7. The opponent

[Diana]

Vera was lying on the floor with several books scattered over and around her while Janus was over her, his knees between her legs, his one palm beside her ear and the other beside her breast as he propped his body inches away from hers.

Vera was clenching the front of his shirt, panting beneath him.

Janus lifted his gaze to me.

“It’s nothing what it looks like…”

“If you don’t get up from her this instant… I will kill you,” a growl rumbled through my chest.

Janus pushed himself to his feet while Vera sat up on the floor, clenching her trembling hands near the cleavage of her maid uniform.

“Janus Lakin, I need an explanation,” I snarled at him, walking between him and Vera.

“Accident,” he said.

“I am gonna need more than a word,” I said.

Vera hurried up and gestured through her hands. She said—

It’s nothing like that. I saw prince Janus entering the restricted section and came after him to warn him we can’t come here. But he wasn’t able to understand my sign language. I was about to come to inform you, but I tripped over the leg of the table. He tried to save me from the fall, but we ended up… like that.

Her face was completely red, her beats so loud I could hear it clearly.

She hurried and picked up the books and placed them back on the table. She looked completely dazed and flustered. Well… given Janus’ looks, I don’t blame her. But his personality was… interesting.

“Why doesn’t she speak?” Janus asked.

“Because she is silent. She communicates through sign language. I hope you know what that is,” I said.

His gaze fell on Vera, and she stiffened under his scrutiny.

“Interesting,” he said, contemplating her.

“By the way, this is a restricted section of the library. That’s what Vera was trying to tell you. We aren’t allowed to come here. How did you get inside, anyway? This door remains locked up all the time,” I said.

Then I looked at the books on the table and the parchment and the fresh scent of ink. It looked as if someone was using that section. Except father, no one was allowed there, so maybe he was using that area.

“I didn’t know. This area was filled with a scent more intriguing than the blood, so I was lured here,” Janus said.

All of us went out of that area and I shut the door. Going out, I told Izumi about the restricted section. She panicked and immediately hurried to lock it.

Janus got a few books from the library and although he didn’t show, he looked satisfied, if not happy.

I took him to my room after the library tour. Vera brought some refreshments and then arranged the new books I had got for her.

She still looked dazed by what happened earlier in the library because the pink wasn’t leaving her cheeks and nor was Janus’ gaze.

I looked at the two of them, feeling like a third wheeler again.

Janus’ gaze fell differently on Vera. It held more light and intrigue, the same light he had while reading books. Although his face was as impassive as a stone.

Janus got up and Vera flinched, her heart racing and so were her breaths. 

Something hopelessly romantic had indeed happened with a tragic romance fan. It was fun seeing her put in the effort to hide her feelings, but she was an open book.

“I will visit again,” Janus said, his gaze fixated on Vera.

“Sure. Your visits are going to be quite frequent, I suppose,” I teased him.

He shot a look at me and left after another glance at Vera.

Vera’s stiffened body visibly relaxed after he left.

I never expected something like this to happen on Janus’ first visit. But it was so worthwhile. 

Janus visited almost every day. Sometimes we trained for the combat tests and sometimes we visited the library. Even though I told him not to go near the restricted section, I often found him there. 

But whatever we did, one thing remained common — Vera’s presence.

Willa got the news, and she acted like a protective mother, asking me to not shut the door when Janus was in my room and always keep Vera with us when we were together.

Finally, the day of results came and my heart was numb in my chest. I felt like water. 

The list of passing candidates was put on the notice board near the entrance of the academy and the students flooded. Some were screaming with happiness and celebrating, some were anxiously searching for their names and some had sad faces and tears in their eyes because they couldn’t make it.

“Diana… Diana… Diana…” I was the one of those people looking for their names from the end of the list. Out of 1000, only 200 students qualified this year.

I wasn’t that bright, and I knew it. My heart drummed as I looked for my name, but couldn’t find it.

“It’s on the 187th position,” Janus’ voice came from behind me.

I pressed my lips together and jumped in excitement seeing my name on the 187th position.

“I passed! I passed!” I squealed, jumping to Janus as he stepped away from me as if he didn’t know who I was.

“Congratulations, there are thirteen students worse than you,” he said in an indifferent voice.

“Was that a compliment?” I asked with uncertainty.

“How could you be this terrible? You are a princess,” he said.

“Well, who said a princess couldn’t be bad at studies? What about you? Where do you stand?” I asked sternly.

He cocked his brow towards the top of the list and I gasped, opening my mouth as wide as I could.

“You topped with a perfect score!” I exclaimed. “You said your maths paper was average.”

“It was average, the questions in the paper were average,” he said cockily, raising his brows.

It was that day I realised how it felt when your friend aced the exams with a perfect score, but not you — horrible.

Reese was in second position, and he glared at Janus standing near the pillar. Reese was a very competitive boy. He was one less from the perfect score. Meanwhile, I was happy to have just passed.

“Be careful of Reese. He might stab a pen in your eyes,” I warned Janus.

“The combat tests lie ahead of you. Your combat skills are terrible. Two days is all you have and remind you those knights will show no mercy even if you are the princess,” Janus said and all my excitement immediately switched to nervousness and anxiety crawling under my skin.

Janus’ aura wasn’t repulsive anymore, although his words were like molten silver pouring in my ears sometimes. But I think I needed a friend who could be cruelly true to me and help me remain humble and down to earth.

Willa didn’t hinder my practises anymore, which was alarming because I knew something worse was coming up in the tests. What was she planning now?

