No Winter Can Last Forever (O.C x The Darkling)

f i f t e e n

***This is apart of a Double Update! Make sure you read #14 first! Happy Reading!

TRAINING HAD BECOME EVEN MORE rigorous for the students of Amadora. Her once warm and inviting demeanour had shifted slightly, just enough that her pupils could tell something was off. Every time she would critique it would be curt rather than soft-spoken. There was more cardio, more hand-to-hand, even just the amount of training they were doing had increased. They were concerned but were unsure of how to approach her without offending her short-temper.

Her feelings of helplessness had increased tenfold. Amadora couldn't even look at Aleksander anymore. Not without a wave of anger and despair rushing over her. She tried so hard to keep it from spilling over into her teaching but she couldn't help it. Everything around her reminded her of him, and every thought of him just brought back that sickly feeling his touch had given her.

"Eyes on your opponent Nikolaeva!" Amadora shouted, using her hands to force the 15-year old's head forward. The girl nodded quickly, giving her a tight-lipped smile and focusing on her opponent.

This went on for another hour or so, Amadora's voice echoing through not just the courtyard but the corridors as well, catching the attention of her fellow Grisha. Specifically, Fedyor, who had grown concerned for his friend and chosen to alert the General.

Amadora grabbed the attention of her students with a loud clap of her hands, "Alright everyone, you are free to go but please rest up, we've got a long day tomorrow!" Her students all groaned, already exhausted from that day of training, "I don't wanna hear it! There are no breaks on the battlefield." The yelling was something new to them. Amadora never yelled. Both past and present students could attest to the fact that outside of calling for attention, Amadora had never spoken in such a way.

They all stared at her confused but rather than push it and risk her wrath the next day, her young Grisha scurried off. Amadora's rigid body never faltered even after every student had left. She rested her hands against the edge of the stone fountain, her head feeling heavy as if it were filled with bricks. She was trying to come up with a way to speak to Aleksander, a way that didn't end in her freezing his heart. If her powers weren't all-consuming before, they were now. Every time someone even slightly irritated her, all she could think about was freezing every cell in their body and watching the light drain from their eyes. Amadora hadn't been that terrified of herself since that day in the bar. She had become terrified of what she could if pushed far enough.

"You've never mentioned the future on the battlefield to them," Aleksander said, leaning up against the wall of the arched entrance. His face was soft, staring at his ice-cold lover who was beginning to live up to her name. Though he hadn't been doing as much as he wished for her, it still pained him to see her so paralyzed with some feeling. Each morning she rushed out hastily, avoiding his touch every chance she got.

Amadora scoffed and didn't move from her place at the fountain, "Yes well, we can't all live in denial, now can we?" Her voice filled with bitterness as the ice began to form on the stone underneath her hands. All she wanted, more than anything was to fall into the arms of Aleksander just like she had done all those times before.

But she couldn't.

Not this time.

Not after the feeling of his touch failed to bring the normalcy back to her. The lack of love hadn't left her, her entire body had run cold.

She couldn't even look at him. Because though he may not have known his true feelings yet-- Most people didn't, Amadora knew. She knew from the second his fingertips made contact with her cheek.