Page 12 of The Prince of New York

“It has been set up so we could both try to jump at the same time, I see.”

I nodded my agreement with her assessment of the situation. “It does, indeed, seem like this torture course was designed for two people to go across together.”

“Any course involving falls over five feet will be done together in solidarity,” my sister declared.

“On the count of three?” I finished climbing over the log, clinging to the net so I wouldn’t fall before making the jump to the rope.

I expected to splash down into the mud and water below.

“I have some regrets about requesting this. Why did I think this would be fun?”

“Television tells many lies, and convincing us this is fun is just one of the lies television has tricked us into believing to be a truth.” Once my sister finished clambering over, I counted to three.

We jumped.

I somehow caught hold of the rope, but rather than swing across to the safety of the padded platform on the other side, I spun around.

My sister splashed into the pool, squealed her dismay, and doggy paddled towards the other side. Heaving a sigh, I dropped into the water, discovered it was deeper than I was tall, and swam across.

Aware Rachel had trouble getting out of pools, I boosted her out before joining her. “If I left you to do that on your own, I’d perish from old age before you got out.”

“I hate how true that is.”

While we caught our breath, we stared at the next obstacle, which involved upended logs within stepping range of each other, requiring us to jump from platform to platform. Glaring at my sister, I shoved her into the obstacle’s mud pit. “You did this to us on purpose!”

Rachel laughed, waded to the first pole, and climbed onto it. “I really did.”

Aware my sister would be out for revenge and not caring, I jumped to a nearby log, sneered at her, and made gestures of pushing her off. With a squeal, she hopped out of my reach. Without her trying to knock me off, I was able to follow her.

I waited until we were near the end to take one step back to get into range and dump her into the mud. With a scream, she splashed into the muck, leaving me free to make the final step to the platform. Grinning down at her, I dipped into an extravagant bow and said, “Your Majesty.”

“You are a fiend, Ian.”

“Catch me if you can,” I taunted before heading off to the next obstacle, aware I lit a fire within my sister. With luck, she’d pull out all the stops and prove she could conquer any challenge.

* * *

In Rachel’sdetermination to prove she could beat me, she tackled me off one of the platforms into the mud. Unfortunately for both of us, my hard head clipped the edge of the obstacle course. Fortunately for me, someone recognized when she knocked my lights out, putting an end to our competition. In the time it took me to regain consciousness, someone had dragged me to the edge of the course, and Terry checked my pulse.

I scowled at the rather blurry form of my sister. “Your reach is long and your aim is good, little sister. Well played. Revenge comes, and when it comes, we tackle but only when we aren’t near the edge.”

Terry heaved the sort of sigh that indicated we tested the last of his patience. “Well, I suppose that answers the question of if you remember what happened.”

“How long was I out?”

“About two minutes,” the RPS agent informed me. “It was long enough you will be taking a trip to the hospital with Dr. Stanton, who will oversee your care with the help of assistants she will surely kidnap from the palace.”

“I’ve always wanted to figure out what the allure of kidnapping is,” the physician replied, and she crouched beside me. “It was a freak accident, but it was the sort of accident the RPS agents had foreseen as a distant possibility, which was why Terry was on the sidelines ready to intervene. They will be installing padding to most everything to prevent another incident. You’ll get a chance to compete with your sister once you are cleared. You probably have a mild concussion, but I want to run you through the machines to make certain there are no other problems.”

“I’m sorry,” my sister blurted.

I pointed at her. “You’ll be sorry during our rematch, woman. I’m so going to throw you into that pool from hell from the net.”

The threat reduced my sister to flinging herself onto the grass and pretending she might die. Ethan strolled over, crouched at my side, and shook his head. “I’m not sure whether to be proud of my wife for that sneak attack, shocked she actually launched a sneak attack, or amused she actually managed to knock you out. It was an honor witnessing Terry yank you out of that course, though. I had no idea what he was doing or why until he had you out of the course. Had I been doing his job, you would have drowned. You didn’t even submerge before he had a hold on you.”

“Thanks, Terry.”

“You’re welcome. I hadn’t realized she’d actually knocked you out, but a hit to the head usually stuns people, and I didn’t want you inhaling mud. Call it an overabundance of caution. Until we get you into a neck brace, I’m going to have to insist you wait patiently.”

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