...26...
AFFIANCED TO THE EMPEROR
The Emperor lifted his brows in sudden confusion.
He wondered what on earth she was trying to do now.
She had already been disarmed.
She had already lost.
What mischievous ideas was she trying to play on now?
What did she hope to achieve by stopping the duel now?
"What? Why?" he asked still staring quizzically at her.
"I am tired of using a spear. How about a sword!"
He scoffed in surprise then chuckled in a way that suggested that she was unbelievable.
She was trying to back out of defeat with that tactic?
How shameless of her!
Well, he did not mind.
He just actually wanted to entertain her anyways.
"You are tired?" he asked.
She shamelessly nodded.
"Just like that?" He pressed on with an amazed chuckle.
She nodded again.
"Now, you want to use a sword and not a spear?"
"Did I stutter?" She asked with her gaze fixed on it.
"You didn't. But I just think that you do not want to admit that you have lost Mine?" he asked her.
"I did not lose," she stressed. "I only want a change of weapon," she further enlightened him.
She didn't want him to beat her with any means possible.
She swallowed as she met his gaze while trying to hold her ground.
His eyes saw too much.
"Cunny woman," he said to her with a smirk. "But you should remember that you are not more cunny than I am."
"You would not believe it if I even told you that you aren't right, so I wouldn't," she replied to that.
The calculating smirk on her face had him sighing in surrender.
He could never win against her, especially not with that look that was sitting in her eyes.
"Bring me my sword Cora!" he ordered his escort.
Cora reached for the sword with her and brought it forth.
Rose's eyes rose the instant she sighted the weapon.
That wasn't what she planned.
"No," she told him, shaking her head with defiance.
"No?" he cocked his right brow as he held onto the sword.
What was she doing now?
He just knew that she must have something ridiculous sitting right up her sleeves.
"Yes. I shall make my pick," she informed him, "and yours too," she added.
He nearly chuckled at her words.
What was she trying to do now?
This cunny woman!
He just knew that she was definitely up to no good with that silly suggestion.
She would make his pick and hers?
Choose a weapon from him?
As if he could not best her with any weapon.
He was tempted to, but he did not give in to that urge to laugh.
"What on earth are you trying to do now Mine?" he voiced out as he played with his sword.
"You shall have to wait and see that yourself," she informed him before turning away.
His eyes followed her movement.
"Vura!" she called her new aide.
"Yes My Lady!" Vura answered her, going to her.
"Give me your ears."
Vura leaned closer into her and then she whispered into Vura's ears for a moment.
He watched as her aide's eyes lit with unconcealed amusement.
He just knew that he was about to be the brunt of a big joke.
"Do you understand?" she asked Vura when she was done with whispering suspiciously.
The lady nodded her head.
"Yes My Lady, I do understand. I shall return soon," she told her mistress who nodded with a broad smile on her face.
Vura left then.
"And where on earth have you sent your aide to after such suspicious whispering around?" he asked her with raised brows.
She scoffed with a lazy smile.
"That you shall soon know," was her answer to him.
"You are really being too smart here," he complained to her.
It was kind of annoying to know that something was about to hit you and yet not knowing what it was at the same time.
"You think so?"
She liked that he was in suspense at this moment.
It made her feel as if she had the upper hand here.
"No, I know so you crafty being," he said with cheated eyes.
She laughed as he revealed to her exactly how he felt.
Well, she did not have one ounce of pity for him at all.
If anything, she wanted him to suffer at her hands for a bit more.
It was a wonderful feeling, having that ability to frustrate him.
"You were the one who asked to spar with me," she pointed out.
He groaned in minute surprise because she had a point.
He was the one who had offered himself to her.
"I never forced you to do so, did I?" she said with a smirk.
He sighed in frustration.
"No you didn't, and that is the reason I am not angry with you at the moment."
She rolled her eyes.
"As if you have a choice," she spat at him with glee.
Vura returned then with a wooden sword in her hand.
He gasped in shock.
He has been expecting her to come up with something cunny.
But whatever it was, it was definitely not this.
She had outdone herself with this one this time.
