Chapter Twenty Eight - White Rose Princess

*** Sora ***

What is he doing? I wondered as I watched him kneel down to touch the ground.

For a moment there was only silence then the ground began to shake.

It was a low, soft rumble, nothing too strong to make someone lose their balance but as I was so close to him I could feel the force vibrate throughout my body. He slowly lifted his hand and the ground cracked around it as liquid metal and a brilliant stone was pulled from it. The palm of his hand became a powerful inferno, the flame was no bigger than a grape fruit but the intense heat and brightness forced me back a few steps. When the fire died down there was a ring left floating in his palm.

“I will do as you have asked,” he said moving forward his hand towards me. “But, know that I do not share what is mine. I will do as you have asked, only if you do as I ask. If you take this ring in my palm know that you are making a promise to me just as I will be making a promise to you. I do not believe there to be any who is stronger or even my equal, no one will be able to threaten my claim on you. By taking this ring you will be promising yourself to only me, to have no other, which ever child you bear, son or daughter, they shall receive my lessons and knowledge just as they will share in your culture. They will not be barred from me. For as long as you do not cast away my ring and your promise Boraia and the Amazons will be allied through us.”

I hesitated, but then I made up my mind, in the true doctrine of our people bearing the children of any other, but this boy who displayed awesome levels of magical control and power was folly. I reached for the ring.

He took my hand in his as he grabbed the ring and moved it towards my ring finger, he stopped at the tip and looked towards me, I nodded. He slid the ring the rest of the way.

He stepped back.

I examined the ring, it was made of pure gold engraved in thorny vines leading to a single white stone, a diamond shaped like a beautiful rose. I was stunned, he had placed such a valuable item on my finger, he had forged it with just his power alone pulling gold and stone from the very earth. I had not made a mistake, I was made certain there was no other like him.

I leaned forward, he was so close to me, I looked to him for permission, his eyes consented, then…my lips met his.

I just wanted a quick gentle kiss, but a euphoric wave of mana coursed through my body spreading from where our lips made contact then throughout all of me. It made my knees buckle. Before I could fall his strong small arms wrapped around me, due to our height differences we were in an awkward embrace. I quickly gained the strength to stand though my knees were still shaky.

After peeling away from him I noticed a mischievous smile on his face as his eyes glowed bright red, I had heard about them, the glowing made him more powerful.

“Sorry about that,” he continued to smile. “That was unexpected.”

I was still out of breath as the pleasant feeling still had not left my body.

“Come lets rest,” he motioned towards the fountain, it was only a few paces away, he grabbed me by the waist with one hand and helped me over to its edge. I felt so completely exhausted that I could not help draping myself over him as we sat down, thankfully he did not reject me.

*** Leo Cazador ***

I looked towards the ring in hand, it was the white rose ring, when I had pulled it out of the ground I had hidden it and given its twin to the amazon girl Sora. This one was broader and the stone flatter, it resembled the two others on my hand, the sun and moon rings.

The kiss had bonded this ring to Sora, from now on I would be able to watch over her as I have been watching over my sweet Sophia and distanced Eleanor.

I guess she was still mad at me, Eleanor, I had sensed her among the crowd yesterday looking towards me. I had hoped she would come to me, but it was for naught.

I sighed.

I was standing outside the door of our current residence hesitating to go inside, I had promised Sophia I would not be late, but dealing with Sora had taken a lot longer than I had expected.

I entered through the door and flinched, there she was standing just paces in front of me with her arms crossed, I guess I had been too distracted by the past events that I had not sensed her standing so close.

“I’m sorry,” I grinned putting on my best playfully apologetic smile. She humphed and turned away walking angry towards the upper floor where our room and the office slash workshop was located.

“I finished by the way,” she said stopping halfway up without turning back. “You have to keep your promise.”

“I will,” I said releasing my breath that I didn’t know I had been holding until then.

She quickly fled up the stairs.

*** Eleanor Cazador ***

“Just a bit more!” Professor Dolan exclaimed, he had his eyes shielded with special goggles to protect against the brightness of my elemental fire. I was helping the professor activate the seal again, this time he had written a special seal on my back that would allow me to use the energy of two teachers, mage Gysh and mage Norma, two of the best magicians in the academy.

The seal was burning a strong ember red, but still the seal fluctuated.

I could feel that I was quickly drawing to the limit of all three of us so I plugged the spell and let the elemental fire die.

“No!” the professor despaired. “We were so close this time!”

“I’m sorry professor,” I apologized. “But without at least another who can use elemental fire I don’t think we are going to activate it any time soon.”

The room had heated considerably. A group of wind and water students pulled in a cooling fog that stuck to the floor absorbing the heat as it cycled in and out of the chamber.

“I just wish I knew what the seals do!” he exclaimed exasperated. “There are so many complex ancient engravings that I hardly understand and some that I do and don’t make any sense at all!”

“You said you have seen some complex seals before right?” Edmond asked. “Can you read them or is it someone else who can?”

“I can…I can read some of it but it doesn’t make any sense to me either,” I replied.

“It’s lover boy isn’t it,” Kane looked at me with a defeated face. “He always seems to come up when you are showing us something new and different, I’m pretty sure he’s the one who can help the professor isn’t he?”

“No!” I put my foot down.

“Come on,” Edmond rationed with me. “You will have to eventually face him, he is your betrothed, and this way you can earn some points with the teachers by bringing them someone who might be able to help.”

“But I…” I wanted to argue, but the truth was that I too wanted to meet him.

“Just do it,” Kane encouraged. “Just sitting stagnant will get you nowhere, make up or break up.”

“F-Fine!” I huffed and stomped over to the huddled teachers and the professor.

They were talking excitedly about what to do, they couldn’t decide how best to try next time.

“I…I might know someone who can help you professor,” I said, interrupting their conversation.

“Yeah…who?” the professor asked curiously.

“I don’t know if he will want to help,” I explained. “But, he knows a lot about seals and he is also another fire elemental user.”

“Another fire elemental user?” both of the teacher mages raised a brow as they spoke in unison. “Who?”

“I can’t say,” I replied, “He might not want to be known. I will ask him if he wants to help or not.”

“If he says no let us talk to him,” the professor demanded. “I’m sure we can reason with him.”

“I…I will do what I can,” I replied.

“Well no time like the present,” Edmond said walking up to us.

My face grew pale, I had just made the decision to talk to him, I was not ready to talk to him right now!

“Yes,” the professor nodded. “It’s not even noon, find him, talk to him, bring him here if you can. I still have a lot of work to do here so you will still find me about the room.”

“I will also stay,” Teacher Norma volunteered.

I bowed my head, my fate was sealed, I was going to have to talk to him today! Why oh why?!