The shiny black floor of the Keep's main hallway reflected the dull afternoon light, along with the small, serious figure of Aina. She stood perfectly straight, every part of her posture composed as she moved modestly with minimal effort . Her shoulders were back, her chin slightly raised, giving her the cold, controlled look expected from the daughter of the venerable House Mellou.
Servants and gaurds walked past her quickly. Their footsteps grew quiet as they neared her, and they bowed or nodded out of respect. Aina returned the gestures with only the smallest movement of her eyes. To everyone else, she looked like a flawless statue of discipline—solid, necessary, and unshakable.
But inside, she was boiling with anger.
Aina wasn't just irritated by the trouble Jamie Thorne caused. She was genuinely furious that the girl had suddenly become such a huge part of Elias's life. In over one month the two were practically inseperable.
'That little brat,' she thought bitterly.
'She even sleeps in his bed, she challenges me in my own territory. Even I haven't done that yet!'
She slowed down at a tall window that overlooked the courtyard and gardens. Her face stayed neutral, but her lips tightened slightly in vexation.
She saw them below.
The courtyard had been transformed into a miniature tundra courtesy of Jamie, who, using her Trait, 'The Emperor' had frozen a large area of the ground into a shiny sheet of ice and snow. It sparkled in the weak sunlight.
That annoyed Aina more, the knowledge that she shared one of her Trait Classes with the girl.
'The wench...'
Elias was smiling-genuinely smiling. Aina grabbed thebottom window frame. Anytime he was with her or anyone else infact, his expressions seemed...forced, as if he was wearing a mask to hide his true self. Despite her akward nature, she had tried getting him to be free with her, she was his loving older sister after all. But she kept being misunderstood and if anything he wore more masks around her in particular. She heard the maids one time calling her cold but she didn't really get it. She was being her normal self and thought they kept their distance because of the difference in their status, not that she'dmind if they came and talked to her.
Her mind returned to Elias who dodged the snowballs Jamie was making and throwing, using his 'Magician' to shift his body in sharp, controlled movements. He was practicing, mixing playful fun with real training. Jamie had suggested this approach, telling them that it was one of the ways her father had taught her. Lord-um,Uncle Alaric approved before she could object.
She kissed her teeth.
'Work is work and play is play. You're either doing one or the other not both. Divided attention only brings about stagnation.'
As she watched, Jamie suddenly stopped using snowballs and threw up an ice wall, stunning Elias who came to a halt. Taking advantage of her friends momentary confusion, she moved with surprising speed, running at Elias and wraping her arms tightly around him just as he made to move. He froze in shock, losing control of motion and they both collapsed on the ground.
"Got you!" Jamie declared triumphantly.
Aina's stomach twisted.
'She's stealing him,' Aina thought angrily.
'She's taking something that should be mine.'
Aina had been the one guiding Elias all this time, defending him, helping him grow. She understood the pressure he was under, being offspring of the head of a House, a Lord. She understood the weight...
And yet this minx, this tomoy without an ounce of feminine grace had walked in and instantly gotten closer to him than she had been.
'Why is she always here?' Aina wondered.
'Doesn't she have her own home? Is Thorne so useless he can't control his own daughter?' The rumors that might spread—an unmarried girl sleeping repeatedly in a brothers's room—made Aina's skin crawl. Thinking of herself rather in that possition caused a blush to appear on her face.
She suddenly remembered the matching rings: the silver one on Elias's finger and the obsidian one on Jamie's and her blush turned into a frown.
It burned in her mind.
A week prior, she'd heard three loud bangs from Elias's room and rushed in, thinking he was in danger and, imagining the look of gratitude on his face as his big sis came to his rescue.
Instead, she found Jamie kneeling beside Elias, pressing a piece of ice to a small, round wound on his temple. Two more wounds marked his chest. There was blood on him and a mix of blood and grey paste clung to his hair.
She immediately assumed Jamie had hurt him. Not only did the hussy arrive before she did but had the audacity to giver her order
'The nerve to boss me, Aina Mellou, around.'
Now, watching them from the window, Elias pulled away from Jamie's hug, smiling at something she whispered. The sight stabbed Aina like a needle.
Her eyes drifted back to the courtyard. A tiny shard of ice, a piece of the ice wall, lay in the snow—small, but dangerous if conditions were right. Without moving her body, she used her Star Trait to manipulate gravity. The shard began to shake, ready to shoot upward like a bullet toward Jamie's neck.
But before it could lift, it vanished—erased by a sudden pulse of Anti-Flow.
Jamie's laughter faded as she turned and and stared straight at Aina's window. Their eyes met—sharp, hostile, challenging.
'Tch.'
Jamie's Emperor Trait was powerful and she seemed to know how to use it but the girl's Anti-Flow was even more curious—it was unstable, violent, unpredictable,turbulent like the sea during a storm.
She didn't try to control it.
She just dwelt in the chaos.
Aina stepped away from the window with a quiet scoff and continued down the hallway, Jamie's challenging stare still burning in her mind.She rubbed her wrist, remembering what happened yesterday during training.
Jamie had struck her with a wooden sword—but the hit wasn't just physical. Jamie's own Anti-Flow stirred right before each impact, doubling the power of the strike and knocking Aina flat on her back.
"Oh?" Jamie had teased. "Did you find a stain on the floor?"
The shame still tasted bitter.
Aina finally reached a large, polished door—the private chambers of Lady Elara Mellou-Dukker. She took one deep, steadying breath, forcing herself to calm down and her emotions to disappear. The jealous sister vanished. The composed niece remained.
She knocked twice, crisp and formal.
"Come in." replied a soft voice from within.