Chapter 26: Water Bending

I was a giggling mess for the past few days. I was a little mad at Stephanno for reducing me into a giggling blushing lunatic. We had decided to keep our relationship a secret for now cause otherwise it will become the scandal of the century.

I smiled at him lovingly, and he crooked his head at me as his lips twitched with amusement.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked him for the hundredth time.
“You will see” came his reply for the hundredth time.
I slowed down my pace when I saw that we had reached a beautiful, crystal clear lake. I looked at him confused.

He took my hands in his and I immediately interlaced our finger which was starting to become a habit. I frowned when he started removing his shoes. I raised an eyebrow at him confused but he just motioned me to do the same. So , I took off my shoes hesitantly and followed him into the water.

Okay! Why the hell were we walking right into the lake? I looked at him perplexed again but I was distracted briefly when the sunlight shone on his hair. God! I loved his silky smooth hair. I remembered him spotting a man bun in one of my dreams and I immediately opened my mouth and said, “You know what? I think you would look good in a man bun”
His lips twitched as I said it and I immediately closed the distance between us and my fingers started caressing his hair. He froze completely by my touch and I moved in closer and started brushing his hair with my fingers, then pulled it up into a man bun. The water was up to my knees right now. I stepped back to admire my handiwork and found that Stephanno’s eyes was filled with desire now. Seriously, me touching his hair turned him on?

“One day you are going to be the death of me, amica mea” he growled as he blinked his eyes rapidly.
This time it was me who froze. He had uttered the same words in my dreams. Amica mea….my love.
However that wasn’t the part that stiffened me out. It was him saying I would be the death of him. I immediately felt a chill down my spine as I recalled the vision Daniel had showed me of him lying in the grounds motionless. I gulped hard, my care free smile long gone from my face.

He however took my sudden withdrawal as rejection and he said, “ My apologies, I didn’t mean to spring this suddenly on you. You are still young you won’t understand. But I had no idea that you knew latin”
He thought I was hung up on the word amica mea…when the truth couldn’t be more further away than that. I shook myself off my panic attack and concentrated on Stephanno who was watching me wearily with a visible effort. He was now watching me with serious eyes, worried that I would bolt like a frightened deer.

“I love you too” it escaped from my mouth before I could even think. That felt like the most natural thing in the world to say to him. I felt like I belonged with him.
He immediately released the breath he was holding then gave a sigh of relief as he moved in and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him. I hugged him back hesitantly. He nuzzled his tongue in my ear, then purred into my ear, “ I love you, Amica mea” The moment he said that , my heart started thundering furiously and I had to take a deep breath to calm it. My legs felt like it had turned into jelly and I just wanted him to hold me like this forever.

But I drew back nervously and he immediately stiffened again at my withdrawal sensing something was wrong. I couldn’t get the image of him laying motionless in that ground out of my mind……But that ground was familiar.,….disturbingly familiar. I realized with a jolt that it was the temple grounds where I had trained with Justin…..
So it was at the temple grounds that this is going to happen. Why didn’t I recognize the grounds sooner? That seems a little far fetched to pass it off as a coincidence. I frowned at the sudden revelation.

Should I come clean with Stephanno and tell him the truth about my origin? Should I tell him about the damn prophecy…no .no . it was still soon for that, I don’t want Stephanno to leave me or treat me like I am the devil. What if he becomes disgusted with me and leaves me forever? I can't survive that. It has only been a few days, but I can't even imagine my life without him.

I drew my eyes to him with an effort, trying to hide the worry in them and I saw that he was watching my expression with narrowed eyes.
“Since you love me too, may I have your permission to claim you? Seeing Dominic’s claim on you really ticks me off” he drawled on in a suspicious tone.
“NO” I immediately shouted without thinking.
His jaws dropped into a scowl and I saw a maniacal gleam in his eyes. Damn, bad move. I immediately pressed my right hand to my mouth in shock at my sudden outburst, my eyes widening, panicked.
“And why is that? Because of Dominic?” he pressed on.
He was jealous? Ugh, now of all times? I would have laughed out loud had the situation been a little less intimidating and tense. I could see that he was barely controlling his rage. I remembered the Stephanno I first met, who shunned me and made Dominic into a piece of statue. He was usually so calm and collected, but I always managed to bring out his negative side.
I racked my mind, thinking of a way to defuse this nuclear bomb, which was currently ticking away dangerously.

