This is chapter one of book two Sapphire lunges at me, snarling. His ears flick and his wolf-like teeth are bared as he jabs at me with a borrowed sword. I parry with my knife, pressing him backwards. The clang of metal rings through the air and the heat of the sun beats down onto us. “Good job, Sapphire! Watch your feet, Topaz!” General Maya shouts. Frustration shoots through me. Shut UP! How am I gonna focus with you yelling at me!? I whirl around Sapphire’s next slash, my sweat-soaked hair sticking to my face despite my ponytail. Quartz slurps Coke from a Mcdonalds cup, sitting on a nearby bench and working on his math homework. I’d rather do math than this. This is tiring. General Maya claps her hands. “Get a drink!” Sapphire’s sword clatters onto the cobblestone of the courtyard, and he collapses to his knees, panting. “Why do you shift halfway to wolf while fighting?” I ask him after taking a drink from my water. “Curious.” “Mobility and agility. I’ve noticed it helps me move more swiftly.” He chokes out, making a graspy motion for his water. I snort and toss the bottle to him. General Maya walks toward us, her brown hair pulled into a bun around her demon horns. “Great job, you two.” She tells us. “You’ve been improving quickly.” “Thanks!” Sapphire says, gulping down his water. “Prince Topaz, you don’t have much to improve on, since you did pretty good teaching yourself to fight in the eleven years you were living alone.” She says. “But you could work on your footwork a bit, and try to think more. Think about each move before you make it, instead of just acting on instinct. You’re not alone anymore, and you can plan your style a bit more.” “Kind of hard to plan when you struggle to find food for your next meal.” I mutter. “Living in the forest didn’t even start to get easy until just before I met Sapphire. But then I didn’t need to live wild anymore.” Sapphire blushes, trying to hide his face in his water bottle. I fight back a smile. “You’re not liquid! Stop trying to shove yourself into it!” I tease. “Get a room, you two…” Maya mutters to herself. Quartz checks his watch and groans, kicking his feet. “GAH! Where is AMETHYST!? Our gametime collab for Mario Kart will start soon! They’ve been gone an HOUR!” I turn to face him. “Liyah needs this. She needs him right now, especially finding out about his month of life. She needs every moment with him. Be patient.” “Well, go get some lunch, you two. Let’s be done for the day.” General Maya tells us. “The kitchen’s making their specialty soup!” Quartz makes a happy noise and shoots to his feet, sprinting off into the castle. Sapphire picks his sword off the ground. “Topaz? You wanna go again?” He asks. His grip is tight on the handle of his sword, and his ears are flattened to his head. Determination marks his face with a hint of desperation, but his arms are shaking. He’s been pushing himself too hard. He’s barely standing. I shake my head. “We’ve already sparred three times, Sapphire. Take a break, okay?” Hurt flashes across his face, and he looks away. “But-” “I had to learn it early. If you push yourself to early, you’ll burn out and just be a burden on yourself and us.” I point at his arms. “You can barely stand, let alone fight. Let’s go get lunch.” I hope that wasn’t too harsh. I sheathe my knife and walk towards him. “You’re not invincible, Sapphire. You need to let yourself rest.” I pull him closer to me, sensing that he’s on the brink of collapsing. “Here, let’s get you inside before you faint.” Slinging one of his arms over my shoulders, I let him cling to me as we walk towards the entrance of the palace. His breathing grows faster and more ragged as he struggles to catch his breath. “Slower, Sapphire.” I order. “Don’t rush. Breath slower.” “I think…” he wheezes. “You were right. But...” I look over at him, and he lets go of me. “I should go hunt. I doubt the kitchen has raw meat.” He murmurs. “They have some in the fridge most likely.” I tell him. He wrinkles his nose. “Yeah, the processed, gross kind. No thank you.” I grab his arm. “Liyah will be hunting soon anyways. Just have her hunt for you.” “She’s part eagle. I don’t want rodents.” He rubs his neck. “Sorry, I’m a picky eater.” Do you not know the meaning of “REST?!” I know you’re trying not to be a burden, but this is just annoying! “Then ask her to hunt something different. She’ll try it.” I protest. “You can barely stand!”
