Yelana and Thea were walking in the hallway. It was the morning after they had spent the first night together. Unlike other cases when Thea was helping Yelena with her problems, there was no awkwardness. Sure, they still tried to figure out what they are now, but that was a whole different matter.
As they turned the corner, they quickly spotted the short redhead. She was hard to miss. Obviously, she was waiting for them. As soon as Lily noticed the two, she waved her hand. Both Yelena and Thea waved back and approached the girl.
Once they got closer, Lily noticed something. Her lips turned upwards into a big smirk.
“So, you two finally fucked, huh?” Lily said it in the open hallway without a moment of hesitation.
Thea gasped loudly, and Yelena’s first reaction was to tightly press her palm against the smaller girl’s mouth and push her against the wall. Lily tried to talk, but only muffled sounds came out, although, judging by the look in her eyes, it was likely something inappropriate anyway.
“What the hell are you saying out here in the open? How did you even know?” Yelena looked around; luckily, nobody was around to hear the redhead's words earlier.
Yelena slowly let Lily go. She wondered how she figured it out so quickly. Obviously, she planned to tell her it wasn’t an issue; after all, that was their deal.
“Oh, come on! You are not as subtle as you might think. You two are practically glowing. Not to mention, ever since we got together, I noticed Thea was practically eye fucking you all the time.” Lily voiced her observations.
It was shocking to hear, especially for Thea, who didn’t even notice if she was actually doing something like that. Lily chuckled at the shocked faces.
“Not to mention, when we had our first training. You ran away after having some problems with your drawback. Knowing that Thea is pretty much the only person you are close with, it is easy to guess that you sought out her help.” Lily pointed out the obvious.
The other two looked at each other. They didn’t have any words. Lily read them like an open book. Yelena wondered what had happened to the cute, shy girl she had met just a few days ago. Lily was now completely different, much bolder and more forward than before. Maybe this is who she was when she got closer to other people.
“So then… Are you not mad?” Thea asked; she was a little worried about how Lily would react to the news, but so far she hadn’t shown any sign of even being remotely bothered by it.
“What? Of course not.” Lily waved it off. “Yelena probably already told you, I don’t mind. As long as she spends time with me too, of course. I’m not going to be sidelined, but besides that, she is free to do whatever she wants.” Lily really didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Yelena slept with Thea.
In fact, she looked happy about it. Whether it was about her being happy that the two of them had finally stepped over their boundaries, or something else, that was hard to say.
“Either way, you owe me the details. The juicer the better.” Lily laughed as she pointed at Yelena and turned around. “Okay, enough standing around! We will be late if we keep talking here.” She started walking away.
Yelena could feel a pair of hands wrapping around her neck, arms resting on her shoulder. She knew it was Lucia. The goddess leaned close to Yelena’s ear before she spoke.
“See? I told you! She is an absolute freak. If I had to guess, I would say she is not only okay with it, but she actually enjoys the idea of you being with other women.” She told Yelena in a low, sensual voice.
That… can’t be right? Why would she enjoy something like that? Yelena argued with her in her head.
“As I said before, different people, different tastes and kinks. It is not as uncommon as you might think. Most people try to hide these things, but they are there, deep down, buried deep. You have a few things like that, don’t you? The difference is that she is much more open about her preferences.” Lucia explained before she let Yelena go.
As much as it was hard to admit, the goddess was probably right. Lucia had a way to read people. Yelena already knew that Lucia’s ability to read minds, like she did in the realm of gods, didn’t work in her current form. Right now, she could only read Yelena’s mind, which meant that for the others, she had to rely on the same way mortals did.
Still, she had possibly tens of thousands of years' worth of experience watching mortals, so even with her mind reading, she would have a pretty good idea about what was going on in people’s heads.
Yelena and Thea soon started moving too; they were both still shocked about the whole discussion.
****
The classes went by fast, without much happening. After they were over, Yelena was heading towards the training room. This time she was alone. Lily decided she wants to spend some time with the Spectral Flames and, hopefully, improve her control with their help. Yelena didn’t mind that; she knew Lily was still struggling with her overwhelming magical powers. The sooner she got that under control, the better.
This also allowed her to focus on her own training a little bit. In recent days, she neglected that part a bit due to the time she spent with Lily.
Yelena stood in the middle of the empty training room. She had a metal sword in her hand. It was her own. Perfectly balanced, crafted from high-grade metal. She got this blade a couple of years ago, and since then, she has gotten so used to it that it feels almost like a part of her body.
She swung her sword in the air. She was going through the motions, practicing the basics, then slowly moving up to the more advanced techniques. It was unfortunate that she had no training partner with whom she could try it. Practicing alone could only get one so far. Back home, she would have her master to spar with, or sometimes Thea, when she came around.
She was fully focused on her practice, so much so that she didn’t even notice when the door opened behind her. Only when the footsteps got closer did she pause and turn around.
She saw the blonde girls with the pigtails, with the usual arrogant look on the girl’s face. Of course, it was Valerie. Yelena lowered her sword and sighed.
“You already had your two sessions this week. What do you need?” Yelena asked her; she was very much unhappy with the princess’s interruption.
“I know, I didn’t come here to beg you for more. I’ll just watch. Hope that is okay?” That last sentence didn’t really sound like a question at all.
Valerie had already made up her mind on what she was going to do. Yelena couldn’t understand, but there was no point arguing. As long as the princess stayed true to her words and only watched, it shouldn’t be too much of a distraction.
