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“Your point?”
“It wouldn’t be fair.”
“Sweetheart, I can promise you that if anyone is at a disadvantage, it’s you. I could even the odds more, and lose the dagger, but what can I say…” I hold out my hands. “I’m invested in the prize.”
With a huff, she drops the sword to the grass-covered ground and unclasps the belt holding its matching sheath around her waist, all while muttering insults under her breath. Now, that’s the Alice I know and love.
“You could have a little fucking faith in me, you know,” she says, tossing the sheath aside.
“It has nothing to do with faith.” I circle around her from a few feet away, taunting, analyzing, and looking for a weakness to exploit. I love the woman, but I’m not sure I’m the kind of man who’d let her win just to boost her ego. “It has everything to do with years of experience. I don’t doubt that you’ve grown, and Finn seems to believe so, too. Hell, he had nothing but good things to say.”
She grits her teeth with one hand on the hilt of her real sword. The one with the sharp point. My mother’s. Alice doesn’t know that, though. My father must’ve had his reasons for not disclosing its previous owner and I’ll respect that. Her free hand flexes as she wrings her fingers together.
“Fine. Is magic permitted, or not?”
“Of course, it is.” I skim my fingers across the middle of her back, seeing that the skin of my hands has darkened, like I’ve dipped them into soot. “Do you think the man in the market last year would’ve not used magic simply because his victim didn’t have it? That he would’ve evened the fight?”
“No.” I can hear the waver in her voice. It’s a sore spot. It always has been for her. Good. I want her pissed. I want her to channel that anger and try to hand me my ass.
“No…” I repeat, “If you want to leave the castle without an escort, then you have to prove you can handle the good, the bad, and the ugly. No one is going to play fair. If anything, they’ll try harder just because you’re the princess. Even a king has enemies, Alice.”
I stop in front of her, seeing the flames flicker in her eyes.
“If you want your freedom to leave the castle at will, you know what you have to do.”
Her jaw ticks as she stares at me with vacant eyes. Every shred of the flirty princess is gone. I push a single thought into her head.‘Earn it.’
I’ve never used that power on her, and the shock that’s spreading across her face tells me Finn never mentioned my ability to do so, either. My mother could scry the future, and the past, but she was also able to put thoughts in people’s heads, to convince them they made them. Sadly, I only inherited the ability to project my thoughts telepathically. If I have the other abilities, they’ve stayed hidden. Still, it’s a cool party trick.
With a shaky grip, she pulls my mother’s sword from the sheath and takes a stance.
“Your move, love,” I say.
Alice doesn’t wait a single second before she feigns an attack. With quick feet, she jousts to my right before spinning and aiming the blade for my neck. Using my magic, I stop it and push her backward in one fluid flick of my wrist.
“Rule number one. Never bring a sword to a magic fight.”
She doesn’t comment, nor does she heed the warning. Instead, she lifts the blade again. I see her lips move, but she speaks in a hushed tone, making it impossible to hear the words. With a sharp lunge forward, she pivots, throwing up a magic shield with one hand. The other lets go of the sword as the false edge slides around her throat. She switches hands, holding the shield with her now freed right, and catching the sword’s guard with her left as steel slices forward. I barely have a chance to block the blow.
“I’m impressed,” I say, checking over my thumb. Luckily, my magic rose up to the task before it could nick me. “You almost gave me a paper-cut.”
Even though I meant it in the literal sense, it’s clear she didn’t take it that way. She took my paper-cut remark as mocking. The sword in her hand splits into two, both identical–a perfect replica. She adjusts them in her hands before advancing again, trading blow for blow until I knock them from her grip. They sail through the air and before she can react, I slip the dagger from my thigh and flip up, letting it turn end over end until the blade slicks downward into the grass between us.
“You’ve got three options. You can try to get that knife, forfeit and pay your penance, or run and hope on all that’s holy you’re good at hide-and-seek. I’d say magic is an option, but we both know that wouldn’t work well in your favor. Not against me. So, what will it be, Princess?”
The moment Alice’s eyes dart to the woods, I know her answer. Her chest heaves as the air bursts in and out of her lungs with jagged spurts. I reach down to retrieve the dagger and she bolts. A smile spreads wide across my face as the fantasy I’ve concocted plays through my head. I was hoping she’d do that.
5
Alice
This is not at all how I pictured our reunion would go, but I refuse to admit defeat. This is my chance, likely the only one I’ll get for a while, and I can taste the freedom.
I’ll figure out how to win. I just need a moment. Had I known I’d be fighting Kai today, I would’ve prepared. I would’ve thought of every weakness and made a plan to exploit them. I would’ve played dirty as fuck. Though, giving me a heads up would defeat the point he’s trying to get across. I’m not going to have time to study my enemy, not in a real-life situation.
I could’ve gone for the dagger or tried to use my magic, but I’m not stupid. He isn’t going to fight fair. The moment I would’ve moved to snag the knife from the ground, he would’ve used his power to keep me from ever getting a finger on the hilt. And when it comes to magic, the only moves I could’ve used to best him would’ve been lethal. Everything else I’ve got in my bag of tricks wouldn’t have been enough, and I don’t intend to hurt him just to prove myself.
So, it’s on to plan B, or rather, plan: no plan.
