“It’ll do neither of us any good to be wanderin’ around the castle,” he grunted. “Nae when it’s the mind that’s keepin’ ye awake. We need to tire that out.”
Marissa rolled her eyes at him, and he felt himself stiffening at the gesture. He had always loved a challenge.
Get a hold of yerself.
“How do ye plan to do that?” Marissa scoffed.
Her arguing allowed him to grab the reins of his desire and bring it to a heel.
“Come with me and ye’ll see.”
Arthur didn’t wait to see if she followed. He took long, confident steps as he moved into the room beyond their chambers.
The fire, which had been warm and popping when they’d gone to bed, had dwindled to embers. They glowed orange, small puffs of smoke floating up into the chimney.
“Sit down right here,” Arthur commanded, setting his candle down on the table where they’d shared their meal.
He wasn’t sure if it was the late hour or Marissa’s naturally curious mind that kept her from arguing, wanting to see whatwas going to occur. But, whatever the reason, she did exactly as she was told without so much as a comment.
Arthur turned his back on her, striding confidently toward the fireplace.
While he resided in the castle, he would usually have a maid do this type of work. However, due to the late hour and not wanting to keep his future wife waiting, he decided to tend to the fire himself.
Years on the battlefield and sleeping in camps had made him more than adept at fire making, and before long, the logs had been placed and the flames were crackling once more.
The chilly air quickly began to warm, the gentle glow dancing over his skin as he walked back toward her.
Marissa’s eyes were luminous and filled with curiosity, watching his every move as he crossed the room. Before coming back to the table, he made one stop at the chest along the wall.
Opening it, Arthur found exactly what he’d been looking for at the very top, as if it had been waiting for him all along. He grabbed the chessboard—an intricately carved wooden box—and held it up for her to see.
“I’m assumin’ ye ken how to play?”
She huffed a laugh, offended by the implication of his words. “Of course, I ken how to play.”
Shrugging one shoulder to brush off her words, Arthur pulled out his chair and placed the chessboard on the table as he sat down. They plucked their pieces out of the wooden box, she white and him black.
Finally, when all of their pieces were assembled on the board, their eyes met once again.
Where skepticism had been in her gaze just moments ago, a challenge blazed now. Something within Arthur stirred at it, rising to greet it.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Shall we begin?”
Marissa’s only answer was to grin at him before turning her attention to the board, her delicate fingers rising to move one of her white pawns forward a space.
Arthur didn’t need time to consider as he did the same.
Around and around they went, with Marissa moving and then Arthur. All his life, Arthur had never had a problem besting the person on the other side of the board.
“I thought ye’d be better at this.” Marissa giggled as she leaned over the table and contemplated her next move.
“I am plenty good at it,” he grumbled, not trying to hide the sour mood that her besting him was putting him in.
His years of studying battle strategy, understanding what it took to strategically move across a field and anticipate his opponents’ next move—it had always helped him when it came to games such as this.
Now, however, he found himself at a loss. With each move, Arthur felt certain he knew what Marissa was going to do next. But with each move, she proved him wrong.
When he thought for sure she’d move her rook, it was her knight that trotted across the board. When he thought for sure he had her backed into a corner, suddenly a move that he had never seen coming opened up, allowing her to claim more and more of his pieces.
