Page 86 of Caroline the Cruel
But they were doing so well at their task, he hardly needed to lift a finger which was a sign you were doing your job properly. When the experts you brought in managed it and you didn’t need to do anything at all. That’s how he’d found himself fingering the leather wraps on the handle of two short swords, staring down Angus in the training yard. It was a fine line to walk with Caroline and her dares.
“You sure you want to do this?” Angus asked, not even trying to hide the arrogant edge to his voice.
“I’m fully confident you’ll be no match for me.” He was terrified.
Angus huffed, like he sensed the thoughts swirling inside his mind. “Caroline put you up to this, didn’t she?” It was a growl and Jaden swallowed the lump of tension knotting itself in his throat.
Breicher and Hollis could beat him, even on a bad day. Some of his cousins too, but he’d yet to come across someone outside the family who he thought might challenge him. He leaned his sword against his thigh as he wiped the sweat from his palms on the back of his pants. Gods, it was sweltering here.
As soon as he’d picked up his short swords, Angus charged.
Jaden brought the weapons up in a block, arms straining as Angus’s blow landed. His eyes widened as a thought struck him. “You’re trying to scare me off.” Angus grimaced. Oh, that pissed him off. To think this man thought so little of him that a few hard swings of a sword would intimidate him. Did Angus not realize he grew up fighting men much more skilled than him?
Jaden ducked another blow, using his lighter form to nimbly spin under Angus’s outstretched arm and deliver an elbow so hard to his side, the other man stumbled a few steps. He’d thrown him enough off balance that when he darted past, then twisted, jutting the shorter sword forward, Angus was barely able to get up a defense in time.
But he did, and the forearm to his chest sent him tumbling into the dirt. A second later, Angus’s knee was in his gut and a knife he’d pulled from some hidden pocket at his throat. “Yield,” Angus demanded.
Oh Gods.Angus was like some type of amber skinned angel hero. He blinked a few times, taking in the halo the sun had formed around his head, blocking anything beyond from his vision. That strong jaw, those supple lips, the hulking body pinning him to the ground was something else entirely. Jaden’s heart lurched as a grin crawled across his face. “Never.”
With a quick roll and a swipe of his legs, he had Angus on his ass, disarmed, and nailed to the ground. As Angus thrashed, throwing his weight around underneath him, Jaden employed his grappling techniques. That was one thing he excelled at. The men in his family might have had more physical power, but the wrestling technique common in Veetula took strategy. Within a few moves, he had the large man in an unbreakable hold. Unbreakable, he figured, for someone who knew nothing of the sport.
“I yield,” Angus ground out. Jaden, of course, following the sports rules, immediately released the man, backing away so he could get to his feet.
Oh, this was fun. A wide smile lit his face. Angus was pissed, and he was giddy. He eagerly leapt up, waiting for his opponent to retaliate.”Again,” he said, getting into position.
Instead, Angus dusted his shirt off and charged away from the practice ring, never once looking back at Jaden. Even as he rounded the corner, the commander’s shoulders stiffened.
Jaden tried to shrug it off, but the nagging sensation that had punched into his gut when Angus had turned his back wouldn’t quit. Not even as he waged his own war against the re-stuffed opponent.
“What happened to you?” Agnes asked, as Breicher stormed into her parlor.
Breicher looked rough. He hadn’t shaved in days, and when he and Jamison had sparred that morning, he’d been so distracted from the news he’d received, he’d slipped up and let a few of his cousin’s punches through his defenses. Chuckling to himself, he thought of the few that had made it through his cousins in return. Partially because he needed somewhere to funnel his aggression and partially for the role Jamison had played in the scene in Avondale he’d been a part of.
But they were family, and after a few sessions in the ring, he forgave him. He’d do the same with Hollis, eventually, assuming Caroline took him back and didn’t kill Hollis along the way.
Breicher flung the envelope on the table his sister-in-law was sitting at, sipping tea. She picked it up and turned it in her hands, not needing to open it. “I see you found out,” she said. “What are you going to do?”
Slumping down into a chair across from her, he put his head in his hands.
“It’s been a year and Jaden said she won’t budge when it comes to me. She takes no notice of anything that I’ve done. I’ve written her dozens of letters—she hasn’t responded to one. I’m about ready to lay myself at her feet and let the consequences be damned.”
“Let’s not be dramatic,” Jaden said, slipping into the parlor right as the attendants came in with breakfast. Seating himself, he took out his napkin and placed it in his lap. “It’s so nice we can do this. Too bad a certain unraveling former king can’t spare any time to join us.”
“I fear your father is getting worse, Jaden. It would be best for you and your sister to prepare for the inevitable.” Agnes reached across and patted her son’s hand.
When the attendants had set breakfast and left the room, Breicher said, “And what would bethe inevitable?”
Agnes finished chewing the bite of sausage she’d plopped in her mouth. “She’s going to kill him, eventually. If she doesn’t do it because of his most recent scheme, I’ll be shocked.”
Jaden lurched back in his chair, drawing both their attention. “I guess we’re just going to let that happen?” When neither Agnes nor Breicher refuted, Jaden continued. “Mother, you no longer care if your husband lives or dies? Your children’s father?”
“Of course, I care, darling. But, I mean, I’ve hardly spent a moment with the man since…” she patted her pursed lips with the pad of her finger. “Oh, yes. The night I tried to spare our youngest child from living under the thumb of a tyrant.”
Both Breicher and Jaden stiffened.
“Seems I forgot I’m dining with two of her biggest fans. Lucky me.” Agnes flicked a winter berry across the table at Breicher.
Catching it in mid-air, he popped it into his mouth, then said, “Agnes,” his tone lowering in warning.
