You helped me

Chapter Sixteen - You Ignored Me

Zoey's POV

Three days passed since my birthday, Rythian grew distant from me to spend time with Amber, and it was only natural for me to be jealous. I sat on my bed thinking about the three princes, I replayed what my father had said to me yesterday as if it was still fresh in my mind.

"You have to get married, your choices limit to those three," he said, I couldn't help but agree. Rythian was with someone better, another Enderborn, another of his kind. I listed the good qualities of the princes in my mind, Lalna was kind and he understood me, Sjin was strong and confident and Nilesy carefree and easy to talk to. But, Lalna could be demanding at times, Sjin was arrogant and Nilesy is tactless.

Rythian was kind, brave, a good listener. He understood me and makes me laugh when I’m sad. He’s responsible and silly at times; he’s protective and speaks with confidence. I realized Rythian is perfect.  

 I dragged myself to Rythian's room but he didn't answer when he knocked so I let myself in. It was empty, his desk was full of papers, one caught my eye, it was...

A letter of approval for marriage. 

I knew it, of course Rythian would get married soon, and he was almost twenty-three. I rushed out of his room to my own and jumped onto my bed, face first. I rolled over to my back and looked up the ceiling. My hand went to my face and I felt something wet, I was crying. I curled up into a ball and let it all out.

Rythian...why didn’t you tell me?

Rythian's POV 

Finally my picnic with Amber was finished; I could go see Zoey again. Amber skipped happily to the castle; I couldn't bear to tell her I wasn't interested anymore. The letter she had showed me of how her sister was approved for marriage made my head spin. Of course I wasn't ready for that, for marriage. When we reached the castle, Amber was called away by my uncle; she gave me a quick kiss before going off. I sighed and walked up to Zoey's room, a guard wasn't stationed so I guess she wasn't in.

I searched around the castle, a girl the age of fourteen passed me, she wore some sort of strange coat and a blue shirt was under it. She also wore brown trousers and boots. A pocket watch was in her hand and a notebook and pencil tucked away into her pocket, it was visible. I didn’t know who she was.

“Excuse me; I haven’t seen you here, what’s your name?” I said and she stopped to look at me, brown hair covered her face and lavender wolf eyes looked at me. A clear expression of irritation covered her face.

“Dana, I’m a visitor, if you are so damn worried I might steal something I can leave now,” she said bluntly. I looked at her.

“No, I trust you, but why are you here?”

“Work, now I have things to do. I am certain you don’t want to keep fate waiting,” Dana help up a pocket watch.

“Uh, no, I don’t.”

“Good, now don’t waste my time, I have work to do and by the way, here’s a hint, training grounds, three minutes,” and with that she walked off, I turned around to ask her what she meant but she was already gone. Strange.

I sighed and walked to the training grounds, I heard sounds of ragged breathing and battle cries. I stood behind the pillar, hidden from sight. It was Zoey; war paint was painted on her face and her red hair in a pony tail. She wore a tank top and shorts, complete with gloves. What remained of training dummies were just rags on the floor, another dummy was burning in the corner and targets had a bunch of arrows, all bulls-eyes. She picked up a dagger and hurled it a dummy, it pierced it and lodged itself into the wall behind it. A demonic look covers her face.

Suddenly, she did something I never thought she would before, she clicked her fingers and a small flame appeared, it grew bigger into a fireball, she flung it at the dummy and it caught fire. I decided to step in before she burns the place to the ground.

I kicked a piece of wood out of my path, “I like what you’ve done with the place,” I said and she spun around. She glared at me as if she would want to throw a dagger into my face. She walked over to the wall and picked up the dagger.

Crap, she’s not going to, is she?

Zoey walked over me, a glare I haven’t seen before stared through me. She threw the dagger at my feet and it lodged itself so deep, I could barely see the blade. She left me standing there and I think I heard her mutter something under her breath,

“Rythian you bastard.”

Zoey’s POV

After I left Rythian, after seeing him again, my anger increased. I was in my room and I looked at myself in the mirror, I hated my face, this is the face not pretty enough to have Rythian notice me, I punched the mirror and it cracked, glass shards pierced my knuckles and I watched my blood run down my wrist. It didn’t hurt at all, I walked over to my bed and saw something by my bedside, it was the necklace Rythian had given me three days ago, a red pendant that protected me from fire.

My anger melted away and I dropped to the ground. Pain flared in my hand, it was unbearable. Everything grew dark and I blacked out. The last thing I heard was a knock on the door and Rythian’s voice calling for me.