SERAPHINA'S POV
An hour later and Artemis has been announced the winner of today's section, which was already expected.
Despite his cruel personality, he still has many talents to back up his claim to the throne as the next Alpha King.
The crowd has long cleared, and I remain back on my own, sitting at the edge of the stage silently with myself.
The endpoint of today strangely doesn't shock me as much as I thought it would. Perhaps a part of me knows I was being delusional when I thought I could really do this.
I guess the only part I didn't anticipate was being locked in a room and having to crawl through a rat-infested vent just to escape.
Then there's that vision I had in the heat of the tournament.
The memory of burning buildings and the smell of death still lingers with me like it had been a real experience for me. My hands still tremble when the blazing red eyes of the wolf comes to my mind.
It's like I had actually been there, along with the fear of impending doom inside me, but what does it mean?
My visions, if they could be called that, only ever revolved around the faint feel of a woman that I feel I should know; calling out to me with this soothing voice and every time I try to know who she is, I wake up.
Now I'm dreaming of death, fire and wolves.
"Hey." A voice I know calls from behind, and I don't bother turning back to look at him, knowing its Artemis.
What does he want this time? He's already done a great job at mocking me earlier.
"Shouldn't you be celebrating with your nerdy friend somewhere else?" He teases, referring to Olivia.
I didn't know he knew enough about me to register that I actually had a friend, but I'm sure it's just because I helped her on the first day of school.
Sadly, today like every other day, I don't have time for his games.
"Maybe try messing with someone else that actually cares. My day's already been was too shitty for anything you do right now to affect me." I point out to him plainly.
It might not do much but if he hopes to gain any satisfaction from me today, he'll only be sorely mistake.
I wait for a few seconds to a minute and he doesn't leave, still standing behind me and remaining silent. I'm now pressured to turn to look at him.
"Did you hear me at all? I said you should leave me alone."
"I heard you sounding like a broken record. Did the tournament not turn out as glorious as you planned?" He asks and I stare back at him, ticked off by the stupid question.
He witnessed the whole thing, didn't he?
"Of course, it didn't. I came late, looking like a hobo, and my shots where completely horrible. I barely made it to the next round."
"Your shots weren't that bad." He says suddenly.
I look at him again, not expecting him to say something remotely like that.
"Is this another method of teasing me? Cause I don't buy your shit. Neither do I care if you think it was bad or not."
"I mean it. You have skills, just that your form's a bit stiff."
"Of course, you know. You're an Einstein at everything, aren't you?" I joke dryly, tired of arguing with him at this point.
He won, what more does he want?
By the time I look at him again, he's holding up his bow again.
"If you want a good shot, you gotta let go of any stiffness in your wrist, or you're going to shoot like a wimp. Even a human like you can do that much." He says, demonstrating it himself.
In the next second, he shoots an arrow that flies across the room and stabs at an empty bottle on the other end of the room with so much ease that it's unreal.
"Just like that."
"You don't have to gloat about your skills." I say, glaring at him and maybe hating him just a bit more.
He chuckles for the first time since this conversation began, seeming less stiff than before.
"Here, you try it out." He stretches his bow to me again.
I look at the wooden arch, reluctant to touch the thing again. The last time I had touched it, I was seeing shit like a crazy person.
"Go on." He urges me, noticing my reluctance.
Why does he want to show me so badly, I wonder?
I sigh, taking it from his hand, closing my eyes and waiting for it to hit me but it doesn't. I don't see any weird shit.
I open my eyes, staring down at the bow closely. I don't see it but that strange feeling of fear lingers in my chest, like there's something really off about this weapon.
"It's a family heirloom, passed down to all future Alphas and used to hunt down our enemies. It's been in the hands of warriors." He explains, taking my silence as interest.
"I figured."
"Here, let me show you what I mean."
He takes the initiative to put it in my hands, helping me to hold it perfectly and not minding the fact that our hands touch more than once in the process.
Once he's done, I'm holding the bow and arrow, aiming at the bottle and he's just behind me, guiding both my hands in his.
