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IMPRESS.

Chapter Seventeen: Who is, Oberyn?

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I hate when I cry in front of others, it makes me look weaker than I already am. Zac managed to hit a soft spot within me because of his spite and cruelty.

Alexander managed to cheer me up a little after he let me cry out my feelings and tell him everything.

Everything as in what went down at breakfast, how I was put on the spot more than once and forced to talk about my dead parents.

But, I didn't tell Alexander about what happened last night with me and Zac.

"My brother is an idiot and you are too good for him, Natalya. I really want you and if you lose this competition which I am sure you won't, but if you do, I will do everything to make you mine and to stop anyone including my brother, from hurting you," Xander stroked my cheek with his hand as I brought my lowered gaze up to his eyes.

I did like Alexander and I definitely would not mind if he was mine and I was his. He had a good heart.

We were sat at the edge of his bed and whilst sniffing up I laid the side of my head on Xander's shoulder, "I am really glad I met you, thank you, Alexander."

Alexander swung his arm around me and brought me into a comforting embrace, "you are beautiful, the only human I have ever met that I can actually stand and don't worry about it, princess."

Smiling and wiping my eyes one last time, I decided it was time to stop being emotional and time to get back on my feet. I removed my head from Alexander's shoulder and turned to him, "so what have you planned for my stage two practice?"

For a second Xander was surprised at my sudden mood change but I gave him a reassuring smile, "I need to take off what happened at breakfast off my mind and focus..."

"Alright, I like this attitude and what I have planned for you is right here..." Alexander trailed off and I looked around the room for a second then arched my brow in confusion, "huh?"

Alexander chuckled, "I have royal blood, you never asked if I had any special abilities like my father, brother and sister."

Oh yeahhh.

I almost forgot, how could I forget that?

"I wanted to ask you the other day at the archery range, what is your 'special' power?" I asked whilst picking my legs and dress up from the floor and crossing them on the bed, becoming interested in the topic of abilities.

This talk about abilities reminded me that I had to make certain that I could control fire before I blabbed it to my brother and Lord Hilbert. I also needed to find out who Oberyn was.

Silver streaks formed in Xander's eyes as he smirked and brought my attention to his fingers that he was slowly rubbing together instead of his eyes, "watch closely..."

I did as he told me to and watched him rub his fingers together until he clicked them and I jumped, finding myself on my feet and no longer sat on his bed.

The gasp that left my mouth made Xander laugh at my shock. "You- How- What- This is really whoa, are we really here or what? Did you teleport us somewhere?" I questioned whilst stammering, completely taken back by the big location change.

"I know this might sound confusing but, we are still in my bedchamber..." Xander smiled proudly at our surroundings which I was super fascinated by.

We were stood in the middle of endless amounts of water, like no joke, we were literally stood in the centre on some kind of circular podium surrounded by water in the middle of the day.

In the far away distance were some mountains and wait... A volcano?

"But then, how are we here if we are in your bedroom?" I asked with my hands on my head whilst turning on my heel in order to scan this landscape. I just wanted to paint this moment. But, all I could do was to capture it in my memory.

Alexander crossed his arms wearing his usual black tailcoat, boots, breeches and white shirt.

"This is just a figment of your imagination which I have played with to project this," Xander crouched down and cupped some water in his hand before letting it pour from his hand.

What kind of insane ability is this?

"Wow, it seems so real, I mean the water feels like water. Are you sure this is just an illusion you have created? I thought only the black witch could do this?" I ran my fingers down my face completely stunned.

Xander shrugged, "the black witch can do a lot of magic, she can do this too but so happens that I am able to do it too." I inaudibly mouthed 'wow' and shook my head in disbelief.

"So what is this, why have you created this illusion that is real in my eyes?" I questioned when I looked up at him.

"This is what stage two will look like and your mission is to get from here to over there..." Alexander pointed where the mountains and volcano were and my eyes widened.

Almost choking on my own saliva, I placed my hand on my heart. "What? How am I- How am I supposed to get over there? I can't even swim properly."

"In the last stage you swam fine, but in this stage, swimming isn't the only way to get over there," Xander answered, "there are many more ways."

