“Rumors?” That the man you think is your father, isn’t your real father. “I don’t know about rumors but does your mother hate mine as much as mine hates yours?”
I watched him carefully, waiting for his reaction. It was always good to know what went on with other kingdoms.
He laughed which surprised me. He could have easily gotten offended. Zyacus probably would. “I think loathe is a better word. But does the relationship between our parents affect us?”
“Does it need to?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. This academy is supposed to mend the old bad blood, right?”
A loud whistle abruptly ended the chatter in the room and I looked to a female professor standing on a table. “Meet and greet is over. It’s our time for lunch in the dining hall. Please reconvene with your kingdom and line up at the door.”
Aric stuck out his hand. “It was great to meet you. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other quite often.”
I stared at it. If I touched him and saw his death—I just couldn’t do it. With his sleeve slightly pulled up, I noticed a brown mark on the underside of his wrist. About the size of a gold coin, and if I wasn’t mistaken, it was in the shape of a human skull. “Is that a birthmark?” I asked. Distraction always worked.
His gaze fell to the mark and he immediately put his hand behind his back. “Yeah,” he mumbled and cleared his throat. “See you around.” He darted off without so much as looking at me, and disappeared into his group.
That was odd.
Taz put an arm across my shoulders. “I’m starving. Let’s go.”
∞∞∞
Turkey legs, warm rolls, fresh butter, seasoned potatoes, and an array of desserts filled the tables. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I smelled the rich aroma of all the delicious food. I loaded my plate and stuffed a piece of a roll into my mouth when Legacy nudged my arm. “So, Prince Aric…”
“What about him?” I asked, wondering what she was trying to get at but I was fairly certain she was prying for my feelings.
“Come on, Vis, I need to know about him—meet him. Aric and Zyacus—beauty must run in their blood,” she said, taking her glass into her hand.
Taz, sitting on my other side, groaned loudly. “Please don’t make me gag.”
“Oh, hush up, Taz,” Legacy said. “We can talk about boys.”
I looked over at him and saw the hurt in his eyes. Legacy had no idea how much he liked her. For some reason she was blind to his fondness, and I didn’t want to tell her and make it awkward between them. Deep down, I wondered if he had real hopes of marrying her someday. “No amount of beauty could make up for Zyacus’s stupidity.” I took a sip of the sweet berry drink in my glass. “Aric is different. He actually seems nice. But he has this mark on his wrist, when I mentioned it he acted strange, like he didn’t want me to talk about it.”
Taz lifted an eyebrow. “What kind of mark?”
“A birthmark shaped like a human skull.”
“Sounds ominous,” Legacy said, stabbing her fork in a piece of meat. “I wonder if he’s secretly evil.” Then she laughed at herself before either one of us could respond.
“Not evil,” I said and rolled my eyes. “But it probably has some significance or he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did.”
When most of the food was gone, we were led out to different areas of the academy. My age group was taken to the archery range. Simplistic, and should be used for first and second years, the twelve targets were painted on bales of straw.
“Since it’s the first day, let’s do something fun,” Madison said, and pulled a bow from her back. Papa, handed her an arrow and within seconds it sat lodged in the center of a target.
“A tournament, to see who is the best shot,” Madison continued. “Nothing fancy, no moving. You’ll stand on the line and shoot. The professors and I will judge who goes onto the next round.”
There appeared to be two professors from each kingdom standing near their own groups. “We need four volunteers from each group,” a male professor from Collweya said. “Since there are so many of you, you’ll get one shot. If you are within inches of the center, you have a good chance of moving on.”
Legacy’s hand darted into the air. Archery was one of her best talents. It wouldn’t surprise me if she won the whole tournament. With about a hundred and fifty students, I faded to the back to wait. I wanted to watch and see who my competition was.
The shooting began and it was almost laughable how bad the other two kingdoms were compared to Delhoon, though not surprising to me. Most of them could at least hit the straw but were usually a foot from the center. They had a lot of work to do.
I chuckled to myself when one girl’s arrow soared two feet over the target.
“You must be good if you’re laughing at everyone,” that deep honeyed voice of Zyacus said from my right.
Annoyed that he’d approach me, I turned my head slightly. “You could say that.”
“Care to make a wager?” A mischievous smile grew on his handsome face.
Beauty must run in their blood… Ugh I wanted to punch him in that perfect nose, but I was always up for a good gamble. “Let me guess, who’s the better shot between you and I?”
“Of course, but you’re forgetting the wager part.”
Curiosity piqued, I raised an eyebrow. “What do you have that I could possibly want?”
“Oh, I’m sure there’s plenty I have you want,” he said.
Trying not to blush I looked away, and tapped my foot, waiting.
“If I win,” he said, his wintery-blue eyes locked onto mine. “You have to kiss me.”
I let out
