Chapter 20: Chapter Sixteen—Beatrice: Part I

“Are you listening, Cyrus?” Beatrice sighed as my gaze returned to her disappointed, copper-coloured stare.

Beatrice wore a dark blue masquerade covering of sorts on her face’s left side but for her lips. It was snug and well designed to the curves of her face. Whatever it was hiding, the mask did an outstanding job. What I could see on Beatrice’s face was unbelievably beautiful. She had a strong jawline that by no means made her masculine.

She tossed the metal sphere to me. “If you’re going to not talk to me, then at least drain your anima,” she pouted.

“Sorry, I haven’t been sleeping well. You were saying?”

Beatrice pouted. “Do you just want me to come back next week?”

I shook my head. “No, things have just been getting… hectic lately. We can do the animaic stretching,” I offered, and Beatrice moved her chair over to me, so our knees were touching. After taking the metal ball from me, she took my hand, holding it with both of hers, and I felt the warmth of her transferring her anima into me. “Would you say I am making progress?”

“Do you not notice a difference?” she asked, looking up at me.

“It is hard to tell. My training with Gracen involved me and her sitting much like this and her exploding the capillaries in my legs. Her convergent element is genuinely terrifying. All it would have taken to kill me would have been to burst a few blood vessels in my brain. She said if I can fortify every vein in my body, I can take a punch from anyone, even Immortal. However, this doesn’t really allow me to scale my anima pool.”

Beatrice nodded. “Surviving a punch from the number one rank Hero would be impressive—you said convergent element?”

“Yeah, it’s when a single user has multiple elements, and there is a genetic mutation. A lot of time, they lose control of their basic elements. For example, my friend Covic and his sister only have one element, fire, but it diverts into a form of lightning magica. They can’t use a regular flame, which is called a variant, when it’s only one element. Blood magica is the same but is given the name convergent since it requires three elements to work: spirit, water and life. Gracen also has a fire element. She had to of been a force to reckon with in her younger days.”

“Wow, thanks, teacher”—Beatrice smiled—“Do you not train your anima with Jolene?”

“No, she said I need to learn to fight without strengthening myself with it.”

“Agreed, but You should really train your element.”

“Edwin said he has someone on the way for that,” I replied as the warm sensation travelled just below my elbow.

My fingers stung a little as it felt like the pressure was building inside them. “Is this dangerous? If done incorrectly?”

Beatrice laughed. “You ask this now after doing it for months?”

“I get distracted—”

Beatrice’s eyebrow raised. “Staring at my tits?” She smirked.

I paused. “I was going to say our conversa—”

“Conversations that you often zone out of?” she finished for me, and I sighed.

“Hm.”

Beatrice tittered. “Yes, you could literally explode if I push too much into you at one time. If your body can’t handle it, you burn to death or go pop, like a balloon.”

“Have you ever?”

She sighed. “When I was six, I accidentally… red misted my rabbit.”

“Uh, that's… tragic.”

“Traumatising is the word I would use.”

The warmth was now to my shoulder, and the pain was setting in at my wrist. I was close to breaking into a sweat. “This is hurting. Let’s keep talking.”

“I’ll slow down a bit. What do you want to talk about?” Beatrice asked as I felt the heat dissipate a little.

“Can anima transfer be done another way? Like are you the only one that can do this, ever?”

Beatrice paused. “Transfer, no, but there is another method, but I am not supposed to tell people.”

My curiosity got the better of me. “You have my word that I will tell no one, but it is okay to move on from the subject.”

Beatrice hesitated but continued. “My family keeps a tree that produces a fruit that increases your anima, similar to what we are doing. It’s in a heavily guarded vault underground. We have these like plant scientists—”

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“Botanists.” I corrected her.

She stuck her tongue out at me. “Sorry, botanists, and they monitor the tree constantly—24/7, 364 days a year with this high-tech lighting that provides it with the sun. Apparently, this is the last tree of its kind in existence. It sat in our courtyard when I was little but was relocated because my father was paranoid that someone was stealing from it. The tree’s fruit isn’t as great as he makes it out to be. There is a diminishing return that I can overcome with my technique.”

“Interesting. Glad I have you, then. I am pretty sure your brother hates me, and the Empire thinks I’m a primitive human so they won’t be doing me any favours.”

“My brother is threatened by you. He is afraid that a native might be more powerful.”

“Am I?”

Beatrice shrugged. “It’s pretty close right now, if I’m being honest. He is consuming the fruit regularly, though.”

I nodded. “For now.”

“For now, yes, but you have a bigger role to play than him, and I will ensure you achieve that position,” Beatrice smirked, knowing she wasn’t going to elaborate on it.

“Huh?” I tilted my head.

“Nothing.” She winked and stuck out her tongue.

I let that last part slide, figuring at some point she would just explain it. “So, what are your elements?”

“Life and Spirit. I didn’t get the fancy legacy fire, and I can only restore stamina and anima with no offence except for exploding bunnies,” she said, sighing.

“Sorry,” I nervously coughed. I tried to repress a laugh—I wasn’t sure if I should have chuckled at that. “Possessing two elements is extremely rare. Only around ten per cent of the population even has anima, and less than one per cent has one element.”

“Bundle of information today.” Beatrice grinned. “You’re making me feel dumb.”

“Sorry… I am taking a genetics class.”

Beatrice put her hands up. “No, no, I like when you talk like that. It’s—sexy.”

“Did you go to the academy?” I asked moving on from that last comment.
Beatrice shook her head. “No, father doesn’t like women around him educated. It makes him feel inferior,” She shrugged. “Of all his faults, Phoenix at least didn’t pick that trait up.”

We sat in silence for a moment. “Why do you wear that mask? If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, nodding to the left side of her face.

She let off a sigh. “If I show you, you won’t give me that admiring expression anymore—you’ll be repulsed.”

My head shook. “That is not true.”

Beatrice closed her eyes and hesitated, but put her hand up to the mask, giving it some more thought before slowly removing it. She set the cover on her rose-coloured dress before moving her dark red hair away from the scarred half of her face.

She opened her eyes, averting her stare. “See, I am disgusting.”

“May I touch?” I asked, hoping my request didn’t come off as weird.

“You can’t heal it with divinity magica. I am forbidden from mending it”—Beatrice finally brought her gaze to me—“but if you want to, yes.”

My free hand came up, cupping her cheek and running my finger over the uneven skin. The surface was burned more heavily towards her jawbone, and her left eye was slightly cloudy. “How did this happen?”

“When I was about thirteen, I told my father how I felt about him allowing kairyu slavery. He decided that since I was siding with an animal, he would grab my face and melt half of it off.”

I frowned. “I am sorry that happened to you.”

“Do you still find me attractive?”

I gave her a brief nod without hesitation. “Absolutely.”

Beatrice stopped funnelling anima into me and slowly grabbed my hand from her face, sliding it down her neck, stopping at her collarbone, holding my hand tightly against her skin. “Are you uncomfortable?”

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