Swallowing my pride hurts.

I stayed quiet to any further retorts and remarks as I took their orders down. I could see Wafi wasn't enjoying this as well. I'm a Royal too now, I shouldn't have to deal with shit from other royals.

As soon as I was through the kitchen door, I placed the notepad down and braced myself against the counter for some fortifying breaths.

"That bad, huh?" Brett spoke softly from behind. "I was watching. You seemed to be hating it. Don't worry, I'll go. You stay here."

I shook my head. "I hate that guy and his pompous ass but I'm not giving up. I'll manage the rest of their order, Brett."

"Atleast tell me what happened?" He continued. "The Fire Prince Regent seemed confused but the Wat-"

"Call them by their names, please." I straightened up. "Both their titles are a mouthful."

There was a short pause where I had to turn to see if Brett was still there. He seemed to struggle internally with what was probably decades old tradition. I sighed. "Fine. Call them whatever you want. I don't care either way."

"The Water Prince seemed to be enjoying humiliating you." He continued after a relieved exhale. "What happened between you two?"

I sighed. Here we go again. "Did you hear about the fiasco at the Initiation Dance?"

Brett scoffed. "Who hasn't? Some idiot attacked Elizabeth."

I sighed as I started to crush ice for their drinks. "I didn't attack her intentionally. She threw me through a glass door and I acted on my instincts."

Dead silence. Just the sound of ice being crushed as Brett probably wondered how to fire me gently.

"She threw you through a glass door?" He whispered. "She's that strong?"

"Her water projectile hit me square in my side. I crashed into the door. It's why I didn't show up for my first shift." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sorry. If you want to fire me now, I get it."

"I don't want to fire you. But I must admit what you did was stupid. She's a royal and she's stronger than you."

"Her attack on me was unprovoked." I paused, questioning if I should continue. "She... Christopher and her were enjoying a private moment when I accidentally walked in on them. I tried to leave silently, she spotted me, I apologized. The rest is in my medical history. And hers, of course."

Pouring their drinks into separate glasses, I placed them on a tray. "Set the french fries in the deep fryer, please. I have to make their stuff when I get back."

Nudging the door open with my hip, I rounded the counter and headed towards the special table. The café was almost empty. The last few people had to pay their bill. My two patrons suspiciously shut up as I approached their table.

"Sunrise Surprise and chocolate smoothie." For Christopher and Wafi respectively. We did share the same taste. But everyone likes chocolate anyway. Maybe he just went with the safest choice.

Christopher sceptically eyed the bright orange drink  I sighed, tucking the tray by my side. "I didn't put anything fishy in it. Go ahead, it's our best drink."

It was a tall curved glass. The drink inside darkening from Orange at the bottom to a luscious red, topped with a sprig of mint alongside a black straw. He gave me another worried glance, I rolled my eyes. "You want me to taste test it for poison or something?"

He scowled and I heard Wafi choke on his own drink. Rising to the challenge, Christopher took a small sip and seemed pleasantly surprised. His blue eyes widened slightly as he pulled back from the straw and glanced up at me once before looking away. He didn't seem to want to verbalise his appreciation.

"You're welcome." I mumbled as I turned away from the table. It hid my eye roll.

Brett still seemed in a state of shock when I came back but I could see the fries were in the oil. "Thanks." I said as I took a stance by the deep fryer with a plate. That's when Brett spoke.

"I... Don't see how the Water Prince Regent comes in..."

I turned to glance at him. He had a weird look on his face. Turning back, I shrugged. "His dad came to see who was the victim. Christopher followed after. We insulted each other. I accused him of not having any balls."

"What?!"

"Not those exact words." I hastily added. I turned to making burgers. "I said that it's clear who wears the pants in their relationship, and it was obvious I wasn't referring to him."

"Why... Why would you insult him?" Brett muttered. "He's next in line!"

"I didn't know any better back then. I had just woken from a totally knockout, there were cuts from glass that hurt all over my body, my ribs were broken, my dress was destroyed. Not a good mood to catch me in."

