Chapter 7
“Get up!” Glade reprimanded me as I stumbled into the mud, my knees sinking into the gushing muck.
Laughter erupted from a group of teenage boys nearby, their taunts cutting bitterly through the air, revelling in my humiliation. They were also engaging in combat training in the muddy pit, their sneers making it painfully clear that I didn’t belong there.
In fact, as I surveyed the filthy octangular courtyard, a sickening realization settled over me: no women or girls were present in the preparation for war.
Surely, a world as advanced as Ornath couldn’t still cling to the same archaic mindsets as Earth.
Was misogyny and the patriarchy truly a universal plague?
“Glade, where are all the girls?” I spat mud onto the ground as I ignored the snickers of the nearest teen. The gritty, foul taste lingered on my tongue as my aching knees protested my attempts to stand.
“What?” Glade’s brow furrowed in confusion as he picked earwax from his ear.
He pivoted toward the group of young men and placed two dirty fingers in his mouth, whistling sharply, snapping their attention to him.
Several boys flinched at the sound; others looked outright frightened.
“Oi! Children! Shut the fuck up! I can’t hear the lady speak! ”
With their heads hanging low, the lingering young men awkwardly shuffled to the other side of the pit, obeying the orders of their prince.
Though part of me felt impressed, when Glade’s attention returned to me, I spluttered, “The girls! Where are the girls? Why aren’t any women training? Where are they?”
Glade scanned the courtyard, his eyes bouncing over the gathered horde. With a casual, unconcerned shrug, he muttered, “I don’t know, probably cradling babies or something.” He tossed the wooden sword back to me—the very weapon I had attempted to wield for the past forty minutes.
I caught the sword with one hand, but its weight surprised me once again. It felt heavier than I had ever imagined, even after reading all those fantasy books.
“Cradling babies?” I scoffed, incredulously clenching my other fist so tight that it almost hurt. “Wouldn’t it be crucial to teach everyone how to defend themselves? What if the Tenebrae attacked Ornath? Wouldn’t you want as many people to be able to fight as possible?”
I positioned myself in the fighting stance Glade had taught me.
He, unbelievably, shrugged again, his apathy infuriating me to my core. “Probably, but I don’t make the rules, Jane. I just follow them…sometimes.” He winked, a half-smirk dancing on his lips as he effortlessly contorted his body into a flawless combat posture.
Before I could even react, Glade lunged, using his wooden sword to “stab” me in the stomach. Pain radiated from the impact as a bruise the size of a plum began to form.
Hunched over, cradling my abdomen with the only breath I could muster, I shot back, “So you’re just a little follower, then?”
The jab hit its mark, and I saw his expression darken as the playful glisten faded from his eyes.
“Up,” he ordered with his blade pointed mere inches from my face. “If this were actual combat, you’d be dead by now. Like, really dead.”
“Do you think it’s right, Glade? To exclude the girls? Doesn’t that seem a little…unjust?” I asked, each word accentuated by laboured breaths, my bones shaking beneath my muscles from both exhaustion and disappointment.
Glade dropped his wooden sword to his side as he took a moment to gather his thoughts.
Though, he reluctantly shared, “No, of course I don’t think it’s right.
It’s foolish, really. More swords in hands mean more soldiers in battle.
But I’m not in a position to change anything here in Britavon, Princess.
If I were, I wouldn’t be stuck babysitting you.
Now switch to offence and try to attack me. ”
I glared at him, my eyes shooting daggers as anger boiled beneath the surface of my skin. “I am not a princess,” I snapped, the calmness of my voice betraying the storm brewing inside me.
“You’re about to wed Jion within two months. What do you think that makes you?” he countered, scratching his chin with a knowing smirk.
Oh my God, I had never even considered what marrying Jion would make me. After everything I had learned this morning about the universe and Amantius, the word “princess” seemed utterly ridiculous. A princess of a planet I never knew existed? It felt like a cruel joke.
I was still grappling with my plan regarding my betrothal.
I had two options. Option one: stay and marry Jion, hoping my sacrifice could bring peace among the cosmos and fulfill a prophecy I didn’t even believe in.
Option two: run. But how? I was unarmed and defenceless against these people, trapped on a planet with no means of escape.
Besides, no one here would trust or help me…
not when they were all obsessed with this prophecy nonsense.
