I tripped over my legs trying to get out of the room. I would not allow him to take me to a place of violence. Even when he stared down at me with his chest heaving and eyes set in a glare of distaste. I would never take that step with him, it would break the oath and my code of ethics.
In the gym he looked down at me like he would take my head off. He looked down at me. I had to show him the difference between choice and inability. He was a seasoned warrior so if it came to blows he would win, but I was also of royal blood with rivaling raw power.
What concerned me was how eager he was to fight. From the moment I asked him a question, I could tell he was on edge. No explanations, no discussion. Like I was a child. He went low immediately, meaning he had been thinking those thoughts about me the whole time.
I could hear metal crashing to the ground and knew he resumed his workout as I made my way to the southern portion of the house. Mileta was standing guard by the patio door. I nodded in her direction.
"You are free to go. I need a moment alone," I said. Before the words could settle she disappeared. I blinked for a moment before proceeding outside of the home to the patio. The salt water pool rippled with the wind, the blue lights attached to the side providing a certain aesthetic.
I kept staring at the light wavering at the surface, small waves crashing into the walls of its confines. As I walked to the edge of the water I stooped down, placing my hands on the surface and watched as the water rippled. Calming down, I sent a wave of refined mana over the water in the pool, increasing the surface tension until the water came to a lull.
I rapped my knuckles on the surface, making sure it was solid before I took a step onto the surface and walked to the center where I sat.
The best part of the palace was the night sky. The stars above with the sounds of the wave was something I had never experienced prior to moving to Panama. My hands went to the top of my head, and I squeezed to release the pressure building inside. My mind wandered to how I got here. What if I was a warrior? Not that I had the tools for it.
Water and Enchantments were my true magical skill. I knew enhancement as one of the least powerful types of magic specialties in the world and most abundant. Though people who only had enhancements, we were very useful in engineering, scientific research, and mechanics with the right training. We acted as jacks of all trades and masters of none. We also had some roles in combat such as aiding in the strength of others, healers, and tacticians. If I was a warrior, I could use God's Eye to keep others from getting hurt or peek into others' plans.
"But I will never be that," I said to myself.
I did not understand how I would deal with an argument with someone like Bernardo, especially since the oath required us to spend every night with him. We could avoid each other all day, but we both had to sleep. Even with all the magic in the world, nothing compared to sleeping.
Who was there to consult? I had decent conversation skills, but I was not a negotiator, and that was especially true for defending myself. I was unprepared to deal with a man who would resort to intimidation and violence.
The only person I could think to consult was my older sister Nova, known as the best negotiator in our generation. I dreaded making that call since we were not close. She was not as hostile as my other siblings, but she had been malicious in the past.
I can figure this out on my own
It was a lie, but I still tried forming a solution for about thirty minutes. Coming up with nothing, I took in a deep breath and then pressed my thumb and index finger together on my right hand and released it, activating devices attached to my irises. I barely used the bioelectronics, but they came in handy.
It took a few seconds to find her contact card and when I did it showed that we had been out of contact for a year. I did not remember what the call was about and the feeling of sadness washed over me. I wished I had a close sibling connection with them, but that never happened.
After giving myself a moment to think through the decision, I started the call. Nerves built as I waited to see if she would accept the call. The ringing in my ears was like a dreaded school bell signalling it was time for studies when I was in tutoring.
After what felt like a decade, my sister's voice boomed in my head. She was shouting orders at her four daughters, who were all under the age of nine. They laughed at her instead of cowering at the formidable Nova Cider.
"What do you want Myles? I have a lot going on," she answered with a complete disinterest in anything I was about to say. That was a common reaction.
"Sorry for interrupting, I just needed some help regarding my relationship with Prince Bernardo." My tone was off, even I could hear how low I sounded.
"What's wrong with you? You sound forlorn." The sound of my nieces yelling grew quieter as she moved away from them.
"We got into an argument after I asked for him to help me finance some programs I want to start. It wasn't even an argument, it almost turned into an all-out brawl." I felt like a little boy running to mommy to get away from bullies. It was like the royal tutelage ground all over again.
"Visualize," she commanded. Her commanding voice was not much different from her normal tone. It did almost shock my concentration on keeping the water tension up, but I maintained control.
Knowing it better than to argue, I activated the video setting of the call, allowing for her to see me through holograms. I was never good with technology on either the magical or scientific side.
"Where are you and why are you on water," she asked.