“ No….I wanted nothing more than for you to claim me since I realized that you were my mate. Do you know how heartbroken I was when you refused to accept me and ignored my complete existence?” I replied, feeling a little hurt at his lack of trust in me.

He winced sharply at my attack, then steadied himself as he replied, “Then what’s stopping you?”
Only one thing is stopping me….the fact that he will be able to read my mind once he claimed like Dominic can now. I don’t want him to find out about me being from the blood sect and the truth about my father and about my satanic powers that way.

I wanted to tell all of this when the time is right, when I am fully assured that he will not leave me when he finds out . I can’t let him find out after he had claimed me, that will be like cheating him. And I don’t want him to feel disgusted and stuck with me.

I want him to come to me when he knows all the facts about me and is still willing to accept me. But I am not confident to reveal all that just yet. I am kinda enjoying us right now, leaving all the drama for later. I bit my underlip, trying to think of an escape route and...Of course, why didn't I think of that before? It's the perfect excuse, one he could not argue or find fault with.

“You only said it’s wrong for us to do this. We should wait till Dominic comes back” I replied lamely.
His scowl grew as his eyes again raked over my neck to where the mark was and I quickly pulled out my ponytail,my hands shivering with fright as I did it, letting my hair loose so it covers the mark, hiding it from plain view.

“Hhmm, Why are we standing in the middle of the lake? Why did you bring me here?” I asked him in a pathetic attempt to change the topic.
“To train of course” he replied smugly.
I heaved a sigh of relief as he dropped it and instead focused on my training….but wait, what training in the middle of the goddamn lake?

When he saw the confused look on my face, he further clarified his intentions by stating, “Water Bending”
“ I can’t water bend” I stated simply, a little bit annoyed now.
“You do have a water source inside you. I can feel it though it is very minute and almost non existent. It’s as if something dominant is pushing it down.” He said while looking grimly at me.

I swallowed. I can’t train with Stephanno , I realized with a sinking heart. It will only take a matter of time before he put two and two together and realized what my dominant powers were that was suppressing my water bending ability……an ability which I didn’t know I had till now. Maybe I can play it down like Dominic had suggested and make it seem like I had fire bending skills.

I looked at him with fear in my eyes, gulping hard as I replied, “Water bending, that’s impossible.”
He raised an eyebrow at my declaration and asked, “And why is that?”
“Because I can fire bend. And as everyone knows fire and water can’t exist together. You must have gotten it wrong”
“Yes, I know you can fire bend. I saw you in the fight taking down the lycan with your flaming knifes”
Damn, he saw that? Then I remembered how he had always kept close to me during the fight without being much obvious about it.
“Fire and water can’t exist together” he stated again grimly, looking me in the eye.

I just said that. Why was he repeating ? My throat went dry and my eyes bulged with panic as I realized the implication behind the words. I clutched my chest, panicked as my heart started beating fast, this time due to panic. Fire and Water can’t exist together. Both of us can’t mate and become one when both of us have such a conflicting element within us.

“I..Uhmm” I stuttered stuttering, losing my balance and slid into the water. I was drowning into the water, I quickly thrust my legs, thrashing my legs wildly as I resurfaced.
I spit out the water I had swallowed and gasped for breath upon emerging. Thank god, the lake wasn't deep.

Stephanno panicking, held me in his arms tightly, refusing to let go of me as he swam towards the shore, heaving me with him.
I felt relief pass through me as my feet felt the dirty mud.
“I can’t loose you” I gasped out loud, while drawing on several deep breaths.

Stephanno shook his hair, which was now free….No man bun. It was now soaking wet. He stopped drying his shirt when he saw my panicked eyes.
He immediately knelt down beside me, raising my chin up so he can get a good view and held it there, while his eyes searched for something in there.
He pressed his index finger to my lips,apparently satisfied by whatever he saw in my eyes, shushing me as he assured me, “You won’t”.