Page 36 of Crown of Hearts
“What do you say, Cai, want to give it another go?” Her head tilted to the side innocently.
“Mmm” was the only sound I managed to let out. “I’m not sure. If you can remember, last time didn’t end so well for you.” I used my shirt to wipe the sweat off my face and caught Lara’s eyes on my torso. “Your Majesty,” I added, trying not to smile at the memory of our duel in Camp Fairfrith. Right before Ray broke it up anyway. He wasn’t there on the day of the rebellion, and though I had no idea of his whereabouts, I wondered if he was back in Levernia. If perhaps he stayed at the palace with Lara. I felt an unwanted prick of jealousy at the thought.
Her eyebrows rose at my choice of words. “Well, if you’re so confident, then it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“Are you sure?” I teased. “We wouldn’t want to bruise your ego too many times.”
Lara’s eyes flared in challenge and she held out her hand to Jack, waiting for him to hand over his sword. I had meetings. I had duties, and yet we both knew I would not be able to drag myself away from a challenge such as this. I wouldn’t be able to drag myself away from her.
“This is ill-advised, Your Majesty,” Jack murmured under his breath, with a smile, but I chose to ignore him. He stepped out of the ring.
“You know what I think?” Lara purred. “I think you’re afraid of losing against me.”
Giving in, I held up my sword and she stood frozen in temporary surprise, as if she didn’t quite expect me to actually agree.
“Well, come on, then.” I cheekily beckoned her closer with my free hand.
With a devious smile across her lips, Lara clutched Jack’s sword and held it up. “Prepare to lose, King of Norrandale.”
“My dignity or my heart,” I boldly teased, not being able to help myself. We both knew that should Lara really have wanted to cut out my heart, I probably would have let her.
“Both.” She winked and came at me.
Her speedy attack caught me off guard for a moment before I regained focus.
Lara aimed high and I countered her strikes one after the other. After a few minutes, I expected her to get tired or perhaps even frustrated, but she seemed to be at ease. I struck left, and as she blocked the blow, I realised Lara wasn’t trying to beat me yet. Instead, she was toying with me. Playing with me like a cat played with its prey before it ripped it to shreds.
“You’ve been practising,” I commented.
“Mmmhhh,” she replied with nonchalance.
I decided to go on the offensive moving more swiftly. She narrowly dodged one of my hits and it threw her slightly off balance. Sparks practically flew as the metal of our swords clashed above our heads. Her arm was stretched above her, and I could tell it was taking most of her strength to keep it up so high.
Our eyes met. “What are you looking at?” she asked.
“Just waiting for you to surrender.” I tilted my head down so that our faces were slightly closer.
“That’s very bold of you to assume, considering you’re currently losing.” Her eyebrows slowly rose and her lips pressed into a line of satisfaction.
“Oh, am I?”
“Look down, Your Majesty.” And sure enough, while one of her hands held the sword above her head, the other pressed the tip of a dagger to my jacket.
“It doesn’t count if you cheat.”
“You didn’t say anything about not using daggers.” We hadn’t moved from our position yet, and I heard Jack mumble something about duties before walking off.
“You didn’t say wecoulduse daggers.”
“If it were a real fight, I would be allowed to use a dagger.”
“If that’s the case...” I grabbed her wrist, holding the dagger, before she could react. I used her surprise to knock the sword out of her hand and twist her wrist so that her back was turned to my chest. Though there was resistance from her side, my physical strength easily overpowered hers. She looked down to where the sword was lying on the ground, and I thought I heard her mutter something like “bastard”.
Sword still clutched in my right hand, I brought it around to her front, keeping it a safe distance away from her neck.
“What were you saying about losing?” My mouth was next to her ear, and I imagined she shuddered.
“Well, this is obviously all still part of my plan to win, letting you think you have the upper hand and all.”
