Chapter 5

Distributing the Threats

So, huh, what the actual fuck?

The sword was still in my hand, like it belonged there.

This made like, no sense at all. None. No sense. What the fuck was that? When did I become a knight of the fucking round table? Seriously, what the fuuuuuuck?

I was just staring at my hand, absolutely confused. For half a second I'd forgotten that I had a father that would not enjoy seeing me in a sword fight.

And now this father was literally running over to me, the picture of panic.

"Oksana? Oksana! Are you okay?" he was yelling, while everyone was still staring, probably just as confused as I was.

"Yeah... I'm fine? Confused as fuuuuck, but fine," I assured him, which again, make absolutely no fucking sense.

"When did you learn to fight with a sword? And tap into your berserk powers like that?" Hugo asked me.

I frowned, looking at him. "What?"

"You went berserk. Didn't you feel it?" he asked.

"No?" I replied, "I guess, I was like... angry for a second there. But that wasn't like unhinged, mad kind of thing."

I'd felt a sort of anger, and a weird tingling in my limbs, but nothing that had made me feel like I was losing control and going absolutely mad.

"You were controlling it?" my father asked.

"I... guess?" I looked between the two men. They were also exchanging looks like they had absolutely no valid reasoning for what had just happened. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I have no idea," my father told me.

Before any of us could form any kind of theory, the crowd suddenly sort of parted, letting way for a fancy looking woman and her entourage.

The woman looked... well I had no idea? She could be in her late twenties or early forties. She was probably like five hundred years old with the way things worked here, either way.

She had black hair and white skin and red lips. She looked like a Snow White, but the DC universe version of her, like super dark and gritty and dangerous.

It was her eyes that were super unsettling. They were a tint of green I'd only ever seen once before.

I knew who she was...

She walked up to us, and stopped right in front of my father.

"Matvei Semyonovitch, what a delight to finally see you at one of our courts," the fancy lady said.

He bended his head to her. "Your Majesty."

Her piercing gaze turn to me. "And you must be the daughter. The one that got my son in trouble."

Was I suppose to smile and wave? Curtsy? Spit in her bitch face? I did none of it and just replied as courteously as I could, "it wasn't intentional."

She smiled at me, making a little mhmm sound. And the she looked back at one of the guards beside her. "Rip her head off."

The guard made a double take. "Your Majesty?" My father's eyes turned pitch black.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I stutter?" she replied in a soft tone.

Yeah. I should have spat on her. Bitch should be shutting up. I was still holding on to a sword, I apparently knew how to use.

My father stood protectively in front of me. "She's not a Mare, you have no jurisdiction here."
"She put the life of a Mare, a very important one at that in danger."

I knew I shouldn't antagonize her. I should shut up. I should keep hiding behind my father. Unfortunately, I'd never been known for my level headed decisions making.

I stepped around my father. "Hey, face lifted fossile, I get that in your mind I put your little boy in danger, but it was never my fault and I never actually asked Kostyantyn to do any of it. He's the one that wanted to help. He's the one that was trying to be a good person. I'm sorry if you think that makes me the bad guy. But you seriously need to take a chill pill."

Everyone became dead silent. They all looked at me like I was absolutely out of my mind. They should be glad I didn't also start singing the chorus to Humble by Kendrick Lamar. Bitch, sit down.

"And anyway if you hurt me, your son will rip your head off," I added, because everyone just looked super shocked.

"He'll live," she told me, her gaze piercing.

Yeah. Fuck her. I wasn't going to be intimidated by her. I had better things to do. "He'll ripe your head, clean off."

"He doesn't care for you that much, and even if he did, he's still got a long way before he can overpower me," she replied with a snort.

You should be terrified of your son.

I wanted to threaten her more. I wanted to tell her she had no idea what her son was truly capable of. Hugo had seemed so shocked to see Kostya's true power. That woman had no idea. But a part of me was also screaming that I couldn't tell her any of that. She couldn't know how powerful her son truly was. If she did, he'd be in trouble. It was a certainty in my head.

To protect Kostya... I couldn't be a smartass.

Kostya...

Wait? Was this... was any of this sword thing him? Was whatever residual mojo I had from him giving me cool sword skills? Was this what was happening?

It would make sense. If only he could be there to answer...

But he wasn't there. His shrew of a mother was. "Whatever you say Jurassic Park facelift," I replied.

