As promised, Aurelia arrived the next morning to continue training with Seraphina.
Aurelia preferred to train without the use of weapons as in battle, one could easily be disarmed. After demonstrating to Seraphina how to hold herself properly and how to block various attacks, they began to spar. Achilles sat to the side observing, all the while, his heart was racing out of fear of Seraphina getting injured.
Neither Achilles nor Aurelia expected Seraphina to be such a natural warrior though. Achilles could tell that Aurelia wasn’t holding back and he was extremely surprised to see Seraphina holding her own against the infamous ‘Azrael’. At the beginning of the match, Seraphina received quite a few blows from Aurelia but, she was quick to observe and before long was avoiding her attack
Seraphina arrived at Ethena’s office and knocked gently before entering. Ethena sprung up from her chair and launched herself at Seraphina, wrapping her in a warm embrace.She quickly corrected herself, “Please accept my apologies Seraphina, it’s just that your absence was noticed.”Seraphina smiled at her in response, “Come, let us walk and talk,” Ethena hooked her arm through Seraphina’s as they exited the room.“I have to know exactly what she did to me, there must be some way of finding out!” Achilles pleaded with Helga. Helga smiled sadly at him, “I’m sorry your Highness but, Seraphina was right in what she said. A love spell cannot have an effect unless there are underlying feelings alr
Seraphina recruited Bethel and with Helga, the three of them spent the remainder of the day studying various protection spells and trying to combine them across the 3 magic types.Every time they thought they had a breakthrough, the spell failed to hold. Manipulating the 3 magics had taken it’s toll on the Dhampirs, they had gone through 7 decanters of blood just that afternoon. Seraphina’s usual glowing olive skin was now dull and greying, she had large bags under her eyes and her arms were covered in raised, red lacerations that were struggling to heal.Helga looked at Seraphina and sighed heavily, “Seraphina, we really must stop for today. We are yet to find a spell that will work and I fear we are pushing ourselves too far. If we stop now and rest, we will be better prepared to c
It felt like an eternity had passed as Seraphina, Helga and Achilles stood watching, waiting for the potion to change. None even dared utter a word.Seraphina gripped the table as she watched the potion effervesce as it slowly began to glow. The concoction started to swirl within itself and it took on a pearlescent shade of pink. Seraphina felt her knees give out and she collapsed on the floor in a heap.Achilles and Helga had been staring at the potion so intently, it took them a moment to notice that Seraphina had fainted. Helga, in a panic, threw a vase containing flowers and water over Seraphina, she sputtered and coughed as she came too. “Thanks Helga,” she muttered sarcastically.He
“Helga, that can’t be. My father was human.” Seraphina shook her head dismissively, she had more important things to concentrate on.“And most Mages were human! Queen Ethena said that your father was gifted, well his clan were known to be gifted. What if those ‘gifts’ were the gifts of spirit magic? You bare the marking! I can’t believe I didn’t make this connection earlier. Seraphina, we could locate them, find your people, they could teach you how to hone spirit!” Helga clasped her hands under her chin as she stared hopefully at Seraphina, her eyes glistened with excitement.Seraphina smiled sweetly at Helga, she knew her heart was in the right place though, she often got carried away. “Helga, why don’t we put a pin in this matter for
As Seraphina reached the training field, she saw Aurelia had changed into her armour and was waiting with Credence. “Seraphina!” Credence called out to her, he wrapped his arm around her in an awkward side hug.“I’m really glad to see you healed and back here,” he looked down at his shoes and blushed. Seraphina smiled warmly at the young Prince. “Hello Credence, are you going to be training with us?”Credence shook his head, “No, actually, I was uhm, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a fly?”“Credence, do you perhaps have an infatuation with Seraphina? You do know she is basically your sister!” Aurelia was merciless in teasing her younger brother.
Seraphina stared at the walls of the infirmary for what felt like an eternity.“Seraphina, Seraphina?” Achilles voice finally broke through her trance.“Yes?” She looked up at him with glassy eyes.“Seraphina, we’re having a baby, well babies…We’re having twins!”Achilles wrapped his arms around her and captured her slack mouth in a gentle kiss.Silent tears ran down her cheeks, Achilles pulled back and looked at her with worried eyes.“Are you not happy? I thought you wanted this?” tears filled his own eyes.
Achilles paced the floor of Seraphina’s bedroom, they had decided it would be best to return to the DeBeaux Angelo manor as very few were aware that she had decided to live there.It had been a few days since the assassination attempt by poison and, the attempts on Seraphina’s life had been coming daily since.“In our bed Seraphina! Someone thought they could take your life whilst you slept! They didn’t even want to give you the chance to defend yourself, cowards! They are cowards!” Achilles pulled on his hair in frustration.“Achilles, calm down my love. We weren’t there, it’s a good thing Aurelia had the foresight to move into our quarters at the pala
Helga placed the pinard on Seraphina’s enlarged stomach. After what felt like an eternity, she finally raised her head.