Page 29 of The Sword and the Damsel

Iselda reached out, gently pulling on her arm until she sat back down.

“He’ll be fine,” Iselda whispered once Alais was seated.

Alais nodded and took a deep breath, but her heart was pounding.

Fortunately, Daniel removed Sir Elias from the competition for an illegal strike. Alais certainly wouldn’t be marrying him after such a vicious display.

Her gaze returned to Sir Victor, who continued to fight his cousin and one other remaining knight. He continued to deflect blow after blow, despite being outnumbered. The crowd was silent, and the only sound was the clash of steel against steel.

The unknown knight took a swing at Sir Victor’s head and would have taken it off but for Sir Victor’s last-moment deflection.

She jumped to her feet, her hands over her mouth.No!

Lord de Vere intervened, dragging the knight from the fight for breaking the rules by taking deadly aim. She cheered the call and then sat back down, clenching her hands in her lap.

It was down to Sir Victor and Sir Robert, and they were nearly evenly matched. Sir Victor had a slight upper hand, in her opinion, but it could go either way. Sir Robert looked at Sir Victor with the ugly sneer again, and Sir Victor narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. Whatever happened between them, it must have started long before the tournament and even before Sir Robert had arrived in Winchelsea. There was something going on she did not understand.

Sir Robert lunged at Sir Victor’s neck with his sword, and she gasped. How dare he take such deadly aim in a tournament!

Sir Victor used Sir Robert’s momentum to trip him, and he fell on his face.

A flood of relief and joy washed over her, and she cheered loudly, not caring who saw. If Sir Robert was disappointed in her, so be it. He deserved to lose after attempting such an underhanded, unchivalrous thing with his own cousin.

Sir Victor touched his sword to Sir Robert’s neck, and it was over. He sheathed his sword, and Sir Robert slunk off, still sneering, yet again demonstrating his inability to lose with grace. The audience roared.

Sir Victor turned to look at her. The noise of the crowd and Daniel’s announcement of the winner suddenly seemed to come from a great distance. She stepped down from the platform and made her way down to the field, holding Sir Victor’s gaze the whole time. He walked toward her, slowly, steadily, still panting and bathed in sweat from the exertion of battle. As he approached, she could see blood from where he had been nicked during the fight. He was so brave, so graceful, so handsome. What she had said to Lady Simone was true. She no longer thought of his scar as a blemish, but as a sign of his valor, making him all the more attractive.

She held out a trembling hand. He took it in his and knelt before her. He kissed it, still holding her gaze, fire in his eye.

Her body went up in flame at the touch of his lips and the heat in his look. She stepped closer and whispered, “Rise, Sir Victor.”

He stood.

She took out the ring and with shaking hands slid it onto his finger. Taking his hands in her own, she rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek. She could feel his heat, smell his skin, taste the salt of his sweat on her lips as she pressed them to his pricklystubble. She desperately wanted to kiss his lips and lose herself in his embrace, but too many eyes were on them both at that moment. Hundreds of people were watching, including the five men who wanted to marry her. Sir Victor hadn’t asked, she reminded herself as she released him.

She backed away, her chest heaving and her heart pounding as if she’d run a great distance. When she moved to relinquish his hands, he laced his fingers with hers to pull her back toward him. “Thank you for wearing my scarf.” His voice was rough and harsh, strained by some emotion she couldn’t identify.

It was too much, being this close. Fire coursed through her veins, radiating from the spot where his hand touched hers.

With a shuddering breath, she forced herself to squeeze his hand and smile, then pulled away to turn and head back to the platform with the rest of her family. Halfway there, she glanced back over her shoulder, and he was still standing in the same spot, watching her with the same intensity. She swallowed hard as she turned quickly and headed to her seat.

“Are you well?” Iselda asked, putting a kind hand on hers. “You look shaken. Did he say something to you?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look pale, scared almost. It’s not like you.”

“I’m fine, only a little nervous in front of a crowd. That’s all.”And completely addled by a man I can’t have because he doesn’t want me.

“You did fine.” Iselda patted her hand.

Alais smiled weakly, forcing herself to attend to what was happening around her and dragging her gaze away from where Victor had disappeared.

Carenza stood up to announce the winner of the clasp. She whispered something in Daniel’s ear. Daniel laughed and whispered something back.

“Fine,” Carenza said audibly. “Since you say I can’t give it to you, I choose Lord Guy.” Daniel nodded. “But I’d much rather kiss you.”

Daniel gave her a mischievous smile and raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh, you will. Just not right now.”

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