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“It is. Just bring your fist up,” I say, taking her arm and bending it at the elbow until she has it in the right position. “Then when I come in with the thrust, side step it and use your fist to punch my arm even farther away from your body.”
I go through the motions a few times until she gets it right.
She blows a loose hair from her face, smiling. “Then what?” she asks.
“Well, then you’ve got to take your opponent down. He’s going to be vulnerable. His weapon is behind you, his body is open to attack pretty much anywhere you want to go. Try it.”
I slowly thrust at her again and she slaps my arm away, jabbing me a little too hard in the side with the practice point. I grab the spot and grunt.
“Sorry!” she says quickly, dropping her weapon and putting her hands beside the spot I’m holding on my side. “I just got excited.”
I grin. “It’s fine. You just caught me off guard. That’s quite a thrust you’ve got there.”
“I was watching your technique earlier,” she says.
I laugh. “I can’t even tell if you’re being dirty or if you’re serious.”
“Can it be both?” she asks.
“Hey, what do you say we get out of here?” I ask suddenly.
“And go where?” she asks.
“Back to the outside. You've got to miss it. At least a little.”
She narrows her eyes. “Why do I feel like you’re not supposed to take me back there?”
“Because I’m not. But I’m also not supposed to take my brother’s bride-to-be out of the palace. I definitely wasn’t supposed to fuck you, either. So as far as I see it, we’ve already broken enough rules that it doesn’t make any difference. C’mon. Maybe you can give me the insider’s tour of the outside.”
“Funny. I think I was just as much of an outsider there as you would be. But sure. Why not?”Elizabeth and I take my personal car outside the city. Every guard station along the way has scanners that repeatedly check my vehicle to make sure I’m authorized to leave, otherwise a unit of royal guards would mobilize to stop me. Though I’ve never thought about it much before meeting Elizabeth, for people outside the privileged social circles, our world has become more and more like a prison. The common people are more like inhabitants of some sick kind of zoo that the rich keep around for their own amusement.
“What’s wrong?” asks Elizabeth.
Her voice startles me, and I realize I was scowling. “It’s nothing. I’m just thinking of some things I’d like to change if I become king.”
“Like what?” she asks.
“I’m not sure yet. I just don’t think we’re treating the commoners right. I know that much.”
Elizabeth pulls at her finger, making it clear she’s hesitant about what she’s going to say next. “Marcella mentioned how the royal family has done some terrible things to people. Is all that true?”
I sigh. “Terrible things? Yes. I’m sure we have. Some of it is justice. Rules are in place and people break those rules. Some of it though… Like I said, there are things I’d like to change.”
“Have you done any of those terrible things?” she asks.
I glance at her. The lights of the tunnel we’re driving through cast her face in bursts of light followed by near darkness, and in those flashes I see worry written in her expression. She’s worried I’m a monster, and she has fair reason to worry. I also owe it to her to tell her the truth.
“Yes. I have. I’ve carried out executions, and I can’t lie and say none of it was personal. I’m not a good man, Elizabeth. I can’t lie to you about that. Dark rumors surround me for a reason. But I can promise you something. So long as we’re together, I’m a better man. And I think I’ll grow to be a more honorable man than I ever thought I could with you at my side.”
She nods. “I think you’re a better man than you give yourself credit for. I mean, we all do bad things. I think if you’re a powerful person, the bad and good both just get magnified. As long as you’re trying to be better, I’m okay with it. I don’t need to know what you’ve done.”
I reach across to her and take her thigh in my hand. This woman… Where has she been my whole life? Why did I have to endure so many years of shadow before she came to me?
We arrive outside a small, vaguely familiar house on a street crowded with cars. I’ve been to this house before with my brother, a few scattered times over the years when we came to check up on Elizabeth.
Instead of a enjoyable night on the town like I had planned, Elizabeth unfortunately decided she wanted to come here and confront her parents. While I understand her motivation, I don’t see how this is going to end well.
