Blood King | Book Three of Blood Trilogy

Chapter 19

William 

Training was about to start and I was adjusting my grip around the hilt of my sword. I readied myself to face my opponent, and on the way to the second ring of the training formation, Prince Zayden stopped in front of me. 

He had a death glare and I stared back at him for a short minute before stepping out of the way so he could walk past. I had no idea what was up with him but the way his eyebrows came together and just stayed like that meant that he was dealing with some serious business with this whole training session today. 

I shook off the bone-chilling moment with Zayden, then stopped walking as soon as I faced my opponent. I knew the guard personally, and I knew that he was a great man to be around, but training meant that some blood had to be drawn from either one of us. 

The king, the captain, and the two princes-- Prince Aidan and Prince Zayden-- were prepared for training in the center of the circle, and as soon as Asher announced the initiation of our battling session, all guards within the rings encircling them lunged towards their opponent with the sword pointed straight at each other's throats. 

I growled at the guard that I was fighting against, drew my fangs down, and grew a sudden thirst for his blood to be spilled. 

My sword clashed with his and echoed into the mixture of other swords coming together, faded in the background. My heart was thumping loudly against my chest. I felt this sudden rush, this adrenaline, that I've never felt before. 

No such strength has been poured through my body and right into my sword. My every move was swift and I was able to dodge all his blows. My sword intercepted his, such in a way that every time the blades made contact, there would be sparks igniting from the intense fight. 

I pushed him back with force from my sword and watched him stumble. I challenged the man with my chin raised high and my eyes glaring deeply into his soul. He was chuckling and lunged forward once more with his sword raised in the air. 

His sword swung from the right side and I was able to dodge it just so quickly enough to avoid my cheek from obtaining a deep wound. The blade sliced through the surface of my skin and ripped open a two inch gash on my right cheek. 

Blood dripped down my cheek and I just shook my head with a short scoff escaping through my smirk. I used the sudden surge of energy that pumped adrenaline through my veins, and lashed out all that I had into the sword, imagining his throat at the tip of my blade. 

The blur came to an end when my opponent laid on the floor with his eyebrows raised and his hands in the air. What I had imagined, had come true, because his throat was at the tip of my blade. He gulped and remained laying until I put my sword down from his body. 

I offered a hand for him. He grabbed it then patted my shoulder. 

"Good game, William. Maybe I'll try to beat you next time." He chuckled, picked up his sword from the ground, then walked off into the crowd of other guards exiting the training room. 

I walked over to the stations where our swords were to be put up after fighting. I took off my shirt and grabbed for a fresh one. 

The sound of two swords clashing in the middle of the room caught my attention. Turning around, I could see the two princes were still going at it. Aidan deflected all of Zayden's blows and they just kept advancing on and on. Zayden looked nowhere close to finishing the fight and Aidan was not about to give up either. 

I stood on the sides and just observed the two with an eyebrow raised. Their fight was interesting and almost flawless. 

Zayden's eyes had flames inside them and he was hungry for bloodshed. His fangs were down and he bared his teeth in a tight grip. His jaw was clenched tightly and the vein on his neck was throbbing. 

The fight ended when Zayden's blade rested above Aidan's neckline and with one swift motion, it would've sliced through the other prince's throat. 

I was convinced that if Zayden had the upper hand of being a vampire, and Aidan being just a regular human, then Aidan wouldn't have lived to see another day. 

Both of their chests were heaving up and down when they walked together to the sword station. Aidan sent small glares over to Zayden and watched his nephew closely. Zayden was breathing heavily but remained silent. I took that time to approach them. 

"Prince Zayden. Prince Aidan." I bowed my head as a short greet. "I wanted to inquire you regarding Princess Alexandria. Do either of you know how she has been doing the whole day?" 

Zayden just shook his head to my question then began changing his button-up shirt. Aidan, however, replied to my question. 

"No, I have not seen her today, but I would assume that she'd like to meet you." He offered a small smile after his suggestion, so I nodded with a smile, then walked out the training room and directly to her bedroom door.

My heart was beating louder and more than it had when I was fighting against someone. I felt nervous, but knocked on her door anyway. I closed my eyes and hoped that she would not be angry with me for interrupting whatever she was doing. 

I heard a faint "just a second" from the other side of the door. I waited with my hands in my pocket. I was fidgeting with a small clump of lint that was in one of my pockets. 

She opened the door with her hair wrapped in a towel. 

"Oh, William! How are you?" She asked with a perky voice. I smiled back to mirror her expression. She just looked so beautiful that I could not form any words in my mind and answer her darn question. 

"I-I'm well, how are you doing, princess?" The smile remained on my face. 

"I'm well, as well." She let out a light laugh then stepped to the side to allow me into her room. "You don't have to call me 'princess', you know. I think we've been through enough to take us to a first name basis." 

"Sure," I let out a nervous chuckle then rubbed the back of my neck since the room was getting hotter by the second, "actually, I was thinking that we'd go take a walk outside in the garden. I'm sure it's lovely at this time of day with the bright moonlight, and all." I suggested and she nodded to my suggestion. 

"Good idea, William. Just give me another second." She walked off to her bathroom, took off the towel from her hair, and freshened up a little, but kept her beautiful natural look. 

"You look lovely. Shall we?" I offered my arm to her and she hooked her's around mine while letting out a laugh. The smile that she wore on her face was bright and exuberant.  

"The flowers bloom so perfectly in their peaceful little world." She noted when we strolled along the trail with flower beds splaying out along both sides. 

"I think you're the perfect flower." I stated while plucking a deep red rose from the rose bush. She blushed and it showed well under the illumination of the moonlight. 

She grabbed the rose from my offering hand and smelled it with her eyes closed. It was such a serene expression that I would want to imprint that image into my mind forever. 

"Alexandria." I stated to grab her attention. She opened her eyes and glared right into mine. Both my hands reached up to cup her face. My thumb smoothed down the soft surface of her cheek. I continued to stare into her eyes and moved slowly. 

Her lips were slightly open and she was breathing gently. Both of our hearts fell in-sync in rhythmic thumps. 

My eyes closed and I leaned down a bit. Our lips were so close and I could feel her warmth rubbing onto my body. Her hands gripped tightly onto the front of my shirt, begging me for a kiss. 

And so I did. 

Our lips came together in a soft dance that molded perfectly with each other. She pressed our bodies closer together so that nothing stood in between it. 

One of her hands let go of my shirt and pressed firmly against my chest, wrapping around my upper torso, then gripping onto my shoulder blade on my back. 

Everything came together in a beautiful melody and electric sparks were flowing back and forth from her body to mine.