Page 2 of Court of Rivals
The truth is, my family doesn’t truly need anything from this awful man or his father, just for them to not bring troubleour way. My mother and I are skilled healers. We would have business, coin, and a place in the community, regardless of whether or not I marry Tesson. I want to say that’s enough, but it’s not. I hate admitting it, but if I outright reject Tesson, I'm certain he’s evil enough to hurt my family, so I’ve been drawing out the engagement over the past year, buying time, hoping he’ll lose interest in me.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t. If anything, he’s become more determined than ever.
“Besides,” he adds on. “You’re thirty-fucking-years-old. Almost a damn spinster. You should be glad I ever asked for your hand.”
I don’t know what he wants from me. I don’t know what he wants me to say. “Tesson, we’re already betrothed…”
Although, in name only. We haven’t had an official fasting ceremony yet. Luckily.
His smirk fades and a warning flashes in his eyes. “If you’re mine, why doesn’t itfeellike you’re mine?”
“I don’t know.”
He studies me, and I imagine what he’s thinking. This man chose me for a reason. He claims it’s because I’m beautiful and smart, but there are a hundred girls in this village alone who are just as beautiful and clever that actually want him. Despite that, he's set his sights on me, someone who doesn't want him, for a reason. He wants to take something wild and break it into pieces, then put those pieces back together in a way he likes.
“Harper.” He grasps my chin and tilts my face up to meet his eyes. “We're having dinner with your family this weekend. We’re picking a date for our wedding and we’re having our fasting ceremony after the meal. And don’t you fucking dare test me on this.” Then, he releases me.
I stare at him, wracking my brain for a way out of this marriage, for another excuse to delay the inevitable, but nothingcomes to mind. The silence in my head is louder than his voice. I just… can’t marry him. I can’t. Marrying a man like him would destroy me.
He crosses the alley, eyes locked onto mine, until he reaches the bird’s nest. With a quick movement, he knocks the nest off the roof. It lands in a pile at his feet, and then he snaps his foot out, crushing the eggs beneath his boot, while my stomach lurches.
“The weddingwillbe planned this weekend, the fasting ceremonywilltake place, and youwillbe my bride.”
The fasting ceremony will take place this weekend? We’ll officially become engaged? No. Absolutely not.
He presses a light kiss to my cheek, before turning and walking out of the alley, disappearing from sight. I stare at the destroyed bird’s nest, feeling my legs shaking.If that wasn’t a warning, I don’t know what is.
Drawing my shoulders back, I leave the alley and go to the baker and trade my apples and basket for the bread I need, then load it into the bag on my back with the other goodies I picked up in town, trying not to think of Tesson. Or his threat. Finally finished, I head for the little pathway that leads toward my house, waving at the villagers in town as I do so and trying not to seem too eager to escape them.
I’ve finally reached the little path that leads into the woods when someone grabs my shoulders from behind. Without thinking, I grab one of the hands, spin around, and kick the person directly in the stomach before flipping them over my back and onto the ground.
Panting, I spot Arthur sprawled on the ground in front of me. He groans, and I grin, relaxing. “Idiot. Do you never learn?”
My father can’t talk about it to people outside our family, but his father was once an assassin for the king. He taught my dad everything he knew, and my dad made sure we learned thesame. We’re a lethal bunch, in ways no one in this village could possibly understand.
Arthur holds his stomach, wiggling around pathetically. His beloved sandy blond hair rubs against the dirty ground in a way I know he’ll regret later, but right now he’s too busy playing the part of theterriblyinjured fellow.
Which isoh sopathetic to see from a thirty-year-old man.
Arthur is my best friend. He has been my best friend since we were in diapers, but as I grew up, his maturity stayed about the same as it had been when he was fourteen. Still, no one ever makes me laugh as much as he does.
Blinking up at me with his big brown eyes, he says, “What? I thought I’d finally be faster than you.”
I snort. “Did you inhale fairy dust? You thought farting glitter and sunbeams would make you beat me?”
He gives me a look and lifts up a sad hand for help. I roll my eyes and grab his hand, planning to help him up. Instead, he yanks me down, pulling me down on top of him with my heavy bag on my back.
“Arthur!” I shout.
He’s laughing in glee. “You see everything coming, but not that, did you,Buttercup?”
As I try to get up, he wraps his legs around me and farts. It’s a fart that echoes around us. A fart that sends birds flying from all the trees.
“Arthur!” I scream, pounding my hands against his chest. “You’re disgusting!”
In response, he farts again as I struggle to escape him. A terrible scent washes over the whole clearing that reminds me of the community poop hole in town. I’d never used it before, but you could smell it from several buildings over.
He finally lets me go, and I spring to my feet, leaping back, trying to escape the putrid scent as he laughs hysterically.
