Chapter Five

A ray of sunshine passes through the window and wakes me up. Groaning, I place my hand on top of Master Athan’s chest to cuddle with him, except I am greeted with a soft pillow rather than his warm body. I open my eyes and frown at the empty bed.

I took him against his will last night, of course he would not want to cuddle. However, I can’t help myself from blushing when thinking of what happened last night. Me and Master, connected into one. As mates.

Despite being in cloud nine, something, somewhere in the back of my mind, is screaming for a reality check. I will be departing soon for my Impossible Mission, which is to assassinate the Rogue King by any means. I suppose the most efficient way to do it is to seduce him. After sharing my whole soul with the Master,  I find it unacceptable to have sex with another man.

Sitting up from the bed, my silky chemise slips down to my waist. My heart pounds with a mixture of pain and worry. Would Master truly let me proceed with sleeping with another man just to accomplish my mission after our night together?

I shake my head to flush all negative thoughts away and tell myself that the chance of Master Athan pulling me out of the Impossible Mission is high because we are one now.

The door opens and Flix enters the room with a gloomy look. His usual clean sleek back hair is messy and his shirt is crumpled.

“Hey! What got your panties on a twist this early in the morning?” I greet him with a reassuring smile.

Flix's eyes lock into mine before eyeing me up and down with what looks like disgust written all over his face. Offended, I pull the blankets higher to cover my half naked body. He still stares at me furiously.

“What’s the stare for? I don’t know why you are staring at me so rudely, Flix.” I let out a nervous chuckle.

The mention of his name seems like it snaps him back to reality and immediately, he marches toward me and tightly grips on my shoulders.

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHY?” He then starts shaking me violently. “YOU FUCKING SLEPT WITH HIM!”

“You’re hurting me. You don’t understand, Flix. We are—” I try to force his hands off me.

“NO! What you don’t fucking understand is that he does not love you!” He roughly cuts me off and throws the picture frame that was on top of the bedside to the floor. Glass shatters all around us, making me gasp out loud. Horrified.

“He does not fucking cherish you, you silly girl! Why are you fucking acting like he will?” He angrily points a finger at me and shouts.

“Shut up, Flix. You know nothing. You don’t know him and—” Tears brim on my eyes and I feel myself trembling from his tone.

“I do, Ice. That’s the thing that fucking pisses me off. I know him and I know you. And I know that he will never love you and I also know that you will never fucking see it because your are fucking delusional!” He screams at me in a shaky voice.

“It’s none of your business, you fucking asshole! Leave me the fuck alone.” I look at him with the harshest glare I can muster. Angry tears fall from my eyes and I squeeze my eyes shut.

“Why can’t it be me, Ice?” He starts to shake his head, mumbling desperately.

I freeze on my spot hearing his confession. Ever since I met Flix, it is my first time seeing the true meaning that is plastered on his eyes. Hurt. I can’t believe Flix, the boy I have always considered as my brother, is in love with me. I hate to see his heart break. I hate knowing I caused that heart break.

“Flix…” I trail off.

“I’m sorry, Flix.” I know there is nothing that I can say that will make him feel better.  So I tell him one thing that ecompasses everything that I want to tell him.

A look of defeat washes over him and he immediately dashes out of the room.

I place a hand to cover my eyes as a way to stop myself from crying. I wobbly wear the dress and zip up my boots. I enter the bathroom and turn on the faucet. Looking at the mirror, if I ignore my red eyes, anyone can see that I am blooming. No one would think that I was locked in the Red Zone if they saw me now. My skin is rosy and my lips are plump —I am still gorgeous.

Sighing, I wash my face and comb through my luscious hair with my fingers. I feel bad for hurting Flix, but I can’t do anything about it. He’s not Master. He’s not my mate. That’s right, I should not feel this guilt for his unrequited love for me because he is not my destined mate.

With that, I leave the room to look for Master Athan.

I walk around the academy and notice the stares given to me by other students. Refusing to back down, I tilt my chin higher and continue walking from one room to another. When I arrive in his office and he is nowhere to be seen, a frown falters my confident facade. Huh, where can he be? I look at the wall clock and see that it’s almost noon, which means that if he is not in his office, then he must be in his quarters.

A smile replaces my frown when I realize that he must still be tired from last night’s mating session. I giddily walk out of the halls of the academy and pass through the garden. What lovely weather for a picnic with the Master. The sun shines bright and kisses my skin, but it does not pierce painfully because of the amount of clouds covering it.

I slow down my pace to admire the brilliant marigolds and colourful bougainvillaeas on the ground. I smile at the trees that seem greener and healthier than the last time I admired them. The heavenly view of the garden is enough for me to ignore how my previous students, like Franceska, Kentari, and Jenisse, avoid me like a plague. Whatever, I like my life better this way anyway.

When Master’s huge oak tree door stands in front of me, I readily turn the knob to open it. But I am roughly pulled away by my elbow.

