After I carried my mother down from the oak tree, we went our separate ways. I headed back to Sturm Hill Hall, while my mother decided to wander the woods some more. I wasn’t worried about her. Few magic beasts wandered this close to Icefall City, and those that did tended to be weak. Even if Mother encountered one, as a Fourth Circle wizard, there was nothing in this part of Gloom Mist Forest that posed a threat to her.
As I drew closer to Sturm Hill Hall, I heard a commotion. I cast my divine sense out, and found several people out in the front yard of the manor. There were my disciples, who had been out there training, as well as Annabelle. It looked like she was sparring with Leroy. A good number of the House Sturm retainers watched them. I hoped they were off-duty, otherwise Captain Jeffers would have their hides. My sister, Kaylee, was there as well.
I grinned and sped up. This should be good. While I could watch the fight with my divine sense, I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
It didn’t take me long to return to Sturm Hill Hall, when I arrived, it looked like the sparring match was starting to heat up. Scorch marks littered the grounds, remnants from Annabelle’s Fire spells. Several thorny vines rose up from the ground, similar to the ones used by the now-dead Black Wolf Gang Wood wizard. However, unlike his vines, Annabelle’s were on fire.
They burned, but the fire didn’t consume them.
It was a magic unique to House Thorne. Somehow they found a way to merge Wood magic and Fire magic without the Fire consuming the Wood, creating a kind of magic that was stronger than the sum of its parts. So far, no one had been able to replicate it. This was one of the reasons why House Thorne remained a Great House.
The audience cheered as the match went on. My disciples and the House Sturm retainers cheered for Leroy, since he was their brother in arms. Corie, in particular, shouted with vigor. Lorelei watched her friend and fellow disciple with a knowing smirk on her face. The only one who cheered for Annabelle was Kaylee. She was reserved about it, but it was clear that she was getting into the spirit of things.
The fiery vines whipped towards Leroy as he rushed towards Annabelle. Using the body enhancement technique increased his speed, allowing him to dodge some of them. However, since he was only in the first small realm of the Energy Condensation stage, his speed wasn’t that great. He couldn’t dodge all of them. Instead, he either cut the vines before they hit him, while wielding Crimson Fang, or tanked their attacks with his shield spell as he charged towards Annabelle.
Annabelle herself wasn’t idle either. She tossed Fire Lances and Lightning Lances at Leroy, forcing him to either dodge them and risk being hit by the vines, or tank them and weaken his shield spell. Unlike the Fire Lance that Crispin threw at me, the Fire mage who worked for Guildmaster Sinclair and helped me with my wager against Corie, Annabelle’s Fire Lances contained the full power of a Second Circle wizard at the second thread. When they hit Leroy’s shield spell, they exploded with great force. The shield spell cracked, but didn’t break.
Thankfully, someone had set up a basic protective magic circle to create an impromptu arena, so that the Fire Lances and Lightning Lances didn’t go flying off in the distance.
Still, all of this wasn’t enough to stop Leroy, they just slowed him down. He reached Annabelle and swung his sword at her. Crimson Fang was on fire, using the second of its Fire enchantments. Given how much strength Leroy could bring to bear, this attack would be enough to break through Annabelle’s shield spell, or close to it at least. I trusted in his control, so Annabelle herself wouldn’t be hurt.
Unfortunately for him, the attack wouldn’t land. I knew this from personal experience. I sighed, feeling bad for Leroy.
Annabelle smirked as the mana in the area surged towards her, or rather the ground around her. A wall of thorns erupted out of the ground, entangling Leroy. He fought against them, to no avail. No matter how hard he struggled, Leroy couldn’t break free. In fact, the more he struggled, the more the thorns entangled him.
Thorn Wall, a signature spell of House Thorn. At least Annabelle didn’t use the Fire variant, Firethorn Wall, which she had used against me during our duel.
She caught me in it when I tried to use Claw of the Storm Dragon against her. I cut myself free from it using an Air spell, but then Annabelle took advantage of the moment and attacked me with a powerful Lightning spell. This was the same Lightning spell that shattered my Circles and put me in a week-long coma.
After a few more minutes of useless struggle, Leroy gave up.
“I concede,” he called out in a resigned voice.
The House Sturm retainers gave him some good natured ribbing, especially since he was two threads ahead of Annabelle but still lost. Corie, on the other hand, looked furious on his behalf. In fact, Lorelei had to hold her back from marching towards Annabelle. Kaylee cheered even harder for Annabelle, abandoning her previously reserved attitude.
