Chapter Twenty-Four
“An answer for a hit target?” I must not have heard him right as I stared into his not-so-angry face. Unease drifted over me at the hint of a smile growing on his pink lips.
“You hit the target, I’ll answer one of your questions.” He confirmed what I heard, but it still seemed suspicious. I crossed my arms over my chest, warry of what seemed to be happening here.
“What’s the trick?” Rune had escorted me to a training court I hadn’t seen beside the palace. Men and women warriors practiced their skills in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. It was the place where blood and sweat appeared to be required to stay. He’d walked to a small armory and grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows, then we strolled to the waterfall shore, his preferred training area.
It wasn’t a compound bow like I’d used before but a wood-carved traditional-type, lighter despite being made out of wood. Hopefully I wouldn’t have much difficulty operating this kind.
“No trick. I think I’m figuring you out.” He shrugged as if this wasn’t a big deal to him. I looked around one more time. No one else was here.
OK then.
I lifted the bow, testing the pull of the string briefly. The target was ten yards away, a round piece of wood, maybe a lid to a wine barrel with a sheet over it and a dot in the middle. I was a decent shooter, and I did have questions for Rune. With the motivation of Rune opening up to me, I grabbed an arrow and nocked it against the string and the riser of the bow. Pulling back the arrow, placing the feathers against the side of my lips, I took a deep breath in, filled my lungs, lined up my shot toward the little black dot, and released with my exhaled breath. It flew straight and then missed.
“Son of a—” I stopped myself from cursing too loudly so I wouldn’t frighten any slumbering creatures nearby. Rune looked at the target and then back at me, his face impassive.
“Again.”
Yeah again. I made better shots than that one back home. Mariam had taught me the basics and Tor had continued with the education. While I wasn’t the worst at the bow, I was much better with a sword. My weapons’ expertise was not high since only the small regiment at the community had them. Not much good it did them against the Dramens, though. This time I would hit the target. I nocked my arrow again and raised it with confidence. Holding in my belly, lifting my chest, and breathing in, believing the arrow would fly true. It didn’t.
Without Rune even telling me to try again, I grabbed more arrows and shot them in rapid fire. If taking my time wasn’t working, then the power of probability was bound to kick in. One was statistically going to hit the target eventually and save me from the embarrassment of being a poor shot.
“Finally!” I shouted, lifting the bow and my hands in the air in victory, my ninth arrow barely touching the black dot.
“It still counts!” I looked at Rune while he examined it.
“You’re a poor shot, but I’ll let you have this one.” He waited expectantly, his hands on his hips.
I’d been so focused on shooting, I hadn’t decided which of my many questions would be first.
“How old are you?”
His black scarred eyebrow raised. “You had the chance to ask me anything and that’s the first question you go with?”
I nodded. Even though I knew the answer, he didn’t know I did. “I’m testing the waters to see if you will tell me the truth or not.”
“I never lie.”
I believed he spoke the truth. Despite knowing the answer before he muttered the words, I wanted to have that faith in his honesty validated. I grabbed another arrow and tapped it against my good leg expectantly. He rolled his eyes, then answered my question.
“Two hundred and two.”
My next arrow hit the black dot right in the middle. Maybe all I needed was to warm up my aim.
“How did you meet the princess?” I was curious about their story. I wondered if she had returned his feelings, and what their life was like before everything fell. How did it all tie together with Tor?
Rune didn’t balk or grimace at my question. He was a smart Fae. He knew I was going to ask questions about her. When I was injured, he had said he’d tell me another time. Today was another time.
“I was coming to meet the queen and king before Torin arrived to accept the betrothal to Nyx. She was covered in a hood and fighting off three goblins in the Hallowstags by herself. I assisted her but didn’t know who she was until later that night.”
It sounded romantic, the way he came in like some white knight. I bet she loved it. I said it out loud and he roared with laughter. I couldn’t lift another arrow to the bow or shoot the target for another answer. Rune, the Fae I’d never seen fully smile or jest, was laughing. It was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen in my life.
“She was pissed, actually, having gone out in search of trouble on purpose. I have a tiny scar on my right shoulder from when she poked her sword into my arm for me to back away and let her finish battling alone.”
My kind of woman, and the way she handled Rune? No wonder he was in love with her. She stood up to the big bad wolf.
“Did she love you in return?” Once again, my mouth had run with my thoughts without a consultation with my mind. The lightness I’d seen in him moments before was gone. Sadness and longing had returned with his tensed muscles.
