Chapter 24 : The Competition!

That voice, why did hearing it immediately send a chill down my spine and made the hair on arms stand up?

I saw that the ladder I had used to climb up was just inches away from where I was hanging now. I braced myself, edging my way closer, trying to reach out to the ladder. My hands were already numb and blistered from all the cleaning that it really couldn’t continue to support my body weight any longer. I swung myself with my hands, aiming for the ladder and luckily my right leg caught hold of that damn ladder. I positioned my body, wrapped my right leg firmly around the small ladder and then drew it to me. Thankfully, the floor was filled mud instead of cement, so me drawing in the ladder didn’t make much of a noise. I instinctively thrust myself onto the ladder and heaved a sigh of relief.

Now safely perched on a ladder, I risked climbing up one more step to get a good look at the owners of the voices.

I found Stephanno with two other men, dressed royally in robes. Just by their clothes, I could tell they were important people. One of them stood with his head up high in the air. He wore light blue robes and had his neat white hair on a ponytail just like Stephanno. He had a pale face which looked ancient. The other one was dressed in brown robes, his hair was messy and he had his hands stuffed in the front pockets of his coat.

The guy in the blue robes with the white hair was the Sky Sect Head and the other one was the Earth Sect Head, I realized with a jolt. I looked at the elder curiously as this was the man that took out my father and lead the fight against the blood sect.

“Amos, calm down let’s talk this through” Stephanno said to the white haired guy.
“We need to ally ourselves with people who have a spine” Amos spat at Henry, who shriveled under his murderous gaze. Though Amos was so old that he stood there bent, with his shoulders slouched, I could see that he had still a fire inside him.

“What did Victor say to our proposal? Is he willing to join forces?” Stephanno asked
“ Yes, of course. The Air Sect and the Sky Sect have been allies for centuries. Victor had already ordered his men to sleuth around the Blood sect.” Amos replied calmly.
He titled his head with pride and immediately saw me perched on the ladder eavesdropping, and narrowed his eyes.

Stephanno turned back to follow Amos’s gaze and his eyes locked with my petrified eyes.
“I ..Uhm….sorry…didn’t mean to pry” I mumbled before I quickly stumbled and made my way to the bottom of the ladder, planting my feet firmly on the now ruined ground.

Amos….that was his name. He had been the one to take out my father. Did he recognize me? He must be the only person alive now except for Dominic who knew that my dad was from the blood sect instead of the fire sect. But no way he recognized me right? He must have only seen me when I was a wee baby. Or if he did, will he tell Stephanno? How would Stephanno react to this? Will he throw me out and break all ties with me when he finds out that I am actually from the blood sect?
I cleared my head, trying hard not to panic and entered the main hallway, removing my now dirty shoes and gloves.

I stood there in the hallway, clutching my chest with anticipation, forgetting to breathe when I suddenly heard the door open behind me and saw them making their way towards me. I wanted to run, but couldn’t. I froze to the spot praying to all the gods I knew that Amos would just walk past me, ignoring my existence.
“Jessica” Stephanno shouted when he saw me.
I swore! Why did he have to go and call out my name? I looked at Amos, expecting to see a flicker of recognition pass on his face, but his face was carefully kept blank. I frowned at his expressionless face as I saw his eyes assessing me.

“Are you done with today’s task?” he continued.
My throat was dry and parched all of a sudden, so I just nodded at him helplessly. He raised his eyebrows at my sudden fidgeting but didn’t comment on it.
. They then walked passed me. I let out the breath I was holding then froze again, when I found Amos was looking back at me curiously.

I shook myself out of it and made myself go upstairs, out of his line of sight. It was like my legs had suddenly turned into lead, weighing me down. I had to basically drag myself up the stairs. I was so tired and beat.

I waited for Stephanno in the study, prancing around nervously. I heard the door creak open and saw Stephanno enter with a solemn expression on his face.
“Are you trying to convince them to be your allies? Are you planning to lead an attack? What’s the plan?” I jumped at him with questions.
He jumped back, clearly not expecting to see me here, then sighed resignedly.
“ That’s classified information. You are not a trained guardian yet, so you don’t have access to it.” He said pompously.