"Like what? Tell me the easiest way of getting there." I challenged.

Xander raised his eyebrows at me like it wasn't obvious. "Do you really want me to say?"

My eyebrows knitted together as I nodded and waited for Xander to tell me.

"I am just kidding Natalya the aim of the stage isn't to swim over there," Xander laughed at me pointing at my dumbfounded face, "the aim of the stage is for you to stay on this circular podium we are stood on right now. If you touch the water the slightest you are out."

I pushed Xander back by the shoulder gently and smiled in embarrassment for having believed him, "okay okay I get it... I am gullible but, isn't this stage too easy then, what is difficult about it? All I have to do is stand here?"

Alexander crossed his arms and looked out in the distance as he spoke, "the hard bit about it, is that someone could think the aim of the stage is to get to more land and end up touching the water easily. And the other hard bit about it is that you won't be alone."

When I stopped copying Xander and quit staring out into the distance, I snapped my head at him when he said I wouldn't be alone. As I snapped my head to him, our location changed.

We were back in his bedroom and Xander was holding out two daggers similar to the one I had in the first stage.

I looked up at him unsurely. "Like the previous stage, you are going to have to fight a vampire and I am going to teach you how to fight one properly."

Oh okay, so the vampire will try to knock me off the podium and push me into the water. Okay, I like a little fight, I am totally ready for this.

Taking the daggers from Xander I looked down at what I was wearing with uncertainty. "Am I going to have to change?"

Xander waved his hand and shook his head, "don't bother, no blood will be drawn and that dress is loose enough for you to be flexible with the knives."

Well then, "okay let's do this."

I got into an I am ready to stab someone position and Xander gestured with his hands for me to try slash and injure him, "show me what you got, princess."

Smirking I launched forward with my right-hand gripping on the dagger and sliced it through the air, hoping that it would at least draw some blood from Alexander but, instead, I fell straight into some book shelves when Xander used his speed and moved out the way of the attack and behind me.

"Wow, I did not think you were just going to go straight for it, you seem eager but, eagerness won't help you win the stage. You need to be a little less predictable or else the vampire you fight against will catch you off balance and push you into the water." Xander explained and slowly I backed up from the shelves with a reddened face.

How embarrassing, well, at least, I didn't fall... right?

I looked at Xander very confused at what he was trying to instruct me to do, "I don't get it."

Alexander bolted behind me and slid his hand up my arm and to my hand, instantly I felt warm around the face at the closeness of Xander's body to mine.

His front was against my back and his lips were literally and approximately less than an inch away from my right ear.

"This is a little intimate, don't you think?" I asked unsurely with a nervous smile.

Xander's chest vibrated as he chuckled and whispered in my ear, "get used to it sweetheart, I like you and have a list of things in my mind that I would rather do to you in a heartbeat."

When I blushed furiously at his response and left speechless Xander continued to speak, "now when you are attacking a vampire, you need to get them off their feet first as it is easier for you to attack them whilst they are down."

"How do I do that?" I asked quietly and breathed in to compose myself from the tingliness I was feeling all over my body.

"You distract them," as Alexander seductively whispered these words in my ear, he pulled my hair back and away from my eyes, "then..." he caressed my cheek and made me shut my eyes briefly at how soft his hand was against my skin.

It was a bad idea closing my eyes because as soon as I did Xander got to his point, "you kick their legs from underneath them."

Xander kicked my legs from beneath me and before I could hit the ground...

He caught me.

He caught me in a romantic dip position like we were doing a finishing pose to a glamorous couple's dance sequence.

"And then..." Alexander smirked down at me as I looked into his hungry, darkened eyes and was completely brought into a scary daze which I couldn't break out from.

Although I was holding onto Alexander if he let go I would go tumbling down, "and then what?"

I really wanted to kiss him, I wanted him to kiss me. It was the perfect moment but he was taking his time stealing this opportunity to steal a kiss.

"And then you kill them, looking straight into their eyes as you twist the dagger in their bitter heart," Xander tapped my chest and slowly brought me up after winking down at me.

I cleared my throat once I was back up on my feet, "um sorry, yeah, okay I got it. Let me try again."