After practising my bones out, I retired to bed the night before the physical and combat tests. I didn’t even have the strength to wash up and change. 

*****

“Honey bee, all your mother is asking you is to not appear for the combat tests,” Willa had been in my room since five in the morning, persuading me to not appear for the combat tests. “They allow students to enter the academy who perform exceptionally well in physical tests. There is no need for you to go out there and fight those scary, huge knights.”

“It’s not like they will kill me,” I drawled in an annoyed tone. “Mother, I know you love and you are worried about me…”

“So… why don’t you listen to your mother? You know everything I do is for your wellbeing,” her voice cracked as she sniffled behind her black hand fan. 

“I know, but I want to grow and to grow, I have to face things. You’re telling me to run away from them. If you really love me, please cheer for me and pray to your gods that I win,” I said. “I have to be at the academy in an hour. So please, get me ready like you always do.” I held her hands. “Give me your mother’s luck, mom.”

She took back her hands. “Ever since you woke up after a fight with Reese, you seem changed. You don’t care about me anymore. Before you looked for me almost all the time and now… I feel you don’t need me anymore.”

“I need you, mom. I just got busy preparing for the exams. And after I have prepared so much, you are telling me to run away. Why don’t you tell that to Reese? Are you not worried about him? Why? Just because he is a boy doesn’t mean he doesn’t need you,” I said.

“He is a man, honey bee. He doesn’t need as much care as you do. Plus, I don’t want to be picked upon as a bad step-mother. I give you more attention because I don’t want you to feel the absence of your mother. Meanwhile, Reese understands,” she said.

“Just because he understands why you give me more time doesn’t mean he doesn’t need your time. He’ll be happy if you see him before the match, I guess,” I said with a shrug.

“Of course, I will cheer for him, sweetie. But…” 

“Mother! Please. You know I won’t change my mind. I am stubborn and arrogant, the pack knows. To ease your worries, if I feel like I can’t win the match, I will give up before I am harmed badly. Happy?” I smiled at her crocodile tears running down her cheeks.

I signalled Vera to get my outfit ready.

I was about to enter my bathroom to shower when Willa said…

“Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you, honey bee,” her sweeter-than-honey voice turned into a threat in an instant.

I turned back and looked into her blank eyes as if the caring mother a few seconds ago had been possessed by a cruel, cold spirit.

I nodded. “Ok, mother.”

She elegantly dropped her hand near her waist and gave me a blank smile filled with intimidation. 

“I wish you all the luck, honey bee,” she said in an impassive tone.

I nodded. “Thanks, mother.”

She turned and left with her maids, leaving behind an ominous feeling in the air. 

She was definitely up to something. 

I changed into a white shirt, brown pants and a dark brown corset belt tied around my waist and hips over my shirt. It had a holster for a gun on the left and a sword on the right.

I tied the strings of my warlock leather boots tightly over my shin.

We’d get the weapons only before the matches. It was only intelligent of them to not hand weapons to kids running on hormones. 

Vera gestured me with her hands—

You look absolutely stunning. Slay them all. Fighting!

I gave her a curt nod. “Of course, I will.”

*****

“No, I can’t,” I said, staring at my opponent for the match.

“My dead family is eagerly waiting for you to join them,” Janus said.

“Trust me, I didn’t expect any less from you, Janus,” I said, my voice had a hint of annoyance.

My physical tests went well because I had to deal with non-living things. But the living giant before me was making my stomach churn in a nauseous way.

He would be seven feet some inches, huge, muscular, and scarred all over his face and body. The murderous look in his grey eyes was enough to make me tremble.

“Tell your dead family I need a welcome party,” I said.

“Sure…” Janus said. “His name is Mes, complimenting his personality, which is basically messy. He is a strong, top ranker in the knight academy. One of the favourite pupils of our gamma and probably the next gamma. He is sweet natured, but when it comes to combat, he is nothing but a wild animal. His family has been getting some attention from Luna, so I am hoping he will be under her complete control. And if she has ordered him to kill you, he will kill you, that is… until you kill him first.”

“Why are we talking about killing? This match is regulated by the academy and alpha and they ensure students’ safety…”

“Hmm. Maybe not death, but things can get real ugly real soon if you keep trusting the authorities when your life’s at stake,” Janus warned.

I gulped at his words. “How do you know so much about him?”

“Not me, my dead family. They told me to tell you that you shouldn’t trust anyone here. Faces change faster than seasons in this world.”

I didn’t need ghosts to tell me that; I knew already.

I was sitting on the bleachers of the stadium. The bleachers were filled with pack public, the authorities and the participants. 

Above the bleachers was the private room where my father, Willa, beta of our pack and the royal knights would witness the matches. The gamma was managing the event with the Xenon academy and Lyvia and the doctors and nurses were on the emergency podium near the stadium.

These exams might just be an exam for us, but they were a huge deal because this was where knights could jump up or down ranks in the eyes of their teachers, which could decide their future. For the public, it was a source of entertainment to see kids from fifteen to seventeen years old get trampled by the knights.

By the way, the motive of these matches wasn’t to win. It was common sense that newbies like us couldn’t win against the well-trained students from the knight academy. The motive was to test how we faced adverse conditions and used what we had learnt. It was to test how much we had learned and how deftly we could apply that knowledge in a real-life scenario.

My heart was in my neck. I could feel the pulse in my ears.

Janus sighed as if he was irritated by someone’s constant badgering. But I hadn’t said a word.

“Tsk! Fine, I am telling her.” Janus leaned closer to me and whispered.

I widened my eyes, gaping at him.