Chapter 19: Chapter 19

“I hate Belinda with everything in me!” Isla yelled as soon as she got into Yolanda’s room. Yolanda sat up on her bed and looked at her.

“What did the stranger do this time?”

“You won’t believe it. I went to Reggie to finally tell him how I feel about him, but he turned me down.” Isla explained.

“And what does this have to do with Belinda?”

“He turned me down because he likes her, Yolanda! He likes that witch!”

“Hold on, Isla. Did he tell you he likes her or you’re just assuming? Remember, he never reciprocated your feelings in any way.”

“C’mon, Yolanda, are you trying to mock me too? He was with her throughout the day! He kept touching her all in the name of training, and they both seemed to be enjoying it! It’s so annoying!” She smacked and slammed into the bed.

Yolanda scoffed and shook her head. “Well, that’s more of a relief to me. I thought she had some kind of feeling for Princess Megan.”

“Princess Megan? Why would you even think that? They are both women. It doesn’t work like that. And why is that a relief?”

Yolanda swallowed hard and stood up from the bed. “Well, because it doesn’t work. I don’t want her bewitching the princess too.” Yolanda uttered, and Isla nodded.

“That’s correct. I hate her, and I’m happy you hate her too. Shouldn’t we teach her a lesson? I would never let her take Reggie away from me.”

“Isla, listen…” Yolanda approached the bed and sat again. “I know you’re furious about this, but we can’t do anything to her. Princess Megan is always there to protect her. And if we get caught, we’d be punished. This, I am very sure of.”

Isla exhaled loudly and threw her head backward.

“I hope the Princess realizes how fake that lady is before it’s too late. I won’t be surprised if she tries to snatch the Princess’ mate in the future, when she finally has one.”

“That will never happen. Stop thinking so hard about it, Isla. All I can say is, keep talking to Reggie. Who knows, he may end up falling for you.”

“He better fall for me, because if I notice he has something to do with that girl, I won’t take it easy on her. She’d regret stepping her feet into this kingdom.”

~The Next Morning~

Belinda felt so lazy to get out of bed, but she didn’t have a choice. She still had so many lessons to cover under her training.

She also believed that if she trained, it’d help her forget about the Prince faster.

She finished preparing after an hour and headed out of her chamber. She got to the training hall pretty early so she was the first to get there.

She walked to the scabbard and picked a bigger sword… the sword the prince gave her the first time she started training. It was pretty heavy, but she didn’t lose her balance this time.

She carefully grabbed it with her hands and moved to the middle of the hall. She placed the blade of the sword on the floor, and let out a loud exhale.

With her eyes still closed, she dragged her right leg and tilted her hand slowly. She tightened her grip on the handle of the sword and all of a sudden, she lifted the sword, took a swift turn.

She sang the sword in the air and removed her left hand from it. She took another turn, this time, holding the sword with one hand.

She kept turning and rolling, swaying the sword along with her. She took an abrupt stop by kneeling on her right knee and raising her left hand in the air.

She was panting very hard, and she opened her eyes.

“Wow!”

She heard someone say, and clapping accompanied his word. “That was awesome! Who taught you how to do that?”

She looked behind her and saw Reggie smiling widely and clapping. She smiled and stood to her feet.

“My teacher did a good job, right?” She asked, and Reggie chuckled and moved closer to her.

“Yes. That is true. That was a very wonderful move. How were you able to lift that sword with one hand? You complained about its weight yesterday, didn’t you?” He asked, and she nodded.

“True. Surprisingly, it isn’t as hard as I thought it was. I just let myself… do it.” She responded, still trying to catch her breath.

“Great! Would you like to train with me then?” He asked and pulled out his sword from the sword pouch.

“Of course. Are you sure you can beat me?” Belinda teased, and Reggie’s eyes popped wide open.

“I am so scared. Please don’t kill me.” He shivered, and Belinda broke into laughter and shook her head.

“You’re funny.” She muttered as they both laughed. Reggie slowly stopped laughing and stared at her as she laughed.

‘She is so pretty.’ He thought.

“So, are we fighting or not?” Belinda asked, eagerly taking position.

“Of course, we are.” Reggie responded, almost taking position.

Soon, the sounds of clashing swords filled the air. They both kept turning, blocking and hitting. No one was ready to relent.

Belinda put more force and began to move closer to Reggie, making him move back. Instantly, Reggie stopped, he hit her sword pretty hard, making her lose balance.

He rolled swiftly and in no time was at her back, Belinda turned to attack, but it was too late, Reggie’s sword was at her throat already.