“What are you doing? Take your hands off me.” I face one of Master Athan’s most loyal guards, Ericson.

He does not blink. “What are you doing?”

“I’m here to see Master Athan.” Scoffing, I puff my chest out.

This time, he is the one who scoffs. “No can do, you’re not allowed to be here.”

“Tell him that I’m here.” Pissed, I started talking louder, “TELL HIM THAT ICE IS HERE. THAT I AM HERE.”

“Why do you like humiliating yourself?” He rolls his eyes and sarcastically says.

Offended, I’m about to reply something snarky when the Master's voice echoes from inside his room, “Let her in.”

“You heard him, let me in.” I smirk as Ericson frowns. He sighs and unlocks the door for me.

I was expecting the love of my life to be eating breakfast on his bed, tired from the hours of love making we had last night. And he is eating breakfast on his desk, but he is not alone.

I feel bile rise in my stomach when I notice a naked Miranda, that bitch, is lying on top of the bed with a triumphed and satisfied smirk on her face and flushed skin.

They fucked.

My heart clenches on the scene in front of me and my whole word freezes. Tears brim on my eyes but I start blinking profusely to stop them from falling.

They fucking fucked.

“What are you doing here?” Master asks nonchalantly.

This fucking asshole.

I hear loud glass shatter around me, but then I realize that it is just my heart. The one he just breaks.

How can he do this to me? We just made love earlier. No**.** I scoff to myself, we just fucked earlier. We didn’t make love because he doesn't love me. What we did last night was fucking and not love making. I am just one of the names in the list of women he slept with. I am no one special.

He does not consider me as his mate. And it seems like he never will.

I was wrong for thinking he loves me.

“Ice?” Master sighs with pure annoyance.

I snap back to reality and grit my teeth while answering his stupid question to his stupid face.

“I just came here to see your new toy.” I breathe in shakily and stare at Miranda with pure hatred. Oh, if looks can kill.

But then, upon looking at her, I realize that she looks oddly familiar. The noise around me turns mute while I hesitantly glance at the Master's bedside table and look at the picture of the woman who haunts my dreams. Even without looking at it, I have memorized that woman’s face because I remember looking at the same picture frame millions of times when I was young. The woman who the Master has always loved.

Wait a minute… is Miranda her?

No, impossible. I look back at the bitch on Master’s bed and realize that despite the resemblance, she does not have the mystery woman’s green eyes and heart-shaped lips.

“You’re misbehaving again. Was I doting on you too much? Do you think that just because we fucked that you have the rights to see me?” He takes a step forward and jeers.

“Depart from the academy tomorrow morning.” He orders in an icy and calm voice that sends eerie shivers down my spine.

“Master, please allow me to accompany Ice in her Impossible Mission.” The tension breaks when a knock comes from the door. Master scoffs and walks to his desk while allowing Flix entrance.

“Are you aware that the woman you are willing to die for lost her virginity to me last night? She’s one of my whores now. She’s used.” Master Athan’s face is devoid of any emotions.

I angrily clench my fists but can’t say anything because what he said is true. I fucking hate his guts.

“I am, but I don’t care. I love her and I will marry her one day. Please allow me to accompany her.” Flix looks at me with soft eyes and then faces Master once again pleading.

“You are absolutely pathetic, Flix. No, you are not allowed to accompany her.” A sinister laugh booms out of Master Athan as he stares at Flix.

Flix trembles and immediately kneels down in front of Master Athan. I gasp and rush towards him.

“Stop that! What are you doing, Flix? Please, stand up!” I try pulling him back on his feet to stand up. He shakes his head and begs Master to accompany once again.

Suddenly, in a blink, Flix is brought to the wall with Master Athan’s grip tightly on his neck.

“Listen to me and listen well. I’m not allowing you to be with her, do you get that?” Master Athan growls at him.

Flix rattles underneath his hold but nods profusely while trying to get out of Master’s hold.

“I SAID DO YOU GET ME?!”

“Y-yes, M-m-master.” Flix rasps out.

With what seems like forever, I watch as Flix’s consciousness slips away, making Master throw him to the floor with a loud bang. I rush towards the unconscious Flix in a blink of an eye and hold him to me.

“Flix? Flix, please wake up.” I ask while patting his cheeks, hoping that he will wake up.

Why would he do that to him?! Is the pain he has given to me not enough? And now he wants to hurt the only person who loves and cares for me?!

“If you can’t finish the task in three months, I will be the one who will finish you off.” Master turns to look at me and says through gritted teeth.

There are a million things I want to curse to alleviate any type of hurt that I am experiencing right now, but all I can do is stay obedient because I don’t know what he will do if I push his button any further.

“Yes, Master.” I angrily grip Flix's arms and reply.

“You are to do this task alone.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Leave my room.”

“Yes, Master.” I put Flix’s arm around me. When I am about to bring us both out of the room, I pause on my tracks and turn around.

“But also,” I look up and glare angrily at him straight to his soul. “I accept your rejection.”