“Fine, you can watch!” Yelena shrugged and went back to training.
Still, she was distracted by her thoughts. What exactly was the princess playing? Lily’s words popped into her mind. Could it be true? Was Valerie really into her? It would explain her presence and why she kept stalking her, but it was still unbelievable.
Yelena tried to get rid of these thoughts; it was pointless to theorize without any concrete evidence. She took a deep breath, cleared her head, and went back to training.
Valerie kept her eyes on Yelena. She was impressed. The girl’s form was perfect; each attack she made was fast, precise and elegant. Soon, the princess’ gaze shifted away from Yelena’s form.
She looked further down, first to her toned legs, then a little bit higher on the girl’s firm, round ass. Valerie clicked her tongue in frustration. Why was she doing this? She could feel a blush creeping on her face, yet she was unable to look away.
She already knew the answer to her previous question. She had a long time to think about it. Ever since she first met with Yelena, she had a deep fascination with the girl. Of course, that didn’t happen here in the school. It was a much older tale than that.
They first met two years ago. Both girls were 16 at the time. It was a party hosted by the royal family. As such, most of the lords and ladies of the nation were present. Yelen’s family wasn’t an exception from that.
That was the first time Valerie laid her eyes upon her. She was perfect in every way possible; the princess couldn’t even imagine how a person like that could be real. She was beautiful and majestic, with an aura of authority around her. Valerie watched the mysterious girl from far away for a long while before she finally approached. Each step she took made her heart beat faster. Back then, she couldn’t understand this feeling.
Their first meeting didn’t go all that well. Yelena was cold, even dismissive towards Valerie; it didn’t exactly help that the princess had a less-than-stellar reputation even back then for being too arrogant and demanding.
Despite the horrible first meeting, Valerie couldn't take her mind off Yelena. Every time the beautiful white-haired girl’s image popped up in her head, her heart beat faster, and she felt butterflies in her stomach.
It was her secret that the main reason she attended this school was Yelena's application here. It did align with her other goals, too, so she had a good excuse, but in reality, she wanted to be as close to her as possible.
Of course, she almost fumbled her chance when she suddenly requested that duel. It was foolish of her, but she couldn’t think of a better way to take the first step forward. She couldn’t exactly just walk up to her and strike up a conversation. She was painfully aware that Yelena didn’t like her.
When she learned that Yelena was training another student, she couldn’t help herself. She inserted herself into that dynamic; she even humiliated herself for the chance. She soon realized that it was all hopeless. It didn’t escape her attention that Lily and Yelena had something going on between them.
It was without a doubt hard to watch. The princess cursed herself for being the way she was. If she could have just changed herself earlier and gotten closer to Yelena in the past, maybe, just maybe, it could have been her standing next to the white-haired girl.
Still, she was happy. At least she could spend time with her, train with her, even if it was just two times a week. Better than nothing. She always got embarrassed whenever Yelena touched her body. She knew there were no inappropriate intentions behind those touches, yet she couldn’t help but feel a certain way when they happened.
Then there was her tone. Oh, gods, her tone. Whenever she spoke to Valerie, she always sounded strong and commanding. It sent a deep shudder to the princess’ core whenever she heard it. She found it funny how the princess of the country, who still had a lot of authority, was reduced to a puddle whenever Yelena took that tone with her.
Some time had passed while Valerie was deep in her thoughts. She looked up at Yelena again, who, in the meantime, worked up quite a sweat. Seeing her pale white skin glistening under the magical lights that illuminated the room did something to the princess for sure.
Valerie blushed as she watched Yelena dance around the room. Each attack was perfect and majestic, just like the girl who held the blade.
After some time, Yelena stopped and put her sword back into the scabbard hanging from her hip. Valerie stood up and walked over to Yelena. She reached her hand out and offered her a towel.
“Here, take this! You look like an absolute mess.” Valerie said in her usual arrogant way.
The princess once again cursed in her mind. She hated how she acted around Yelena. Why can’t she be normal for once? It was not that easy; whenever she was near her, it felt like a deep fog enveloped her mind. She couldn’t think straight, and she always ended up saying things she would later regret.
Yelena took the tower without a word, wiped the sweat from her face, then her body. Valerie was watching it closely; she had to tear her eyes away to stop herself from staring at the girl.
Valerie didn’t care too much about her previous words. She already had a plan. Now, she just needed to not mess things up, for once.
“Are you free next Tuesday evening?” She asked, and she could barely stop her voice from shaking.
Yelena raised an eyebrow. It was an odd question coming from the princess. Why would she care if she was free or not?
"I don’t have any plans yet. Why?” Yelena shrugged. There was no point in lying, so she just answered honestly.
“I wanted to thank you for your help with my training. I thought it would be only proper to invite you out for dinner as a way to show my appreciation.” Valerie still sounded very stuck up when she said those words, but at least she didn’t fumble.
“Are you inviting me out on a date?” Yelena asked half-jokingly.
Lily’s words were still in the back of Yelena’s mind. Although she tried to joke about it when she asked that question, she knew there was a possibility that it might be true.
Valerie turned a deep shade of red within an instant. She didn’t expect that question; she thought she was masking her intentions well.
“What in the hell are you even talking about? Of course not! As I said, I just want to thank you! Tuesday, 7 pm in the Togllier restaurant. Be there, or I’ll be pissed.” She practically screamed those words at Yelena before she stomped away.
Yelena watched the princess go. Seeing how angry she was, she started to doubt Lily’s words. There was just no way Valerie had any feelings for her.