Dallas followed me back to my room, preventing me from going to the stables. I had a feeling Hailey was there, as she was a lot of the time, and I hadn't seen her since dinner yesterday. Now that Tairen was back, I wondered how she was doing. I'd asked Dallas about their situation and he said it was a political marriage but he didn't know the details.
I guess since they're following the old ways, it's only natural for there to be things like that. But you sure as hell didn't hear about it in the real world.
I glanced at the clock that Dallas had given me and confirmed that there were about two hours left until dinner. I collapsed on my bed with a groan. Dallas followed suit and I turned my head so I could look at him.
His dark eyelashes brushed his cheeks as he blinked, giving depth to those beautiful dark orbs. Now that I looked at them better, his eyes were much like Blake's—a deep shade of brown that could almost be considered black. I could see that they were dark not only in color but in emotion like Blake's had been. The only difference between them was that Dallas had a blinding light that suffocated that darkness.
Blake's eyes were suffocated in a different way. I saw a glint of light but other than that, his darkness scared me.
However, there was a world of difference between Tairen and Dallas' eyes. Tairen's emerald orbs were dark in color but I couldn't explain the emotion in them—if there were any.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Dallas asked, gently flicking my forehead. "You'll hurt yourself."
I scoffed, rolling over so I was looking up at the canopy. "I don't know. Nothing, really."
"Liar," he said, sitting up. "Look, I—I don't wanna make this weird but I think it needs to be addressed, in some way." He turned to me and I instinctively sat up. He was radiating that power again—the power I'd noticed when we first met.
"Uh—what?" I bit my lip. Whenever he was like this with the other knights, I felt uncomfortable, but never had he been like this to me directly. He crossed his arms, leaning on the bedpost.
"I probably should have said something before something like today happened," he pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was in pain. "It's a given that you've had a tough life, why else would you be here? I understand that, we all do, but you have to understand that you're not alone. I had to realize it at some point, too." He leaned forward, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We all cope differently but please don't hesitate to confide in me. Don't let it get to the point of a panic attack, okay?"
I smiled, relaxing. "You remind me of someone," I said, punching his arm softly and a little awkwardly. "I'll talk to you if I need it, okay?"
He smiled back, jumping to his feet. "Well, wanna spar for a bit? We got plenty of time." I nodded, standing and following him to pull the leather chairs out of the way.
He reminded me of Kenny—my social worker. Except, I was pretty sure Dallas wouldn't bring it up like that again. He got the point across and that's all he needed to do. It was comforting. I found 𝘩𝘪𝘮 comforting in so many ways.
We'd sparred until I could get a solid hit on Dallas, which ended up lasting the entirety of the two hours we'd had to spare. As soon as I got a hit, aimed at his stomach, I collapsed with him—for different reasons, of course. Dallas laughed through his pain, looking at me, probably looking more worn out than he was.
I knew I was nothing compared to him with physical skills but if I could think, I was certain I'd be able to get hits a lot easier. "You seem a little off today," Dallas said, laying down beside me.
"Yeah, my mind's not very clear," I said between pants. I was definitely having an off day. Not only had Tairen and Cedric's absence finally gotten to me today, but after what happened with Blake, I couldn't stop 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. But why couldn't I just think about the right things?
I sighed. Usually, when me and Dallas sparred, my mind was clear enough that not only could I hold my own for a while, but I could get a few solid hits. Today, it took me two hours to get 𝘰𝘯𝘦 good hit in.
"We should probably get ready for supper," Dallas said, sitting up. "Can I borrow some clothes?"
"Sure," I said, remaining on the floor. I faintly heard him rummaging through the closet, humming that tune again—the one I recognized but couldn't remember what it was. "Hey, what is that?" I called.
"What?" he called, poking his head out of the closet.
"That tune. What is it?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't know," he said, disappearing back into the closet. "I don't remember, its just stuck in my head." I rolled my eyes, smiling. I shouldn't have asked—should have known he wouldn't have remembered.
I wondered what we'd have for dinner. Last night, we had some turkey dinner with exotic fruits and salads I'd never seen nor heard of. Frankly, some of them didn't look safe to eat so I waited until the other knights ate before I tried it myself. I wondered if Blake was going to show.
I doubt he'd do anything during dinner, in such a public place, but he was pretty bold so you never know. Was that feeling fear? It left a sour taste in my mouth. It was a feeling I recognized when I was having a panic attack—when I couldn't breathe. I took a deep breath, focusing on my chest. There was no pain. I wasn't having a panic attack.
So was I scared of Blake? Was I scared of what he'd do?
