"It's your time magic, beautiful. You decide," he threw me the hot potato.
"What if I steal your strategy?" I glared at him.
"You can't disintegrate other people, so it's kind of hard. But I can steal yours, so think wisely," he countered.
I scoffed, "You can't freeze time, so it's kind of hard," I used the same tone he did. "I can easily freeze everything and steal your ruby crown, you do realize that, right?"
"That's cheating!" Rio growled.
"And so is disintegrating all the players, but leader," Felix hissed.
"Not the same thing," Rio countered.
"Yes, it is," Lix insisted. "You just see it now, because your team might actually lose in a second if Hel does that."
Rio grinned bitterly, "Like yours did thanks to disintegration?" Oh? So, that's actually Oli's weapon on the game. What a hack.
Mia clicked her tongue, "Then," she grinned, "why don't the two team leaders agree not to use either time magic, nor disintegration, and for the first time play a fair game, give that aside from that, Oli and Hel have similar powers. Wouldn't that make a more enjoyable game?"
I frowned, "What are you scheming, headmaster?"
She chuckled, "Me? Nothing. But I do believe that would be in fact, a better strategy. And it would be a fair game."
"Stop using that word, fair," I hissed. "I know what you're doing."
And she grinned mischievously, "I know, you know."
"Then stop. It's not cool," I growled, crossing my arms over my chest. "Why would we agree on that, when it might guarantee us our win?"
"I agree with her," Oliver assumed the same stance as me.
She tilted her head, "I personally believe it'll be better that way. I mean, you can discard my advice, if you don't understand the importance of it," then she gave both of us a naughty look. "But I know you will take it into consideration, since you know the importance of my word."
We shared another look, then back to her. "Fine," we said together.
"What?" The others gasped in shock.
But we ignored them. "We won't use it!" We said together again.
Mia snapped her fingers and a paper appeared in the palm of her hands, then she handed a pen to each of us. "Sign on your names. It'll allow me to punish you if you use either of the magic types while on the match against each other."
We arched our eyebrows, "Only against each other, right?"
A nod, "Of course. You can beat up the others in a second with it, if you want. But we all know your match will be the most important of this tournament. So, it's a measure of entertainment," she winked. "If you don't use it, the match will be longer, more exciting, and like never we've seen."
Scheming old bitch, "Entertaining, uh?" I mocked, not believing for one second that's her real reason for this.
"So," she pointed at the paper, "sign down, please." Sighing, we read the document and did it, then she took the paper again, with a wild grin. "I knew you two would do the best thing. That's why I like you so, so much," she's full of shite.
"Oh, yeah," Oliver scoffed. "That's the reason."
Again, she gave us that wild grin, then turned to me, "I see that you listened to me and to your mate, sweetheart. You're doing the right thing. It's the way to go. When you meet Kyallia in your way, after the end of the Eclipseball 3-days Tournament, tell her that Myadria told her to put some sense in her head."
She snapped her fingers and the arena turned into a maze, and a magical ball at the size of a basketball appeared.
"It'll stay like this for your training until the day of the game, and I make so, only you can come here for the time being," then she gave me one last look. "Get me my bouquet, dear, I'll wait for you," Mia winked and disappeared.
"What the hell just happened?" Felix gasped. "And what bouquet?"
"Yes," Oliver turned to me, eyebrows raised. "What bouquet?"
"Aye, fight in heaven," Rio mocked.
When I was going to glare at him, Oliver held my chin and me look up to meet his questioning eyes, "What bouquet, Hel?"
Pressing my lips together, I tried to hid a smile. "When she took me out of class when I asked to talk in private, after I asked her to do the tattoo on me, to help me out with the purple flame problem, she asked for one thing back. Ten of the roses my grandmother and the Grand Duchess of the reds cultivated together in my grandmother's indoor garden, in the castle. She told me to get them for her when I went to Emerald Sky City, because she wants to… have me prepare tea for her with the roses petals."
He frowned, "You are leaving a detail out. The truth, Hel."
I sucked on my cheeks, taking a second.
"The truth, come on, beautiful," he asked again, softer.
["You can't hide from him,"] Jack giggled somewhere around us.
I can't even keep stuff from him anymore because he's starting to read me like a bloody book, "Blood roses. What you people call vampire roses," I blurted it out. "It was originally my kind who created them. There's an entire garden of them in the Emerald castle, all fed with my grandma's blood. And since I'm her descendant, only I can get that for Mia. She said those roses are the most powerful roses there are, fed not only the blood of a black but of a red winged serpent's. Only a descendant from either Queen Wilhelmina, my grandma, or Grand Duchess Melina Aussaresses, her best friend, can get into the indoor garden."
Oliver stiffened up, exactly as I thought he would, since Mia told me his mom does this. "My mother has roses like this. That can both cure all kinds of illness, as well as cause the worse of the diseases."
A nod, "I know," I caressed his hair. "I read about them in Mia's records before you joined me on reading them. She said she wanted to drink tea with it, which only I can make, for reasons of bloodline. Though she said she only want me to make tea leaves for her with three of the roses, and I have no idea what she's planning to do with the others. Since, she can't bring out the magic of the roses without me."
["But will you have to give them your blood too?"] Oli didn't hear him this time, or anyone else. Only me. ["To let them know who you are?!"]
Mia said I should, yes. Just don't it out loud. He'll get worried.
"These things are dangerous, beautiful," he clenched his jaw.
"I can deal with some roses," I winked. "Don't worry about it." I turned to the others, who were looking at anywhere but us, as to give us some privacy. "You can look, dumbarses," they all turned around and gave us that all-knowing naughty look. "The terms are on. You will be training with us for the next days until the tournament. Agatta, you are a team leader, so you will also be training with your team, but when you're not and you want to come around, you can. Plus, we'll be meeting every lunch time for me to train you, that's still up. And don't worry, darling, we will take care of whatever that grandma dearest is doing to and with your parents."
Her eyes lightened up with hope, "You said you are not good with people, but I disagree with that, Hel. Besides, last night you kind of dominated the party with your business persona, and the fact that you don't seem to care much to exposure. You aren't much present on Eclipse, but it left a big impression on a lot of the kids, especially the youngest."
"Oh? I just… wanted money."