“And she’s been distant lately to everyone but Amethyst.” He adds. “It’s just better that I do it myself.” I let out a defeated sigh. He’s still not caving. I’m TRYING to take care of you, but it’s hard when you don’t cooperate! Maybe reverse psychology would work? A guilt trip to get him to rest? “Okay. Just… be careful. I don’t want to have to run out there to save you because you passed out.” I hiss, letting a hint of my worry slip through. “I’ll be careful.” He tells me, glowing. Fur sprouts from his body, and his face shifts into a wolf’s head in a split-second. Soon, he’s turned from his half human half wolf form to full wolf, with sleek black fur glistening in the sunlight and glowing gold eyes. Damn it. It didn’t work. He bounds off the other way, out of the courtyard and into the kingdom. Worry splits through me, unable to be ignored. What if he collapses out there? What if he gets hurt? I let out a frustrated growl. It’s like ever since he confessed, I’ve been wanting to protect him. Keep him safe. I know he can take care of himself, so why does it split me open to see him go into danger or push himself too far? It’s never been this way before. Quartz waves from the entrance. “Come on!” He shouts. “I need to get my calorie-intake before Amethyst gets back and we game for the rest of the day!” I cast a final glance the way Sapphire left, and then start towards Quartz. He’ll be okay. If he’s not… I don’t think I could bear it. I beat back the urge to scream in frustration. Breathe, Topaz. Food will help. And maybe reading that new book you got. Excitement pounds in my chest at the thought of opening the cover of that awesome book, chasing away some of the worries. A man with silverish hair that reaches his shoulders walks past. He’s wearing a mask with nothing on it but silver paint. His clothes and the way he walks looks familiar. He’s wearing an unblemished, white suit with silver embroidery and a cape made out of glass shards that glimmers and tinks as he walks. He holds himself with poise like he’s the most important thing in the world, but like he’s got places to be. He bumps into me. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He tells me, holding up a hand. In his other hand, he fans himself with an extremely familiar Chinese-like folding fan. The skeleton of it is made of sharpened bone laid with silk. His voice is primped and like honey, but with a hint of venom behind it. With him this close, a smell like his perfume or something wafts up my nose. A pleasant, sweet smell that makes you want to trust him. Like that one time. The first time I met Damyan and I killed the female soldier with him. This guy was there. The Mirror Demon. I stop walking. “Why are you here?” I demand. “Shouldn’t you be kissing up to ‘Lord’ Damyan?” He freezes, stiffening. “What are you talking about?” I reach up to his mask, but he flinches back with a sharp intake of breath. He grabs my wrist, pushing my hand back. My fingers twitch toward my knife. “Are you insane?” He hisses. “They can’t see who I am! I’m banished!” I grin. “Woah. You’d have to do something REALLY terrible to get banished from here.” He hisses. “If I knew you were the stolen Demon Prince, I never would’ve suggested searching for you to Damyan. It was a terrible mistake. Now we’re most likely going to fail.” “Give me one reason not to act like you’re hurting me.” I growl softly. “These guys are extremely protective of me.” He scoffs. “Well, yeah. They already lost you once.” “Let go of my hand.” He snaps his fan shut. “Give me one reason not to use Mirror Walk to capture you right now. Damyan would definitely be pleased with me if I did that.” “You shove me in that damn mirror realm, and I’ll destroy it.” I snarl. “I already threatened to do it to Silvia.” He pulls off his mask, revealing his silver-pool eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.” A chill runs up my spine. “I would. I know it would cause you extreme pain to have your own mirror world destroyed.” I smirk. “I know it feels like ripping off your own limbs to have a mirror of yours destroyed. Extreme pain. What would having an entire mirror realm shattered feel like?” His breath stutters, and he releases my hand, stepping back. “I knew you were bad news.” He slices his thumb across his neck. “Don’t think you’re invincible, Prince. Citrine was more powerful than you—one of the most powerful of Damyan’s rogue children—and they died easily against our Lord’s power.” “Luckily I’m not a kid of that tantrum shapeshifter.” I shoot back. “Perhaps not. But Damyan has cut Sapphire loose.” He smiles dangerously. “Even he is not safe from his father.” A mirror shows up behind him, and he backs toward it. My legs move instantly, sprinting toward him. But he disappears, the mirror rippling like water. I slam my fist against the glass. “You touch Sapphire and I will hunt you down to my last breath!” I roar.