"Your mouth will get you in trouble," she told me, like she was ready to punch me through the chest and rip my heart out with her bare hands.

With those words, she left us, her posy of guards following her.

I got why Kostya didn't like hanging out with her.

Matvei let out a relieved breath beside me. "Come on, let's get to our room. I think we've seen enough action for the day."

I didn't argue with him, and followed along.

Matvei and Hugo, both seemed like that knew where they were going, so I just followed in the stoned halls. Everything was lighted with torch, clearly there was no electricity here.

I spotted shining rocks here and there too. I wasn't sure if they were supernatural in the making though, or just shiny.

Finally, we got to a little room. We didn't have our own bathroom. Those were at the end of the hall. I wasn't too fussy about that. I'd lived in worst places.

There were two beds so the guys bunked together.

It was the safest choice. I was a kicker.

We all went to bed early a little overwhelmed with our day.

When I was alone in my bed, I turned my back to my father and Hugo and I took out the piece of paper Kostya had scribbled Lux in Tenebris on. Should I send the bat signal and see what happens?

I looked at the flowers he'd been drawing on it before, running my fingers over it.

He had talent.

Somehow, looking at his drawing and his writing was comforting to me. It calmed me down.

If I was being a hundred percent honest, I would have felt more at ease with him by my side.

But... I also had no desire of seeing him and my mother in the same room.

It would make me barf, quite literally.

I folded the piece of paper, and slipped it under my pillow.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep quickly. I woke up the next morning feeling like I'd forgotten something really important, and it was slipping right out of my grasp, like sand falling between my fingers.

I was also starving. I hadn't eaten anything in a while.

I assumed there was some kind of cafeteria somewhere, so I left the two snoring boys sleeping, and headed out.

I almost jumped to the roof when my uncle that was standing right by our door said, "I was hoping you'd come out first," with a grin.

It took me a second to get my breath back, and my heart rate to normal. "You know? I never had a family before, but it's nice to know that mine does follow the usual convention. What's a family without a creepy uncle, am I right?"

He chuckled, unaffected. "As your sense of humor always been your armour?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "The fuck kind of question is that? Like, what's the purpose? You think it's going to make you sound smart to make one of the most generic observations in the world about humor? What did you think was going to happen?"

King-Uncle dearest chuckled. "You're very hostile."

I shrugged. "You're a weirdo who killed a dude, and you're just waiting in a creepy hall for me. Excuse me for being a little defensive."

He ignored that, and motion to the corridor in front of us. "Walk with me?"

"Do I have a fucking choice?" I mumbled.

"My mother must absolutely love you," he said cheerfully, as we stared to walk side by side.

"Your mother is a bitch," I shot back automatically.

He ignored my remark again. "And what about your mother?"

"The Virgin Mary?"

"So both your father and your mother are virgins?" he tried to joke.

I nodded. "Yep."

"Look, this is serious. This curse is serious," he told me, a hand on my arm.

I shook it off. "All your life, you've lived with that curse looming over you. It must suck, I'm sure of it. I'm just learned about it. And it's like the least of my worries."

"People are talking about you," he suddenly said.

"Why?"

"Because you defeated Trenton?"

"And?"

"That doesn't happen often."

"Really?" I laughed. "Then shit, you guys have like zero skills."

"You tapped into your berserk force like you were just flipping a switch. You scared him," he explained.

I wasn't going to give him anything. I didn't trust him. Also, I didn't have answers either. "Once again, you guys seriously suck if this is all it takes to spook you."

"You're an oddity Oksana," he said, thoughtfully.

"No, I'm just a girl absolutely done with this bullshit. Excuse me," I said, and stepped around him, walking fast enough to let him know I had no desire of being followed.

Suddenly I had one of the wildest thoughts. I wanted to be home.

Because I actually had one now.

And it definitely wasn't here.

__________________

So, huh, hiiiiiiii. :')

It's been a while. I am very very sorry about it. I want to say it's not gonna happen again, but I can't make any promises. 

But I do know I'd love to finish this book in 2023. Because there's still a loooot of things I have planned for Oksana and the gang. And we have a long way to get to everywhere I want to go. Like, a lot more books. XD

So yeah. I really need to stop wasting time. 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Crossing my fingers I'll give you guys more very soon.

Thank you so so much for being patient with me, and for coming back to this story. I am very very grateful to all of you. <3

Alright. Back to writing now! :D