“What…?”
I took his hand. “I’ll explain later,” I said with a sour look at Amber. She shrugged. Maverick growled at her. That made her laugh.
We were an odd crew.
Chapter 5
Days turned to weeks.With Ant not at full strength, it took some time for him and Silence to heal.
I tried to distract myself, spending my days training and talking with Prince Alvere, whenever he was with us. I loved to learn of his kingdom and he listened intently as I spoke of my home. We were becoming… friends. A part of me wanted more, he was handsome and intelligent and seemed interested in me, but… with Silence still laid up, I didn’t know what to do.
I spoke to Sparrow about the prince. She thought him handsome as well, but wouldn’t say much more than that. She wanted me to be happy but she also knew how I felt for Silence. She cautioned I wait and speak to Silence before going any further with the prince. So… I did.
But, some of my combat training with Alvere could get… intense. He was a good student and quickly became a match for me. If I didn’t use my avatar abilities, he’d win as often as lose. And we were both competitive, so we got a little… overzealous at times. Amber would watch us as we sparred, shaking her head, eyes wide.
I was breathing hard, back against the wall grabbing a couple heaving breaths in the barest of gaps during one of our fights. He too was breathing hard, sweat on his brow and soaking through his practice shirt. Something about him seemed harder now. I think he’d lost the last of the boyish roundness in his features. Perhaps we had been training him a bit too hard.
He swept a kick to knock me off my feet, but I jumped. And for just an instant I used my abilities to plant my feet against the wall behind me and launch myself at him bodily. I hit him hard and we both tumbled to the mats, rolling over each other. He ended up on top and quickly he pinned my right arm. I punched with my left, not as strong, but still hoping to stun him with a hit to the kidneys. But I only brushed his shirt as his hand clasped over my wrist stopping my strike. He smiled down at me.
“Now what?” he asked with a note of victory.
“Now you learn how to truly fight one of us,” I said with a grin, and planting my feet, I used all my jumping strength to buck him off me; though I may have been just a little too zealous. He released me as he flew over my head, flipping forward.
I spun and rose to a ready-kneel, facing where he would land.
To his credit, he managed to land on his feet and did an awkward, off-balance spin back to face me. I swept his legs. He tried to jump and got one leg out of the way, but I caught enough of his right foot to cause him to fall to his left. Then I was on him, straddling him, like he’d done with me a moment before. I pinned his left arm; his dominant hand.
I was unable to catch his right-handed strike and he hit me hard, just under the ribs. I grunted, but didn’t release his arm. Still, that had hurt — I’d have a nasty bruise tomorrow — and I didn’t want to leave myself open for another punch. So… I dropped low over him, pressing myself to him, faces inches apart, then I softly dipped in to kiss his cheek. I needed to end this fight and knew one way to do that.
“Surrender or you get the lips,” I whispered.
He raised a single brow. “That’s cheating,” he huffed, a little breathless.
“Yeah, but I like fighting dirty.”
He shook his head and tapped out with his free hand.
“Good boy,” I said, kissing him again on the cheek. That second kiss hadn’t been needed, but looking into those perfect blue eyes always got my blood pumping and I’d acted without thinking. That made me wonder if I’d have had poison on my lips if I had kissed him. I certainly wasn’t feeling fear or animosity right now. No, mostly I wanted to keep pressing myself against him and kiss those beautiful full lips, while he kissed me back.
But… I couldn’t; not yet.
I got one leg under me and did a back flip off him.
“Show off,” he said, then did a flawless kip-up.
“Who’s showing off now?”
He grinned and shrugged.
“Well,” Amber said approaching us. “You know enough of the basics that you should have a much easier time defending yourself against attackers while unarmed.” She looked back and forth between the two of us. To the prince, she said: “I think you’ll be headed back to your own lands soon. I hear the war in the North is escalating.”
He nodded slowly. “I’ll be back here as often as I can, but I need to be there for my troops.”
“Oh?” I said, and was surprised at the distress in my voice. “Leaving so soon?”
He smiled. “Not quite yet, but soon. And from what I hear, so too will you.”
I was a bit surprised at that. I looked at Amber, who nodded. Though she then gave the prince a scathing look. “That was not to be mentioned yet.”
