31. Gabriel
GAbrIEL
“HAVE YOU LOST your mind? No.”
“What’s the problem?” Noah blinked innocently up at me like he hadn’t done something unforgivable on purpose. Please. I could see right through that scheming little head of his.
All around us people streamed in through the doors of the palace’s fencing salle, children and adults alike, to see what the first full day of the arts initiative launch would entail.
I’d thought I’d be in the crowd watching as well, maybe saying a few words in welcome, but this?
This was crossing the line and then some.
I jabbed my finger at the schedule again. “This is not happening.”
“Well, it’s already printed and everyone’s looking forward to it. Besides, you said you’d do whatever we needed, remember?”
“Uh, yeah, like smiling and charming donors out of their money, not doing a fencing exhibition against Alejandro.”
Noah pressed his lips together like he was trying not to smile. “Well, surprise. And look at that, you’re already dressed for it. How fortunate.”
I’d seriously underestimated my brother-in-law. Someone had brought up my fencing attire to my room earlier, and because I assumed it was for a photo opportunity with the students, I’d gone along with it.
Now I seriously regretted not asking questions, and more than that, not being involved in the details of the planning. There was no telling what else Noah and Violet had done, but I didn’t have time to pore over the schedule now, not when the event was due to start in mere minutes.
I could walk right out the door, dragging Noah behind me, and toss him in the fountain while Alejandro found another opponent.
But then everyone who had already arrived excited to see the match would leave disappointed, and that wasn’t going to inspire anyone to take part or to help raise money.
Shit. I was going to have to do this, wasn’t I?
“You’ll pay for this,” I growled as I slammed the schedule into Noah’s palm.
“Just think of all that pent-up aggression from the past few weeks and I have no doubt it’ll be an easy match for you.”
“You’re lucky Nicholas loves you.”
Noah smiled brightly. “I know.”
“You’re even luckier there are children present.”
“Why do you think I waited until now to tell you?”
He had me trapped and he knew it, but I didn’t have time to focus on that when I needed to pivot to what I was about to go and do.
“I hope you enjoyed being my favorite brother-in-law,” I muttered, turning on my heel.
But I was going from one bad interaction to the next, because at that moment Alejandro stepped inside the salle and my heart stuttered.
In fencing whites of his own and his hair down instead of tied back, he looked every bit like the ridiculous, unshaven, sword-wielding pirate prince who was hellbent on destroying me.
Damn him. Damn him and his handsome face and that slow smirk, the one that made me remember why I’d fallen so hard it had taken hitting rock bottom before I could crawl out of the hole his absence had caused.
I hated him. I missed him. I wanted to fucking hurt him the way he’d hurt me.
But more than that, I wanted him to look at me like he’d missed me too.
He started toward me, arrogance in every step he took. I needed to guard myself against this man, to give back what he was throwing my way, if I had any hope of coming out on top.
I glanced at the foil in his hand and kept my face as blank as I could manage. “Careful, Your Highness. If you keep arriving with weapons, people will think you and your kingdom are a threat.”
His dark eyes swept over me, slow enough to make my body heat beneath the layers I wore.
He was too close, intruding on my personal space, but I didn’t step away.
Couldn’t. Not when his cologne invaded my next breath, the scent instantly taking me back to warm nights and hotter days, when I would smell Alejandro on my skin until I reluctantly had to wash him off.
My gaze dropped from his hypnotic eyes to his mouth, and just as he was about to no doubt tell me what a threat he truly was—like I didn’t already know—Elena and Noah stepped in between us out of nowhere and quickly ushered us separately into the main hall.
Wanting to save all the animosity for the match, of course.
The room had been arranged with a regulation piste down the center, slightly raised so the spectators could see. The bleachers were filled with students, donors, representatives from both countries, and, unfortunately, our families.
Alejandro’s parents sat beside Nicholas, with an empty seat on his other side for the weasel currently escorting me.
Great. They had a front-row view of the impending disaster.
There was no way either me or the sexy pirate would get out of this unscathed, and that was all Noah’s fault.
Not my own, obviously. I couldn’t be held accountable for my actions.
As I put on my gloves and shoved my mesh mask under my arm, I heard the announcer begin introductions to the fencing portion of the program, which would start with our exhibition before moving on to youth competition matches.
