The Royal Trials: Imposter Page 8

  Ty scowled, and I could tell he was trying to work out how I'd sidestepped the magic that required I put in maximum effort during the trials.

  “Huh,” he muttered, countering my attack with one of his own. “Sneaky. All right, ladies!” He raised his voice to be heard, even as he continued “fighting” me. “Feel free to deviate from the skills I have taught you today. Use whatever you can to disarm your opponent.”

  I huffed and gritted my teeth. It'd obviously clicked that his instructions had been to use any of the techniques he'd taught. A second later, when he left me another wide opening and I ignored it out of stubbornness, a sharp spike of warning shot through my brain, and I hissed.

  “Bastard,” I growled, but his only response was a wide, self-satisfied grin on his sexy fucking face. Ugh, why did that shadow of stubble need to enhance his strong jaw so much?

  Unrestricted by specific phrasing, my objective was clear. Disarm my opponent.

  “Curse you, Ty,” I muttered only just loud enough for our tutor to hear. “You stupid fool. This is on you, now.”

  His head tilted in confusion, but it was soon pretty clear what I meant. Our mock battle picked up intensity in sheer seconds as I gave just as good as I got from the well-accomplished combat instructor.

  Before long, we were both sweating and breathing heavily, and all the ladies had abandoned their own mock battles to stare at us with open mouths. Damn it all to Zryn, talk about painting a damn target on my back.

  Eventually though, the fatigue in my arm from swinging the training sword for hours, combined with the relentless assault from Ty's considerably stronger strikes, caused me to falter, and I watched as my wooden blade flew from my fingers and skittered across the sawdust-covered ground.

  “That was an interesting fight, Lady Callaluna,” Ty murmured when neither of us had moved for a long moment. We’d just stood there, our chests heaving as we stared at my wooden blade on the ground. “I take it this is not your first fight.”

  “No,” I replied, not caring to elaborate. “It's not.”

  He gave a short nod, then glanced over at all the ladies who had been spectating our fight. “Breaking for lunch early. The queen is unwell today, so you're at your leisure until this afternoon's test.”

  Everyone scrambled to return their weapons to Gerald. I staggered over to my own to pick it up, but Ty got there first.

  “Huh.” He frowned, holding my wooden sword in his huge fist and turning it over.

  “Problem?” I snapped, holding my hand out and feeling more than a bit peevish. Staying under the radar as an imposter in Lady Callaluna's life was imperative and displays like the one we'd just put on did nothing to help.

  “Yes,” he replied, holding out his own practice sword for me to take instead.

  The problem was instantly obvious. His weapon weighed a mere fraction of mine.

  “Huh,” I echoed his noise of surprise and glanced up just in time to catch his death glare shot at Gerald across the arena. “It's not a big deal; probably just shoddy workmanship.”

  “No such thing around here,” he replied in a growly rumble that both frightened me and—dare I say—turned me on a bit. Without a doubt, he was going to make a big fuss about it.

  “Well, I'm not bothered by it, so if you could please let it go, Ty?” I laid a hand on his forearm to try and refocus his attention away from Gerald and onto me. It worked, but I really wasn't prepared for the intensity of his gaze when he looked down at me.

  “I can't do that, little one. Someone is trying to sabotage you, and that goes against the rules. I need to report this to Lord Taipanus.” His brow was furrowed and his eyes fierce, but the hand he laid over mine was gentle and caring. The mention of the King's Snake caused me to suck in a deep breath of fear though.

  I shook my head firmly. “Don't,” I snapped. “The last thing I need is more attention. Besides, that surely wouldn't end well for you as combat instructor. If I hadn't been disadvantaged by a weighted weapon, I very well could have beaten you. Me, a lady aristocrat.” I almost choked over that last part, but I needed to maintain my disguise.

  He still scowled, but his heavy sigh told me he agreed with me. I used the opportunity to withdraw my hand from under his. Not because I really wanted to, but there were still a couple of ladies in the arena and it probably wasn't a good look to have me touching our tutor in such a way.

