“I don’t know what you mean,” Xylek says as he slowly enters the clearing, hand raised to show he means no harm.
Lucinda stands, pain radiating from both legs. She does a quick dash towards Xylek and throws the first punch. She connects with his chest, making him step back some. The feeling of hurt wells in his eyes as Lucinda winds back with a second blow. Before she can land it, he catches her hand in his.
“I probably deserve this,” he says holding her hand, “But you need to talk to me.”
“I don’t need to tell you anything!” she shouts at him. “You aggravate me to no end,” she swings with the other arm, colliding with his arm. “Yet I feel something for you!”
Baffled, Xylek takes the hit and stumbles back. Lucinda throws her furious fists into his chest. Jabbing at him, with tears in her eyes, she keeps hitting him. As the rage builds and the pain explodes in her legs, she erupts into divine flames. She lets them engulf her before concentrating them into orbs of fire in the palms of her hands. Violently, she throws the fire balls to the ground at Xylek’s feet. He dances away, avoiding the flames.
“Why did you use your abilities on me?!” Lucinda sobs out as she releases orb after orb. She turns and throws one at a tree at the opposite side of the clearing, catching it on fire. Turning back to him, the angry demon launches another orb at Xylek’s head. He dodges quickly, narrowly avoiding being hit with the orb of hot purple fire.
Xylek tries to respond but is continuously cut off by the barrage of fire being thrown at him. As much as Lucinda wants a response for his actions, she is far too enraged by him to even think about listening to him. From the moment the pair had met, they were fighting. Lucinda remembers when they first met. The pair fought the first day. Battered and bruised, they started their journey together. One that neither expected.
Lucinda throws punch after punch, tears in her eyes as she beats on Xylek. Finally, Xylek has enough of the one sided fight. He uses his speed and disappears from Lucinda’s narrow sight. He reappears behind her and jabs her in the lower back. This drops the princess to her knees and takes her breath away.
“Are you ready to talk?” Xylek questions his opponent.
Lucinda grips the grass beneath her. The pain in her legs is unbearable. But she doesn’t want to think about that. She has done well maintaining her anger and rage. However, because it has been so long, she forgot how painful the scar is. Her vision blurs from emotions of rage mixed with tears and pain.
Genuinely trying to come up with a coherent thought, Lucinda stares at the ground. She tries to catch her breath as she attempts to stand. The pain in her legs is excruciating. All she can think about is the torment of the scar.
Soon, her vision tunnels. Darkness closes in around her. She falls to her knees in the grassy glade, screaming out in agony. Suddenly, a sharp pain emanates from the back of her head. Blackness takes her vision and she passes out.
Waking to a throbbing headache and blurry vision, Lucinda sits up slowly. She rubs the back of her head and looks around her. She is back in the inn room. Xylek is sitting on the foot of the bed, face in his hands, gripping his hair. Lucinda grumbles out a noise in pain and confusion.
Xylek looks over at the exiled princess. “You’re awake.”
“How long was I out?” Lucinda says, peering out the window. Dreary darkness and rain greets her from beyond the pane.
“A couple hours.” Xylek responds. “I may have hit you a little too hard. But in my defense, you were being a bit too aggressive. And if I didn’t knock you out when I did, who knows how much more the scar would have grown.”
Lucinda freezes for a moment. Pulling up her dress, she notices the scar is much larger, going above her knees. She looks at it for a few moments, pondering how far it actually goes without revealing her nether regions to Xylek.
Xylek looks over Lucinda as she adjusts her skirt. “Do you always fight with such emotion?” he asks with curiosity on his face.
Lucinda shrugs. She admits she only fights when she is angry, which seems to happen a lot. Xylek suggest her learning to fight without using emotions.
“This way, the pain from the scar won’t cause you issues when you go to take back your kingdom.” As he says the last of his sentence, a somber expression crosses his features. Lucinda goes to ask what is wrong, when it dons on her what he just said. ‘When you go back to your kingdom.’ Those words mean they have to return at some point. And returning means they have to take down the council. Lucinda has no idea how she is going to do that.
“I’ll train you,” Xylek says. His hand leans close to her, but stops, hovering for a second before he retracts it. “Zakasi trained me, I can train you.”
Lucinda smiles meekly. “I can’t go in without a plan,” she admits. Her smile fades at the thought of planning to overthrow the council.
Xylek smiles maliciously. “I can help with that, too.”
Lucinda wants to lean on him and inhale his scent of fire. She wants to hold his hand and be comforted by him. But she has to tell him how she feels about him. Maybe she should tell him. Or maybe she should just bottle the emotions inside until another time.
Grabbing her hand, Xylek looks Lucinda in the eyes. His purple eyes shimmer with hints of sorrow and concern. They are so mesmerizing. He says to Lucinda, “I’m sorry I used my abilities on you.” Xylek pulls Lucinda close and embraces her tightly. With a crack in his voice, he promises her that he will never do it again.
Lucinda wraps her arms around Xylek and finds comfort in his arms. She rests her head on his shoulder. A faint, joyful smile creeps upon her face. Xylek lays his head on top of Lucinda’s head.183Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaObxBOeNl
