I slowly woke up to that scent that had come to dwell in my memory; a blend of luxurious incense that reminded me of ancient palaces, and the fragrance of ash wafting from battlefields.
I furrowed my brow in astonishment while sleep still caressed my eyelids, and said to myself in distress:
"Damn it, have I started imagining his cursed scent even in my dreams?"
I took a deep breath, against my will, filling my lungs with his scent which possessed a strange effect that numbed my senses and relaxed my tense body.
And at that moment I realized the truth.. He is here.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
I said it with my voice hoarse from the effects of sleep, and my eyes still closed, as if refusing to believe his impudence.
No response came except the sound of his calm and measured footsteps as they approached my bed, every footstep echoing in the still room.
The footsteps stopped abruptly, and I felt his tall shadow fall directly upon me, blocking the faint morning light from my face.
"Normal people say: Good morning, Aria.."
He uttered it with biting sarcasm, so my eyes opened immediately to glare at him with lethal sharpness.
I gathered my anger and said in a sharp tone:
"And normal people also don't break into rooms, let alone the room of a semi-naked girl?!"
He was staring at me coldly, but I noticed his gaze sliding with a provocative scrutiny over the details of my body, watching the heaving contours of my form beneath the bralette with a perverted, distracted look.
I straightened my upper body in anger, and felt my blood boiling; this scoundrel displays not an atom of respect or shame.
Instead of looking away, he continued watching me in that provocative way, as if studying prey or a precious work of art.
"Don't stare at me like that, you perverted bastard!"
I screamed it and grabbed the pillow in the blink of an eye, throwing it with all my might toward his provocative face.
Yet, with unbelievable agility, he raised his hand and caught the pillow in mid-air before it struck him, and that damn side smirk formed on his lips, making me want to shatter his jaw.
I bolted from the bed quickly, pushing past him forcefully, shoving his shoulder aside while feeling the heat of his body close to me.
I headed toward the closet with angry steps, snatched my official clothes violently, then turned toward him, glaring at him with burning looks that could almost melt the ice encasing his heart, before heading to the bathroom while muttering endless curses.
While I stood behind the door that I slammed shut with a violence that almost knocked it off its hinges, pouring the full force of my anger on my face with cold water trying to extinguish the raging fires in my veins, his rich voice called out from the outside, piercing my solitude.
"I heard that morning curses bring bad luck, Aria.."
He uttered it with provocative coldness, as if dropping a philosophical piece of wisdom while he is "bad luck" personified.
I couldn't control myself, so I burst out at him with a scream that tore through the silence of the bathroom, my voice coming out booming and full of impatience:
"What luck are you talking about?! Ever since I met your cursed face, I've been going from one disaster to another! It's as if you're a curse that descended upon my life, so shut up and save your philosophy for yourself!"
I spoke sharply while my hands trembled with vexation as I dressed with insane speed, as if in a race against time before losing my mind completely and going out to kill him too.
I washed my face a second time, the water splashing around me, while I exhaled my burning breaths that were nearly scorching the air around me.
I dried my face violently, and looked into the mirror to see my eyes, which had turned into two glowing coals.
His scent—that incense and cursed ash—was still lingering in my lungs, inciting my latent monster to come out.
I finished putting on my official clothes, tightened the laces of my boots as if tying his neck with them, and prepared to face that provocateur lurking behind the door.
I stepped out of the bathroom with steady steps and a body charged with tension, deliberately ignoring his standing there like a worthless piece of furniture, even though the weight of his gaze was pressing on my nerves.
I stood before the large mirror, picked up the brush, and began combing the strands of my long red hair with mild violence, so that it cascaded behind me like a waterfall of burning blood.
Caius was watching me in silence, and I felt his golden gaze piercing my back, refusing to tear itself away, as if reading the thoughts spinning inside my head.
I didn't give him the pleasure of turning around; instead, I sufficed with applying light touches of pink lip balm, emphasizing the paleness of my face to which strength imparted hard and beautiful features at the same time.
Then I picked up my perfume bottle, squeezing it so hard my knuckles turned white, as if I were about to shatter the bottle in my hands from excessive bottled-up vexation.
I sprayed the perfume around me to mingle with the scent of incense and ash he had left behind in my room, so the atmosphere became a suffocating blend of femininity and danger.
Without looking at him, and without uttering a single word, I turned around and walked out of the room with steps ringing in the corridor, leaving him behind to drown in his suspicious silence.
