Cursed Blood

After finally getting breakfast -- albeit it was with Dmitri -- I managed to find myself happily worn out and wandering the castle. My brothers and father were busy all day with tours, and I didn't think I was allowed out of the castle grounds until the ball was over. One option was to train more, but I was already tired and couldn't fathom more sparing.

"Excuse me."

I turned around to see woman in a fancy dress waiting patiently behind me. I cleared my throat before bowing my head to her, unsure of her position in the castle. She smiled, dropping into a curtsey before straightening up until her posture resembled a ruler.

"I am Janora, one of the Lady Garcia's escorts. It is my pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rose," the girl said pleasantly, giving me a quick once over. She pursed her lips before motioning for me to follow her, her skirts swishing around her in a perfect movement whenever she walked. Janora kept a close eye on my movements, constantly sizing me up. I grimaced when she looked away, knowing I was sweaty and probably dirty, even after breakfast and getting changed.

Since the weather was beginning to become hot and dry, I had traded my sweaty leather clothing in for a dress, surprisingly. It was a plain combination of sky blue and a light lavender, with a classic bodice and a skirt that barely passed my knee. Instead of tough boots, I wore comfortable black flats that made me slide on smooth floors. Janora's outfit was much more fitting for a royal setting -- she wore a jewelled dress of white and green, her skirt brushing the floor. While my chocolate hair ran down my back in unorganized waves, her own silky hair was pinned back in an elegant updo.

Compared to her, I looked a little like a rat.

Sighing without making any noise, I tilted my chin up as if I didn't notice the difference between us and followed Janora into a side room near the throne room. Inside, there were bookshelves upon bookshelves, with desks in the back of the room. One desk had a chair on either side of it, with Lillian Garcia occupying one. Lillian the Generous, the warrior who made sure her opponents were truly dead all while doing everything she could for her people without asking for much in return. She may have been a sassy character in person, but I knew the title suited her.

Janora swept in beside me, dropping into a perfect curtsey. "Lady Garcia, I present Ms. Rose, as you requested."

Lillian glanced up with a cheeky grin. She waved me over, the open chair for me. I sat down as gracefully as possible, lessons my mother briefly taught me in my mind. Normally, I wasn't one to be prim and proper -- I was a farm girl.

"It's good to see you again, Cloud. Especially when there's no one around to make this traumatic for you," Lillian joked, though it was rather embarrassing for me. I bowed my head, remembering the breakfast we had where a maid was quivering at my feet. The worst instance in which I began to feel like a monster.

I looked away with a frown, trying to push away my guilt.

Lillian took one look at my face and her grin fell. "Sorry, Cloud. Touchy subject, also, not what you're here for. Her Majesty asked me to get you up-to-date on what Darkblood matters we've been looking into, and Janora and I will be your personal tutors," she said with a weak smile, trying to soothe my sadness. I exhaled slowly, raising my eyes to meet hers.

"Thank you for your help, uh, Lady Garcia."

She winked. "Janora may call me that, but you can call me Lillian."

I nodded, looking at the books around us. Janora, as if predicting the future, took a file from one of the other desks and handed it to Lillian. The renowed warrior flipped through it, sliding it around so that I could read the written notes. It was all about several Darkblood camps around the area, while the other page was some sort of plan involving me. My eyes scanned the page about Darkbloods, picking out various things.

"'Confirmed six camps near the Valley. All leaders are accounted for with the exception of one. Currently twenty-seven missing Lightbloods suspected of being somewhere in these camps. Approximately at least two hundred Darkbloods in total in the six camps, with only seven known powers.' Who got all this stuff?!" I practically shrieked, continuing to read through the file on Darkbloods. It wasn't the worst situation, but it seemed obvious that us Lightbloods were ill-informed.

Glancing at my file, I saw a family history section and several theories about how I came to be. There were also all possible notes about my powers that have been confirmed. The only thing missing was what the spirit told me, and Rebecca's story. At least, it wasn't in the file I was allowed to see. One thing I did notice, however, were several things written in the margin of the paper.

Angel. War of Gods.

Gorgeous.

The first two that stuck in my head had a different handwriting than the last one, though that one meant the most to me. It caused me to blush, and I felt my face go pink as I shoved the files back to Lillian. "T-Thank you Lady Garcia."

"Lillian," she corrected again. "And don't bother giving me that. I have two other copies. Keep this, Cloud."

Blushing, I took the hastily passed file back, tucking all the pages into their places. I'll read more into it later, I told myself, glancing from Janora to Lillian.

The woman sighed. "Time for lessons, I guess. Are you ready, Cloud?"

I swallowed, scratching the back of my head. "Will this be hard?" I asked hesitantly.

She snickered, rolling her eyes before beckoning for Janora to retrieve another book.

"Just you wait."

Quick Author's note!

I missed a few updates, whoops :)

I have been working on the 50th chapter of Cursed Blood AND another book by me that will be coming out soon so I have been skipping certain upload days just so that I can clean and polish up a few things. There isn't much more to the reason than that, so I'm sorry.

I don't have much else to say, I just wanted to let that be known, but I will say that chapters will probably start getting longer as we get toward chapter 50, and that no this doesn't mean that the end is coming soon. Not even close!

The only reason this book is going on as long as it will be going on for is because the series system in the Beta FindNovel.net writing app doesn't work as smoothly as I'd hoped so I will be putting all of Cloud's story into one long book. Future projects will hopefully be in actual series, but I can never be sure.

So yeah! Expect a lot more to come, and I will talk to you in the future :)