Chapter 26 - Understanding Amity

                                    

                                          
Since the morning Amity was not in the mood, yet I still didn't know why. I recognized her troubled face, though I had no idea what was causing it. As per usual when there is something on her mind, she was quite avoidant during breakfast. However, today it was worse than before, I had to figure out what was wrong. Another worrying sign was that it didn't end after we left home. She was different even in school. It looked like my passionate girlfriend has been replaced...
When we got back home Amity grabbed a snack and immediately went upstairs. I felt like it was finally time to make a move. I followed her and found her in her bed, covered in sheets. Was that? She was crying. Why hasn't she told me anything? I bet I could have helped.
"Hey, Amity." 
"Hi, Luz, what is it?" she said through tears. 
I stepped closer and sat on the bed right beside her. "You know what I mean, somethings wrong, I know it, you know it. So now it's my turn to ask, what is it?"
"It's nothing..." Amity answered.
"We both know it's not nothing, come on Ami." I said, running my hand through her hair. "You can tell me what's wrong."
Amity took a deep breath and tried to clear her eyes a little, "I- I can't." she said, though her shaking voice didn't sell it.
"You can, whatever it is, I simply want you to feel better, and keeping everything inside is not the way, you know?" 
"And what if you hate me after this?" she said, sniffing, crying once again.
"I could never hate you, mi amor." I said, kissing her on the cheek. "Come on, I can take it."
Once again, Amity took a deep breath and sat next to me. She laid her head on my shoulder. Soon after, she stood up and started pacing around the room. Though visibly stressed, I think she was getting ready, finally, she looked at me and said. "I'm sorry, I just- I just haven't talked to anyone about this... since it happened..."
"Don't worry Ami, I'm here for you, I won't judge you."
This time I heard a sigh of relief, "Well, it all started years ago..."
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"If I recall correctly, I was twelve when I first met him. The golden guard, mysterious, and feared, or at least that was the official version. When the previous guard did not come back from a mission the was a blank to fill. Hunter was chosen, and it turned out that he was sworn to the emperor's coven on the same day as I was. I remember when Emperor Belos handed him his mask, right after branding both of us with a sigil. 
As much as I used to be an overconfident brat at school, now I faced something entirely new. Being the youngest member of the emperor's coven was tough. On the one hand, everyone expected me to perform, after all, I was there for a reason, but on the other hand, everyone laughed at me behind my back. That was the first time I tasted what being bullied looked like and well... I did not like it at all. That was also the first time I reflected on my behavior back at school, but that's not the topic of the story.
Anyway, in the middle of that was the golden guard. The only person who was more or less my age, yet I was the one who stole all the spotlight by being the youngest. Even though I was supposed to be mostly trained by Lilith, we went on many early missions together. We were "the young squad". Now when I think about it, I have no idea what the emperor had in mind when he sent literal children on relatively dangerous missions. Nonetheless, it was great practice, especially magic-wise. Even though Hunter seemed to hate me, he was fully professional during the missions and always focused on the goal. I have no idea where he learned to turn off emotion, but it worked extremely well.