Since the match was over, I walked in their direction. Someone took down the protective barrier just as I reached it. The Thorn Wall disappeared, putting Leroy sword down with surprising gentleness. Even so, he tumbled to the ground. Annabelle walked forward and held out a hand towards him.
“Good match,” she said.
Leroy looked at her hand, before standing up on his own.
“Good match,” he said.
If Annabelle was angry or hurt by his rejection, she didn’t let it show.
I clapped.
“That was a good display, Lady Annabelle,” I said.
The atmosphere grew a little awkward as the House Sturm retainers fell silent. Kaylee wore a conflicted expression on her face. Lorelei was busy trying to calm Corie down. Annabelle grinned at me.
“Why, thank you, Gabe,” she said. “I’ve been practicing over these past few months.”
“I can tell,” I said, and meant it.
From what I saw, not only was Annabelle more powerful than before, but she was even faster at casting spells than she had been during our duel. Back then, I could barely dodge them. If the past Lord Gabriel dueled Annabelle as she was now, he would have lost even sooner.
Rather than feel dismayed or discouraged by this, I was proud of Annabelle. Not only that, but watching her rapid rate of improvement fueled my own desire to get stronger.
“‘Gabe?’” one of the House Sturm retainers muttered. “She dares call the young master, ‘Gabe?’”
Annabelle smirked when she heard this. I grimaced, and pretended I didn’t hear anything.
“You performed brilliantly as well, Leroy,” I said, turning to my disciple.
He shook his head.
“I lost,” he said. “Not only that, but I lost to someone two threads below me. It was disgraceful.”
“Don’t feel bad about losing,” I said. “The Thorn Wall spell is particularly effective against those who attack at close range. As someone who specializes in internal magic, you were at a disadvantage.” I gave Annabelle a sideways glance. “Not only that, but Lady Annabelle has a habit of defeating those who should be more powerful than her. She beat me when she had just stepped into the Second Circle.”
“Aw,” Annabelle said, acting coy. “You’re making me blush.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“Take it as the learning experience that it is and use it to fuel your own growth,” I said. “It’s only a setback if you make it one.”
After a brief moment, Leroy nodded.
“Thank you, young master,” he said. “I will.” He turned to Annabelle. “And thank you for humoring me, Lady Annabelle. I apologize for my earlier rudeness.”
Annabelle waved him off.
“No apology needed,” she said. “It’s water under the bridge.”
Leroy headed towards my other disciples. Someone had prepared a pitcher of water, as well as some towels. Corie handed him a glass of water and a towel.
“I wonder if she’s aware of how obvious she’s being,” I muttered in English, watching my disciples.
“She might not even know it herself,” Annabelle said, also in English. “It took me a while to figure out that I was in love with you, back when before we started dating.”
I snorted at that.
When I fell in love with Annabelle, I recognized it right away. It was the strongest emotion I had ever felt in my life as Brandon Norwood, so there was no way I could misidentify it.
Actually, now that I thought about it, my love for Annabelle was also the strongest emotion I felt as Gabriel Sturm. My love for my family was a very close second. My shame and guilt over previous actions towards Annabelle came in third.
It took Annabelle a lot longer to realize that she was in love with me. Until then, I was filled with angst over my seemingly unrequited love for her. It was all rather ridiculous, now that I thought back on it.
“So, what prompted this?” I asked.
This time I spoke in Common Tongue, since my sister was marching towards us.
“After you went to talk with your parents,” Annabelle said. “Your sister and I spent some time together.”
“Yes,” Kaylee said, walking over to Annabelle’s side. “We were discussing the most recent gossip from the capital. A topic that doesn’t interest you, surely.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. Annabelle gave me an apologetic look. It seemed as if my sister was still upset with me. Still, she was right. I had no interest in gossip from the imperial capital. Well, unless it proved useful for my family’s interests.
“When I saw your people training,” Annabelle continued. “I decided to watch. Your bodyguard, Leroy, asked me to spar with him and I accepted.” She switched to English. “I think he wanted to avenge your defeat at my hands.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll tell him not to bother,” I said, also in English. “I’ll avenge myself.” I grinned at her. “You and I will have our rematch, Annabelle. Don’t you worry about that.”
Annabelle arched an eyebrow.
“How about right now?” she asked, a hint of challenge in her voice. “It could be fun. Winner gets to do whatever they want to the loser.”
I shook my head. Annabelle looked disappointed by this.
“Not today,” I said. “I’m not strong enough to put up a good fight against you. At least not yet.”
Kaylee looked between us in confusion, before grabbing Annabelle’s arm.
“What language are you speaking?” she asked, sounding a little upset.
