"Are you okay?" Eon asked as she felt April's forehead.
April remained quiet. She was still trying to reach Saka through her mind, but whatever this circle was made out of, its properties, it was severing their connection. She couldn't help but feel a certain anxiety gnaw at her insides.
"He's fine!" Eon snapped her fingers in April's face to get her attention. "Nowhere near married and you're already biting your nails for him."
April looked at the woman, her eyes wide with surprise and confusion. "Huh? I'm not worried about that Frost Giant. Jack Frost can take care o' 'imself."
She looked away immediately, standing at the edge of the circle with a serious expression, staring at the far-off entrance like she expected someone to come barreling through. Eon tilted her head at the girl. Her tails were drooping. Even if she hid her expression, her body language said it all.
"He was probably playing some rough game with some of the palace guards."
"Is that his thing?" April asked, turning to look at Eon with a frown.
Eon paused and walked closer to April. "Yes. It is. I'm sure you've heard the tales from his brothers already. He practiced his necromancy-ish powers on the army until he couldn't."
"So he was a necromancer!" April shouted the statement, gritting her teeth. "But now they're beefing over it? Lemme guess, they're all boys?"
"Uh… Saka's not really one to discriminate." Eon chuckled softly, patting April's shoulder.
"But weren't there supposed to be guards around him?"
Eon winced. "When I say the entire army…"
April sputtered. "But he's royalty!"
Safatore entered through the door, his robes billowing behind him, barely touching the dirt of the training room. Following him were Semacoar, Saka and the ninja Masaru. April perked up and tried to move forward but Eon grabbed her wrist.
Outside the circle, Safatore chuckled deeply before he let out a terrible guttural yell. Everyone paused, April grimacing with wide eyes as the unexpected agitation vanished from her veins. Masaru shuffled to the side, away from the Crown Prince's peripheral vision while Semacoar and Saka, both unarmed, stood silently, staring at their feet like scolded toddlers.
Safatore brought his gaze from the high ceiling to his brothers with a heavy exhale.
"You of all people know they wouldn't have hesitated to end it all." Saka spoke up immediately, making Safatore's eyebrows rise.
He glanced at Semacoar, his arms crossed.
"I wasn't involved." Semacoar raised his arms placidly.
"Oh really?" Safatore chuckled, a humorless thing. "And leading your brother out of his room without protection to be attacked by guards after you're gone is not youbeing involved?"
Semacoar pouted childishly, crossing his arms and turning his eyes away. Safatore shook his head and stomped to the fight circle, the others following immediately.
"Saka, what was that?" April asked when they stopped outside the circle. "Were you in a fight? Your shoulder… your gut… my forehead." She saw the scratch still on Saka's forehead.
The person she was talking to acted oblivious to her and paid her no mind. But Safatore forced him to notice her. He pointed at her.
"That is who you put in danger. Your fiancée. April."
April felt her cheeks warm up. She was a fiancée.
"I warned her just in time." Saka crowed, not the least bit remorseful.
Safatore pressed his lips into a grim flat line before he spat out a short, bitter laugh. "That you did. But like always, you're not really listening to me. I'm trying to keep you safe from all of this nonsense, damnit!"
"Then you shouldn't have brought me back here!" Saka bit out.
"This looks like it's between the two of you so I will excuse myself." Semacoar mumbled, turning around.
"Stop right there!" Safatore grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him gracelessly into the circle. "You too," he gestured at Saka.
The young man didn't budge, so Masaru ushered him into the circle. April noticed that even as he stepped into the circle with her, that scratch on his forehead didn't disappear. This circle was mysterious, wasn't it?
Safatore gestured to her. "Please step out for a bit."
Eon quickly pulled April out when the girl raised an inquisitive finger.
"Masaru, the shield, please?" Safatore said.
The ninja flexed his wrist, the invisible forcefield cutting the three brothers from the others. April touched the invisible surface, a sudden feeling of dread gnawing at her.
Semacoar and Saka faced Safatore who rolled up his sleeves, sighing heavily.
"You want to fight? Go ahead. Fight me."
The looks on the brothers' faces shifted from arrogance to uncertainty, both of them standing back and rolling on the balls of their feet. Safatore exhaled, shaking his head.
"I simply can't believe you two. With all that we're trying to do, you still manage to do something stupid. You're forgetting you're not children. They were part of the army."
"You were standing aside when Saka crushed them as a child. What difference does it make now? Besides, you locked them up in the dungeon, so there's no reason for you to trap us in this circle." Semacoar commented, his thumbs unconsciously rubbing his forefingers.
He tensed up when the green eyes landed on him.
"There's more than enough reason sufficient for me to keep the both of you here till you're six hundred. Semacoar, you... beautiful, waste of oxygen, you're too carefree. Are you forgetting where we are?"
Semacoar stood still, visibly taken aback by the name he was given. April's jaw dropped to the floor. That was something.
"And you, Saka!" Safatore turned to the whitehead. "Swallow your goddamn pride! Your anger. You'll get yourself killed and drag April along. Everyone in this castle is older than you, for crying out loud!"
April whistled softly. This was a scene she wished she had popcorn for. It felt a little overkill but she couldn't help but feel engrossed. More!
"I'm trying to keep the both of you out of the clutches of the council, but you're both doing everything you can to make sure they trap you." Safatore explained. "They had long taken on that… imbecile's task to rid you of your Warg-ish abilities. Stop convincing them they really should be gone."