“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” I shrugged, feigning a disinterested smirk as I strolled around him. Then, with a burst of defiance, I tried to sneakily jab Glade from the side.
In an instant, he was on me. With one swift movement, he swept beneath my calves with his wooden sword, lifting me off my feet. My legs flew through the air as I fell onto my back, splattering mud everywhere.
I winced in agony, whining, “Urgh.”
“You shouldn’t joke about that,” Glade warned, his jaw and mouth hardening into a grim, straight line.
“I know for a fact that the king will take drastic measures to ensure this marriage happens, even if it means locking you up in the dungeons.” He pointed his wooden sword at me again, his brows furrowing with seriousness.
“He’s a lovely man, isn’t he?” I quipped through gasps, my elbows sinking deeper into the muck below.
“You have no idea,” he mumbled under his breath, a snicker escaping his lips.
“Now, stand up. The problem is your coordination. You’re fast and surprisingly strong for a petite woman.
” He scrutinized me with a critical eye.
“If we work on your aim and precision, we might get somewhere…in, I don’t know, twenty years? ”
A wave of loathing surged through me.
“Are you prepared to train me for twenty years?” I asked sweetly, moving closer to his chest as I batted my eyelashes, feigning flirtation and charm.
Glade rolled his eyes, shoving me back a step with his palm. “I would rather be banished to Caelum than spend another minute with you.”
Just when I thought I too could play along, he reminded me how insufferable he could be.
“Are you kidding me, Glade? I didn’t ask to be kidnapped from my home!” I roared, each word rising with anger. “I was yanked from my life and dumped on this stupid fucking planet!”
The murmurs of the boys across the yard intensified, clearly shocked at my outburst. Speaking about Ornath this way was clearly taboo, but I was done holding back.
“Jane—” Glade raised his hands defensively in front of his chest, attempting to calm me, but his gesture only fuelled my fury.
“I didn’t ask to be uprooted from my entire existence and forced into a marriage with a complete stranger, all in the name of some ridiculous prophecy that isn’t even real!
” I flung the sword from my right hand. My finger jabbed into Glade’s chest as I leaned in.
“I’m so sorry you had to take time away from your lavish parties and all your royal fuckery to train a lowly Earthling like me!
I didn’t ask for any of this! I don’t want any of this! All I want is to go the fuck home!”
For some reason, my outburst struck a nerve in Glade, and he shot back just as heatedly, “Oh, is that all we do? Wine, dine, and fuck around all day and night? Wow, you’ve got us pegged, Jane!
Useless, conceited royals, right? It’s not like we’re trying to, I don’t know, save the universe or anything.
Oh, wait.” He paused, stroking his chin with exaggerated contemplation.
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.
But me? Nah, I’m stuck here training some useless Earthling in the basics of sword fighting while I’m literally an expert swordsman and the most highly trained warrior on this planet. What a fucking waste.”
With that, Glade hurled his wooden sword aside and stormed over to a wooden bench, kneading his fingers through his unkempt hair. He sat down with a hefty thud, yanked off his leather boots, and peeled the muddy shirt from his back.
My heart twisted with remorse for my callous words about his “lavish” lifestyle, yet my stubborn pride kept any apology trapped behind my teeth.
It took a moment for me to register that Glade sat hunched before me, elbows braced on his knees, half-naked. I tried to look away—tried—but irritation and fascination tangled together, rooting my gaze in place.
God, he was insufferable. And yet, undeniably captivating.
His body looked sculpted rather than grown, as though a God—or, er, Goddess—had taken her time chiseling every line of muscle to perfection.
Sun-kissed skin glistened with sweat; freckles scattered across him like constellations.
Coal-toned tattoos curled over his chest and biceps, swallowing beauty marks I found myself wishing he’d left untouched.
When he lifted his canteen, our eyes met.
My body jolted. Caught. Exposed.
Heat flooded my face. He had witnessed me gawking.
A crease formed between Glade’s brows, his expression torn between confusion and something far more dangerous as his gaze lingered, tracing me from head to toe before snapping back to my face. His spine stiffened.
Without a word, he turned and stormed off, leaving me alone in the courtyard’s muck.
Kaiyah was waiting patiently for me when I returned to my bedroom suite. She had already drawn a bath, the smell of lavender floating around the room like an infectious, comforting embrace.