"I'm in the palace's backyard," I said, using air quotes to emphasize that the definition of a palace was being stretched. She limited her video to only herself so I could only see her body hovering over the water.
She looked the same as she always had, except without makeup. Not that she needed it since she kept her skin pristine. We shared many characteristics except in skin tone; she had a richer warm tone, her eyes were bigger than mine and her lips filled out more.
Her hair was not in a bun as she normally wore it, instead the braids lay on her shoulders and she kept a hand on her waist.
"It's beautiful here," she said, tilting her head to look at the stars.
"Did he hit you?" She turned back to me and gave me a once over. She had grown softer with motherhood. Growing up, she would force me to face my bullies without worrying if they harmed me.
"No, he didn't but I think he was close. We had a full on show of force," I said. My family had practiced in showing force the moment we had a grasp on activating our node.
"I wondered if he would be abusive during the beginning stages of the marriage treaty roundtable. From what we had gathered we found that he was a powerful hot head."
"Roundtable?"
"That's classified," she responded, firm.
How could information about me be classified from me?
"Why did you call me instead of Kendrix? We both act as heads the Office of Diplomacy," she asked.
"While he is a head of diplomacy, he also heads the Office of Air Warfare. Furthermore, he doesn't like me, and we both know you keep discussions from turning hostile. He makes things tense. I don't need a hammer, I need a needle." Her twin was not my biggest fan and wouldn't have answered my call.
"Why would you say that he doesn't like you?" I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.
"You all think I'm weak. The only people who can have a conversation with me longer than ten minutes are Celine, because we worked together, and Gina and Violla can only tolerate me because we're close in age. All of our brothers used to kick me around like a practice dummy. Mom and Dad married me off like I was a piece of chattel," I said.
"I won't speak for our parents, nor can I speak for all of our siblings. I will say that I don't dislike you. I just don't understand you. I don't get how one of the strongest of us, regarding the ability to control mana, can decide to not stick up for themselves." She sat down, and a portion of her bed appeared under her.
"You guys never bother to ask me why I choose the life I live," I said.
"We don't know how. I'm a lot older than you, fifteen years apart, and they required a lot of me in that time. By the time you came around I was facilitating war plans in the Maldives. We never had time to live or grow together, out of nowhere you were a person with thoughts and feelings that could grow because of the time you came of age in. From Amara down, you guys grew up in this piece period. There was no war with the European Monarchy to worry about. You didn't have to sleep with a knife under your pillows." She placed a few braids behind her shoulder as she spoke, and her eyes never left mine.
"We aren't soft or warm to you because we don't know how to be. I'm learning how to be soft on my daughters. Mom and Dad were also more like drill sergeants than parents. This doesn't excuse the abuse you went through, but hopefully it gives you some context."
"It does," I said. It was unfair of me to ask for them to get me without looking from their lense. So I was thankful for the insight she gave.
"Now Bernardo grew up in the Southern Kingdom. They just finished fighting the war with the Asian Empire not too long ago. He had to be hard, or they would kill him. Though he had to be hard, you should not excuse him for disrespecting you. You can be peaceful without being a doormat. Even monks would strike if antagonized. There is no balance in your life. You are a prince, not a child, and a prince doesn't ask for permission."
"I guess that's a way to look at it," I said.
"This is the way to look at it," she shot back. "Set boundaries with him. He also won't attack you since it would break the blood bond and that will lead to us stepping in." She stood from her bed that disappeared and turned to something I couldn't see.
"The girls are rowdy," I said with a chuckle.
"They take after Mom. They learned how to generate fire during their studies last week and have been hellbent on burning this palace down or draining themselves too quickly. They don't understand the concept of straining the reserved energy that their brain stores," she said. She spun her hand in the air, pulling all the surrounding water into an orb. She shouted at her girls before turning back to me.
"I've decided that I want to develop a better understanding of you. Three of the quadruplets have shown interest in going into my line of work, which father supports. The other one doesn't have the heart for it, so I'm having to learn how to nurture other interests, and they don't have that royal mindset yet. I want to be better than our parents. You know?"
"I understand," I said. I wanted to be a better parent than they knew how to be. I wondered what we all could have been if we grew up in my era of relative peace or if our parents were understanding.
"I'll call you later," she said and with a wave the call ended.
Boundaries. How do I set boundaries?
It was a tough question, but the favelas needed me to answer it quickly. I hoped I had the nerve to have that hard conversation with Bernardo. While thinking of what my next move was, I noticed a foreign personal signature and knew something was wrong.