I walked while the blood boiled in my veins, and my black aura hovered behind me like the shadows of shattered wings; for today would surely end in some catastrophe, of that I was certain.
The quiet of my false anger lasted only a few seconds, for the silence of the corridor was soon pierced by the sound of his fast-paced footsteps rushing right behind me.
I didn't need to turn around to know it was him; the scent of incense and ash began to assault my senses once again, and his heavy golden aura started expanding to attach itself to my turbulent black aura.
Suddenly, I felt the pressure of his wide hand resting on my shoulders, enclosing me in his arm and walking beside me as if he were embracing me in front of the world.
I closed my eyes tightly until I saw a red phantom behind my eyelids; is this idiot trying to drive me completely out of my mind?
Or is he enjoying playing with my nerves?
I opened my eyes and looked at his hand resting on my shoulder with utmost relaxation and comfort, as if this were its natural place.
I turned sharply toward his face; his features were cold, rigid like a marble statue, staring at the road ahead of him with provocative coldness, matching his steps with mine with extreme precision until we looked as if we were a single body moving with two conflicting hearts.
If my looks were fire, he would have turned to ash beneath my feet at that moment.
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye without bothering to turn his head toward me, his golden eyes gleaming with a strange, mysterious, and bold flicker.
"Get your filthy hand off me!"
I said it while pressing every single letter between my teeth, my voice coming out like the hiss of a snake about to strike.
Yet he didn't move an inch, content instead with raising a single eyebrow with nerve-racking coldness, and answered in a calm tone:
"I think your anger made you forget that we are bound in front of everyone.. aren't we?"
It was as clear as day that he was using this flimsy excuse just to anger me, to test the limits of my patience.
I shifted my face away from him with bottled-up vexation, feeling the bitterness of the words in my throat as I muttered in a low voice:
"May the earth split open and swallow this disgusting face of yours.. damn you."
He continued walking, holding onto my shoulder as if he owned me, while I walked beside him like a ticking time bomb, my chest boiling with hatred and Caius's provocation, waiting for the moment when I would unleash all this destruction.
We walked in the long corridor of the seasons, strolling among its ancient walls after passing the crowded academy dormitories.
Everyone's gazes followed us like poisoned arrows, refusing to leave us alone.
I let out a suppressed sigh of exasperation, my facial features speaking of blatant annoyance, while he walked beside me with an expression of absolute indifference; as if he were the one who established the seals of the laws of the art of coldness and wrote them with his blood.
The students' whispers began to rise and entwine in the air like the hissing of snakes:
"Damn, is she still alive after all that destruction she caused?"
One whispered in terror, only for another to reply in a trembling voice:
"She is a demon without a doubt, look at her aura!"
As for the female students, their whispers were dripping with malice and jealousy. Their resentful voices rose, piercing my ears:
"She's just flashy.. how could the Reaper Prince associate with her?"
"She's not even that pretty!"
Another added with distress.
Jealousy was eating their hearts away because of my association with this scoundrel walking beside me with complete calmness and steadfastness.
I turned to him out of the corner of my eye, wondering bitterly:
"What is so great about him really? Is it his attractive face that looks as if it were carved from heavenly alabaster? Or his nonexistent manners that make the rock complain of his rudeness?"
He walked with a coldness that provoked my ire, his hand still wrapping around my shoulder with provocative possessiveness, as if he didn't hear those insults directed at me, or as if he enjoyed being the center around which all this chaos revolves.
I clenched the fabric of my clothes, feeling an overwhelming urge to scream in their faces.
I stopped suddenly, as if the earth had frozen beneath my feet. I could no longer bear the buzzing of those filthy mouths any longer.
I turned sharply, directing my gaze like poisoned daggers toward the center of the whispering, toward those faces that paled the moment our eyes met.
A black anger was boiling in my chest, a anger that silenced everyone and made the air around us freeze.
Caius noticed my sudden stop, and his reaction was nothing more than that provocative side smirk that made matters worse.
He tilted his head slightly with coldness, his golden eyes examining my blood-flushed and vexed face, then spoke in a rich tone dripping with mockery:
"Don't let the buzzing of flies stir your anger.. my dear."
I turned to him with insane speed, clenching my hand so tightly that my nails dug into my palm, trying to stop myself from pouncing on him and ripping out his stupid throat that uttered that word.
I stepped closer to him and whispered in a sharp voice that no one else heard:
"Swallow that annoying voice of yours, and I am no one's dear!"
Instead of backing down, his smile widened to reach his eyes, and he brought his face close to mine with a boldness that made his hot breaths crash against my skin like the blast of fire.
