Chapter 29 Kieran
Kieran
“Blackwell, you’re incorrigible!” Gabe shouts as I parry another strike, my training sword landing squarely against his chest. “What has gotten into you?”
Since the first day we fenced together, I’ve made a habit of joining Gabe as often as my schedule allows. He’s also continued to use my new identity—at least in the presence of others.
“The damned Ashcroft women!” I blurt out. I shouldn’t reveal that much, but Gabriel was once my closest friend and confidant. Why shouldn’t he know how maddening those two are?
“Ah, you spent the morning with the crown princess and queen, I assume?”
He strikes again, but I block his sword and push him toward the edge of the room, landing another blow.
“Enough!” he calls, letting his weapon drop. “You’ll have me resembling tenderized meat before long!”
He walks to the water pitcher, pouring us both glasses. I wipe the sweat from my brow and join him, handing my sword off to a waiting servant.
“I’m leaving,” I say. “You should know that despite my best efforts, I’m no match for your sister.”
Gabe smiles, pushing back his dark red locks. “Good. You never were a match for her anyway. You’ve always underestimated her stubbornness.”
I shrug. “I won’t be part of her ruining this country. If she’s so willing to follow in Queen Penelope’s path, then there’s no point in me returning.”
Gabe gives me a quizzical look. “This is about business—not your past?”
“Of course it is. Your sister is just as unwilling to prioritize helachite reform as your mother. She made that painfully clear this morning.”
Gabe shakes his head. “That’s a mistake.
I thought this was about your vow to ruin her or some nonsense.
Everyone sees your attempts at breaking her composure, but I knew that was impossible.
She’s determined to make this alliance with Prince Leland.
Once you stop that embarrassing display, I think she’ll be willing to work with you in a professional manner. ”
I growl, like a trapped animal on its last defense. I really do need to get out of here. The Ashcrofts are once again making me forget myself. “She isn’t. She said so herself—even asked me to abandon the project. She’s afraid to do the hard work.”
“You absolute ass! Have you even tried to have a professional conversation with her? Genny’s always been guarded—she was trained to be. But if you keep treating her like a lovesick teenager, I understand why she won’t tolerate you any longer.”
I shake my head. Gen and Leland are all wrong for each other, yet they’re both charging forward with a plan that will make them miserable.
Meanwhile, Gen is willing to let her mother keep making terrible decisions that harm the country.
I need to get out of here, if only to clear my head and stop letting Genevieve Ashcroft haunt my every waking thought.
“If she were willing to do the work, she’d try harder. ”
Just then, the door slams open and Prince Leland strides in with General Pryor. Leland’s face is tight, his expression angrier than I’ve ever seen it.
“Blackwell! There you are!”
“Leland.”
“Choose a sword. I want a match!” he shouts.
I walk toward the prince, already knowing the cause of his outburst. “Think that through. You know I’ll best you—and quickly.”
“You’ve lied to me in the most egregious manner! Every suggestion, every word of support for this arrangement has been nothing more than a ploy to gain access to Princess Genevieve—not to benefit me or my kingdom!”
He grabs a sword from the rack. It’s not a practice blade. Of course it isn’t. He lunges, and I reach for a weapon of my own. His attack is easy to block. Despite Gabe’s teasing, I am a skilled swordsman—far better than Leland.
“What are you on about?” I ask, though I know perfectly well.
He must have finally realized that Gen and I share a past. When I first supported him, it was from revenge, hoping to hurt Gen the way she hurt me.
But now, I don’t even want that. I just want her to be happy.
And I know that will never happen with Leland.
I block his strike with ease. Leland isn’t a fighter. He’s not one to lose his temper, and I’ve never seen him spend his leisure time practicing with a sword. Pistols, perhaps—any young Icelantican lord knows his way around a gun.
I push him back, hoping he’ll realize he’s outmatched and put the weapon down. Instead, he presses forward with a ferocity I’ve never seen in him.
“Don’t give me that shit! You’re her former lover—a fraud who’s been using me to get close to the princess. I won’t have it!”
He swings again, his blade grazing the fabric of my shoulder as I twist to counter.
“I won’t deny any of it.”
“Careful, Blackwell,” Gabe cautions, but I ignore him and take an offensive position. Leland isn’t fast enough; I knock the sword from his hand and bring the tip of my blade to his throat. A single drop of deep blue blood beads on his skin, and the prince sucks in a sharp breath.
“I’m finished with this,” he says, his voice placating.
Reason returns to his tone, though it’s edged with disdain.
Good. I deserve his disdain for what I’ve done to him.
It’s been wrong of me to carry on this pretense.
But I know, deep down, I’d do it again. “Have her or don’t.
I no longer want her, and she’s certainly not worth dying over.
But you—I trusted you. I saw you as a friend, and all this time you’ve been using me to what? Win her back? Hurt both of us?”
I let the sword drop to the ground, shaking my head. I’ve wanted revenge for so long. Now that I finally have it, it’s an empty victory.
Gabe and General Pryor rush toward us, but I shake off Gabe’s reach.
“You’re right, Leland. I never should have encouraged your match with the princess. I should have stayed out of it. She—she hurt me, and I thought I saw an opportunity to hurt her in return. I never should have involved you. It was wrong of me.”
Leland scoffs. “You’ve done an abysmal job of trying to hurt her. You haven’t been able to take your eyes off her since that first night. I’ve been in denial by not confronting you sooner.”
Gabe frowns, and Pryor looks ready to take up a pair of dueling pistols to finish me off properly, no swords necessary.
My voice catches as I think about Gen, about how helplessly drawn I am to her.
The truth is, some part of me will never stop loving her, even after everything that’s happened between us.
Even now, when she’s still fighting what we both know exists between us.
I don’t need to share all the tangled feelings my heart holds for Genevieve Ashcroft, but Leland deserves an explanation.
“Right again, Prince Leland. I was arrogant to think that what I once felt for Princess Genevieve was dead.”
Now it’s Gabe’s turn to scoff. “You could have returned to her at any point.”
I shake my head. “It’s not that easy. A part of me died in the mines. I couldn’t return to my former life, even if I wanted to. I am sincerely sorry, Prince Leland. I’ll be leaving in a few hours for my home in the north.”