United Regnum

Eva 6

Warning: This chapter contains bullying.  

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"Why are you here?" Gage strolls back and forth in front of me.

"I chose Fortitudo. It was my best match." I clear my head. What could this be about?

"According to your exam results you were evenly matched for Fort and Sap."

"Yes." I gulp.

"Why didn't you stay where you belonged? Weren't you "happy"?" He asks sarcastically. It doesn't faze me. the only thing that grabs my attention is the where I belonged.  

"I don't belong to anyone. I don't have to please anyone."  

I counter, trying to slice him.  

"Oh yes you do. Your in Fortitudo now. You belong to us- to me. Don't kid yourself, Eva. Your results don't make you special. Your father doesn't earn you protection."  

He snorts.  

"I didn't ask for any." I mutter, hating the thought of my father interfering with my new life. 

He stops in front of me. "Then why are you here...?!" He growls and stares at me.  

"Why do you care?" I challenge him.  

"I don't. You think I give a fuck about you? You're dirt on my shoes. An annoyance. Nothing."  

"If I'm an annoyance then I must be something. Something that gets your attention." I say smoothly and fold my arms.  

"You think you're something special! You're nothing! You're ugly, untalented nothing! You'll sleep your way to the top, but you won't stay for long, get it?! You are nothing!" He snaps and goes on ranting.

I finally understand thy his goal is to dwindle down my confidence and faith in myself; but I know who I am.  

I learned from my father that the best way to deliberately annoy a person is to ignore them. That's exactly what I do.  

By the end he's called me every name there is, cursed my good-looks, and my name. Now he's out of breath and panting in my face like a dog. "Get out." He mutters.

I smile and comply. I walk out with my confidence in tact. I see Allec and smile even wider. Teagan finds me and she smiles too.  

"Can you believe that's all they had for us?" She laughs, but I can see the doubt in the corners of her eyes. "The rest of us are going to work out. You know, start the real training, you wanna go?"  

"'Course." I say and smile again.  

By dinner half of us are crying and the other half are consoling. I have a girl named Sarah under my arm, wiping her steady flow of tears.  

"You're not anything that Gage told you." I pat her back and console her. There is no speech tonight. Some of the people in this room probably hate Allec now.

I don't think I could ever hate him.

Was he as rough with the other initiates as Gage tried to he with me? Would he have been that rough with me if he had to?