Paladin

He Made Me Feel Like A Princess Everyday

"You've been hanging out with my sister a lot," Aitor said casually.

The two were erecting the bookshelves they had toppled over during their fight and Illyria rolled her shoulders; this was child abuse. "She won't leave me alone."

"You're a novelty to her at the moment. Don't worry it'll pass." Aitor dusted his hands off and rolled his sleeves up; Illyria tried not to stare.

"That's what I'm counting on."

"It's strange how you weaselled yourself into being my little sisters' best friend. A week ago, you were in the human world or so you claim. And now you are everywhere I turn. I can't escape you."

"That sounds like a you problem. And it also sounds like you're accusing me of something," Illyria gritted her teeth, "What's your point?"

"Leave my sister alone," His voice was ice-cold, "You won't like the consequences of your actions if you end up hurting her."

"Aitor," Illyria said, her voice was hard, and she didn't speak again until she was chest to chest with him. "Don't tell me what to do. Ever."

"I'm warning you," His eyes were dark and unforgiving. "Don't get on my bad side."

Illyria guessed it was too late for that.

***

Illyria shook her strawberry milkshake furiously and adjusted her sunglasses to avoid the glare of the paparazzi's camera; the life of an heiress was never over.

"Are you done?" Hyeon gave an amused smile, slipping her blazer off and placing it on the arm of her chair. "Alright there?"

The paparazzi outside got really close to the window to take a particular shot and Illyria sighed, flipping open the menu even though she knew she was going to order her regular. "Yes, perfect. How have you been? Missing me?"

"Obviously," Hyeon knew what Illyria really wanted to here. "Oscar has been discharged from the hospital but don't worry, no one really knows what happened."

"That's not what I was worried about."

"Of course."

"I don't even care about him."

"I know."

The girls placed their orders and waited for their waiter to slink away before continuing, "My Umma is pregnant."

"Really? Illyria, that's great! Tell your mum congratulations for me," Hyeon gave a genuine smile, her eyes sparkled with contentment.

"Yeah, I'll pass it on," Illyria let it roll off her shoulder and Hyeon reached over the table to give Illyria's hand a squeeze. "Are your parents back yet from the US and Hong Kong?"

Hyeon wasn't as good at having a poker face as Illyria, "Yeah...they got back last night. And they're actually going head back out in a week. What's new?"

"Screw them," Illyria said, shaking her head. "When we going to France for university than we can leave all this bullshit behind."

"We're still going France?" The light came back into Hyeon's grey eyes. "I didn't think after the Champion Academy-" She dropped her voice to a whisper,"-won't they come for you if you leave the country."

"You can't get rid of me that easily," The two girls grinned widely at one another. "I promise that we're going to that damn university in France and travel the world and graduate if it's the last thing I do.

***

"Hey, you haven't been coming to lunch," Lorna had found Illyria surrounded by history books in the library. "Are you studying?"

"Why would I come to lunch if all your stupid brother does is annoy me?" Illyria didn't lift her head up. "And yeah, I have a lot of catching up to do?"

"History of Paragon, huh?" Lorna briefly flicked through it before plopping it back down on the table. "That's going to take forever to read."

"Well, I have time," This silenced the Princess briefly. "So...you know the Zenith? Does everyone with an ability have to go through with it?"

"It's usually children of nobles or royals who have bonded. It's so outdated-bonding I mean- I don't know why we still do it honestly-"

"Does it hurt?" Illyria interrupted. "Do people ever die from it?"

The Princess gave Illyria an odd look, "Um, no. Of course not. That's crazy."

***

Illyria marched into her private class, determined and with a one track mind, "I want to work on making an orbital field today."

Mr. Callahan's eyebrows jumped up and he chuckled, "You barely started on binding and you already want to move on?"

Illyria rolled her eyes and huffed, "Binding is easy now and it's just so basic. I've been researching and I think learning to do an orbital field is more relevant don't you think?"

His face grew stern and when he pressed his lips together, they disappeared into one another, "You booked out some sources from the library? I thought you wanted to keep your ability a secret?"

"No, of course not. I searched them on my HGM device incognito and wiped the history and cache," Illyria rolled her eyes. "I'm sure no one will look any deeper."

"Good. Be diligent but don't draw attention to yourself. Ms. Baten expressed on multiple occasions that on no one must know that you have telekinesis. Why she would want to hide the first telekinesis in Paladin-no Paragon is beyond me, but I can't go against her," Mr. Callahan shook his head in disbelief.

Oh, John Callahan, you have no idea.

"As for your concerns, everything is relevant. You need to build on the basics because they are the foundation that you build upon. If you don't learn the novice level or skip out on one, you put yourself at a disadvantage. But I do agree that you should move on since you have done so well with binding. Just not on to Orbital fields," He said, eyes twinkling and warm smile taking over his face, "Now let's return to levitation."

Illyria stomped down the urge to scream and sighed inwardly; she'll get there. Eventually.