Chapter Sixteen

Petra sat in the stadium as Chesi stormed off, her promise restraining her from continued attempts to prove her theory. Alid jumped into the ring to retrieve his weapon from Vlad.

She was left alone, brooding over her teammate's feats. He'd defeated a demon. Chesi thought it had thrown the fight, but demons were supposed to be prideful beyond the pride of any mortal. Why would a being that thought so highly of itself throw a fight?
And he'd made it look good too. All the twirling and spinning as he dodged or recovered from blows, He'd been on the defensive the whole time but it looked like he was in control of the fight.
And he'd wounded it. There'd been actual Demon's blood spilled by his blows. She was fairly certain most people couldn't so much as prick one. He'd left the tiles filthy with it.
Most importantly though; he'd banished it. That was an act of magic. She was supposed to be the one good with magic, he was just some human.

And in that she turned her thoughts on herself. 'Could I have done that?' 'Is he the better mage afterall?' Petra's mind was awash with a hail of self-doubt and wounded pride. 'Would I be able to defeat a demon if I had too?'

She looked down and saw Alid patting Vlad on the back. He was congratulating him. Vlad had managed to impress him; SHE hadn't managed to impress him. After months of trying to get him to notice her as more than just 'the princess'and here he was offering up praise to a mere human. As her emotions began turning her thoughts incoherent and her mind grew frantic with building rage, She followed after Chesi and left the arena.