No More Choices (Void and Light Book One)

Chapter Thirty-One

~Akiriya~

I sat staring at the bare wall in front of me. It'd Been a few days since my talk with Yama and I had been avoiding just about everyone in that time. Outside of classes and conversation with the Academics in regards to the history and culture of Helios I had become somewhat of a hermit. Zelisa and Jarek had been sent off to speak to someone about something by Sunni and I hadn't seen Emory around in a while. Yama stayed back and apparently he and Calvin got back to training the next generation of warriors for Helios' army. Saffron had tried to speak to me but I had been keeping her away. I could tell that they were worried, that they were concerned, but before they had ever entered my life, I handled things on my own. I could do that with this.

Thoughts of Yama's apology to me floated around in my head along with what he had told me about his past. What was I supposed to do with this information? I stood in the soldier training room preparing for the fight that I'd have with Yama, Ethen, and Eliza. I had to choose one of them to be my ultimate protector. Each of them had skill and knowledge of Helios that was completely foreign to me. I'd surprised myself by choosing combat as my decision maker for something as important as this. I didn't know who I could trust and with Sunni having mentioned an upcoming war and the Academics telling me about Mania, I wasn't sure about anything. What was I even doing here? I had this alleged power and mates and the responsibility to be some royal whoever to a realm of strangers and unknowns.

I left the changing room and made my way to the main hall. It was oddly quiet and I couldn't help but shiver at it. In the time that I'd spent here, there was always something going on, whether that be a Council Meeting or guards and castle staff roaming the halls. I continued to mull over everything in my head and stumbled when I ran into a solid figure. I could feel myself falling backwards as they grabbed my wrist and pulled me up until I was standing again.

"I am so sorry I didn't mean to run into you. I should have been paying attention." I mustered out. I looked up at the person I ran into and felt myself freeze. Something felt familiar about the blue eyes that met mine. Like I had seen them somewhere before. He moved past me with nothing more than a grunt and I blinked and shook my head. I wouldn't know him. I didn't know anyone here. I turned my head, eyes watching the man as he and his black coat rounded the corner.

I jogged the last bit of the way to the doors that lead outside and again I was surprised by the lack of guards. Upon opening the door I heard nothing but voices and cheers and laughter. There, surrounding the battle arena, stood the entirety of the castle's staff and guard, eagerly awaiting something. I took notice at the fact that there were castle nobles there as well but they sat stoically above the excited crowd. I made my way closer and moved through the cluster of bodies.

I finally stepped foot in the arena and looked to see my group waiting for me.

"What the hell is all of this?"

Ethen looked up at me with a smirk, he'd been doing what I can only guess was a warm up. "They wanna watch the princess fight."

I was about to respond when Eliza interrupted me, "Actually, they're here to judge her worth," she looked me directly in the eye, her blonde hair was pulled into a knot at the base of her neck, "I apologize for the bluntness of my statement, but it is the truth. They need to see with their own eyes the power you hold. Everyday there are more and more attacks on the surrounding provinces by monsters of old and a horribly high number of lives arebeing snuffed out because of it. The people need to know that they can fight with you and win."

I looked at her and imagined the horrors that she had faced at the front lines.

I attempted to find the words to say that I understood, but I couldn't offer any. As much as I wanted to believe it wasn't true, this was my world now and no amount of apologies was going to change the world I was living in. I nodded and looked out at the crowd. I could barely see the faces of the people around me. Outside of coming to the castle, I hadn't really seen much of Helios. I hadn't seen much of anything outside of the palace walls.