Page 16 of The Nightmare Queen

“Never said we do things the orthodox way around here, princeling. Ezra can clearly handle his own, your man on the other hand…”

He glares in my direction at that assumption. I shift my stance to be in front of him. “You have until one of us lands a mock killing blow to explain your point and convince me why I should help you.” He looks at me with a raised brow.

“If I lay one on you, will an army of men come through those doors and bushes or perhaps adragon?” His head tilts in challenge as he unsheathes his sword.

“Mm, quite the suggestion.” We start moving around one another, searching for openings. “Give me a good fight princeling, don’t make it so easy that they think you’ve just let me win.”

His tongue darts out, wetting his lip. My attention zeroing in on the unconscious habit. “Well since, letting their little queen win won’t get me an army. I think I’ll pass.”

“Any day now, princeling.” I bait.

He surges forward, sword angled and cutting low at my ankles. I jump out of the way, blocking his steel with mine pulling both our swords up. I turn with the momentum and bring my sword close to his stomach. A cheap shot and one he’s unfortunately too quick for.

His brow is scrunched together with the effort he’s putting into calculating the moves before I make them. “As I said, Hadar’s Guards have already taken over Mellant and Peverell with forces in Evendell. My father’s opinion is that we should keep pushing back on every small advance. But he’s not the one on the front lines.”CLANK!Our swords make contact, pushing against one another, dragging both the sword tips down.

“And you are?” I look at him before moving away from where we’re connected. “I am not mocking you, I am asking. You were wearing a military jacket yesterday.” He goes for another low shot at my knees. My feet barely moved me fast enough to avoid the impact.

In a flurry of quick movements I manage to land the hilt into his ribs, earning me a pained grunt. “Oof!Yes. I was made responsible for our military.” He doesn’t slow down though on his retaliation.

“You-”Block“Don’t-” I duck under the next hit. “Sound too happy to hold that title.”He lowers his sword a moment, panting. “Would you? If each skirmish or countermeasure led to losing dozens of men? Or if the towns saddled with hosting your men were struggling to feed their families. These are peasant levies, not the trained professionals like your military. They’re healers, farmers, barely of age boys, and their fathers.” His sword comes back up and -Whack!My weapon pitches out of my hands, clattering to the ground from his force.I lurch for it, Rorin’s words stealing too much of my focus. The wounds on my back stretch, opening again.Too much movement.

“Something wrong?” He asks.

I grab my weapon from the ground and roll back up slowly, cracking my fingers and neck in the process. “Of course not. You haven’t quite gotten to the part where I come into all of this.” I spin out of his reach. “So blah blah you hate your job blah blah inexperienced soldiers blah blah your deaths are all imminent. If that happens then maybe I won’t have such annoying neighbors.” I chide.

His eyes narrow. “Didn’t I though? This needs to be handled, your military knows how to handle it. I am not willing to risk more innocent lives under a tyrant.”

“Just my soldiers’ innocent lives.”

He lowers his sword for the second time. “What?”

“You said, ‘I am not willing to risk more innocent lives under a tyrant’. Do my soldiers not count as innocent?”

One of his thick hands drags through his curls, “I would consider them more contractual. Hired, they understand and choose to throw their lives into the throngs of war.”

“Hmph.” With my free hand I reach for one of my daggers, throwing it within inches of his neck. With astounding speed, he stops it just likethe throwing star and advance on me in the next breath. His empty hand curls around my bicep and he leans down, sweat dripping down his forehead. “What did I say about throwing things?” I swallow thickly, feeling the cool tip of metal pressing into my side.

I smile, “that it wasn’t nice.” His throat bobs as his eyes drop down to the dagger I’ve replaced and now point at his heart. “But there was your first mistake. Assuming I care about being nice.” I lean slightly to the right, feeling the prick of where the dagger is now nicking me. Not enough for him to notice yet, though. “Your second mistake, was thinking I fuckingcareabout your kingdom.”

The hurt flickers in his eyes. “You care so little about life, so little about mankind as a whole?” He asks, the sound of the spar next to us has stopped and I know they’re watching our exchange.

“No I care greatly. But the lives I care for are only fodder for you. Remember?Contractual.” I challenge, leaning a hair more into the dagger at my side.

The frustration is growing in his eyes, the two of us standing so close we share breath. “So all this time in your precious isolation, avoiding what’s really going on past your borders has left you above everyone else? What kind of a person wouldn’t step in to stop, that would make you a mons—”

He’s overwhelming. I close the distance and lean all the way into the blade. A gasp comes from one of the other men watching the two of us. My blood trickles down into the prince’s hand, shock filling his face as he looks at what I’ve just done. I whisper low enough that only he can hear me, “I thought we were all under the impression that I was barely human.”

Rorin yanks the blade out of my side, pushing me away from him. I stagger back, Ezra already behind me ready to catch me in case the bloodloss happens too fast. My vision dances a little bit, but not before I see Mousy dragging the prince further away.

“That’s enough.” Ezra growls out.

The laugh I let out is weak. “Down boy, it’s just a flesh wound.” I reach the hand on my good side up, patting the broad shoulder next to my head.Fuck.“Ezra?” I have my gaze trained as best I can on the two Vellaran’s faces as he hauls me backwards.

“You two,” he points his sword at both of them, “I suggest you go clean up in your quarters.”

“Giving orders now, Ez? I thought I was sovereign here?” I grit out while pressing my left hand to the gash. I struggle to get him to let me go wanting to make my exit without him attached to my hip.

On the trek back the staff darted out of my way, their focus fixing only on the blood left in my wake. Axel’s mouth opens to ask what happened but I interrupt, “Axel dear, if you wouldn’t mind please go get me Marjorie.” He nods, letting me into the room and closing the door behind him.

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