  “Fine,” he grudgingly agreed. “But I'm rearranging the fights for the test this afternoon. You'll be even more disadvantaged by the time your test comes around because the muscles of your arm will have hardened. I'll need to give you an easier opponent.”

  “No,” I argued. “You can't do that. I won't knowingly send someone to the bottom of the scorecards and then watch them poison themselves at dinner tonight. Even fatigued as I am, these girls barely stand a chance. Give me Lady Gracelin; at least it'll be a slightly fairer fight with her.” The brunette beauty had shown at least some degree of competency with her sword during our sparring session, and she had that gleam in her eye that said she'd do anything to win.

  Ty rubbed the back of his neck, watching the last of the girls leave the arena while he thought over what I'd said. Finally, when we were alone, he nodded.

  “Very well, if that's what you want. But in exchange, I want something from you.”

  I was unprepared for this to be a negotiation, so I squeaked a noise of shock when his huge hand took the wooden sword from mine and he strode across to the table to dump both of them.

  “Come on,” he prompted, taking my hand as he neared me again and tugging me along behind him. “We only have just over an hour, and you'll need to eat as well.”

  9

  “Wait, where are we going?” I demanded, hurrying to keep up with his long strides as we navigated hallways of the maze-like palace. I sounded outraged, but I was quietly burning with curiosity.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me and grinned. “Why? Worried your reputation might be sullied by being seen with a soldier?”

  “Should I?” I asked back, thinking about all the time I'd spent with Lee—a gardener—the day before. “I guess that is something ladies would worry about, isn't it?” This last part was mostly under my breath, but the bark of laughter from Ty made me acutely aware he'd heard me.

  “Riverdell really must be a different sort of city than Lakehaven,” he chuckled. “I'm taking you to get some of this amazing muscle rub that my friend makes. It'll help to keep your arms and legs from seizing up with acid. Don't worry. I use it all the time, so I can vouch for how well it works.”

  It actually sounded like a great offer, so I quit arguing and let him lead me around the palace to an old stone structure covered in creeping ivy.

  “After you, m'lady,” Ty instructed me as he held the heavy wooden door open, and I stepped through into the shadowy gloom. “It's brighter up at the other end,” he told me as the door swung shut behind us. His hand rested in the small of my back, and I made no attempt to move away from his touch as we wandered past furniture covered with dusty old sheets.

  “What is this place?” I asked in a hushed whisper, not wanting to disturb the peace of the building. It clearly hadn't been used in a long time, if the layers of dust and creeping plants along the insides of the walls were any hint.

  Ty gave a soft laugh, his thumb swirling circles beside my spine as he indicated I should go through the next doorway. “It used to be Queen Ophelia's garden retreat,” he informed me. “After she died, no one wanted to step foot in here. They all said it was haunted by her ghost.”

  “But not you?” I questioned, still looking around at the dust-covered paintings and lamps. I could see the area he was steering us toward at the end of the room, where the walls and ceiling gave way to murky glass and sunlight streamed in.

  “No, my friends and I found it to be kind of soothing in here, so it turned into a bit of a hang-out spot when we didn't want to be found by our, uh, superiors.” Ty gave me a small smile when
I glanced up at him, then nodded to the glassed-in section. “I have a pot of the muscle cream on the table down there.”

  We made our way past the dusty lounges until we reached the table in question, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone popped out from behind it.

  “What in the name of Zryn's hairy old balls? Lee?” I screeched, seeing who it was that had just scared several years off my life.

  “Calla!” he exclaimed, looking just as shocked as I was. “What, ah...” His wide-eyed gaze flickered to Ty and then back to me. “What are you doing here? With him?”

  Rolling my eyes, I placed a hand over my thundering heart. “I take it this is your friend who made the muscle cream?” I asked Ty, and he shrugged with a smirk. Judging by his lack of surprise, I gathered he’d already known Lee would be here.

  “That's right, you two have already met.” He grinned at both Lee and me, but it wasn't a malicious one. “Lee, I needed to grab some of that muscle relaxant cream you made for me. Calla here needs some.”

  “Don't call her that,” Lee muttered, ruffling a hand through his blonde hair. “That's my thing.”