"Now, pull on it very gently." He says in a low soothing voice, standing way too close for comfort.
His breath just gently brushes the tip of my ear, drawing goosebumps on my skin.
His two hands wrap around mine, helping me hold the perfect form.
"Good." He whispers softly again.
I bite on my lips, stopping myself from making any embarrassing sounds from this position.
I want to push him away and show him I can do it on my own, but my body betrays me and I find myself leaning into the warmth of his body and moving closer to this inferno.
"And now, we fire."
The arrows leaps from our hand and soars higher than his had, stabbing into the bottle as well just beside his.
"Wow." I mumble under my breath.
"You did it." He whispers, looking down at me now.
Our eyes meet quietly, and I don't dare look away from them.
Sometimes, I wonder how someone with such beautiful eyes could be so mean and wicked at heart, and still, I can't deny the bewitchment they have on me in moments like this
The shimmering in his eyes pull me deeper into them, and I find my body leaning deeper into him against my will, with his doing the same thing as well.
We draw closer until I feel his breath against my cheeks and his lips are only a few inches away from mine with my mind completely blank.
The door to the hall room suddenly bursts open with someone walking in unannounced, and it shatters whatever hold he has over me.
I realize just what I'm about to do and immediately panic, pushing him away from me roughly with my eyes closed shut.
"Get away from me!" I yell unprovoked, feeling my pulse rate rising again.
By the time I open my eyes, he's already staggered back, staring at me in surprise and a bit of annoyance on his face, which suddenly makes me feel bad.
"I-I-m sorr-""
"If you're done wasting my time, you can leave now - unless you're too slow to understand." He snaps quickly before I can apologize for pushing him.
Scratch that, I don't feel bad at all - not anymore. I don't even know why I almost did in the first place.
He has a knack for pretending to care for a moment, only to switch on me and become and even bigger piece of shit. I'm sure it's just to torment me mentally, and I always just seem to fall for it.
I glare at him, pushing aside all that stupid mushy shit that filled my thoughts only seconds ago.
I shoved his wooden bow into his hands forcefully.
"I didn't ask for you to teach me, so if it's so much of a waste of time, ignore me next time." I snap in his face, twirling around and making it towards the door.
I notice his friend for the first time, the person that had walked in, standing there wide eyed and looking between the both of us.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Shut up, Jasper." Artemis snaps at him coldly.
I don't bother wasting any more time here, leaving through the door before anything else can be said and when I'm out, I slam it shut behind me, resting my back against it.
I'm livid and pissed, wishing I had smacked him across the face for pulling that shit on me in the moment but...
Why doesn't my pounding heart want to relax? It throbs loudly in my chest and the flushing in my cheeks never fades for a moment.
"What is wrong with me?" I whisper under my breath
Maybe I haven't fully recovered from the shock of the vision earlier. Yeah, that's most definitely it.
I pat at my chest until its calm, drowning all thoughts of Artemis behind me again before I lean away from the door to walk away. The second I turn, I come face to face with Lucian.
His blank silver eyes stare at me with little emotion and furrowed brows that show discomfort.
The panging in my chest returns again, but more from pain and anger from seeing him.
How dare he show his face to me now after the whole competition turned out so horribly?
"Seraphina." He says curtly, and I frown.
"I'd rather you don't call my name or act like you know me anymore." I repeat, twice as coldly as I had been treated by him.
I was a fool the first few times of our encounter, but not anymore. I won't let myself be played.
"You do realize what you've done. I can't keep you safe from the other students if you continue with this game. You really could get hurt, and that's not something I can report to the council."
"The council? I'm not some Guinea pig that you can lock in a cage when you see fit, and save your concern for someone else that matters to you." I say, walking past him without a second glance.
"Seraph-" His fingers reach out, in an attempt to grab on gently but something about the hard glare I throw his way causes him to flinch.
He doesn't bother to stop me from leaving now, only standing there.
"Do not bother yourself with what I do anymore because to me, you don't exist."