"I can control them!" Saka retorted, a sort of desperate undertone present in his voice. You could barely hear it, but it was there.
"It's not about control! It's about responsibility and acting like damn grown-ups!" Safatore declared.
April shifted awkwardly. Maybe she didn't want to hear any of this. It was a scolding and arguments had never really sat well with her. The momentary excitement had vanished completely now. She was ready to walk away.
She was just turning away when Saka said:
"You claim to want to preserve my abilities yet you agreed to this stupid marriage. Maybe deep down you are like our father. Getting me engaged. Tch!"
April paused. Why did the way he said that feel... wrong? She looked back and found Safatore's face blank, his expression unreadable.
...The force of the slap that hit Saka threw him against the invisible forcefield thirty meters away, then the backhand caught Semacoar, making him spin not once, or twice but three times before he fell on his belly in the dirt.
April's eyes widened. "What in the heck was that?!"
Safatore ran his hand through his hair, taking slow and heavy steps to his brothers, a dimpled grin on his face.
"I haven't done this in a long time; you two must have forgotten about it."
April watched the man prowl at the younger ones. He yanked Semacoar from the floor and smacked him again, leaving him a second later to punch Saka right in the face. When the young man grabbed at his nose, he drove a hard fist to his gut, grabbing him when he slouched over and flipped him onto the ground, Saka choking out a gasp, eyes wide.
April's face lost all color as she watched. That's not what she wanted. Less! Less!!
The paladin in blue grabbed Semacoar by the neck and smashed him against the invisible forcefield, making April flinch. Then he flipped him onto his back too.
Semacoar coughed, groaning in pain.
Safatore stomped to them, swiping his foot under Saka's hands as he tried to get up, letting the boy eat dirt. He walked to Semacoar, turning him onto his belly with his foot and stomping him hard on the ribs. There was a short, choked gasp before Safatore kicked him on the side. The younger blonde flew across the fight circle and crashed into Saka who had managed to get to his feet. They were groaning in a pile when Safatore warped into reality in front of them, eyes blazing with blue flames, expression dark. He kicked the both of them and they crashed against the far off side of the circle, choked cries of pain now audible. He arrived at their side again.
April, awe-stricken and shocked, stood outside the fight circle and watched as Safatore kicked his younger brothers around like soccer balls.
They weren't trying to defend themselves, and Saka wasn't healing, but it seemed as if Safatore was not using enough force to break them.
The entire large botanical training room was hushed, all except for the sounds of Saka and Semacoar's beating. They were gasping and choking on air. Eon wasn't even looking, and Masaru was standing guard by the outside edge of the circle, his glowing blue eyes clearly absent.
"This is what you listen to," Safatore said as he stalked his kneeling and gasping brothers. "A good beating from your big brother!"
He kicked Semacoar across the ground and turned to Saka who was crawling away.
"Don't walk away from me, baby brother. I'm talking to you."
April felt a string tighten in her gut when she watched Safatore pick Saka up from the ground by the hair, a dangerous smile on his face. He pulled Saka back and threw him to the dirt, moving to stand over him. He lifted his foot.
The string inside April snapped and she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Stop!" She cried.
Safatore visibly stopped, his large frame tensing before relaxing. He looked back at the person who had screamed for him. His foot landed softly next to Saka's side.
April stood there, trembling. "Stop." She said, much quieter now, her hands trembling against her sides as she watched. "They've had enough."
Safatore looked back at the two figures sprawled on the ground. He thought about it for a moment before he sighed softly. He ran a hand through his perfectly straight gold strands and rolled down his blue sleeves, stepping over Saka.
"Masaru, the shield, please." He said, his voice even and calm as he walked to the edge.
Masaru did as asked and collapsed the invisible forcefield. Safatore walked out, passing by April to give her two pats on the shoulder and leaned down to her ear, whispering something that made April blink. Then he exited the room.
Eon ran into the circle and went to gingerly take Semacoar into her arms.
"Aw, she cares." He said through a weak laugh.
"Shut up!" Eon bashed his chest with her hand.
The blonde man whined in retort.
April rushed to Saka's side and took him into her lap.
"Oh my gosh, you're bleeding." She hesitated to touch his torso because she couldn't tell which area hurt.
Saka laid in her lap with a guttural groan. "You shouldn't have done that. It wasn't your place." He exhaled shakily.
"Well, I couldn't just stand outside and watch someone kick around my fiancé like that." April pouted, her tails swishing behind her.
A look of sudden disgust smeared across Saka's face and he grunted, turning his face away.
"Go. Away."
One of April's tails inched closer to Saka's face and gently tapped at a bruise.
"Aw, you poor thing."
Saka made a retching sound. "I want more beatings!" He cried, snarling.
"Silly fiancé." April chuckled softly. "Let's get you all healed up."
She dragged him all the way out of the fight circle through his retorts. The minute they both crossed the white line, she was assaulted by a flood of pain all over her body from Saka's beatings, her whole body on fire. She groaned in pain as the pain eventually faded, the scars on both of them disappearing.
Saka watched her with restrained triumph.
"Thank you for being dumb."
April clenched her jaw, giving him a bombastic side eye.
"I shoulda let Safa kick that attitude out of you some more."
"Yeah, you shoulda." Saka sneered.
"Ungrateful!" April smacked his chest, reacting a few seconds later as the same force smacked her chest. "C'mon!"
Saka watched her from the corner of his eye. That nauseating feeling in the pit of his gut was completely gone. Not a trace now.