They gazed at each other and were panting. “Dead.” Reggie uttered, and Belinda chuckled. She slowly lowered her sword, and so did Reggie.

When he thought the fight was over, Belinda swiftly kicked him in the belly, made him lose balance and he fell to the ground. He grabbed her and she fell on him, placing her sword against his throat.

“Dead.” Belinda uttered too.

The shock on Reggie’s face faded off as soon as she spoke, and they both broke into laughter.

“Nice.” He said in almost a whisper.

Their faces were inches apart, and unconsciously, Reggie had his hands wrapped around Belinda’s waist, due to the fall.

His eyes fell from her eyes down to her lips. He stared at her lips as she laughed, and all he could think of was kissing her.

Belinda stopped laughing, and then she realized what was actually going on. She could feel his hands wrapped around her waist.

She looked down at his hand and when she looked up at his face again, his face was closer that she could feel his breath on her face.

“Can I?” Reggie asked.

“Reggie!” Someone suddenly called aggressively and his name echoed across the room. Belinda hastily removed his hands from her waist and stood up.

They both looked up and saw Damon staring at them in shock and anger.

“Prince Damon.” Belinda called in a low tone. Her heart was beating very fast as their eyes locked.

“My Prince. Good morning.” Reggie uttered as he sprang up.

Damon moved closer to them and diverted his stare from Belinda to Reggie.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting with the other Beta’s from all the packs on how to plan the king's birthday?” Damon asked angrily, and Reggie hastily bowed.

“I’m sorry, my Prince. I got carried away with training. I’ll head there once.” Reggie responded. He put his sword in its pouch and hurried out of the training hall.

After he was out, Belinda gulped hard. She lowered her head and also picked up her sword.

“Good morning, Prince Damon.” She uttered. She could feel his eyes pierce through her skin, and she dared not look him in the eyes.

Damon clenched his fist and jaw as he stared at her. ‘Why was she so close to him? If I hadn’t intervened, would they have kissed?’

Belinda gradually looked up when she realized he was quite silent. The look on his face made shivers run down her spine, but she didn’t look away anymore.

“Do you want to say something to me?” She asked.

Damon scoffed and looked away. “There’s nothing to say. I came here to tell you Megan is looking for you.” He came up with a quick lie and turned to leave.

Belinda bounced her head and watched him leave.

“And…” He stopped walking and looked back. “If you’re going to flirt with someone, don’t do it here. Do it somewhere else.”

“We weren’t flirting, Prince Damon.”

“I don’t care, okay?!” He aggressively answered, making Belinda flinch. He ignored her and walked out of the hall.

Belinda sighed and lowered her head tiredly. ‘He doesn’t care? Even if it’s a bit?’ She questioned herself sadly.

“Belinda?!” Megan called from the door, and ran into the hall.

“Princess Megan.” Belinda called.

“I have been looking for you. I knew you were going to be here.” She said excitedly.

“I was going to come to your room. Prince Damon told me you were looking for me.” Belinda replied.

“Damon? How did he know? I never told him I was looking for you. Did he come here?”

“Yes. He left a few minutes ago.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t see him. I was with Yolanda this morning when I saw him walking down the corridor that led to your room. I wanted to ask him if he saw you but Yolanda distracted me, and I missed him.”

“Oh…” Belinda’s mouth curved in a circular form. ‘What was he doing walking down the corridor that led to my room?’

“Well, that’s not important! My father’s birthday is coming up in a month’s time! Preparations for the big day have started today. The society papers even carried it.”

“Really? I bet it's going to be a very huge event.” Belinda answered.

“Trust me, it is! A reminder is always passed through the society papers a month before his birthday. Would you like to participate in the preparation?”

“Yes! Yes! I’d love to. I’ll do anything you want me to do.” Belinda asked with a warm smile.

“Perfect! Let’s go to my chamber and talk better.” Megan grabbed her hand and they walked out of the hall.

“You said my brother was in the hall right? Did you two finally get to talk? Have you finally told him how you feel?” Megan further inquired, and Belinda shook her head.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Princess Megan. He has a woman now. We should be happy for him. And I… I am getting rid of the feelings already.”

“What? So quick?” Megan asked in awe, and Belinda nervously nodded.

‘No, Princess Megan! I don’t think I can get rid of what I feel for the Prince. It grows everyday, but saying this will only make me look stupid and selfish.’ She thought to herself.

“Yes, Princess Megan. I told you it was just a stupid feeling.” Belinda replied with a fake grin.