I didn't think I was scared of him. When I thought about him, I didn't feel scared, I felt sorry. I pitied him, like I pitied myself. That must have been what it was. I found it sad how he followed such a disastrous path. That must have been that sour taste.
"Hey, are you gonna get ready?" Dallas' voice accompanied clothes thrown at my face. I sat up, glaring at him playfully. He rose his hands, his face guilty and playful at the same time. "Or don't. We could stay behind if you want." He sat on the bed, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout. "Even if I starve, since I'm a good friend, I won't leave you behind." I rolled my eyes, standing up.
"You're dramatic."
He perked up. "So are we going?"
"Yes," I said, dragging out the 𝘴.
"I knew you loved me!" he said, jumping up. I narrowly dogged his embrace and walked into the closet.
"Please put the chairs back in place," I said.
"Yes, sir!" Dallas called back. I quickly changed, quick enough that I was out before Dallas had the furniture back in place. I helped him fix everything quickly before we left the room. I memorized the entire lower level of the castle, mostly by wandering in my free time since Dallas sucked as a tour guide.
We stopped by the training room to make sure it was locked up for the day before we continued. The only people that ever went in the training room were TKG members or Cedric and all of us had our fingerprints in the door so it didn't really matter whether it was locked or not. I didn't really understand why we locked it anyway. All the weapons were locked up so there wasn't really anything useful inside.
Across from the training room were the maid's quarters but nobody could go inside unless it was on business, as Dallas had said. He'd figured out from experience, apparently.
Directly beside our training room was the guard training room and across from that was the royal garden. I'd been in there only once, acknowledging almost immediately that it's beauty didn't even begin to compare to Tairen's garden.
The King's Guard had the freedom to go pretty much anywhere in the castle, on the first floor, at least. The only places we couldn't go were the King's quarters, the Queen's quarters(they had separate quarters), the maid's quarters, and the royal dining room. We could go into the throne room under certain circumstances, usually if we had to see the King, so nobody really went there, and we were free to go into the council room as long as it wasn't already occupied.
So, that gave The King's Guard quite a bit to do, with the extra freedom of going anywhere in the kingdom. Not many people actually left the inner square, though. The only person in TKG that I knew of that regularly left would be Jax, otherwise nobody really left.
I heard the loud laughter and conversation before I saw the grand doors leading into the dining room. As soon as Dallas pushed the doors open, the sound died down a bit, the guards and knights greeting him with enthusiasm. Jax came up to me, raising his fist for me to bump with mine.
"Wassup!" he said with a smile. "We're having some cake that was sent to the king since he didn't want it."
I nodded, following him to the TKG table, leaving Dallas to mingle with the maids and guards. Hailey gave me a wave as I passed and I gently waved back, sending a small smile. Each table was large and filled with a variety of foods. An extra table was set out, sitting on it was the mentioned cake. It was large, with about seven layers, decorated with the kingdom colors.
Kace and Dexter were standing around it, plates in hand, eagerly watching Zeke cut the cake. "You guys haven't even had dinner yet!" Adrian scolded, but grabbed a clean plate and stood beside them, waiting.
"I wonder if its poisoned," Jax said, tilting his head as we stopped at the cake.
"What!?" Kace asked, his eyes widening as he gently set his forkful of cake down. His dark ginger hair had a scarlet clip pulling back his long bangs.
"If its for the king, it could be an attempted assassination," I agreed, adding fuel to the flame. I scratched my chin, my eyes meeting with Jax's for a second. Zeke, with a small smile, left, taking his seat at the table. My eyes met with Blake's for a second before I quickly brought my attention back to the others.
So he had decided to join us.
Dallas had joined in and was now inspecting the cake, like he could see if there was any poison. "Why don't we just have someone test it? If they seem like they're dying, we'll just have Zeke heal them," Dexter offered. Dallas gave him a disapproving look before setting down the plate, narrowing his eyes in thought. He tilted his head, before nodding.
"Not it," he said, touching his nose with his index finger.
"Not it," I said, following suit. A series of this phrase went all throughout the table, even Zeke joined in. The last person to do it was Kace and what followed was a whine.
"You'll be fine. You're a ginger, I'm sure you're immune to poison," Jax said, handing him a slice of cake.
He took the plate with another whine and stared at the cake suspiciously. "If I die, I'm killing you all," he said before cutting into the cake. Just before the fork reached his mouth, the doors open and Cedric came in. Kace sighed, turning to Cedric. "They're trying to kill me," he said, pointing to us. Cedric rose an eyebrow and glanced down at the cake in his hands, getting a good picture of the situation.