Was…Was my sister jealous? Her hold on Annabelle’s arm looked a bit possessive.
“It’s called ‘English’” I said, switching back to Common Tongue.
Kaylee wrinkled her nose.
“It sounds barbaric,” she said.
“It’s Lady Annabelle’s native tongue,” I replied with a smirk.
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Kaylee looked stricken at this. Annabelle, on the other hand, just snickered.
“Gabe, stop teasing your sister like that,” she said.
“But she makes it so easy.”
Kaylee’s grip on Annabelle’s arm tightened. Yep, I think she was jealous. Oh boy, just what I needed.
“When did the two of you get so friendly with each other?” Kaylee asked. “And when did you learn this ‘English’, Brother?”
“It was a long journey from Sturm Manor to the Icefall Region, as you well know,” I said. “There wasn’t a lot to do.” I nodded towards Annabelle. “To answer your first question, Lady Annabelle and I actually met each other in Rosewood City not too long ago. We…buried the hatchet, to borrow an Otherworlder phrase, and resolved our differences.”
“You could say that we came to understand each other a lot better,” Annabelle said, a knowing smile on her lips.
Seeing this smile, Kaylee looked even more upset.
“While I’m happy to see the two of you getting along…” A blatant lie. “…Lady Annabelle and I have something that we need to do, don’t we?”
Before Annabelle could respond, my hand shot out and I grabbed her arm.
“Actually,” I said, giving my sister a false smile. “Lady Annabelle and I have a prior engagement. We had to delay it since Father and Mother wished to discuss something with me, but I’m free now.”
Annabelle raised an eyebrow and gave my hand a pointed glance.
“I’m sure you and Lady Annabelle can finish with your business later,” Kaylee said, tugging Annabelle towards her.
“It’s rather important,” I said, tugging Annabelle back.
The woman in question endured all this manhandling with surprisingly good humor.
“Gabe,” Annabelle said in English. “Are you jealous of how close your sister and I have become?”
I hadn’t realized it until she pointed it out, but I was indeed jealous.
“Yes,” I said in English, speaking in a flat voice.
Annabelle blinked at my honesty.
“Of me or her?”
“Both.”
I was jealous that Annabelle brought out a side of my sister that I had never seen before, and I was jealous of how possessive my sister was towards Annabelle.
“How important could this business be?” Kaylee asked. “After all, Lady Annabelle is my friend. Not yours.”
I snorted.
“Oh yeah?” I said in Common Tongue. “Well, she’s my…”
I paused, since I didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Girlfriend? Lover? Soulmate?
We never actually defined what our relationship was, at least not in this lifetime. To be fair, I didn’t think it needed defining. I loved her, and she loved me. That was good enough, or it had been.
It was Kaylee’s turn to snort.
“She’s your…what, Brother?” Kaylee asked in a taunting voice.
Annabelle looked very interested in my answer as well.
“Yes, Gabe,” she said. “What am I to you?”
I replied in a calm and rational manner, one befitting of my status and station in life.
By that, I mean I grabbed Annabelle by the waist, yanked her out of Kaylee’s grip, and hoisted her into a princess carry.
“She’s mine,” I growled, loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear.
[Lightning Arts: Lightning Flash]
Before anyone could react, I dashed off, heading into the Gloom Mist Forest.
----------------------------------------
“Oh ancestors,” I said. “What have I done? You must think I’m some kind of brute.”
After I ran off with Annabelle, I didn’t stop until we were miles from Sturm Hill Hall. Kaylee tried to chase after us, using Air internal magic, but I kept using Lightning Flash to pull further and further away.
Eventually, my sister gave up.
When I almost ran out of mana, I used the body enhancement technique and kept going.
After a while, I stopped and settled atop a large flat boulder. I put Annabelle down, and buried my face in my hands in embarrassment.
“I don’t know,” Annabelle said, her voice laced with amusement. “I thought it was hot, the way you claimed me as yours in front of everyone. Besides, it wasn’t the first time you’ve gone all caveman over me. Remember that obnoxious asshole, Tommy Booth?”
I made a disgusted face. Oh yeah, I remembered Tommy Booth.
Back in high school, Tommy Booth was another one of the popular kids. Like Annabelle, he participated in theater. Handsome, charismatic, and smart, it was like he was born for it. He also acted a lot like I did as Lord Gabriel, before I regained my memories. He treated those he considered his equals with respect, and treated those he viewed below him like insects. Obviously, Brandon Norwood fell into the second category.
Tommy Booth was also a bit of a player. He went through girls like they were disposable tissues; he would play with them for a while and then discard them when he grew bored. Soon after Annabelle and I started dating, he set his sights on her. He did his best to get in her pants, flattering her and flirting with her. Often, he did it right in front of me.
