Her life ended with fire and began with ashes.
After a heartbreaking loss; Clara trains to become a knight with the General's help. After years of fierce training, she finally gets the title she so rightfully earned.
Being a knight instantly brough...
Fun fact; my birthday is on Christmas Eve...aka 3 days from now. AND this book is only 25 reads away from 1k! And 4 followers away from 400!
Think we can get there by then? 👀
Clara walked into Victor's room only to find him still asleep. She walked closer and laughed at the way his face was squished against his pillows.
"Victor." she called, crossing her arms. She repeated his name multiple times but to no avail as he remained unbothered, and soundly asleep.
Rolling her eyes, she decided to take more drastic measures.
She took a pillow that had fallen on the ground next to his bed and started hitting him with it. Victor startled awake and had his bed been smaller he would have come face to face with the floor. He breathed heavily, clearly distraught. His dark hair was poking in different directions, and Clara found it hilarious.
"Good morning." she smiled innocently.
"Good?" he exclaimed. "What about this was good?"
"It was definitely good for me, your majesty." she laughed lightly, picking out his clothes for the day. He glared at her back, annoyed and grumpy from waking up so awfully. As he was getting up, his eyes trailed on an unfamiliar extra blanket that wasn't there when he went to sleep the previous night.
"Where'd this come from?" Clara glanced back to see him clutching the blanket.
"Magic." she said.
He gave her a blank expression.
"I brought it last night from the room next door." she rolled her eyes. "Where else would it have come from?"
"Oh." he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and yawned, looking over at the table which was supposed to have his breakfast.
"Where's breakfast-" he got cut off when Clara threw his clothes at him, hitting him in the face.
"Waiting for you at the banquet hall." she moved on to prepare more of his things. "The royal family of Elvaria are here."
"Thomas is here?" she nodded. "And Carmen?"
"Yes," she smiled. "and you'll want to get ready faster. She's waiting for you to escort her."
Victor stumbled out of bed and practically ran behind his dressing screen while Clara snickered at his antics.
"What will you be doing today?"
"I finally get a well deserved day off!"
"Have a nice day, Cleo!" she smiled, even though he wouldn't see her. "You can go if you want; I'll be able to take care of the rest."
"No you won't." she sang teasingly.
"What do you mean?" he poked his head out, furrowing his eyebrows.
"You don't even know where Princess Carmen is staying." she quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh." realization hit him. "Well, where is she?"
"East wing, fourth door from the left." she grinned. "I left her some fresh flowers by the door, so you can give them to her."
"Thank you." he smiled sincerely and she returned the favor before waving goodbye and leaving his room.
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Of course, Clara's idea of a day off is being able to practice sparring.
"I can't believe you can fight in a dress now." Julian spoke as he swung his sword towards her.
"Honestly," she scoffed jokingly. "are you really surprised?"
"Can't say I am."
The two continued to spar with their blunt blades, having no mercy on one another. Having analyzed each other's moves over the years, they found it equally challenging to defeat one another.
Taking advantage of her size, Clara quickly escaped his grip and kicked him farther away from her, enabling her to take a breath.
Their swords clashed once more, and they pushed on them so hard, the distance between them only growing less. They could feel their breaths cool down their red faces, making a shiver go down their spine from the momentary cold.
"Hi there." his chest heaves, offering her a small smile.
"Fancy seeing you here." she replied, noticing his eyes glance at her lips.
All too soon, she pushed him back, separating them, and with one swift move she unarmed him, laughing as she did so.
"You let your guard down." she pointed at him with her sword.
"I wonder whose fault that was." he glared playfully, a smile tugging at his lips.
Before Clara could tease him further, Edwin walked into the field the knights were practicing in and called for them all to gather. She felt urgency in his voice when he ordered them to drop their weapons and listen to him.
"Cupia and Crounia have formed an alliance." he announced. "We need to be on high alert from now on, things could turn dark soon."
"Do they plan to attack?" someone asked.
"Not that we know of," he shook his head. "not yet at least."
Crounia and Avelyn had been rival kingdoms almost since they were founded. Crounia had made many attempts to take over Avelyn but thankfully failed. Clara had always heard stories of how the kingdom was run, and it made her shudder from how awful it was.
Their king was cruel, like many who ruled before him. He had no respect for his people. They were miserable and wished nothing more than to be able to leave that wicked place. Their crown prince was also the leader of their army, and they're known to be violent and blood thirsty.
Despite it all, Avelyn had always been able to stand strong against them, and prevent them from entering the land.
However, with Cupia by their side, the task might be harder. Cupia was a fairly strong kingdom too, even had good relations with Avelyn, up until Hugo got to control more aspects of his kingdom.
Clara's playfulness from before completely vanished, drowned in a sea of internal guilt. She figured that it had to do with the way she spoke to Hugo and Victor backing her up.
"Elvaria faces the same threat as us, if not more." Edwin continued. "God forbid anything happens, but should either ofour kingdoms face threat we will be the first line of resistance and protection."
The air grew heavy around them, the possibility of a great war weighing them down. Thunder rolled in the distance, and they felt as if it was a battle cry coming to warn them of what's to come. Their surroundings matched the grey clouding their minds.
That night, everyone hugged their loved ones a little tighter, and cherished every smile more than before.
Things were changing; and as the last leaf of fall fell down, their dread only grew.
Bit of a short chapter, I agree, but know that a lot is coming.
