The King And His Goddess Of War

Chapter 2: Guardian

I walked elegantly into the ballroom where the lights were dimmed and a dance was being performed by the royals. They were picking partners to demonstrate with and suddenly I felt a gaze on me that I hadn't felt so intensely before. A hand gripped my wrist and took me to the floor, my dress flowing behind me as I was pulled to a chest. 

Hands circled my waist and held my midsection when the music started leading the dance forward and telling me what to do and when to do it without any words. I looked up at the person I was dancing with and those dark eyes found mine again, locking and making me a target. The prince was dancing with me?

Dammit times two.

"Your performance was rather impressive, might I say," he said, his lips tipping up into a smirk at my silence. "My brother found you to be enchanting to the eye while my parents found your power to be dangerous and useful." He glanced at the Serria crest on my shoulder, where it always was, and his face grew closer to mine. "You may want to be more careful with your goddess, soldier. She isn't loved here."

"I understand that perfectly," I say, my guard coming back up. My gray eyes were now closed off like normal, like I was taught to do all my life as a soldier. "But I am not ashamed of the one that claimed me. What about your own?"

"Vargrum is rather useful," he retorted, sending me a small grin. "Serria just causes trouble."

"How would you know if I'm the only one?" 

His lips drew to my ear. "Because I can sense you're up to no good."

He drew back and left me alone, standing in the center of a dancing crowd and left with the stares of other jealous women. I left the dance, moving to the refreshments and pouring myself some water. Keeping myself sober tonight.

"My brother left you?" someone questioned. I could tell that it was the young Prince. He came into my sight and took my hand, kissing the top of it slowly. "Prince Colby, at your service."

"Charmed," I muttered sarcastically.

"Well, aren't you a party person," he laughed.

"Nah, not my main focus," I reply simply. "I would rather be at home with my dog or seeing my mother whom I have not seen for eight years."

"Is the Academy keeping you busy?"

"Nope. General hates me."

"He's probably scared of what you can do."

"Oh, I knew that already," I sigh. "Everyone is afraid of me."

"Zuka doesn't seem to think you're too dangerous for him," he grumbled. "He thinks he can rival your power, but with what I've seen already, you're the most dangerous one out there. I mean, you're the daughter of Serria!"

"Vargrum is powerful, I admit. But there's a reason that Serria only chooses one at a time," I say, smirking. "Besides, Vargrum isn't too bad. At least he wasn't chosen by Lyra like most children."

"Lyra's fine, but I'm starting to think Serria to be much better," he says, shrugging. "Vargrum with his metals, but with Serria and her power she has over people, she can sway them to do irrational things or maybe.. help defeat their enemies."

"I am no good luck charm, I assure you," I laughed, taking a sip of my water and leaned against a table where no one was sitting. "Even your brother says I looked like trouble."

"That's not always a bad thing," Colby says, smiling my way. "Sometimes us proper people need some trouble to remind us we're all human." A horn sounded behind me and I turned. The Queen and King stepped out onto stage where their thrones were and they sat, bowing to their people in the ballroom first. "Oh crap! I have to get going!" I laugh lightly as he runs through the crowd and out of the room. 

"May we present our sons, Prince Zuka and Prince Colby," the King says, waving his hand to the other side of the stage. Prince Zuka with his dark chocolate eyes stood on stage in his suit, his facial expression tough and his eyes scanning the room. Prince Colby followed, fixing a strand of his hair that fell over his face. He grinned in my direction, giving me thumbs up. "Now, today we congratulate the soldiers who will move to the ranks of the knights. Our country needs protection, so we have given these soldiers positions where they will succeed greatly and help the country the most."

The Queen smiled and grabbed a list from the side table beside her throne. "When your name is called, come up onto the stage and be recognized for your achievement earlier today," she said, smiling. She cleared her throat.

Names spilled from her mouth and man after man went up onto the stage. Some were prison guards, some security, some wall defense. Each of them were big, burly, and looked almost too tough to be friendly enough to help anybody. Women gathered at the base of the stage to admire the men, but mostly to stare at the princes, who paid no attention to them and shook the hands of the new soldiers that came up on the stage.

"Arianna Heather, Guardian," the Queen said effortlessly. Shock spread through my body. Guardian? Oh s**t. I moved towards the stage and went up the stairs, the princes shaking my hand and nodding approvingly. Well, Colby did. Zuka just looked at me with a small smirk. That he hid from everyone else. I stood beside the line of men who glared at me because of the position I was given. "Thank you, young soldiers, for training to become the defenders of our country. After the ball, we will show you to the rooms assigned for you." 

Everyone was dismissed back to the floor but me. Zuka grabbed my arm and dragged me to the dance floor once again, pulling me to him. "Oh, don't be so shocked you got that position."

We danced for a bit before I decided to reply to him. "You know what, Vargrum, what were you and your parents thinking when you put me as Guardian?"

"Colby knew he would gain your trust, my father thought you were strong like our last Guardian, but a bit more aggressive, which makes you great in war, and my mother found you to be attractive to the eye and valuable. Therefore, you get the spot that gets free food, housing, and that travels all around the country at times."

"And what did you think?"

He didn't reply.

I was given my room straight after, my case of belongings given to me when the maids left me. I shrugged, shut the door, and placed my things in the closet and dresser drawers, making this room my own. I placed my suit that I needed as Guardian in a compartment along with my obsidian weapons and then went into the bathroom where shampoo and soap were already inside the shower.

When I finished cleaning myself up, I sat on the counter and wrapped a blanket I brought with me from the Academy that I would always wrap myself up in after a shower. I breathed in the smell of lavender. The detergent that the Academy used. The memories from the past eight years there came to me like a movie. My arrival and the General smiling softly at me before he knew what I was actually like.

My first fight there. A boy decided that my power of pain wasn’t real, so he decided to punch me. My eyes were blank for the next two weeks, but I got him back. With a snap of my fingers, I made him vomit from the pain in his stomach. It wasn't the most severe I could do then and it definitely isn't the worst thing I could have done now. Ever since, some of the boys in his group- including him -have been afraid of what I could do.

Now, I was friends with Tyson. Tonight he became a palace guard. He probably has duties tomorrow morning as I probably did as well right after breakfast that I learned was at six in the morning. An hour before Academy times. 

I had been training at night on my thirteenth birthday, using my super strength against the fighting dummies that the Academy had to withstand the most power a student has dealt to one. I broke all of them. Tyson had come to work on some of his punches that night and he saw me tearing up the dummies. Punching off their heads or kicking them backwards into the steel walls so hard that they burst open. 

I never made another friend besides Tyson, and I'm glad I get to keep him close to me. I was worried today that he would be wall defense or on patrols through the villages, but now I'm relieved.

I kept my best friend and I have the best job possible. 

Thank you, Serria.