Wind rushes in my hair as I land on the hard ground. Crack! My eyes widen when the sound appears. I look at the arm and confirm my suspicion. A white, blood-covered bone sticks out of my elbow. I lift up my arm and find it at an odd angle. Suddenly, I'm glad I don't feel any pain or else that would have hurt a lot. "Get up!" Sire comes in front of me.
"B-but my arms broken." I point out.
"So, if you were fighting with an enemy and if you get hurt, would tell them to stop?" He sneers, his eyes suddenly blackening. I gulp and whimper, "N-no." He grabs me in a hard grip and flings me off the ground. "Start again." Clair looks at him hesitantly, "But she's hurt." A hand appears on Clair's throat, choking her.
"Do I look like I care?" He asks, his eyes fully black. Clair whimpers, struggling to get out of his grip. Mustering my courage, I step up to them, but Adam puts his arm out. I glare up at him. "You won't want to do that." He says.
"He's going to kill her."
"That's her problem. She's the one who disobeyed her." I quickly look at Clair and see the life draining from her eyes.
"But she was protecting me," I say urging, I couldn't lose my only friend. Adam stands in front of me, blocking my view of Clair. He easily towered because of his height of 6,4 and also because I haven't hit my growth spurt yet.
He growls at me threatening, "When you are in the assassin's world, there are no such things as friends and family. You are either enemies or have alliances but can never be friends. She did the foolish thing of forgetting that and if I ever you, I would never forget it."
Thump! I look around Adam and see Sire has released Clair. "You will do better of remembering your position, Clair, or I won't hesitate to send you back to where you came from." Clair looks at the floor before whimpering, "Yes, Sire."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I shift around on the bed, trying to find a more comfortable spot. The conversation with Adam runs around in my head. You can either be enemies but can never be friends. Did that mean I was meant to be alone my whole life? Did I make the right decision of becoming an assassin? I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping to go to sleep.
Clair's POV:
"WAKE UP!" I bang into her room, but quickly stop short. I blink a couple of times before I comprehend what was happening in front of me. Rayla sits on her bed in her full armour. Usually, I have to shake her awake than push her in the bathroom personally so she could change. Even then it would take a couple of bangs on the bathroom to get to hurry up because she falls asleep in there. I know what you are thinking; who falls asleep in the toilet? The answer is lots of people, especially Rayla.
"Oh, you're awake," I say
Rayla gives me a tight-lipped smile, "Yeah, after yesterday, I thought I should give my full effort in my training."
I clear my throat, "You're right. I mean you are supposed to the best assassin Sire has ever trained." We walk towards the forest clearing, with Rayla behind me with her hood on her head.
There's something wrong with her I can tell, but I can't put my finger on it. I can't even look in her thoughts because Sire took them away for my punish of defying him. We stop at the edge of the clearing as Rayla takes off her hood.
She turns towards me, "Look, Clair, I appreciate what you did for me yesterday, but would it be ok if you don't defend me today. I can fight my own battles. And I think we shouldn't hang out because I need to focus on training."
Something deflates inside me. I force on a smile, "Yeah, you're right. You need to know how to take care of yourself if you want to survive by yourself. And we also don't want anything distracting you." Rayla nods and opens herself to say something else before closing it again and walking towards Sire.
Tears prick the corner of my eyes as I find myself alone once again. I thought I had found a friend I could confide in, but I guess she was just using me. Dad was right, I would always end up alone no matter what I tried.
Especially after he abandoned me for his new wife. I always know Sire took me in because of pity. I guess it never actually registered to me before now.
Suddenly, I stand up taller as something wraps itself around my heart, making sure it never breaks again. I vow to myself; I would never let anyone in again. Especially not Rayla.
Rayla's POV:
All through training, I sneak peeks to Clair. First, when I told her, she looked like she wanted to cry but now she looks nothing like Clair I got to know in the 18 months. I had t do it because I couldn't let her get hurt because of me. "You will now spar with Clair," Sire says, motioning Clair. As she positions herself in the stance, I look at her eyes.
Her hazel eyes look misted up, as a curtain is draped over them. At first, I thought this was a good idea, but now I'm second-guessing myself. "Begin." Sire commands. As Clair rushes towards me with rage in her eyes, I know at that moment that I have lost my only friend.