He knew instantly that the carved sword was to be his from the satisfying smile on her face.
He didn't need to be told.
Oh sweet heavens!
This woman! She was totally something else.
"I assume that the carved weapon is mine, isn't it?" he asked her with a deep sigh.
"Yes it is," she said with a mocking smile, taking the sword from Vura and handing it over to him.
He stared between her and the blade for a while.
He gave his own blade to Cora with a tsk sound and received the wood carving from her.
"Now, can I have yours?" she said brightly, eyeing his sword.
He scrunched up his face.
She thought that he would not give it to her with the way he was looking at her.
"I bet you don't need to ask that and you are only doing so to try and infuriate me."
"Oh please!" she squealed.
He turned around and waved a go ahead for Cora.
Cora nodded and stepped forward with the sword in hand.
Rose skipped up to her and received the sword from Cora.
All her thirty two enamels were on display as she caressed the sword of the emperor.
It was beautiful.
The sword sheath was white with intricate golden designs.
"Let us try and have a good spar, you hear?" she cajoled him with her eyes and winked.
The joy on her face caused a fluffy sensation to fill his chest.
He would do anything to make her happy in his empire.
"Are you satisfied?" he questioned her with a pounding heart.
She nodded.
"How cunny of you," he grumbled under his breath.
He was thankful that she was too engrossed in unsheathing his sword to hear him.
"So, shall I attack first?" she asked him while discarding the holster and happily flaunting his own sword afore him.
He smiled at her obvious attempt to piss him off.
It was an underhanded strategy to make him lose his cool and also his entire coordination.
If he was upset, that would give her an advantage over him in their upcoming spar.
"Yes you can warrior Rose," he entreated her.
She did so, stepping forward and without hesitation brought her weapon down towards him.
He met her attack instantly, metal meeting wood.
They went on like before, but only this time they were being more serious and coordinated.
Metal met wood time and time again as their efforts in the spar quickly doubled.
None of them seemed to be losing even a bit of strength.
Still, after about five minutes, he was able to find a good opening and succeeded in successfully disarming her.
She gasped, her eyes widening in horror as the weapon fell.
But he was upon her before she could speak a word.
He had her back against his chest and his wooden sword against her neck in an eye's blink.
"Well well Warrior Rose, you seem to have lost so quickly to me," he said in a triumphant voice.
"I am so sorry to disappoint you, but not yet," she retorted.
Then she held unto the wooden sword and wriggled out of his grasp with the speed of light.
It was his turn to be surprised, his mouth falling open at her tactics.
The sword fell from his hand and on to the floor with a clang as she pretended to lose her footing.
And on instinct he caught her before she could reach anywhere near the sandy ground.
He drew her up against him with their bodies so close.
Electricity instantly sparkled to life between them.
Warm sensations ran through her body in a jiffy.
She managed to bite back a small moan at the proximity.
She was almost convinced that she had chosen the wrong way to deal with him.
This devilishly handsome man, he was too distracting.
It took a moment for her to compose herself and go back to the original plan.
"Are you alright?" He asked her while breathing softly.
He had a worried look in his eyes that almost made her laugh.
And though she didn't, her evil plan was written on her face.
The mischievous look in her eyes told him that he had successfully been fooled by her.
He groaned inwardly at the instant realization.
"I didn't lose," she told him again with so much pride in her voice.
"Well, you obviously did."
"Well, there is no weapon in sight that is pointed at me," she said with her chin up, standing tall.
It was her little giggle that almost frustrated him.
This coming from her?
She had planned this!
She had seen to it that there would not be any weapon!
She had tricked him into rescuing her from a fake fall!
Women could be wicked.
He knew that, but it wasn't so obvious until this moment.
"I should have just let you fall," he voiced with a scoff.
She laughed at his words, unhinged and completely amused.
"You would never. I know that you would never."
The fact that her choice was laced with triumph got on his nerves.
But he had to admit that she was a hundred percent right.
He sighed softly.
"Even if you knew that I was pretending to, you would still most definitely reach for me," she continued to enlighten him with a mischievous glint in her lovely emerald green eyes.