At that moment, the gasps of the students around us rose, as if time had stopped to witness this confrontation.
Suddenly, his golden aura surged with terrifying density, completely surrounding me, infiltrating my pores as if he were casting a fence of power around me, proving his ownership of me in front of the public.
"Yes, Aria.. you are mine.. my property."
He said it with his eyes blazing with a frightening, shiny gold, and at that moment, the tattoo of his black dragon resting on the side of his chest moved, rippling slowly from his neck to his cheek, as if the dragon itself had awakened to agree with its owner and warn everyone against coming close.
My heart beat wildly, pulse after pulse like relentless war drums.
Damn that filthy bond between us, it had transferred all my violent heart palpitations to him, making him feel every beat exposed by his blatant possessiveness.
His smile widened as he felt my body tremble under the weight of his words and aura, as if he were relishing being the only one capable of stirring up this chaos deep inside me.
I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him with a look charged with a threat, whispering bitterly to myself:
"Well, Caius.. I'll show you now who truly possesses the other."
He thinks he has locked down my siege with his golden aura, but he didn't know that I am far better at playing with fire than he is.
I raised my hand with provocative slowness, and placed it on his stomach with a fake, innocent air.
I felt his body stiffen immediately beneath my touch, as if an electric current had struck his entity.
I began crawling my hand upwards toward his chest, with agonizing slowness that tore at his nerves, and through my palm, I could feel his rebellious heartbeats starting to scream violently and confusedly behind his ribs.
Those confident golden eyes shook, and tension began to invade his cold features in front of everyone's astonishment.
My hand reached his neck, tracing the curves of his dragon tattoo which seemed to be trembling beneath my fingertips, and suddenly.. I grabbed his collar firmly and pulled him toward me violently, until my nose collided with his.
His breathing hitched and mingled with mine, and I gazed into the depths of his golden gleam with my red eyes that had turned into two glowing coals of anger and rebellion.
At that moment, I unleashed my black aura of nothingness with all its might, to surge like dense smoke and completely surround him, swallowing his gold and declaring him a prisoner to me.
My cunning smile widened as I watched his features collapse before my might, and I said in a rich, mocking tone:
"Oh really, Caius?.. Am I your property?"
I uttered his name with extreme slowness, as if tasting the flavor of my victory.
His golden eyes slipped helplessly toward my lips, and he swallowed hard while his conflicting emotions rushed through the bond; confusion, desire, and a complete loss of control.
He tilted his head slightly, as if about to kiss me in public, for I had pulled the rug right out from under the feet of his pride until he was drowning in the sea of my touches.
The students held their breath, and a terrifying silence fell over the corridor, awaiting that moment when the Reaper Prince would surrender completely.
Yet, at the very peak of his surrender, I let go of his collar and pushed him away from me lightly and with disdain.
I took steps backward, adjusting my attire coldly, while he remained standing in place, his eyes wide with astonishment, blinking in disbelief at the humiliating and exciting situation I had put him in front of everyone.
I gave him a final look dripping with triumph, then turned around as I heard the echo of his heartbeat which hadn't calmed down yet, leaving him to struggle with his shattered composure in front of the students' terrified questions.
I stepped forward with confident steps, hearing the ringing of my shoes on the corridor floor like a military march announcing my victory.
I felt his gaze that never left my back, a gaze that pierced me like whips, but I didn't turn around until I had walked a sufficient distance to see the impact of my earthquake upon him.
I stopped and turned my head slightly, only to find him standing in place, watching me with eyes blazing with astonishment that hadn't faded yet.
Suddenly, the silence that hung over the classroom corridor was broken by a sound no one expected; Caius let out a deep sigh, then burst into a loud, masculine laughter, a laughter mixed with pure enjoyment and a hint of bottled-up anger that made its tone sound like a low growl.
The students' whispers rose around me like turbulent waves:
"My god! He's laughing.."
"I swear I've never seen him laugh this loudly before!"
His laughter drew more attention than my aura of nothingness.
I looked at him with coldness tinged with defiance, then winked at him easily and victoriously, as if throwing my words at him without uttering them:
"I've beaten you at your own game, you despicable prince."
His astonishment didn't last long, for he quickly recovered his cold mask.
He raised his tall hand and adjusted the collar of his shirt which I had crushed in my hand a moment ago, and with total coolness as if nothing had happened, he began to follow me.
He walked beside me once again, calm, confident, and enjoying the game which was taking a much more dangerous turn.