Annabelle kept shutting him down, but that only made him more determined.
I put up with it at first, since I didn’t want to cause any trouble for Annabelle, but one day I snapped and beat the shit out of him. While I had been a skinny little twerp back then, my anger gave me strength. Even Annabelle had trouble pulling me off of him. Then again, I didn’t think she tried all that hard. Afterwards, Tommy Booth left us both alone.
Somehow, I avoided getting expelled or arrested over that.
“The problem is, Kaylee isn’t Tommy Booth,” I said. “She’s my sister. The two aren’t even in the same category.” I sighed. “Not only that, but you’re her hero. Abandoned by her friends and ostracized because of my actions, you came along when she was at her lowest. Of course she would be possessive of you.”
I felt guilty for taking Annabelle away, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it now. And despite that, I didn’t regret it. Guilty, but not regretful.
I also felt ashamed for acting like a child and treating Annabelle like a toy, fighting with my sister over her.
I laid back on the boulder and looked up at the canopy of Gloom Mist Forest.
“I’m a reincarnated Immortal,” I said. “I should be better than this. And yet, whenever you’re involved, I lose control of my emotions. It all becomes a jumbled mess. Gah! You make me lose my mind, woman!”
I covered my eyes with my hand. I heard Annabelle shift her position and felt something tickle my hand. I pulled my hand away to find Annabelle leaning over me. Her long blonde hair fell from her head, like a golden waterfall. Even in the darkness of Gloom Mist Forest, her hair shimmered. The vanilla scent of her perfume teased my nostrils. She stared down at me, her blue eyes twinkling.
“So, what you’re saying is that I drive you crazy?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “That should be obvious.”
“Good. At least I’m not the only one.”
She leaned down and gave me a tender kiss. Her lips were soft and warm. They lingered on mine for several long seconds. When she pulled away, the two of us stared at each other for several seconds before our lips met again.
I didn’t know who initiated this second kiss, myself or Annabelle, but it didn’t matter. It soon grew more heated than the first one. I sat up so I could hold Annabelle in my arms. We clung to each other and kissed, almost as if we wanted to devour one another. At some point, she ended up on my lap.
When my hands wandered towards her chest, I stopped myself and grabbed her by the shoulders. I pulled away from her, keeping my grip gentle.
“Damn it,” Annabelle whined. “I was so close to breaking your resolve.”
I sat there panting. Oh, she had no idea how right she was. A hunger stirred inside me, a hunger for Annabelle. If we hadn’t stopped, I would have pounced on her right then and there. A certain part of my anatomy was all for that.
Annabelle clung to my shirt.
“Why?” she said, sounding out of breath. “I know you want it just as much as I do. I can feel it.” She wriggled her hips, drawing a hiss from me. “Why do you keep pushing me away?”
“You know why,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“Fuck our reputations,” Annabelle growled. “And fuck societal expectations. All that matters is that I love you, and you love me. Why should we let a bunch of stuck up assholes get in the way of that?”
“Those ‘stuck-up assholes’ include our families,” I said. “While I’m sure mine wouldn’t object to us being together…” Except maybe Kaylee. “…yours would. They wouldn’t accept me. Not only am I from a lesser House, but I also bullied and tormented you at the academy.”
Annabelle fell silent at that.
“They have the power to make it difficult for us to be together. The best way to deal with that is to get them to accept me. To do that, we need to do things right and proper. Courtship, engagement, marriage. The whole nine yards. If they find out that we slept together, any chance of getting them to accept me goes out the window. At that point, our options become a lot more limited.”
Annabelle leaned forward and pressed face into my chest.
“I could always disown House Thorne,” she whispered, her voice muffled.
I froze at that.
Disowning one’s House was not a decision to be taken lightly. Unlike leaving one’s House when one joined the Tower of Magic, disowning one’s House involved cutting off all ties with them. Emotional, financial, political. Everything. Essentially, the former House scion becomes dead to their House, and their House becomes dead to them.
House scions only did this in the most extreme of circumstances. Even Mother didn’t disown her House when she married Father, though from her story, it sounded like a near thing. While she maintained minimal contact, that connection still existed. Disowning one’s House, or being disowned by one’s House, was permanent. Few were willing to cut themselves off from their families like that.
“No,” I said, wrapping my arms around Annabelle. “While I don’t know much about your relationship with House Thorne, the little I do know suggests that you’re very close with them. If nothing else, you’re closer to them than you were with your birth family. I can’t and won’t ask you to forsake them.”
