Chapter 38 CHAPTER 38
“Is that all you got?!” My heartless, stupid, ugly – okay, that was a stretch – but infuriating trainer asked me for the umpteenth time tonight.
“Yes,” I croaked, tired, in pain, exhausted and did I mention tired already?
“I expected more from you honestly.”
“Yet you've called me weak in every language under the twin suns. Fuck off respectfully sir.”
“Ooh, you still have more in you then. Get up.”
“I'm exhausted,” I groaned, curling up on the ground.
I wasn't even lying, my bones felt detached from my body. I felt pain in places I didn't even know I could feel pain. He wasn't even training me, he was beating me to a pulp and taunting me to extreme anger so I keep trying to fight back.
“You still have that smart mouth on you Princess, you clearly still have enough energy.”
“I don't –”
“Get. Up!”
I groaned painfully, and forced myself on my knees and stayed there, head bowed down and thinking about how I was going to make the rest of my limbs work.
“No thank you,” Master Florian’s came from behind me, “cute ass but I'm not interested. Get up and fight me.”
Did I say how I've thought I'd gotten to my extreme end many times over and he still found a way to piss me off so bad that I'll actually get up?
Even now that I knew exactly what he was doing, I still couldn't stop myself.
How dare he assume I was trying to seduce him?
I remembered Akua'a words about him the first time he was mentioned and my cheeks burned further with embarrassment as I got on my feet quickly.
“You know I didn't know you were behind me,” I bit out.
“You know I've been walking all around you since the beginning of this training. If I wasn't behind you then, I'd have been there in the next five seconds and you stayed that way for more than five seconds, didn't you?”
“Yes but –”
“Shut up and fight me, Ferguson.”
A beat passed and I narrowed my eyes, boiling with rage. He enjoyed cutting me off, infuriating me and driving me insane and not once have I gotten even a punch in throughout the evening.
I have to.
For my pride, because this was maddening beyond comprehension.
So rather than charge at him like a pissed off wild bull, I waited for him.
I remembered all his ways of beating me, how effortlessly he did it too.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to actually beat him.
But I just wanted to test these new claws on him.
I sounded like a mad woman, I mean what would Alira who sells houses think if she saw me now?
Claws out.
Blood hungry.
Focused on the male who was now looking at me like an interesting puzzle.
I felt it before he moved, his speed his greatest asset, but I wasn't running.
His hands reached forward for my neck but I could predict his movements from his mind before they translated to his actions, no idea how or why.
I wasn't going to question it either, not when it gave me a tiny bit of an advantage.
It was all I needed.
I moved slightly, too slow for his speed, but enough that he went slightly out of balance and stumbled into my waiting hand by the right.
He'd taken his shirt off at some point when he realised what the tiny opening on his chest was doing to me.
And now, I dug into thick flesh, and although he pulled me off the ground in the next second, I smiled as he slammed my back to the ground, harder than before.
“You vixen!” He growled, angry.
But I couldn't care less, I was hurting but his blood stained my hands.
That was a victory.
“Can I go now?” I asked, breaking the silence.
I opened my eyes to see that I was alone.
“Damn, did I hurt your pride that much?” I whispered under my breath as I gathered myself and began the long trek home.
Home?
What's wrong with you, Alira?
This place isn't home.
Home is Momma's house that would have become dusty now, and who knows what the police would do to her library?
I needed to get my shit together.
No one knew the exact time I was supposed to be done training so I decided I might as well just use this time to do some research.
I remembered the map I'd gotten earlier today and instead of taking the straight path that would lead to the classrooms and then curve back to the hostels, I took my left after ten minutes of slowly walking down the path.
The library wasn't so far off and I looked forward to just finding a book with enough information so I could sit down and go through it.
I would take every chance I could get to rest my body.
Although I healed faster now, I wasn't immortal.
I found the library in another ten minutes and for some reason, it looked deserted.
Everywhere was bright though and that encouraged me to keep walking.
It was built like the Admin building, hewn out of the mountain in some parts and then supported with red tar that made it larger and more magnificent.
I missed the version of me that loved to read, it was taken away from me before Momma came to take me and I never really got back into it.
Maybe dragon kins weren't meant to read that much, I've never heard anyone discussing the library anyways.
I found myself at the large door, red, wide enough to fit two trucks and I raised my hand and pressed in.
At first, it was solid, just like the door back at the hostel, and then it became softer, making me smile.
I couldn't help it, the feeling was ecstatic, fuzzy, and warm.
The door slowly pushed in, dividing into two and I took a moment before walking in.
My plans weren't too clear, but I didn't have high hopes for the library tonight. I just wanted to get a look at things so that when next I come here, hopefully less battered and beaten down, I would be able to walk straight to the right aisle and find the right book that would send me back to planet earth.
So I walked in, my expectations well managed and my eyes wide as I took in the magnitude of the place.
As well as the scary silence in it.