Queen Of The Castle

Chapter 7

Panting, I lean against the wall. All the pleasant, warm feelings I had for Kai leave me as my body battles for another breath. He switched me over to a treadmill, then a few other devices I didn't know the names of before he sent me back to the rope.

I reach for my bottle, and my arms quiver. My knees felt weak, and I knew that any second now, I'd be on the floor.

"Done yet?" he asks and raises an amused eyebrow at me. The thing about me is I refuse to give up. It's not because I'm a sore loser but because I hate letting others win. So, yeah. Maybe a sore loser.

I had to take a deep breath before speaking again, "Just taking a water break," I replied. My voice sounded winded and most definitely incapable of continuing with this torture. Kai gives me another of his rare smiles, and my heart flutters. I frowned at myself and would use my hand to throw these thoughts out physically, but my arms couldn't move an inch because of him. I glare at him and try, and fail, to lift my arm again.

"You did well today," he says, "you can go and bathe. Trust me, it'll make you feel better." I would, but I could not move. I refuse to tell him that, so instead, I say, "You go on ahead; I'll leave after another set of," I look at the ropes in distaste, "those." Kai laughs and walks out of the room. The door bangs behind him, and I am suddenly left in silence.

I give up all pretence of my ability to stand and plop onto the floor. I stretch out my limbs and hug the floor as though it were my dearest friend. The cool floor soothed my aches, but my body needed more than just temperature to heal. I sigh into the floor as I slip onto my stomach. My back hurt, but I wanted to feel the cold against my face now. The quiet surroundings lulled me into a sleep-like state. I was almost about to do off when a semi-scream woke me up. I would've gotten up, except I still hadn't gained the ability to command my muscles yet.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," repeated a feminine voice as she came closer to me, "someone killed her. I mean, I assumed she'd die sooner or later, but this is way too soon." she kept talking and moving closer. I groan and open my eyes. She didn't notice this movement and continued murmuring about who could've killed me. She came even closer until her boots were close enough for me to reach. I lift my head and groan again, louder this time, trying to get her attention.

She immediately goes quiet and stares at me. Her eyes were wide and scared as she stared at me, now completely mute. She had darker eyes, too, for some reason; now that I knew what that indicated, it was almost impossible not to look into their eyes to see their magic power.

"I'm in a lot of pain," I murmur when she remains still as a statue. I didn't notice the blue bottle until it was too late.

"HEY, HEY!" I stumble as I sit up. The crazy lady just poured water on me! I was already wet with sweat, and now she just dumped her water at me? "are you trying to kill me?" I ask, extremely confused and agitated.

"Why would I do that?" she asks, confused herself.

"Well, I don't know. You just poured down a whole bottle of water on me." I looked up at her in confusion, and she seemed even more confused than I was.

"Yes, what else was I supposed to do? Let you suffer?" I felt like there was something significant I was missing here. "To think I used all my mineral water, too," she says sadly as she looks into her empty bottle. "you didn't even say thank you even though this would help you heal much faster than any normal water." she sulks. That's when the bulb lights up in my head. I had forgotten about water magic and it having different abilities. Water could heal us. I stretched my limbs, and they felt better, not completely normal but less sore than before. That's why Kai had asked me to run a bath. Nodding as understanding lit my face, I looked up at her and smiled, "Thank you,"