Bloodstream

-chapter 7-

-ren-

Ren, despite her not taking anything seriously, has always been an excellent trainee and shown great promise. She was willing to do whatever it took to get to the top. She had sharp instincts, and a quick temper. Anything or anybody that got in her way was dealt with to her standards. However, Avila was always the exception. They'd been attached at the hip since they were kids. Everyone thought she'd defend Avila with her life. Ren did too.

Until now.

The shock registers on Lee's face as quickly as it vanishes.

"Ren. I'd be happy to have you on board, but you don't seem..." He pauses, giving her a once over, "stable enough right now."

She goes silent and grits her teeth before snapping.

Her palm slams down against the table loudly. Everyone goes silent, leaning away from her. She's a ticking time bomb.

She takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

"You listen here. You will let me in on this mission. I don't give a fuck what you have to do. I am going. I am going to kill Avila and I am going to take down every last soul in Arcane until there's nothing left but rubble. And if you don't want me to organize a mission by myself and do it better than you ever could, you will let me in on this goddamn mission. Got it, Lee?"

Lee clenches his jaw, but quickly relents.

"Whatever, Price. Pack your shit though, we move out in the morning. It's gonna be a long and slow mission."

The satisfactory feeling of wanted revenge burns low in her stomach, and she revels in it all the way back to her room.

♢♢

-avila-

When me and Elson had made the discover of my talents with the bow and arrow, he'd wasted no time immediately changing his focus to that.

The last 48 hours had been spent practicing on targets in the training room and out in the back garden.

However, sitting in the library now was the biggest break I'd gotten in 2 days.

I run my hands over the spines on the shelves. The feeling of comfort floods my senses.

A bright blue leather bound book catches my eye, and I gently pull it off of the shelf.

The book has obviously been through the ringer, but you can tell it's been repaired with great care.

Despite the edges being worn, the blue leather is soft against my hands. The title is gold, and in a language I can't read.

I sit down on a bench at the end of one of the shelves, gently turning through the pages. The words are written in gold as well, and I find myself running my fingers over the words.

"That was your father's favorite."

I jump at the sound of Zalina's voice, but calm myself when I realize it's just her.

She sits down beside me, "Arcane is my kingdom. I was born here. Your father is from the Kingdom of Iristonia. The language is called Irosa. He was private about it. The kingdom and the language were dear to him, and he wanted to keep the memories to himself. It was important to him so I didn't pry. But it was different with you. Most nights he'd come into your room, shut the door, and read you a chapter each night."

Images flash in my head of him. Reading to me out of that book, saying words I didn't understand.

The memory ignites an intense feeling in me, but it fades almost as soon as it appears. Then I'm back to reality.

Zalina takes my hands in hers, and my attention is focused on her.

"Avila. Would you be comfortable taking a walk with me and maybe telling me more about your life in Oleas?"

The question catches me off guard. I assumed anything about Oleas was off limits, that it'd bring about bad memories for her. I'm reluctant to talk about it, especially after what happened with Ren. But at the same time I want to talk about it, and I want to talk about it with her. With my mother.

"Yes I'd be okay with that."

She nods, standing up leading me through a hidden back exit of the library that leads to the back garden.

"I didn't know this was here." I say, taking in the beauty and reveling in the fact that I'm here for walking and not training.

"Nobody does. Or nobody alive does." She runs her hand over a flower bush, "My grandmother had it built for me. I've always liked outdoors more than anything else, so she built it so I could sneak away while I was being taught lessons."

I smile, "That's clever."

"It really is," She turns her attention away from the flowers and back onto me, "Care to tell me about Oleas?"

I clear my throat and walk beside her in a steady pace.

"They start training you to be a soldier at a young age. They ranked us too, and they raise us to be competitive. The man who cared for me wasn't around much. He did the bare minimum, but it was lonely. Other than my best friend, Ren."

I pause, feeling the heavy feeling in my chest as I talk about her.

"She was my family. Her parents died when she was a baby. She never really had parents or anyone. She raised herself, but when we met each other we promise to be each other's family. We were. We were until all this happened."

"What happened with your friend?" Zalina asks.

"She came to rescue me in the attack. She assumed the worst. She assumed I was being tortured for information or something. I refused to go with her, though. I tried to tell her that my family was here. I tried to get her to stay, but she didn't. She looked...she looked betrayed. I've never seen her look that way before. It hurts, but it also scares me."

"Why does it scare you?" She asks.

"Because Ren and I always had each other's backs. We'd never dream of doing anything intentionally harmful to one another, but I've seen the way she reacts to the people who cross her. She's relentless, she puts up a fight. She's stubborn and she has to win no matter what."

I wipe a tear off my cheek, "This is on a bigger scale though. Me betraying her is different, we were important to each other but now I'm nothing more than an enemy. I was the only family she had, and I left her. I betrayed her."

"What are you saying, Avila? What does that mean?"

"It means she's planning something. I haven't heard anything from Oleas or from her since this happened. I know her, Zalina. Ren's silence means war."