We were walking side by side now, he with his laughter still echoing in the corridor, and I with my small victory that had given me enough fuel.
I suddenly noticed that his confident steps didn't stop at the lecture hall door, but bypassed it as if the classroom didn't exist.
I slowed down my pace, furrowing my brow in extreme astonishment while he continued walking at the same quiet rhythm.
He turned to me when he felt me lagging behind, so I looked at him and pointed with my hand toward the door, saying sharply:
"Where are you going? The class is here!"
Caius stared at the classroom door for a moment, then shifted his gaze to me and sighed lightly, as if he had just remembered that he forgot to inform me of something.
He approached me, grabbed my hand with a firm movement and dragged me behind him, like a rebellious child who had to follow him without discussion.
He opened his mouth to say calmly:
"Today is..."
But his words were cut short by the distant scream of Christoph, who was running toward us madly, until he stopped in front of us panting heavily, resting his hands on his knees to catch his broken breath.
Christoph straightened up with a smile splitting his face with excessive enthusiasm, while Caius glared at him with lethal looks, as if he wanted to execute him on the spot simply because he dared to interrupt his majesty's speech.
I was staring at him with curiosity tinged with anticipation, so what could make him this frantic? He finally said after his breathing calmed down:
"Aria! Today is the annual academy festival!"
Then he turned to Caius with a cunning sparkle in his eyes and added:
"And even more exciting.. the judging panel will be composed of the Dragon Reapers! The competition consists of brutal tournaments to uncover the talents of (Zeus Academy) students, and whoever displays his power and steals the spotlight will be chosen immediately to join the Reapers' Special Missions Legion."
His words hit me like an electric shock, and I felt a thrill of excitement racing down my spine.
Yet the biggest temptation, and the poison that coursed through my veins with delight, was what I immediately realized: the family of this cursed prince Caius will be there.. and most importantly of all.. Andrew will be there.
I will get a golden opportunity to shatter that scoundrel's bones in front of everyone, and under the cover of fair competition.
My evil smile widened, and I felt the aura of nothingness inside me dancing with glee at the thought of the coming blood.
I turned to Caius who was watching me with suspicious calmness, a calmness tinged with caution.. he wasn't cautious of me, but rather seemed afraid of what his family might do, or what I might do to them.
I raised my fist in the air and struck it hard against my other palm, producing a resounding sound, while sparks of revenge flashed from my eyes like blue flames.
I stared at Caius and spoke with a demonic hiss, my voice emerging from dark depths:
"It's time.. It's time to kick your whore family's asses, one after the other!"
Christoph burst out noisily, jumping in place and supporting my idea:
"Woooohooooo! That's the talk I want to hear!"
As for Caius, he closed his eyes for a second, and a calm smile formed on his lips to welcome my madness, and through the bond, I felt his enthusiasm respond to the boiling of my blood, as he said in a rich tone:
"I'm counting on you for that.. my partner."
I furrowed my brow in astonishment, and looked at him suspiciously.
What does he mean by "I'm counting on you"?
Isn't he the one who will deal with them with me?
But he continued explaining with a coolness that stunned me:
"Because quite simply, I am banned from participating as a contestant. First because I am a member of the ruling family, and second.. because I am the actual commander of the "Reapers Legion", my dear."
My eyes widened with a shock that paralyzed me for seconds, then I screamed at the top of my lungs:
"Heeeeh?! What?! Co..commander of the Legion?!"
He chuckled loudly, enjoying my shock, so I couldn't help but raise my hand and hit him on the back with all my might, a blow that made him cough from its intensity.
I screamed at him:
"You cursed deceiver! Why didn't you tell me this before?!"
He glared at me sharply as a result of my bold action, but I didn't care, standing proudly instead and continuing with pride mixed with malice:
"I just hope you don't blow my cover in front of them now.. I want to give them a collective heart attack, I will crush their magic and arrogance to dust!"
Christoph laughed with infectious enthusiasm and said:
"Don't worry Aria, we'll crush them all together!"
I answered him with an enthusiastic scream as I slapped my palm against his, and our loud laughter echoed in the corridor as if we were a group of lunatics who had just escaped from a psychiatric asylum, completely unconcerned by the terrified glances of passersby.
Caius smiled as he watched my threats and madness, then said in a tone that carried a hidden challenge:
"I'm truly looking forward to seeing that.. so, blow up the arena, Aria, and leave no stone unturned."
My smile widened at him, and my look clearly told him:
"Don't you ever worry about that.. the real show hasn't even started yet."