You hate him. Remember that. Use it.
I chose a foil from the rack and turned around to face the audience until we were introduced. The moment we both stepped onto the strip, the applause echoed off the walls, the crowd’s enthusiasm contagious. I felt their energy, took it in, gave them all a big smile that said, Enjoy the show.
Then I turned toward Alejandro and saluted him, then the referee, and then the audience, the formal motions so ingrained I could’ve done them in my sleep.
I lowered my mask over my face, and across from me Alejandro did the same.
“You know, the last time we did this, I won,” I said.
“That’s because I wasn’t trying.”
“No,” I said, bracing my feet. “It was because you were busy trying not to want me.”
“En garde!” Alejandro barked with a quick salute.
Uh oh, seemed he was a little testy this morning. That boded well for this match. But I didn’t have long to think about that, not when the referee signaled and the first bout began.
I immediately went on the attack, testing the waters to see where Alejandro’s mind was, and just as I suspected, he easily parried back.
Touch.
There was no smile, no smartass comment, just an immediate reset and we were at it again.
Okay, so I wasn’t the only one ready to use this match as a way to relieve the built-up tension between us.
He barely took a beat before he called, “En garde,” and went on the attack, aggressively coming at me, driving me backward.
I met him move for move, blocking each attempt, noting the elegant, graceful style I’d observed in Solterra long gone. His moves here were aggressive, purposeful, and designed to kick my ass.
Alejandro was anticipating my every move, advancing on me with a forward lunge I somehow managed to counter before he moved right into a hard beat attack.
“Someone didn’t sleep well last night,” I taunted him, my breathing coming hard as he relentlessly drove me backward across the piste. “Too busy dreaming about me, huh?”
Alejandro growled, lunged, and then—
Touch.
Okay, that was it. I was done trying to be cordial, done trying not to kill the pigheaded ass in front of our guests, press, and the whole world. If he wanted to go at it, I was more than ready to lay him out flat.
The second we were back in position I was the one to call the bout, and I was done playing. Use my aggression, wasn’t that what Noah had said?
Fine by me.
I went on the attack hard, lunging forward for a strike, but Alejandro was already onto me, anticipating the move. He parried and delivered a riposte, but I was right there with a disengage, taking back the other hand to deliver my first touch.
And apparently that was enough to make Alejandro see red.
As I reached the starting line, I turned to get into position, bracing myself for what I figured would be Alejandro spitting out, “En garde.” But instead he was shoving off his mask and storming in my direction.
Jesus, he was sexy, even pissed off and sweaty, and I hated that I noticed that as he came closer.
His hair was plastered to the sides of his face, his cheeks were flushed red, and his eyes were dark as midnight.
He was fuming mad, that was easy enough to see, and I shoved my own mask off, ready to go face to face with the infuriating man.
“What the hell was that?” Alejandro demanded as he threw his mask down.
“My point,” I said.
“You were going too hard. This is supposed to be a friendly match,” he fumed, his chest heaving as he glared at me.
“Come on, kitten,” I said. “You know you want to be more than friends.”
A low, feral sound rumbled out of him, and just when I thought I’d pushed too far, that he might just punch me in the face, he lunged. Alejandro grabbed the back of my neck and hauled me in, slamming our mouths together in a brutal kiss.
My body reacted first, immediately remembering the feel and taste of Alejandro as he shoved his tongue between my lips and swept every inch of my mouth.
I dropped my sword and mask and grabbed hold of Alejandro’s face to deepen the kiss, starved for him, my heart racing as though I’d just taken a hit of a drug I’d desperately been trying to kick.
Then I began to register other things over the sound of the blood ringing in my head. Things that didn’t make any sense, like, cheering, applause, and then our names…over a loudspeaker.
Alejandro was the first to react, shoving away from me and looking around to where—oh yeah—today’s spectators were all on their feet clapping and cheering.
Cameras flashed and the center erupted in a kind of celebratory chaos my brain couldn’t comprehend.
Then Alejandro turned to me, his eyes full of an emotion I couldn’t quite make out.
The anger from moments ago had been replaced with shock and confusion, and before I could think of anything to say, he dropped his foil and turned on his heel to storm out of the event.
Leaving me standing there with hundreds of people, as well as the press, wondering what the hell just happened.