  Smothering a laugh, I tried not to roll my eyes at their banter.

  “Whatever,” Ty snorted. “Sit your butt down, little one. We need to get this cream on fast before you stiffen up.”

  Grumbling under my breath about his choice of nickname for me, I perched on the edge of a motheaten velvet armchair.

  “Here.” Ty handed me a soft, woolen sweater that smelled like Lee. “Hold this over your chest if you're modest, but I need your shirt off to get at your biceps.”

  Modest, I was not. But Lady Callaluna surely was.

  “Can't you just give me the cream, and I can do it myself?” I protested, tugging at the end of my long braid. “This doesn't seem like a very ladylike thing to do.”

  Lee smirked at me when I said this, and I felt my cheeks heat slightly. “So, even in Riverdell this is pushing the lines of decency? Damn, I was hoping that it might be the last city left unchanged by this old-fashioned crap.”

  “Already planning a move there, huh?” Ty joked, and Lee shrugged. “Come on, Lo, we promise to be utter gentlemen and not ogle your goodies.” He waggled his eyebrows. “But time is ticking, and we need to get this cream on. It’s got to be massaged into the muscle, and unless you're also crazy flexible, I don't see how you'll manage that yourself.”

  “Lo?” I repeated, giving him a what the hell look as I wiggled out of my shirt and held Lee's sweater to my chest. It wasn't like I was naked underneath—and I could already feel the stiffness starting to set into my upper arm—so there was no sense in arguing further. In fact, I didn't even really need Lee's sweater, given I was wearing both a bra and a white tank top under my shirt, but it seemed like the ladylike thing to do.

  “Yeah, Lo.” Ty dragged over a footstool and sat in front of me. “Little One. LO. Seeing as Lee says I can’t call you Calla, and this sort of seems like we've passed the point of Lady Callaluna, don't you think?” He balanced the small pot of herbal-scented cream on the arm of the chair I was in and scooped out some onto his fingertips. “Arm,” he ordered, and I obliged, extending my right arm, which had taken the worst of the strain.

  “I think,” I replied, then paused to groan as his strong fingers massaged the cream into my muscles. “I think that if anyone found out I was making friends with my tutors while I'm supposed to be winning myself a husband, I'd be the next one drinking poison at dinner.”

  “Well, best that no one finds out then,” Lee murmured, perching on the edge of the table and watching us with his intense blue gaze.

  “No one finds out what?” a new voice asked, and I tensed.

  “Relax, Lo,” Ty murmured in a quiet rumble. “That's just Zan. Hey Zan! We have company.”

  “What? Who? And why are you—” The new addition abruptly cut off what he was saying as he entered my line of sight, and I gave a small finger wave. “Oh. Company.”

  “Hello,” I greeted him with a small smile. It was taking all my effort to maintain an even voice and not start shaking at the combination of these three men in such close confines with me. Not because I was scared—I could handle myself in that situation—but because they were all so damn attractive. “Zan, right? Ty said you're teaching tomorrow's class?”

  His gaze glued to me, the new guy just nodded silently, then turned his scowl to Lee. “Care to explain?”

  Lee shrugged and grinned. “Nothing to do with me; Ty brought her here.”

  “Ty?” Zan prompted, but the big man was focused on massaging my arm with strong soothing strokes, so he didn't bother to respond for a long time. Longer than what could be considered polite or comfortable, given they were speaking about me and not to me.

  “Other arm, Lo,” Ty rumbled and started rubbing the cream into my left arm despite it not having taken anywhere near the strain as my right. “I'll fill you in later, Zan. For now, use your manners and say hello to Lady Callaluna.”

  Wiping the scowl from his face, he turned to look at me once more. “I do apologize, Lady Callaluna; that was rude of me. I just wasn't expecting to find anyone in our sanctuary, let alone one of the ladies competing in the Royal Trials.”

  Flushing, I realized what he was saying. I'd invaded their secret space, and it was more than inappropriate for me to be there.

