Page 27 of Red Queen

Chapter

Five

Eleanna

Steel clashes against steel, our swords echoing the intensity of our training. Alexandru’s silver gaze on me is like the winter frost that wraps around us outside in the courtyard.

Unrelenting. Harsh.

My muscles scream as I parry another of his strikes. He’s relentless, pushing me further than I’ve ever gone before.

“Is that all you have, Eleanna?” he taunts, even as his sword demands everything within me.

“Hardly. I’m just getting started, General.” I spin away from his blade and aim a strike at his midsection.

The cold air nips at my skin, but it’s the ice in Alexandru’s eyes that chills me to the bone.

I consider him and move in, circling too close for either to cause damage with a sword. Our breaths mist in the frosty air, mingling like specters in a struggle between war and desire.

A smirk plays across Alexandru’s lips. “Taking a rest? Too much for you?”

“Testing your skill, General and finding it…wanting.” I spin out and slash at him.

He blocks me easily. “You’ll have to be faster than that, Eleanna.” His blade sings in the cold air and I turn, narrowly missing getting hit and go to strike him again.

Alexandru manages to block, but the raised brow and slight nod sends me soaring. I know his look of praise. It might be slight, but he rarely hands them out so I clutch it tight as I renew myself for out faux battle.

With each crash of our swords, a spark of exhilaration ignites within me, a burning need to rise to the occasion, to meet his intensity with my own.

Metal on metal clangs, bouncing off the stone walls that encircle us. His instruction is relentless, a tough love that borders on infuriating, yet it awakens a fierce determination in me. With each parry and thrust, I find a rhythm, a counterpoint to his movements, our efforts a battle of authority and dominance.

“And what will you do when your opponent doesn’t play fair?” he asks, feinting, a move designed to catch me off guard.

“Kill. Or torture then kill, I’m not positive.”

The smile appears again. “I meant outside the bedroom, Eleanna.”

He tosses his sword to his other hand and then comes at me, slicing the material of my corset. We both look down. A small knife is pressed against me, the blade flat, not there to hurt but to teach.

I shift in so I’m up against him. “So did I.”

“Well then, I’ll have to up the ante, fallen Queen.”

I dodge as he goes to attack again, this time he lunges and I move, barely, the edge of his blade whispering past my face.

“I suppose I’ll have to remind them I don’t play by the rules either.” I raise my sword, ready for the kill.

And he laughs.

But it fades quickly as matches and blocks each strike I make until it’s not about combat at all. It’s a battle of wills. Of sex.

Our training session becomes a show of moves and countermoves, similar to our complex relationship. Alexandru’s relentless drive pushes me to my limits. This is more than preparation for the battles ahead. It’s a reaffirmation of our connection, forged in blood and ice, a reminder of the strength we find in each other—even among the sparks of our scrimmage.

And I don’t want that. He left me and now?—

“Focus. Don’t be so eager to give in to my will. Fight me. Show me your fucking fangs.”

I hiss at him and start to drive him with my sword, swing after swing, I put my own spin on it because there are times I can’t lift the thing. Only the cruelty and my vision for the way feeds my will. That, and the need to bring him down. Punish, hurt. Take.

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