Pulling out a knife, I turned and held it out to Brett. "Cut the buns." I ordered. He mechanically took it and went to work as I started working on garlic bread and a chicken roll. We worked in silence for a while.

As I placed the rolled flatbread onto the flat pan to sear the sides crisp, Brett found his voice.

"So... how do you know the Fire Prince Regent?"

"I'm top in my class." I paused to press down on the roll and waited to hear a satisfying sizzling noise before continuing. "He visited. We shook hands. Had a conversation. That's it. Surprised he remembered me actually."

"Oh, okay." He sounded relieved. "Figured you'd crashed into his car or saved his life or something. He seemed surprisingly happy to see you. Albeit a bit confused at your fight."

"Whatever." I threw back. "Go get the bill. There were two people who asked for it a while ago."

Softly cursing to himself, he hurried out the door to make up the check. I pulled the roll off the pan and cut it in four pieces. The heat from it not bothering me in the least. Arranging them in a nice manner with the chilly sauce, I once again ventured out with my tray to serve.

"Chilly cheese fries, your burger and—" I turned to Christopher, "—your roll. Enjoy, and call if you need anything else."

Tucking the tray by my side, I went to stand beside Brett behind the counter. "Don't worry. I'm being nice to them now. Minimal words. Be seen, but don't be heard. all the things waiters are supposed to be."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Brett replied, his voice low so they couldn't hear us. "I'm worried about you. I'm not in school anymore but I've heard the rumors. Elizabeth must be after your head."

"Yeah. I'd been trying to keep my head low and successfully managed it up till last week when I literally bumped into her. She threatened me. Said we needed to have a talk. I'm dead meat if she ever figures out my name."

"She'll find you." He shrugged, leaning back on the counter to face me as he talked. "She's a royal, albeit half. She's got cronies left and right waiting to do her bidding."

"I figured. I've been dressing different, even applying makeup to look a little more different. If I do any drastic changes to my appearance, I'll be noticed immediately."

"Like, dye your hair? Wear contacts?"

"Dyeing my hair did come to mind but I look outright goth with black hair. And it wears off surprisingly fast with my hair color. But does look cool as it does that. Black hair with golden streaks."

Brett chuckled. "Get green hair." I cocked an eyebrow. "Be so overt, it's covert."

I laughed at the saying. "Good idea. Stand out so much, I blend in. But Mich had an aneurysm when I dyed my hair black with a DIY kit. It's a messy process too. Hair bleeds color for a few days, everything stains."

"Yeah. I know." He smiled. "I dyed my hair red."

I gasped loudly, my head jerked towards him. "No way! That's so cool."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Wafi pause to see what had me excited. He glanced between the two of us before he returned to his conversation with Christopher.

Brett chuckled and turned red again from his neck up. "That's one way to look at it. I was proud to be Fire and I showed it. Aah," he let his head fall back to stare at the ceiling, a smile tugging on his lips, "good days."

We stood in silence for a good while. People came and went, a few online order Brett took care of as I stayed where I was. It was extremely boring. I stifled several yawns as I did my best not to stare at the table. My eyes drifted over to Wafi who raised a hand. I nodded and headed towards their table yet again.

"Yea-I mean, yes?" I hastily corrected.

"That was great." Wafi complimented first, the usual sappy smile on his face. "Did you make it?"

I nodded. "I make almost everything here. Do you want dessert?"

"What's good here?" Christopher spoke up and forced me to turn to him. I was trying to avoid talking to him. Luckily, he was drooling over the case so I didn't have to make eye contact.

"Everything. All the desserts are in that case over there."

"Recommend a few."

I turned around to look at the case and cocked my head. "The triple chocolate brownie, quite a bestseller. Cheesecake, any flavor. Devil's Dark Forest, Dark Angel. The High C's is pretty good if you like an overload of chocolate."

I nodded to myself and turned to see Wafi with a glare aimed at Christopher. The Prince of Water didn't seem to have looked away from the case, but his ears were a bit red. Ignoring that, I held up my notepad. Hadn't written anything on it. It was just vague words reminiscent to their orders.

