Everything happened in the blink of an eye. While he had worried Marcus would be too crude in front of Isabel, and she’d be too dismissive of this business, his concerns were evidently unfounded.
Those two were fast friends.
Sebastian huffed in annoyance while he wrapped his fists in tight bands. Glancing out of the ring, he watched his friend leading Isabel to a seat at the front. The first row had a tendency to catch sweat or blood or tears.
But neither of them seemed to notice he was glaring at them.
“Are you ready?” Stanley, another boxer who agreed to be today’s referee, asked him.
After discarding half of his clothes, Sebastian had also exchanged his shirt for another that he kept in the back rooms for days such as these. It wasn’t infrequent for him to turn up for training or a sudden match. There was enough frustration in his life that he had plenty of opportunities here, never able to comprehend the life of leisure for a gentleman.
There is too much to do in this life. With this title. But I am in the ring, and I don’t need to worry about anything else.
Or so he tried to remind himself.
“Your Grace?”
Sebastian gave a curt shake of his head. “Names only.”
That was one of the rules he had instituted here at the gymnasium in the beginning. He meant what he had told Isabel. No one was different inside of the ring. Here, he was not a duke. He was simply Vale.
“I should like to see why you like this place so much.”
Isabel had said that just before he grudgingly left her side, ensuring her in the care of his friend and the owner of this place. He couldn’t stop thinking about those words. And that hopeful smile of hers…
Did she expect something more from him? Or did she not understand?
Since they had entered this place––nay, since he had led her away from her soft and warm drawing room––Isabel had taken everything in stride. Those eyes of hers had turned golden as her interest grew, and she took everything in around them.
She is definitely not like any other duchess. They would have fainted at the very least, and yet she hasn’t flinched.
“Vale?”
“Yes.”
Sebastian responded without thinking. He was lost in his thoughts and hardly heard the clap of the out-of-tune bell. Marcus thought a broken one was good luck. Eventually, Sebastian would have to replace it without him.
For now, he had to focus on dodging Casper.
The other fighter in the ring was smaller but heavily built. Still light on his feet, he had particularly strong hands from his time as a performing wrestler. It had been a while since Sebastian had been in the ring with him, but he remembered just in time how Casper preferred to take the offensive at the beginning.
He stepped aside just in time.
Then Sebastian feinted one side to the next and swung, only to miss as well. His focus set in as he met Casper’s gaze. This was where he wanted to be, where his heartbeat settled, and he wasin control. Slowly his shoulders relaxed, and he shook out the rest of his muscles.
Focused, Sebastian let in a punch before catching Casper on the shoulder once, twice––three times! The man stumbled back with a frown and appeared to reassess.
He only waited a second before diving right back in at Sebastian’s waist. A familiar move, one that he was ready for. He caught Casper and flung him off to slam him down to the ground. The other man coughed while Stanley called that round one was over––Sebastian had won.
“There ‘e is, that’s my boy!” Marcus shouted at him.
The second round started. Confident now, Sebastian let himself relax a little around Casper who was still a little reckless. He kept feinting in and out, surely tiring himself out. Three rounds would definitely be enough.
But then he was around the other side of the ring. Movement caught his eye along with the sweet sound of his wife laughing with a broad smile on her face.
Looking between the two, Sebastian frowned. Something had happened and he didn’t know what that was about. Were they laughing without him? A knot of irritation formed low in his belly.
And then Casper was there to knock him down.
