Do Not Tell Father!

"What. . . How did you . . . No! That's. . . What. . .How?. . . I can't . . . Whoa!" He couldn't bring himself to complete any of it. He stared at me, too shocked to utter a complete statement.

I waved my fiery sword at him, the flames danced around in perfect harmony, a wide smile smoldered on my lips. I swung it around in mid-air while his eyes followed my movement.

"This is not possible!" He uttered, threading his hand through his hair in disbelief.

"But it is! You are seeing it!" I said playing around with the sword, trying different sword stances. He shook his head severally, his total disbelief made me chortle.

"How did you learn it so fast?" He finally managed to ask.

I took a deep breath and the sword ebbed away, turning to him I gave a reply.

"I just did a bit of practice morning and night!".

He shook his head slightly to my response, not buying the words I said.

"No! You didn't. I watched you give up after twenty minutes!" He pointed out.

I scoffed at his remark. He was not lying about me giving up after twenty minutes but can he blame me, practicing was exhausting.

"I practiced in my room!" I replied, confidently.

"No! You didn't!" He said quickly "If you had practiced in your room, half of it would have been consumed by your flame!".

I kept mute. No lie was coming forth. Think brain! Think!.

"You need an open space to practice the move!" He added.

"I know that!" I mumbled, avoiding his questionable gaze.

"How did you learn it so fast?" He inquired, peering closer to me.

"Well, I. . ."

He gasped! Interrupting me. "Did you use a forbidden method?" He asked almost in a whisper.

"No!" I yelled "Wait. . . They have forbidden method to people's magical powers?". I asked, intrigued by the bit of knowledge I heard.

He nodded thoughtfully, pondering on how I mastered the move.

"I just can't think of a way that makes someone master that move quickly!" He said, his brows furrowed as he thought.

I sighed "If I tell you! You have to promise not to tell Father and Leo especially Father!" I spoke in a serious tone.

He stared at me, not saying a word for a moment. After much thought he nodded in agreement.

"I promise!".

"Well, I. . .!" I began telling him everything, not leaving any bit of detail, his expression was unreadable as he listened keenly, his anger spiked a bit when I told him about how I did the move and prevented Roderick from killing Bennett Laurent.

"You did what!" He yelled, his voice echoed within the garden. His reaction was not what I expected. He looked extremely angry as he stared at me. "Do you realize how reckless and dangerous that was? What if you didn't materialize your flame at that exact moment, you would have been killed?" He was ragingly mad as he stared at me, anger clouded his eyes and he looked more like a raging bull than a human.

"I understand your worry, but I had to stop him!" I retorted.

"Rosalind! That was extremely reckless!" He said while shaking his head in disapproval "Who cares if he killed him? The man deserved to die!" He said with no empathy "but what you did was beyond reckless!.

He threaded his hands through his hair, angrily he paced about.

I exhaled, the words of the Doctor echoed in my head 'Do not act too out of character, if you wish not to raise suspicions, outlander!'. I buried my head in my hands, I did something the real Rosalind wouldn't do. What if Edward starts becoming suspicious because of it? I couldn't risk it.

'I have to do damage control!' I thought.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to him.

"You are right Edward that was reckless of me!" He stopped pacing and looked at me with a raised brow.

"I should not have done that. I just wanted him to die the legal way through an execution. Stabbing him on the stomach or slitting his throat and watching the blood seep out is not painful at all!" I said matter-of-factly.

He blinked twice and stared at me like I said something dumb. The look in his face was exactly what I wanted. He wanted to say something but stopped himself.

"Those are painful ways to kill someone, Rosalind!" He said slowly.

"Really?"

"Yes!" He replied firmly.

"Oh! I had no idea!" I said, pulling off my dumb persona.

"Of course!" He merely said. "If Father ever finds out he is going to be upset with you!".

"I know! That why you promised not to tell him!" I said quickly, reminding him.

He groaned.

"And you also promised not to tell Leo too!" I added.

He groaned once more, running his hand down his face in exasperation.

"Not to tell me what?" Leo asked, suddenly appearing behind us.

We both jumped when we saw him. He studied us, his gaze shifted from Edward to me.

"What is he not supposed to tell me?" He asked, staring at me.

I avoided his suspicious gaze and focused on my other frightened brother.

"He is not meant to tell you that I have learnt a new move!" I said slowly.

Edward twisted his head a bit at me, looking utterly confused at my statement.

"Really? What move is that?" He asked, suddenly interested. I may have piqued his interest more. Great!.