I called out the orders and Brett prepared them behind the counter to be brought over. Wafi paid, a hefty tip followed by a message five minutes later.

I'm sorry. I didn't know you and Christopher had met. Or the circumstances of your meeting.

I ignored the message. It's time to go home. I need to sleep on everything that's been going on. A full night's sleep.

I woke up to my alarm blaring early the next day. My heavy eyelids drooped as I shut it off but forced myself up anyway. Two of the papers were supposed to be submitted by the end of the week but one of them was due today. Seminars were next week when we'd start a new topic. Maybe I could call Eric and Flo over to help me.

I grabbed my laptop and booted it up, took a few minutes of research before I started typing. I finished shortly before my usual scheduled wake up time. It gave me a few moments of peace, to relax and walk around. The sky was still dark, the water in the pool rippled softly and reflected the small light I'd made. This felt nice, being able yo enjoy a few minutes of peace before the hustle of the day began.

Mich would be returning early. The thought of confronting him again filled me with dread. He was the only family I ever had, he gave me comfort when I'd needed it. He was my dad even if I wasn't genetically related to him. I wanted to make it up to him, but a part of me refused to forgive him for all he had kept hidden from me. He had held something back when I'd visited him. There are more answers I don't know the questions to. Maybe Wafi might.

I took a leisurely cold shower to wake me up further. A nice breakfast and then I was off.

"Well, you look considerably better." Eric observed me from his rearview mirror. "Slept well?"

I nodded and grinned back at him. "That's all I did once I returned from work."

"What about all that extra stuff you had?" Flo questioned, seemingly worried about me getting some more extra work.

"There's one paper due today, the other two I can submit by the end of the week, the seminars are next week." I relaxed. "It feels good to be on top of things again."

"Now that you're better, there are some things we have to talk about." Eric's tone was serious. "If you're serious about fighting Elizabeth-"

"I am."

"-then we'll also be dealing with the fallout." He completed. "Flo and I may be collateral damage."

"I know. Trust me, it weighs heavily on me. If I lose, we're all off the hook. If I win, I don't know how long she'll chase us down for."

"You can't lose." Flo interjected fiercely. Twisting in her seat, she fixed me with her sharp green gaze. "You. Cannot. Lose. We can handle ourselves but you will not lose. If you lose on purpose, I will kill you."

Needless to say I was taken aback. What happened to her 'stay low, don't fight' stance? "What... What happened to you?"

She shrugged, an earnest, open look on her face. "I realised I couldn't change your mind but atleast I could support you in whatever you plan or end up doing."

A warm feeling filled my belly. I couldn't help a sappy smile forming. "And Eric?"

"Who do you think convinced her?" He glanced at me for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road.

My smile grew sappier and Flo turned back around. "If you two don't give me a hug when we get out of this car, I'll burn you."

They chuckled.

"Whatever." Flo said.

"Don't hurt me." Eric whined.

With enough sleep in my tank, the rest of the day went actually pretty well. No extra work, I paid extra attention today because the teachers were paid extra attention to me. But I had someone to make up to. Rhaeya.

I entered the Gym, ready to grovel and get beaten up a bit more than usual, but Rhaeya didn't even entertain me.

I approached her for my usual training and she dismissed me with barely a glance and, "Today, you're fighting with Colin."

Confusion passed through me. "Why? I'm here to apologize for yesterday. I hadn't sleep the entire weekend."

Rhaeya rolled her eyes. "Excuses. Sure, whatever."

"Rhaeya, please." I begged, her blue eyes watched me impassively. "You're the only one who can help me."

She shook her head. "I am. But I am tired of training you. You never learn!"

"I'm trying, okay! That's why you're a teacher! You're supposed to help slow learners!"

Her eyes narrowed and I knew I'd overstepped my boundaries. I immediately broke eye contact and looked down. "Sorry. I didn't mean it."