Annabelle pulled back enough to look me in the face.
“You didn’t ask,” she said, a hard look in her eyes. “I volunteered. If my family objects to our relationship, to the point that they’ll try to stop us from being together, then I will leave them. If they truly loved me, they would understand and respect my decision.”
I reached up to caress Annabelle’s face. She closed her eyes and leaned into my touch.
“And yet it would kill you to cut off all ties with them,” I said. “I don’t want to see that happen, which means earning their approval.” I grimaced. “Which won’t be easy, given that the two of us used to be enemies. We’re facing an uphill battle here.”
Annabelle opened her eyes, and gave me a taunting smirk.
“What?” she asked. “Are you too scared to give it a try?”
“For you? Never.”
I dipped my head down to give you a kiss. A brief one, since I didn’t want to tempt myself and risk taking it further.
When the kiss ended, the two of us embraced and just held each other. Neither of us said a word for several minutes.
“Marriage, huh?” Annabelle asked.
I stilled at that. Oh. Right. I had said that. It just came out in the heat of the moment.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit early to be thinking of marriage?” Annabelle asked, her tone teasing. “I mean, we just reunited.”
“It is,” I admitted. “Which is another reason why I wanted to take things slow. I knew you as Brandon Norwood. Now I want to get to know you as Gabriel Sturm and Immortal Celestial Thunder. You also don’t know everything about me. Brandon Norwood makes up just one part of my being.” My heart clenched as I said this next part. “What if you find that you can’t reconcile your feelings for Brandon with my other two lives?”
Annabelle trailed her fingers along my arm, caressing it.
“Well, nothing I’ve seen so far is a deal breaker,” she said. “If I can forgive the shit you put me through back in the academy, I think I can accept the rest of your weirdness.”
“Even if the part of me that revels in bloodshed and violence?”
Annabelle paused for a moment, before she resumed her caressing.
“Yes,” she said. “I can accept that part of you as well. You aren’t the only bloodthirsty one here. I tried to kill you during our duel.”
She grabbed my arm when she said this, her grip as strong as iron.
“I almost killed you, and lost you forever,” she whispered.
“To be fair, I tried to kill you too,” I said.
The thought that one of us could have killed the other, and lost the chance to be together again, filled me with dread. Things could have gone so wrong in so many ways. It was a miracle that we even managed to get this far.
“Let’s make a promise to never try and kill each other again,” Annabelle said.
“That’s an easy promise to make,” I said.
We fell silent once again, before Annabelle pulled back.
“By the way, when are you going to finish your examination?” she asked with a pout. “You still haven’t told me about what you found.”
Oh, right. That. I had completely forgotten about that
“I had planned to do it after your match with Leroy,” I said. “But then things turned out as they did.”
“Well, why not finish it now?” Annabelle looked around. “This seems private enough.”
I looked around at the dark and dank forest around us. Despite the lack of wind, the mist swirled about.
“Here?” I asked. “Really? We could just go back to Sturm Hill Hall.”
Annabelle shook her head.
“If we do that, we’re just going to be interrupted again.” Annabelle let out a small smile. “Your sister will bug us, if nothing else. I love the girl, but she can be a bit demanding at times.”
That was a part of Kaylee I knew well. When she wasn’t busy with her education or training her magic, Kaylee wanted to spend as much time with me as possible. Or she had. I didn’t think that would be the case anymore.
The thought made me a little sad. At the time, her constant presence annoyed me. However, now that it was gone forever, I found that I missed it.
“You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “In that case, keep an eye out.”
While we were still within a relatively safe area of the Gloom Mist Forest, it wasn’t completely safe. Since I would be busy examining Annabelle, it would be up to her to keep a lookout.
When Annabelle nodded, I closed my eyes and examined her with my divine sense. It took about half an hour. It would have taken longer, but because of my earlier examination, I knew what to look for. This more in-depth look into Annabelle’s being was just to confirm what I saw the first time around.
“Huh,” I said, when I finished, stunned by what I saw.
“What does ‘huh’ mean, Gabe?” Annabelle asked. “Is that a good ‘huh’ or a bad ‘huh?’”
I took a moment to compose myself before relaxing.
“It’s a weird ‘huh,’” I said. “Two weird ‘huhs’, actually. It’s…I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“You can start at the beginning,” Annabelle said in a sardonic tone. “That’s usually a good idea.”
“Except there is no beginning,” I said. “Just two weird bits…You know what, I’ll start with the least weird one. Well, least weird for me.”
I took a moment before saying it, since I wasn’t sure how Annabelle would react.
“Annabelle, your soul isn’t human.”