"It is just an old combat move!" I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. "You don't have to see it!" I added nervously.

"No I really do!" He said, smiling warmly at me, gesturing me to show him the move.

"O-kay! If that is what you want!" I replied, feeling sick to my stomach. "Here I go!". All the while, Edward said nothing, he only wore a nervous smile while anticipating for me to perform the move.

I took a deep breath, concentrating. Balling my hands to fists, I focused on my flame. I inhaled deeply as tendrils of flames materialize in my hand, growing and threading into each other, creating a sword. It looked better than the other ones and more artistry.

I stared at Leo, his jaw dropped as his eyes were fixed on the sword.

"What. . . How did you. . .No, that is not possible. . .What?" He managed to say.

"That is the new move I learned!" I said slowly, grinning as wide as I could.

"How did you learn it so fast?" He asked, still awestruck.

"Beginner's luck!" I replied with a shrug.

"Edward!" He turned to my suddenly mute brother, "How did she learn it that fast?".

Edward gave a light shrug and remained mute, making strange hand gestures which I think all meant I have no idea.

"You have the same expression he did when I showed him, earlier today!" I said, staring at his dumbfounded face.

"Did you use a forbidden method?" He asked, squinting his eyes at me.

"Why do I keep getting asked that?" I yelled, a bit annoyed.

"Then how did you do it?" He inquired, folding his arms while studying me.

"I practiced!" I merely said.

"I am not buying that!" He responded, indifferently.

"Okay!".

"How did you learn it so fast?" He asked again.

I took a deep breath, pondering on a believable lie to tell.

"She risked her life to learn it!" Edward, all of a sudden, a healed mute blurted out.

"Edward!" I yelled.

I watched as Leo's expression transposed to an angry one.

"What do you mean by that Edward?" He asked, shooting daggers from his fiery eyes.

I gulped nervously as I watched Edward retell my story. The air grew thick when he was done with the story bathing us with an ill-fated silence, Leo's shoulders heaved with ire as he gradually turned to me. He was worse than a raging bull.

"You did what!" He yelled.

"I know! I know! It was reckless. I have already recieved a well-earned yelling from Edward, I don't think I can handle another one!" I spoke in tired tone. "Just promise, not to tell Father!" I pleaded.

He sighed.

"If Father ever finds out he will be beyond furious!" He said in exasperation, his anger waned.

"And he will find out!" Edward said.

"Thanks Edward, that is very comforting!" I said in a sarcastic tone.

"You are misunderstanding me!" He said "Father always gets informed about an execution and all the necessary information about why the person should be executed and who caught the criminal!" He pointed out.

"That means he is bound to find out that you were there that night!" Leo added. They stared at me, concern clouded their eyes, my face paled at the realization that I might be caught by my Father.

"Who else saw you do the move, apart from the trainee that excorted you?" Leo inquired.

I thought for a while, the memory rushed in "The slaves and the, uh. . . The informant!" I said the last part with a snap of my finger.

"The informant!" They yelled in unison.

"Do you know his name or anything about him?" Leo asked.

"I forgot to ask!" I replied slowly.

"Typical!" Edward said.

I rolled my eyes at him and turned to Leo "I do remember what he may look like. . ." They stared at me hopeful while I tried to recall his facial features, however nothing but a hazy figure appeared in my head "Oh wait! No, I don't!".

They both facepalmed, shaking their heads in disappointment.

"But he did wear one strange looking necklace though!" I said, I recalled that night while we fought Bennett Laurent's men, I saw it in an instant. It looked like a ruby but it gave off an illuminous glow. "It had a red stone and it glowed, I noticed it around his neck when we fought his men but I was too occupied to ask him about it!".

They exchanged looks and stared at me with a concerned demeanor.

"If he wore that necklace . . ." Edward paused.

". . . He could be anyone!" Leo added.

"What does the necklace do?" I questioned, feeling utterly confused.

"It can change the appearance of whoever wears it. It is extremely rare and ridiculously expensive!" Leo explained.

I heaved a sigh. Now I understood their concerned looks.

"We better hope that the informant is a good person and he will not tell anyone about it!" Edward said.

"Informants are not good people. They are annoyingly sly!" Leo pointed out.

"I know, that's why I said hope!" Edward replied.

"I really wish he is!" I blurted out. My face etched with worry.

"Don't worry we will make sure that Father will not find out!" Edward spoke in an assuring tone.

I looked at them, they smiled at me warmly. I felt all warm and fuzzy staring at them. They were really the best.