"I am helping you." She hissed. "I'm helping you by pairing up a weak student with a strong student. That's what teachers do. I can't pay attention to you and only you everyday. There are others who require my help." She paused. "Besides, you suck. I'll fight you again once you can take Colin down three times in a row in front of me."

I sighed. She wasn't wrong. I had hogged her, and there were students weaker than me. "Fine. Okay. I accept. Who's Colin?"

She gave a satisfactory, curt nod before she called out the name. I turned to see a buff guy run up to us. A few inches taller than me, he had a slight stubble and dishwater blonde hair. Chocolate brown eyes weirdly reminiscent of a puppy above a straight nose and a sharp chin. I kept my head turned to observe him as he stopped beside me to talk to Rhaeya.

"Yes, Rhaeya?" He spoke first.

Rhaeya crossed her arms and jerked her head towards me. "Your new partner. I think Ryan needs a break."

Colin turned to look at me and I remembered where I'd seen him. He'd been the one who stood up for me when Wafi had done his extended handshake. The one who'd said I had barely bowed in time.

"Hey, I'm Fi-"

"Fiera." He completed for me. "I know. Rhaeya likes to yell your name a lot."

"Nice to see the two of you know each other." Rhaeya turned away. "Don't call me unless one of you gets knocked out... I'm looking at you, Fiera."

"Very funny." I snapped back as she walked away. I nodded to Colin after a few moments. "Alright, let's start."

Colin shrugged as the two of us turned to take up a spot on the mat. "I don't know why she put me against you. You're pretty good from what I've seen."

"Thanks, Colin." I smiled at him. "But she's told me she's not going to fight with me unless I can take you down three times in a row while she's watching."

He grimaced, probably imagining all the pain. "So, I'm your punching bag?"

"Punching bags don't fight back." I stopped on the side of the mat and turned to face him.

He turned as well and took a few steps back. "Well, let's do this, I guess."

"Go easy on me." I mumbled as I raised my guard and moved forward.

"Likewise." Was his reply as he crouched lower.

We were almost evenly matched, move for move. I could block him, he could block me. But he was still better than me.

The first time, I got thrown onto my back in defeat. I caught my breath before I burst into laughter. He worriedly loomed over me. "Did I throw you too hard?"

"No, Colin. You didn't do anything wrong." I sat up, a grin on my face. "You're weaker than Rhaeya."

He stepped away as I stood up. "Uh... thank you?"

"No, I don't mean to offend you." I rolled my shoulder. "It doesn't hurt as much. And we are pretty evenly matched."

"Of course, we are." He shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "You've been going toe to toe with Rhaeya for a week. If anything, you'll probably degrade your skills fighting me."

"I hope not, Colin." I lowered my body into my stance. "Because I have to be able to take you down three times."

"That's the spirit." I heard Rhaeya say deadpan as she walked past me.

In our second round, I was bit more wary of Colin's right hook. It felt like a jackhammer to the face and a sledgehammer to the side. He was careful of my footwork. My kicks were lethal enough to make him cautious. Made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

One of my kicks connected squarely with his gut. He stumbled away and I chased after. He attempted to ward me off with a wide punch, which I ducked under and placed a hand on his shoulder. I used that to push him, trip him over my foot placed behind his.

He yelped as he went down, his arms flailing. Catching his right wrist in an iron grip, I twisted it away from his body as I pushed a knee sharply into his gut, adding salt to the wound.

He struggled for a while. His free hand clobbered me to let go. I bore the brunt of his sloppy hits as I sharply twisted his arm and dug my knee in deeper. My other hand pressed against his shoulder to lower his range of movement. He finally stopped with a pained moan. His free hand tapped the mat for me to stop.

He was a sweet guy. I felt bad because I had to watch him writhe in pain with his features contorted for a while. Pushing myself off of him, I sat down a few feet away. My breaths were heavy, I tried to get it under control. Colin rubbed his stomach to get through the pain.

"You know what," I wheezed out. "this might work after all. Thanks, Colin."

Colin grunted as he rolled onto his back. "I'm in a little pain right now... but no problem, Fiera."