  “You're absolutely right,” I agreed, swatting Ty's hand off my skin so I could shrug my shirt back on. “I shouldn't be here. I wouldn't want any of you to get in trouble for showing favoritism or anything. Thank you for the cream, Ty, Lee, but I'll be going now.” Rushing now in my embarrassment, I didn't even bother re-buttoning my shirt as I scrambled out of the chair and hurried through the room. “Thanks again, bye!”

  Whatever they said in response was muffled when I closed the door firmly behind me, then rushed through to the main entrance. One thing was for damn sure—I needed to get my head in this stupid game and quit fawning over the sexy tutors.

  There was so much more at stake than just a marriage proposal. This was my life, and I didn't intend to make any stupid slipups thanks to silly-little-girl crushes on my teachers.

  10

  Upon returning to the combat arena, I did everything I could to avoid Ty's gaze. If I was going to make it through three weeks of trials alive, I needed to keep my wits about me. That meant shoving all memory of his strong fingers rubbing my sore arms firmly out of my mind. It definitely meant not eyeing him up and wondering what it'd be like to have all of that hard, manly body pressed up against me without the hinderance of clothing between us.

  Would he be a skilled kisser like Lee?

  Snap out of it, Rybet! I mentally chastised myself and shook my head to clear the all too realistic images from my mind.

  Our test for the afternoon was a series of one-on-one fights to display what we had learned in the morning session. Ty, along with an older man in a Royal Army uniform, would judge, scoring each match to rank everyone's skills. And choose tonight's poisoning victim, I guessed.

  “You'll be battling with metal weapons this time,” the older man, who’d introduced himself as Commander Hansel, announced to us. “Don't worry; they're all blunted so you need not fear for your lovely skin. They just pack a little more weight behind your blows to emulate a real fight.”

  He and Ty began handing out short swords to each lady, and when Ty reached me, he made a point of checking my blade all over—even running his thumb down the blunted edge—before handing it to me.

  I took my blade and moved to sit in the bleachers with the rest of the girls, giving it a few test swings on my way. It was lighter than my wooden practice sword, which was probably a good thing, despite how much Lee's cream had helped my aching arms.

  “Ladies, let's keep this clean and civil,” Commander Hansel instructed us. “Tutor Ty and I will score you on blows landed, with an automatic win if you disarm. If neither of you can disarm your opponent, we will stop the fight when the first
lady reaches five touches. Clear?”

  Everyone nodded and murmured their understanding, so the commander unrolled his parchment to announce the first pairing.

  I watched each match with focused intensity, if for no other reason than I was avoiding looking over at Ty, who spent just as much time staring at me as watching the combatants. The ladies had improved since we'd started our training in the morning—not by much, but at least they mostly held onto their weapons.

  Gracelin and I were announced around the halfway mark, and I pushed up from my seat, noticing how loose and pain free my arms were. I'd need to beg a pot of that cream from Lee before I went back to my real life.

  We each took our places in the arena in front of Ty and Commander Hansel, with the other girls watching from the bleachers. Our fight started out smoothly enough; I simply concentrated on defending her blows using the techniques we were supposed to have learned in the morning session. Whenever there was an easy opening, I scored a strike against her.

  When I reached four strikes, Gracelin was visibly fuming. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and the looks she gave me could have been enough to kill just on their own.

  “You know, it's a bad look if you win this match,” she hissed at me between erratic swings of her sword, “considering the preferential treatment you've been getting from Ty all day. Mostly during the lunch break.”

  Her accusation made me falter, and she landed her first blow. It was a harder-than-necessary smack to the thigh, and I winced at what felt like a sharp tip stinging my skin. It had to have been my imagination, though, as I'd seen Ty run his thumb down the edge to prove it was blunt. But he hadn’t handed Gracelin hers, the commander had.

  “I don't know what you're talking about,” I responded to her, circling out of the way to regain my balanced fighting stance.

  “Oh no?” she snarled back, quietly enough that no one else could have heard her. “I'm pretty sure that Ty would be executed if the royals found out he's seduced one of us. We're supposed to be off limits, you know? Untouched. Maybe they'd execute you both right there at the dinner table.” Her eyes sparkled with malice, and I instinctively glanced over at Ty.