Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Liora's POV

Right after my mini display of craziness, Thornhill finally did what she should have in the first place and ordered the class to settle down. Everyone was in obvious shock, and if anything, I got even weirder looks than before, but despite that, I felt more at peace than ever before.

The person whose reaction pleased me most was Henrik, of course. He sat and watched me in utter silence, clearly stunned. Good.

No one ever saw me as someone who could say things like that. I was mostly quiet, barely saying anything. I wasn’t always trampled over, no one really bullied me physically, they dared not. But the things they said behind my back and in my face? Their words? They never failed to sting. Every single time.

Maybe because a part of me believed their words.

This one time I decided to say something back, I felt so good, powerful and in control. I felt wicked and I loved it. The look on Henrik's face was particularly pleasing to see.

The entire class went smoothly after that, and I actually got to listen to what Thornhill was saying. She was talking about the different parts of a drakyn’s tail, and how poisonous their tail was.

Most of the things taught in Velaryth were things I already knew well. Right from the moment my brain could work, my mother made sure I was taught everything I could possibly need to know, in every single field. So, I’m really not trying to brag when I say there’s barely anything they could possibly teach that I do not already know of. But no one could really know it all.

I was the last person to leave the class. I took my sweet time packing my stuff into my satchel, and waited for everyone to leave the class.

My eyes settled on Thornhill, who was scribbling something down rapidly.

I sighed, and got up on my feet, unintentionally dragging my seat backwards. That caught her attention and her eyes settled on me. I cocked my head to the side in question, wondering what she wanted to say or do.

She eventually broke the contact first, looking back at what she was writing.

I was so close to the door when she called my name.

“Miss Altharos,”

I turned, “Yes ma'am?”

“I do apologize about today, I truly hope you do not hold a grudge?” She said, and I studied her face. The unmistakable look of fear on her face had me rooted in shock. She was scared. Scared of the possibility of me raining terror when I ascend the throne. Scared that I might actually have her head.

My mouth nearly fell apart at the sight. On a normal day, it would.

But it wasn't a normal day. I had to keep the act going.

“I don’t know, do you think I should?” I asked, my face blank and emotionless. Her face went pale. Green, this was so much fun.

I allowed a quiet torturous minute pass before I spoke again, this time with a bright smile.

I probably looked like an actual psychopath.

“Oh Mrs. Thornhill! Why are you so serious? It was a joke,” I said, before I started to laugh.

She hesitated, before joining me, clearly not finding this entire thing funny.

Good, she was not supposed to.

Then, I suddenly stopped laughing, shrugged, turned around and left her hanging, without any answer to her initial question.

How perfect.

I made my way to my next class, with a little skip in my feet.

Too caught up in my mini victory, I let my guard down. Something I should never do in Velaryth.

Within the blink of an eye, I found myself falling forward.

I stretched my hands out too late, and ended up falling face first, my hands barely holding me up. Fortunately for me, I did manage to avoid my face hitting the floor, so my face was fine. Unfortunately though, my hand did get in the way, and saved me, so it felt the force instead.

I did not have a broken nose, but I probably had a broken wrist.

The mocking laughter from people that followed told me all I needed to know. Someone tripped me.

I winced, as I pulled myself up. Anger boiled in my veins as my eyes found the culprit. Who else but Henrik Velmont?

If I said I wasn’t surprised though, I would be lying. Like I said, they mocked me endlessly and even played pranks on me, but what they never dared to do was to actually attempt to hurt me physically.

Everyone feared the consequence of hurting Queen Morvyn’s daughter and successor.

So yes, I was surprised. Not like I was going to make that obvious.

I dragged myself to my feet, and brushed myself clean with my good hand.

“Do you feel better about yourself now that you have successfully tripped me?,” I asked him, as I took a solid step towards him.

The smug smirk that laced his mouth before, fell faster than the blink of an eye.

“I do not know where you got your sudden courage from, Altharos, but I'll teach just why it should return there.” He said, and I raised a daring brow.

“Yeah? Show me then. How exactly are you going to do that?” I asked, further closing in on him.

He towered over me, clearly way taller and bigger, but I honestly did not care.

He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he assessed me, eyeing me from head to toe.

“Honestly, it’s pretty easy,” he said, clearly mocking my size.

By now, a small crowd had started to form.

“Aw, is the big bad wolf, Henrik Velmont going to beat me up?” I asked, a light chuckle following suit.

He frowned, clearly displeased, “Don’t call me that”

“What? Big. Bad. Wolf?” I asked, taunting him.

He pushed on my shoulders, causing me to stumble backwards.

I sighed, “There is one thing you do not know about me yet, Velmont”

He waited for me to continue, watching in silence.

I quickly assessed the situation. I was at a disadvantage. I had a potentially broken wrist, I was visibly smaller than him, and if they really wanted to, anyone could join him. I had no one on my side.

My only advantage? I was faster.

Oh, and one more thing. His major power was the ability to move objects with his mind. He cannot move what he cannot see.

Once that clicked, I didn’t waste anymore time.

My fingers wrapped around the hilt of the small dagger strapped to my waist, tucked out of sight, but close enough to grab easily.

No one really knew anything about my powers. Well, asides my family and Kysen now.

Asides from them, people thought I had nothing and I never bothered to convince them otherwise. I never saw the point.

I sucked a sharp breath in, and slowly let it out, letting my entire system slow down. The trick to speed was imagining everything around you was just slower, not that you were faster.

It worked every time.

Three.

Two.

Henrik laughed, “You can't talk now, huh? What don’t I know about-”

One.