+Chapter 38+

The air in the car became awkward after Mari realized that Mason knew she was a witch but it was at surface level, all that was needed to break the tension was a little incident.

The incident happened when they got to Kade’s private training spot, Mason hurried out to open up the door for Mari again, and as she thanked him and put a foot out, she stepped on a wet rock and slipped.

Mason was quick to swoop into the rescue, catching the witch by her waist. “Careful there, it’s a little slippery.”

Mari laughed self-consciously at this, feeling the wall of tension between them crumble to pieces, “I learned that first hand.”

This time, Kade bent the car keys in his hand, the metal giving under his angry grip. He shot out of his seat, coming around so fast, “Perhaps it would be best if we called it a day, the weather might not be suitable for training.” He forced out through gritted teeth.

Mari stepped away from Mason’s helpful hands, a slight frown on her face. They had already come this far, they couldn’t just go back; plus she wanted to see Mason’s reaction to her using witch fire, it was very important to her.

“But even if I can train my physical strength, I can still practice witch fire, it doesn’t require me to move around.” She protested.

After the words left her mouth, she realized how much of a mistake that was. This was her one chance to return to the library and get some time to herself, as much as she wanted to impress Mason, she should put herself first. She felt for the werewolves suffering from the attacks of Shadows but she wasn’t about to rush to her death.

The groves in Kade’s head deepened at this response, he had expected Marion to jump at the chance to skip out of practice so that the training day would end and he wouldn’t have to hold himself back from wringing the neck of his annoying second-in-command. “Fine, Mason, lead the way, I’ll draw the rear.” He said casually.

Mari didn’t notice this arrangement, not till she tripped again and King Kade effortlessly picked her off her feet. Mason was by no means scrawny but the memory of his arm around her waist could not compare to the feeling of being in King Kade’s arms.

“Y-Your Highness?” She said plaintively, clutching to the flimsy tank top he had on at the suddenness of his move.

“I can’t have an important national property break an arm, now can I?” He said nonchalantly, making no move to place her on her feet again.

Mari was hardly listening to him, unable to hear anything but his powerful heartbeat against her side, the feel of his body against hers was too distracting to focus on anything else.

She should be protesting, asking him to put her down but instead, she was stunned silent, noticing against her own will that Mason stopped talking to her and turning around to look at her.

Mari wanted to reach out and explain to Mason that King Kade only did that because he liked to embarrass her and treat her like property. That was all King Kade and King Lucien saw her as, a criminal and a tool to defeat shadows. She tried to tell herself that it didn’t bother her much, that she was happy that she was at least alive but that was a lie.

King Kade kept to his words and didn’t put her down till they got to the clearing, the woods smelling of wet earth, and the aftermath of a heavy rain. Mari’s legs wobbled slightly when she was put down on her feet, her cheeks reddened and it wasn’t from the cool air.

It was strange to have them stare at her as they waited for her to begin, she looked away from their expectant gazes, her eyes trailing over the darkened earth and settling on the small crater she had made just yesterday while using her powers, it was filled with water from the thunderstorm that morning.

She could do this, it was a part of her! Closing her eyes to shut out the presence of the other two, she clapped her hands and then opened her eyes a little, not expecting that to work.

It was a relief to see that her hands had caught aflame, Mason voicing out his excitement at the sight of it. He kept his distance though and it wasn’t just because she was practicing with dangerous flames.

She noticed that he stayed at the very edge, only paying attention to her when she was doing something with her witch fire. Mari didn’t even feel depressed, kind of expecting it.

Mason might still be nice but there was no way she could expect them to have any kind of relationship when she was part witch, and as they got back in the car to return to the palace, she wondered if he would join them for her next practice.

When the car slowed to a stop, Mason got down and just walked in, not bothering to open the car door for her. It wasn’t that Mari expected it from him, it just went to show that he had lost all interest in her after seeing her for what she was, a dangerous witch.

She didn’t realize that she had been lost in thought until someone else opened her door. She quickly came down, unsure of what to say to King Kade. It didn’t seem appropriate to thank him but at the same time, she couldn’t say nothing.

To her relief, he broke the impasse by walking off first, leaving her to follow behind him. It seemed like only King Kade and King Lucien were unfazed by her dangerous powers, just her luck that it had to be the two men who wanted to kill her.