Why did I want him to kiss me so bad? What the hell is going on, I don't like him, do I? The only boy I like, like that, is my best friend Harrison. So, why am I feeling this way towards Xander?

It must surely be normal for a girl to feel this way towards him. Well, I hope so or else this session of practice is going to be painfully long for my currently exploding ovaries.

***

"He is being a real pain recently, don't let him get to you, he does that, he enjoys cutting deep into people until he is satisfied by seeing their tears..." Alaric waited for me to reassure him that I was okay after this morning.

I forced a smile, "I hate him, I really do and I hope he knows that I am only in this competition because I really didn't have a choice. Don't worry about me Alaric, I can take care of myself. The prince won't get any more satisfaction from bringing me down anymore, he is going to love the feisty side of me."

Alaric was waving his hands disapprovingly, "let's not get overboard now... I am just glad you are okay, I am too. I got over it when I remembered how much of a shit he can be."

I laughed, "you can say that I again."

Lord Hilbert was just smiling as he witnessed mine and Alaric's conversation.

We were stood in his little library office place I had been in before and where Lord Hilbert did all his duties, "what is it that you wanted to ask us, Natalya?"

Oh, I almost forgot. I came to talk to Alaric and Lord Hilbert about the note I had received in the morning.

"Yeah I have a question about a note I received this morning..." I started, "Who is Oberyn?" I asked placing the note I had found in the morning down on the desk in front of Lord Hilbert.

Alaric used his speed to rush to Lord Hilbert's side suddenly making me jump, "Oberyn!?"

He was angry his eye colour was completely gone, all that remained was a darkness and tiny white lightning bolts sparking in his eyes as he clenched his fists.

Alaric was not the Alaric I remembered right now.

He looked really scary like he did in the dungeon when I first saw him and Derek torturing the mother and son. "Yes, I would like to speak to him. Alone, now that I have seen how you have reacted to his name."

Lord Hilbert was in some kind of frozen mode as he hadn't moved since I mentioned the name. I looked at my brother waiting for an answer and he had to compose himself. "Oberyn is a bad man, Natalya, a very bad man who is locked up ready to be executed."

"This name was written on a note for me for a reason, I don't know what this Oberyn has done that is making you act this way or whom he is. But, all I know is he may know who is responsible for the death of our parents' heck he could be the one who is. Please, Alaric let me speak to him." I put m hands together pleadingly.

Alaric was still not acting moral and I had to turn to Lord Hilbert. "Lord Hilbert, tell Alaric to give me at least five minutes with this Oberyn..."

Lord Hilbert finally snapped out of the trance he was in and cleared his throat, "Natalya, Oberyn has bad intentions all the time, bad intentions that have almost brought the entire realm of Asten begging at other kingdoms' gates. But, if Oberyn supposedly has some info that could lead to us finding the person behind your parents' death... then I say you should have at least five minutes with him."

Although I really wanted to react in fear to the fact Oberyn could be some psycho, I wanted to show both Alaric and Lord Hilbert I could handle it.

"Fine..." Alaric groaned. "But, only five minutes and you won't go speak to him alone," he tried to say calmly, "if he tries something you wouldn't be able to protect yourself, so I will come into the cell with you."

I shake my head refusing this offer. I want to go speak to Oberyn myself without any distractions or interferences, especially from my brother.

That was when I was struck with a sudden realisation.

"I am going alone because actually, I can protect myself," I crossed my arms and challenged my brother.

Alaric knitted his eyebrows together, clearly lost by my words and I had to rephrase my words and use my actions to speak louder than my words.

Turning around with a mischievous smile on my face, I faced a fire torch on the wall which was nearly coming out soon and need a new flame.

"Watch carefully," as I said this I concentrated on the small flame and picked my open hand up in front of me. Feeling a small burning sensation within me which made my fingers tingle, I squeezed my hand into a fist just as the flame exploded into a much bigger one.

As I concentrated harder the flame flared up and began to burn the wood around it.

When I turned my face to my brother and Lord Hilbert, their faces had paled, not just because I had played with one fire but also because I had made every other fire torch in the room ignite without realising.

"My ability triggered," I smiled proudly whilst stating the obvious and lifting my shoulders up innocently.

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