"It was already tested," he said. A wave of exasperated noises was followed by a horde of people practically diving at the cake. I walked over to the table, sitting a few seats away from Blake, beside Zeke, and starting filling a plate with some food. The atmosphere died down a bit as the rest of the knights took their seats. Dallas sat directly beside me, stealing food from my plate despite the fact that he could just fill his plate with the same contents. Cedric joined us, eating and visiting like he was one of us.
It was so loud but with Dallas beside me, accompanied by his gentle nudges and bright laughter, I didn't once feel overwhelmed.
The excessively loud clank of a glass against the table cut off all conversation, all eyes on Blake. He stood up, his eyes on his plate. Adrian rose an eyebrow, like he was expecting something.
Blake looked up at me and suddenly all the attention was on me. A shiver ran up my spine. "I'm only saying this once so listen closely," he said. I could feel Dallas tense beside me, that overwhelming power radiating from him and comforting me a lot more than when it was directed at me. "I—I apolog—" Adrian smacked his arm and Blake sent him a glare before continuing. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't really know what I was doing and that doesn't excuse it but I do—I am sorry."
He sat back down, his eyes on the table. Everyone was staring at him in astonishment and confusion. Cedric's eyes were also tinted with a bit of sadness but I couldn't figure out why. Dallas even looked completely astounded.
"I—"
"Don't say its fine because its not. I just want you to know I'm sorry so lets leave it at that," he said. I nodded, clearing my throat.
"You should pass me some of that cider!" Dallas said, changing the subject with ease and lessening the tension.
Everyone fell back into their regular conversations easily and the rest of the dinner was spent without any interruptions or issues. Blake kept to himself, only really associating with Adrian and Cedric was surprisingly the center of attention. He talked about his time away from the castle. Apparently, he went back home, to Croshaw, and then went shopping in the monthly market located in the lower class section of the kingdom. Everyone was pretty surprised at that, since it was pretty dangerous in the lower class section.
Tairen had mentioned that even the eye of a TKG member was worth quite a bit. I could only imagine what a Duke was worth.
As people began to disperse, Cedric walked over to me, the first time he'd acknowledged me since he'd returned. "So, how was your time? I heard there was an incident earlier," he said.
I shrugged. "It was nothing, really," I said hurriedly. He nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"While I was gone, I made some preparations and if you're ready, we could get the magic injecting process done tonight. It'll give you time to rest but that's your choice," he said.
"Tonight!?" I asked, my eyes widening. There it was again—that annoying wave of adrenaline. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥. "Okay, I can do it tonight." 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴.
Cedric rose his eyebrows. "Well, its all prepared so whenever you're ready, have Dallas bring you up," he said and as if on cue, Dallas appeared by my side.
"Hey, you ready?" he asked.
"What?" I asked, a hint of panic in my voice. I glanced to where Cedric was standing, finding an empty space—he was already gone.
"Uh, to go back to your room?" he asked, his eyebrows scrunching.
"Oh," I said. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Actually, Cedric said I could get my ability tonight and I agreed."
"Really? So soon?" he asked but his eyes were bright with happiness.
"Uh, yeah."
"So, when are you gonna go?"
"I might as well just head there now, get it over with," I said, walking out of the room. I didn't know where I was going but it seemed Dallas did this time so I just followed him.
"Want me to stay with you?" he asked and I shrugged.
"If you want," I said. He smiled.
"Well, then, of course I'm staying."
We'd went into what Dallas had called the ability training room, made to train the abilities of anyone who had any. The room was cleared out, only a chair and a small table sitting in the center of the room, a bright light creating a beacon around it. It looked like a horror movie.
Cedric was waiting, along with a man in a deep red suit, a mask covering his face. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the chair, my arms and legs strapped down, a cushion behind my head. The man had said it was just for safety precautions but it was making my chest tighten almost excruciatingly.
"If you're not comfortable with any of this, just say so and we'll stop, okay?" Cedric said. Dallas was sitting beside me in a chair.
I nodded as the man pulled out a long needle filled with a glowing silver liquid. He wrapped a band around my bicep and began cleaning off my forearm.
He pressed the needle into my arm and to me, it didn't look like he was really aiming for anything.
I prided myself on having a pretty high pain tolerance. I could take quite a bit because I had in the past but this pain was a type of pain that I couldn't get away from or even remotely block out. It felt like it was clawing beneath my skin and electrocuting my brain. And it came in waves, each time sending a shocking spasm through my body. I did my best to hold my tears back but I couldn't do anything about the screams that tore from my throat.
Faintly, I heard Dallas' angry voice and just before I blacked out, I could finally make out the words. "What's going on!? It's not supposed to be this bad! It'll kill him!"