Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 89: Training Begins

AN: Removed this chapter so I could add more to it. Enjoy the finished version

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Chapter Eighty-Nine: Training Begins

When Xaphile woke up, the sun was just peeking over the horizon and his whole body was damp with dew. He sleepily blinked, then looked at Ella's sleeping face resting right in front of his own, and carefully sat up in an attempt to avoid waking her up.

"Today is the day," he muttered, letting out a long sigh and running a hand across his face.

Glancing down at Ella's slumbering form, he shook his head and stood up, tossing his hair back and making sure it was out of the way.

Taking a few moments, he untangled the strands with careful fingers and began to braid his hair as tightly as he could, expertly fastening them.

Once finished, he knelt down and carefully lifted Ella's sleeping form into his arms, then made his way toward the hut with his face locked into a determined grimace.

He could feel Vordt coming.

Could feel the ominous aura approaching from afar.

Being careful not to wake everyone else up, Xaphile set Ella down on the furs between Vrael and Amelia. She stirred slightly when he pulled the blankets up to her chest, but aside from that she didn't wake.

For the longest time, he knelt in front of her face, staring at the scabs on her throat. The puncture wounds his teeth had created.

Then he took a long look at everyone's sleeping faces before standing back up.

"I'll try my hardest to learn everything I can," he said softly. "I'm done being ignorant."

With a sigh, he turned and started to walk, but a hand reached out and snatched his tail.

He turned to see Amelia groggily peering up at him.

"Phil?" she croaked, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Where are you going?"

He turned slightly, giving her a soft expression.

"I'm starting my training today, so I'm getting ready to go."

Her eyes widened and she blinked, opening her mouth to protest, but he held a finger to his lips. She closed her mouth when he pleaded with his eyes.

"Just let me do this," he whispered, flicking his tail and breaking her hold on it. "Believe in me. Everything is fine, so just go back to sleep, okay?"

Amelia swallowed, then nodded and tiredly rolled over onto her side.

"I'll be sure to make a good supper when you return," she mumbled, closing her eyes. "Promise."

"I'll hold you to that," he chuckled.

Sunlight fell across his face when he stepped outside again and headed for the edge of the lake.

And once he was there, he waited, arms folded... tail drifting back and forth in agitation.

His uncle was a monster, there was no doubt about it, but if he thought that Xaphile would simply sit back and take all manners of abuse, he had another thing coming.

Something had sparked within him the previous evening, and today it was nothing more than an ember.

But it was still there.

He closed his eyes when he heard the thunder of wing flaps.

A large shadow momentarily flashed across him from somewhere high above. All of the hairs on his body stood up and his scalp prickled madly when those thundering flaps grew louder, not too far behind him. Then the sound of feet hitting the dirt met his sensitive ears.