The Immortal Guardians: Book II

Chapter Five

I took a deep breath before stepping into the gym. Henri was seated waiting for us.

"Are you okay" he got up as soon as he saw me. "Iris, I am so sorry" he stopped talking abruptly.

"I'm fine" I turned to Byron. There was a hard look on his face. "let's finish up" I told them.

We finished with the training session and I took off. I was slightly embarrassed that Henri had seen me during one of my dark moments.

"Iris" Henri called after me. Instead of turning around, I kept walking. I wanted to go lay down in my room.

"Iris" Henri stepped into stride with me. "You have your next class with me" he reminded me with a smile. I let out a groan.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean it like that" I gave him an apologetic smile. "It is just that - never mind, where to?" Henri gave me a look but didn't say anything.

"Come on, you will go to my next class with me" he lifted his hand like if to grab my arm but instead he rubbed his head. "This class is terrible but you have to take it since you wanted to learn a new weapon"

My head was spinning once we were done with the lecture. Without having to ask Henri, he handed me some lecture notes.

"Go over them so you can be better prepared for Thursday" he sighed heavily. "You can join me in my study session if you want that will be Thursday after lecture. It might help"

"Sure" I nodded. I thanked him for the notes. "When do we start knife practice?"

"Next Tuesday, Byron and I decided to alternate. He is requiring you to do some workouts during your training sessions with me"

I let out an involuntary groan.

"Don't worry they wont' be so brutal. I am not a fan of working out either but it must be done" he laughed. His smile disappeared. "You look tense is it because of earlier today"

I didn't respond.

"I'm not judging you. I don't know what you went through so I can't really say anything" Henri was looking at me.

"What were you told?" I knew I shouldn't be asking but part of me wanted to know.

"The Headmistress and the Deputy Headmistress told me that you were the student that had been tortured at the end of last year. They said that you were looking to learn a new weapon and that I would benefit from teaching"

I looked away from him.

"Why knives?" Henri asked in a low tone. I grasped my right side tightly. I had to look away from him. "Most try to learn archery or even daggers especially for the Guard."

"He used a knife on me" I replied without thinking. I grasped my arm as tightly as possible. I could feel my hand heating up. "I have tattoos to cover up the scars"

I could feel his eyes on me but he didn't say anything, which surprisingly was helping. I didn't want him to say he was sorry. I was getting tired of hearing it.

"How many tattoos do you have?" Henri asked.

"The three bands" I released my arm. "and I have another one on the side of my ribs. The other one is bigger"

"What is it?" I wasn't sure if he was curious about the scar or the actual tattoo. "It is a large ornamental piece" I shrugged. "it doesn't really have significance, I just needed it to cover up the scars. I also have Ezra's and Thomas' birthday." I showed him the size of the tattoo and where it was. Since we had all been born on the same day, it was just one birthday.