“Then learn to.”
“It’s not so easy!” I sound desperate. This is my one chance to get out of here, and I have to take it because he’s the one who wanted me here!
“Explain to me why not? You lost control of your power when you learned of Rayhan’s passing.” He pauses, my heart aching at the mention of Dad. “But all I hear is I can’t. I want to go home. I don’t fucking deserve to be here. Not once have I heardwhy,and I don’t mean you telling me you can’t control it. I mean a fucking valid reason.”
“What more can I say?” I ask, confused.
His cold eyes are on me again, burning into mine. “What triggers you? What makes you lose control? You weren’t there when he died, so it can’t be his death that returns to you. Help me understand, Sienna, because I’m not a fucking mind-reader and I don’t know what exactly it is, but there has to be a trigger.”
“I have no trigger,” I lie.
“Then work on your shit and focus. You aren’t just anyone; you are the daughter of the Rossi line that holds the most powerful Alpha aura. You are fucking more than this.”
Because Dad and Grandad were the firstborn of their line…
I look down at my hands, resting them on top of my dark red, fluffy gown. “I’m not Ahren, he’s the Alpha… I just can’t, when I’m training and we begin sparring… I just… I can’t focus. I just can’t stay here… I should just go home,” I say lamely. I can’t bring myself to tell him.
An icy silence follows, and I keep staring at my hands, waiting for him to speak, sensing his eyes piercing into me. After the silence stretches for far too long, I look up and my breath catches, instantly wishing I hadn’t.
His eyes burn into mine like glaciers. The expression on his face is like a cruel question, wondering why I’m so weak.
“I know how it feels to lose a parent. I buried my mother when I was a child myself. I still remember dragging her dead weight down those cavern tunnels, trying not to cry. Some days I wanted to just give up, and let everyone else deal with the shit around me, but then I realised I couldn’t, because quitting wasn’t my fucking role. I had to fight for them, survive for them and fucking give it my all, for them.”
He buried his mother?
My eyes sting as I look up at him. I’ve heard bits about life under Endora’s control, but I never knew about his life as a child down there. Mama doesn’t like to talk about it, but she did say it was Leo who used to bring her food, and he was the one who set her free when chaos ensued.
“I don’t need your sympathy, Sienna. What I need is for you to fucking get on your feet, stop being afraid, and show me that you really are your parents’ daughter because right now, you’re acting like a disappointment.”
Ouch.
I flinch and wish I didn’t as he looks away and takes a drag on his cigarette before he continues. His voice is so cold and sharp that it could cut glass. “I’ll be returning to this academy in three months, and I swear if you don’t get your shit together, you will return with me to the Sangue Pack, and I will personally overlook your training until I force every last fucking ounce of fear or whatever shit you have going on, right out of you and make you into the warrior princess I know you are.” He stands, signalling we’re done, and I look up at him, his words still hammering in my head.
He’ll train me if I carry on like this? If it were anyone else, I’d be ecstatic to hear that, but this is the King, he’s the smartest person I know. What if he figures it out? Because right now I can sense his anger, irritation, frustration… He might get angry on the training field, and then… then he’ll see the evil within me.
He frowns at me as if expecting an answer before he scoffs and walks to the door.
“I don’t… I don’t want to be a warrior,” I mumble, clenching my fists. I am such an embarrassment! Gods…
“I mentioned my vision to reform the academies to Dante and Rayhan a few weeks before his death. I was going to pitchthe idea to Alejandro… but then shit happened. Anyway, you know what your father said?”
“What?” I whisper, staring at the back of his tattooed neck.
“He said he couldn’t wait for you and Heaven to join, that you two will be a force to be reckoned with. How about you prove him right? Prove that you aren’t a fucking failure.” His tone is harsh, but the mention of Dad makes my heart clench.
I was excited to go to a werewolf school back when Dad was alive, but yeah, that was before I had these thoughts, before I wanted to hurt everyone. Now all I want is to just bury them from the entire world.
He opens the door and pauses. “Be the woman your father wanted to see you become.”
Then he’s gone, his footsteps are silent, but his aura isn’t, and soon I feel it fading further away and slump in my seat.
He gave me an ultimatum, one that had no winning side for me.
“Get up, dear…” I look up, startled at the softness in Professor Loraina’s voice, but she probably heard Uncle Leo’s – the King’s cold tone. I just feel worse than I did this morning…
“I’ll head to bed,” I murmur, passing her as I exit the office.
“Go on then, make sure you go straight back to your room,” she warns.