He sighed again.
"Cheat," he accused her because that was all he could do now.
"I didn't cheat."
"You fell on purpose. You tricked me into dropping my weapon. That is part of cheating."
She stuck her tongue out.
"I didn't do nothing. All of the aforementioned was your choice, solely your choice."
"This is the reason why I don't like to spar with females. Their wiles are too many," he complained.
"Are you admitting that you just fell for one of them?"
He stared at her unsure of why she was asking that.
Then he remembered his earlier comment of being more cunny than her.
A light bulb went off in his head and his eyes lit up.
Well, he would show her.
"And are you admitting to the fact that you just cheated?" he retorted with pride in his voice.
She crossed her hands over her chest and merely laughed.
"Well, I might as well cheat," he said and advanced.
She braced herself for a speed attack but a different kind came.
He stopped right on front of her with an amused simper.
"I warned you," he whispered in a dangerous voice that happened to send chills down her spine.
She didn't know what he intended to do until he kissed her.
The kiss was hot and brutal, a way for him to reassert his claim.
He gently pillaged that smart mouth of hers with his.
It took everything in her to hold back a moan as various emotions exploded inside of her.
Her eyes were wide, her arms which had flailed out in surprise now resting on his chest.
He tasted like heaven, sweet warm but poisonous heaven.
His scent was invading every single inch of her.
Her head grew hazy with all of the sensations she tried to fight.
He choose them to act.
Her emerald orbs instantly widened in terror when she felt the unmistakable cold of a blade at the back of her neck.
He smiled in acorn as he placed the blade directly at her nape.
He was so quick.
"Now, there is a weapon in sight, pointed at you," he mocked her. "There should be no excuses lest I have to do the needful."
He was too smart for her.
How on earth did he come up with this in such a short time?
He could read through her like a book, see through her easily.
Was this the reason why he kept nabbing her during her escape?
"And what is the needful?" she said in resignation.
She could not win against him, at least not today, with the cold blade pressed against her nape.
"I should declare that you to be punished for having deceived the emperor, severally," he stated.
The emphasis on severally made her giggle softly.
For a moment, he was lost in the beauty that was her face.
He was mesmerized in the way that she smiled with her eyes.
"Really?" she asked him with a cocked brows.
"Yes."
She stared at him quizzically.
"So do you agree that you have lost to me?" he asked her.
She casually pretended to think for a while.
Then, after a moment, she lifted her head and grinned.
"Okay, I agree that I have lost to you," she concurred.
It was then that he retrieved his blade from her neck.
The crowd that had gathered over time began to cheer and clap for their Emperor happily.
She stared around, realizing that she had forgotten the people during all this time.
She had been so lost in the man standing afore her.
For that long, her world had only revolved around him.
She realized then that her feelings for him was slowly getting out of hand at this point.
Her train of thoughts was simply interuppted by choruses of "Long live the Emperor!"
The loud chorus dominated the training grounds.
"That is better," he said replacing the sword in his sleeve where he had originally brought it from.
She scoffed in disbelief.
He had a hidden weapon and had pressed her to the wall with it?
Was that not supposed to be cheating in some kind of way?
She shrugged because, well to be fair, she had cheated too.
She was the first to push him to the wall and he had retaliated.
"You will lose to me next time," she said to him before stepping out of his hands.
"I have already lost to you Mine," he murmured under his breath.
"What did you say?" She asked, lifting her eyes to his.
"I said we shall have to wait till next time then," he lied.
"We shall see," she drawled.
"Come, let's go back," he said.
"Sure," she agreed as he took her hands in his and led her out of the training grounds.
Their escorts instantly followed behind them.
"Let us go and have lunch," she told him. "I am hungry."
"Alright."
They smiled at each other.
Hera-Mera watched them as they left with unconcealed emotions visible in her eyes.
She was heaving as her nostrils were flared.
Both of her hands were clenched into tight fists.
Her glaring eyes burned into the back of their leaving figure.
She hated that concubine lady hanging around the emperor.
She was affianced to the Emperor.
He was hers, only hers and hers alone.
OmaPhinaPhire