I rolled my eyes and was about to say that me being the Fire Sect’s Mistress entitled me to know about these matters, but I held my tongue thinking that always reminding him of that fact that I was married to Dominic isn’t going to work well for me. He was already distant from me as it is.
I wanted to know more but I know when I am beat.

He came forward and shocked me to my very core by taking my hands into his. I shivered slightly when his hands touched mine and held my breath, so as not to break this moment.
I froze completely as he rubbed his fingers over my palm and frowned as he saw my blisters. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that it will all be healed within a few minutes but I held my tongue. Stephanno was touching me and acting all concerned. I wanted this moment to last, so I pretended to wince when his fingers brushed over my blisters.

He drew his breath in sharply when he heard my fake wince then immediately opened the drawer of his study table, pulled out a white box and took out a weird looking yellow ointment from it. I hid a grin when he started applying the ointment on my hands affectionately. I caught his eye and smiled happily at him. He raised his head to look at me and locked his eyes into mine and we stared into each other’s eyes for several minutes, without even letting out a breath.

Stephanno tore his eyes from mine with a visible effort, then cleared his throat awkwardly, breaking the moment. I sighed disappointed by his sudden withdrawal. I could see conflict and guilt in his eyes, which further confused me.
The box rolled from his arms clumsily and fell to the floor. I stood there still like a statue, as he shifted uncomfortably shifting his weight from one leg to another awkwardly, then bent down to pick up the box.

The silence was too awkward so I cleared my throat to attempt at a conversation but in the last moment thought better of it and kept my mouth firmly shut as I fidgeted with the sleeves of the purple top I was wearing.

I sighed realizing that this wasn’t going anywhere, then walked myself out of the room without another word. Why can’t he just accept me? Obviously I can tell he feels the same way too. What is stopping him? Why does he always have to shut himself when we have a real moment together?

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My training sessions improved after a couple of weeks, but the attitude of the guys didn’t. They still avoided me like I was the plague, but stopped their bullying and instead treated me with grudging respect. Ronald, as usual was a pain in the ass.

Dominic had successfully entered the Fire Sect with his enforcers without getting caught and they were now bidding their time, hiding while looking for an opening they can exploit.
Stephanno still made me clean the mansion every morning before training started. I sometimes wondered whether he was just using that as an excuse to get free house help. But as I started cleaning the entire mansion daily, my muscles became stronger and tighter.

I went to the grounds as I was told to and scanned the ground. There was no one there except for us two. He had taken his shirt off and was drinking water when I came in. Ugh! What I wouldn’t give to be that bottle right now. Stephanno and I had been getting closer little by little during the past few weeks.

“Hey” I made my presence known shyly.

He nodded at me then gestured to follow him. We stopped in front of a revolving bench…sorta table sorta thing. I have no idea what it is called. There were weapons ranging from arrows to knifes to swords to spears in that huge table, I found out as I started revolving the top of the table.

He took a knife and offered it to me. Seeing it immediately reminded me of the golden dagger that lady had given me, which safely resided around my right hand wrist. No one seemed to notice anything peculiar about it and just assumed that I always wore the bracelet because I was overly fond of it. I had tried to make the bracelet open and transform into a dagger again, but to no avail. I hadn't quite figured out its mechanism yet, so I gave up and left it as a bracelet, wrapped firmly around my hand. I took the knife from his hand and looked at him raising my eyebrows.

“Today, I will teach you to throw knifes” he declared pompously.
“That’s one thing I don’t need coaching for” I stopped him abruptly.
He in turn, raised his eyebrows as he asked, “ You don’t need? Do you think you are good enough to beat me?”

I hesitated for a split second. Stephanno was insanely good with all sorts of weapons…But daggers were my thing. It had always felt like a natural extension of my arm. I nodded at him confidently.
He scoffed at my confidence then started plucking out all the knifes from the table and counting them.

“Here….Six for you….six for me”
I took the daggers from his hands and looked at him perplexed. He then took out the whistle from the pockets in his pants, then blew on it sharply. A man in his mid -thirties immediately arrived and Stephanno ordered him to bring horses. Horses? What do they have to do with the knife throwing competition?