When Sania cockily stepped up, I wanted to groan. She smirked at him, her eyebrows rising as she made a blatant show of checking him out. I couldn’t entirely blame her. He was fitted out in silver armor with kyanite detailing worked into it. The armor looked like it was molded to his body, showing off his considerable assets. I rarely saw this type of expensive, magically reinforced kind of armor, but I would definitely say that it was worth whatever it cost.
Still, she didn’t have to be so fucking classless about it. Wasn’t she a noble lady?
The urge to gouge out my cousin’s eyeballs came the moment Azurill smiled back at her, saying, “Lady Sania, are you ready?”
“To get sweaty with you? Absolutely,” She replied with a giggle that grated on my ears.
His laugh was rough and deep, and she didn’t deserve it.
I was forced to watch them flirt back and forth as they fought, while I glared at them both from the sidelines. Maybe he decided I wasn’t worth it after all. Maybe someone like Lady Saniawasa better choice to be his queen.
Azurill didn’t hold back as much with Sania, meeting her on more equal footing, which only made me more pissed off. When he finally ended the fight by knocking her on her back, she actually said, “I doubt it’ll be the last time, Your Majesty.”
I was going to kill her. Maybe him too. My hands curled into fists, my nails biting into my palms, and my teeth ground back and forth. It was only Allirea’s interference that pulled me out of my bloodlust.
“Don’t worry,” She whispered, smiling softly as her opal hair shone in the light, “We all know Lady Sania isn’t the one for him.” She winked before pushing me forward as my name was called.
I passed Sania as she made her way to the sidelines, and her raised brow and smirking lips had me narrowing my eyes back at her. She clearly thought she was winning.
Maybe she was right.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. As I neared the center of the arena, Azurill was there waiting, and his eyes were steady on me for the first time since I spilled my heart out.
We stood there, facing one another, our faces both completely blank, yet a wealth of emotions were hidden behind our eyes.
A muscle in his jaw jumped, and before I knew it, his sword was flying at me.
Chapter forty-two
Jacinth
Iinstinctively parried his blow, meeting him with a riposte that had him twirling his blade in his hand so he could come right back at me from above.
He wasn’t playing around. Unlike the other ladies, I was getting his full skill, if not his full power. I could tell he wasn’t aiming to kill, thank Erodite, but he was obviously still aggrieved by my lies.
I couldn’t even blame him for it. I would be too.
I swung my sword from below to meet his strike, and our blades clashed with a deep reverberation. His eyes glinted silver for a moment before returning to teal, piquing my curiosity even more. Our faces were close as we both struggled to overcome the other, and I could see every twitch of his jaw as his emotions got the better of him.
Unable to stand being so close, I pushed off him, pulling my sword free and standing back. He began to circle me, looking as much like a predator as he had in my vision, and I warily turned in time with his steps.
“What would you have done?” He finally spoke, a deep thread of pain echoing in his voice that I wished I could wash away.
“Had I found out you’d been responsible?” I asked quietly.
“Yes.” That was all he said as he watched me closely. I sighed deeply, shaking my head and making my braid swing back and forth with the motion.
“You would never have done it.” I countered him, but he only laughed wryly.
“You know that’s not true. What if your parents had been one of those I’d killed that night? Left in a bloody pile,” he asked, cold and aloof as he raised a brow expectedly.
I spun towards him, feigning left before slashing my blade quickly to the right and hitting his torso, leaving him blinking in shock. I nearly got another hit to his shoulder while he was distracted before he seemed to wake up and blocked me.
“If that was the case, then my parents would have been guilty.” I snarled, trying to make him see sense. “Everyone you killed that night deserved their fate. But my parents? They were innocent. And you avenged them.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” he nearly roared, only to remember our audience and lower his voice as he rushed in, hitting my upper back as I tried to duck away from a side thrust.
I glared back at him, spinning my blade before going high, aiming for his thick head. He jumped back, meeting my blade as we began to go blow for blow.
