Page 58 of Slippers and Thorns
“Of course not,” he scoffed. “You had the wrong teacher. I may not have much experience teaching the sport, but I’d still do a better job than Charles.”
“Oh?” Ella inquired politely. “Why would that be?”
Michael scowled at her. “Because I’m much better at archery.Hecan barely hit the broad side of a barn.”
Despite the slur to her favorite guard, Ella laughed. “Oh, come, he can’t bethatbad. He told me they wouldn’t have let him join the royal guard unless he was proficient.”
“There is a vast difference between ‘proficient’ and ‘good’,” Michael loftily informed her.
“As you say,” Ella insincerely replied before taking a sip of wine from her goblet.
A competitive glint appeared in Michael’s eyes. He leaned towards her. “Oh, no,” he argued, “that’s not good enough. I see I’m going to have to prove it to you.”
“What?” Ella looked at him in surprise.
“The yawning canyon between his skill level and mine,” he answered with a fierce grin. “We’ll have a friendly competition tomorrow morning. Then you’ll see!”
As they gathered in the castle’s small training yard after breakfast the next morning, it was painfully obvious that Charlie wasn’t thrilled to be competing against the crown prince, even if it wasn’t one-on-one. Apparently, either to prove that Charlie was not throwing the match to keep the prince from looking bad, or because he simply delighted in the competition, Michael had decided to conscript all eight of their personal guards.
It soon became evident that, while Charlie was better than Michael’s claim the night before, archery was not – as Charlie himself had told Ella months before – the young guard captain’s forte. He was easily the worst of the group. Jake kept him company at the bottom, but even Ella could tell that Jake’s shooting was the better of the two. Henry surprised her by coming in right behind Michael, but that didn’t put him in second place. Much to Michael’s irritation, the captain of his own guard proved that at least one of the guards was not concerned about the royal competitor.
Of course, they couldn’t stop there. When Henry’s ribbing of his superior officer caused Charlie to loudly – but good-naturedly – complain that the outcome would have been different had they been using swords, Michael organized them into a sword-fighting contest.
It was another pleasant fall day, if a bit on the warm side. The temperature wasn’t as hot as summer, but the men were still working up a sweat as they fought. Ella knew they probably would have gone shirtless if she weren’t there, like Henry had during her ill-fated archery lesson, but out of respect to the lady (she supposed), the guards only stripped to their linen undershirts. Michael, it seemed, did not feel the same compunction to shield his wife’s eyes, and went bare-chested.
Jake surprised Ella by beating not only Henry, but two of Michael’s guards, as well. Charlie annoyed Michael by beating him out for second, and Oliver once again dominated his younger opponents.
She hadn’t expected to have so much fun watching them. However, between their spirited jests at one another’s expense – all in fun, of course – and the excitement of watching the matches, Ella discovered that the entire morning had passed in a very enjoyable manner.
Michael swaggered up to her, still shirtless, although he was carrying his missing clothing slung over his shoulder. He rested his other hand on the hilt of his sword.
“You look good with a sword,” Ella commented. “Why don’t you wear it more often?”
He shrugged. “It gets in the way when I sit in a chair. That seems to be what I spend most of my time doing, so usually, I only put it on when I’m heading to the training yard or out of the castle.” Pulling his shirt from his shoulder, he used it to mop the back of his neck. “What did you think?”
“Of?”
“The games.” He gestured to the center of the yard where the guards were milling about chatting and collecting their things.
“It was a lot of fun,” she told him with a smile. “I didn’t know watching grown men trying to beat each other up could be so exciting.”
“We weren’t trying to beat each other up.” Michael rolled his eyes.
“Well, I still enjoyed it. You did well,” Ella added almost as an afterthought.
A smug expression spread across his face. “So, you agree to let me teach you archery?”
“I can definitely see that I made a mistake asking Charlie to teach me. Clearly, if I wanted to learn it well, I should have asked Oliver,” she teased.
Michael flopped his mouth at her like a fish. “What—you—!”
Ella laughed. “But I acknowledge your prowess. I’m sure you would be a fine archery teacher.”
“That’s great to hear, Ella.” His face suddenly took on a very mischievous look. Holding his arms wide, he stepped closer to her. “I’m so glad you accept me!”
“What are you—ack!” Ella spluttered as he threw his arms around her, scooping her against his chest. His sweaty,slimychest. “Eww, Mike, gross!”
She glared at the guards from her crushed position as they joined in Michael’s amusement at her expense. Attempting to push herself away did no good – it just made her shiver in revulsion when her hands slipped in the perspiration covering his skin – so she waited not-so-patiently for him to release her.
