in my chair and wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead. I looked at the clock and saw an hour had gone by. Wow, that seemed like it was only ten minutes. I slouched as he held his palms toward me and began chanting in a language I didn't recognize. After a few minutes, he stopped chanting and tried to slow his breathing.

"Chanting spells takes just as much energy out of me as it does out of you," he said with a smile. I thanked him for his time and walked to the cafeteria for dinner. I ate alone and thought about the progress I was making with my magic. If Professor Waylon keeps helping me, I could be unstoppable. This frightened me, and I quickly pushed the idea out of my mind.

I laid in bed that night thinking about the upcoming future. Tomorrow is Friday, then Saturday is the Day of the Royals. Should I still go? Does Cullen even want me there? I want to see what happens between his family and Amirah's. I don't trust him around her. I looked at my alarm clock and realized I had been thinking about this for half an hour. I forced myself to close my eyes and go to sleep so I wouldn't be exhausted for class tomorrow.

Hello readers!! Sorry I haven't been updating like I usually do, my sports schedule is keeping me very busy & leaves me little time to write. I will try to update at least once a week. Please help promote my book! I will give shout outs if you comment feedback as well! Thanks and happy reading <3