Paladin

He Loved Chocolate, Spice and Everything Nice

"You got what you deserved," Dean spat at her.

"Excuse me?" It was 8am and Illyria knew that this was only the beginning.

"You think that you're better than me," Dean snarled. "Well I hope the party showed you your place, human bitch." And to top it off, he slammed into her and caused everything to come out of her bag.

No one helped her; it was like she wasn't even there.

***

"I know I'm usually oblivious, but I think the entire school is staring at you," John Callahan said to Illyria as he closed the door behind her.

"That's because you are imagining things," Illyria sighed. "Can we just focus on the lesson?"

"Of course," John said, and Illyria set about working on creating telekinetic weapons and using them to hack away at the dummies lined up.

She put the dummies away one by one, slowly as she could and tried to put off going to the library as much as she could.

"Illyria, you better go before you're late to clean up," John pointed out, waving her off and started locking up.

Illyria entered library reluctantly and refused to meet Aitor's eyes. She had spent the entire day dodging jeers, scathing remarks and Damian and Co. She was exhausted.

"You're late," Aitor dumped a box in front of her, and when he gained no respone, he spared a glance. "What? Where's that smart mouth gone?"

Illyria tied her hair back before picking up her box and retreated to the second floor.

"So I'm getting the silent treatment," Aitor laughed. "What the hell did I do?"

He followed her and answered his own question, "Is this about what happened at the party? You know I didn't know-"

Illyria whipped around, dropping the box abruptly and Aitor swore as his foot caught the brunt of the weight. "I don't care, Aitor. I don't care that you and this entire school-and I do mean the entire school-have made me out to be some joke, I don't care that you and your stupid friends have basically harassed and assaulted me-"

"Wait a minute-what-"

"I'm only here because I have to be. Do you know what it is like, dealing with you entitled, self-absorbed snobs every single day? Literally all of you are pathetic. Trust me, I'm counting down the days and I'm out of here," Illyria finished her rant, picked up her box and continued on her way.

Surprisingly, she did feel better getting that off her chest.

"Illyria," Aitor called; it was the first time she ever heard him say her name. "Illyria, wait."

She ignored him.

"Illyria, I didn't send anyone after you, okay?"

"You didn't have to," She whipped around; she couldn't pass up the opportunity to shout at him. "They all knew you hated me, so they thought it was okay to go after me."

"I don't-I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Because you're an idiot."

"That first day-your lip wasn't busted from physical, was it?"

"You are such a dickhead."

"Who was it? I'll straighten this out with everyone, and I'll make it up to you. Anything you want, you can have it."

Illyria didn't have to think about it. "Anything?"

***

"Illyria, come on. I said I was sorry," Hyeon furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"And I said it was fine, didn't I?" Illyria said. "Look I just don't want to hang out, okay?"

"Did something happen? Is it the Academy?" Hyeon dropped an octave. "You know you can tell me anything."

"Look I'll-call you later," Illyria didn't wait for a response and hung up.

She flopped back on her bed, caressed Sofia's hair and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Get better, Sofia. I won't forgive you if you don't."

***

"You want me to take you shopping?" Aitor chuckled.

Illyria raised one eyebrow, "You said anything right?"

"Anything at all and instead you want a birthday gift for your little sister," Aitor tilted his head. "Okay, we'll go after we finish after here."

"Perfect," Illyria smirked.

An hour later, Aitor and Illyria had hit thirteen shops and she still couldn't find the perfect gift.

"How old is she turning anyway?" Aitor sighed.

"Six," Illyria said as she admired a shop windows display of bracelets that were sold in pairs. "I found it. She's going to love it."

"Bonding bracelets?" Aitor signalled for his bodyguards to station themselves out the shop. "That's usually an Ishidilian practice."

"I said she's going to love it," Illyria set her eyes on him before addressing a shop assistant. "Excuse me, could you gift wrap the princess cut emerald bracelet? Thank you."

Aitor followed the young women to pay for the item and Illyria surveyed the shop. She discreetly lifted up a glass box, used her ability to short-circuit the cameras, and slipped biometric transit mechanism that couldn't be traced into Aitor's blazer pocket.

"So, we're good," Aitor inquired as he handed her the gift bag.

"We're all good," She winked at him and walked out of the door, not stopping for a second when the alarms went off when the Crown Prince crossed the threshold.