Chapter Fifteen #3
Once that speech was over, Lulu was like a different person. She had become the Queen, in a way that no one had since Miss Chris. She all but glided through the grounds, greeting patrons with indulgent smiles and earnest yet regal compliments.
“Okay, this isn’t so bad,” she said under her breath as the day’s first chess match was about to get underway. She surveyed her domain with the calmness of a Queen, only the tight grip she kept on the cheat sheet betraying her nervousness.
Out on the field, Mitch and Simon circled each other, like they used to when they did their climactic fight in the chess match. But now they were pre-show entertainment, their fight nothing but words.
“You are no threat!” Simon slashed his sword in the air between them, the move dismissive. “You have been replaced. Found wanting.” He indicated Alex next to him, whose wide eyes said he would rather not be included in this conversation. I stifled a giggle.
“Does this look wanting to you?” Mitch hoisted his massive claymore over his head.
If it weren’t for the questionably disguised walking boot he would have looked really intimidating.
We were all suspending a lot of disbelief here.
I glanced over at Lulu, who was pressing her lips together hard to keep from laughing at her cousin.
“Not…not at all.” Alex held out his hands in a placating gesture, backing away slowly from the larger man. “I have much respect for you. And your sword. Also your biceps.”
“Bah!” Mitch glowered in his direction and Alex looked honestly terrified as he cast his eyes my way. How much of this was acting?
But Mitch wasn’t done. “I’m first cousin to the Queen, you know.” His broad Scottish accent was all rolled r’s and wide, long vowels. “There are many ways to disappear you from this land.”
“Oh my god,” Lulu muttered under her breath, and now I didn’t even bother to swallow my laugh. This was getting ridiculous. “Good sirs!” she called out. “If you are quite finished with your posturing and preening, I believe that we have a game of chess to play, do we not?”
The three men on the field turned to face her with varying degrees of shame; Mitch the least of them all.
Simon sketched an extravagant bow as he doffed his hat, its elaborate red feather brushing the ground.
“Your Majesty” was all he said, and when he straightened up, he flashed her a piratical smile, a twinkle in his eye that only seemed to be there on Faire weekends.
It made sense that a pirate would flirt with the Queen.
“I’m first cousin to the Queen, you know,” Mitch grumbled again to no one in particular as he took his place on the sidelines, and the chess match began.
Even if he couldn’t participate, it was nice to have Mitch back.
He made his presence known the whole time, scowling darkly and shouting threats across the field in his long-honed Scottish accent.
Some of those insults were creative; he must have spent some downtime googling Shakespearean epithets.
Alex looked rattled every time a specific insult was hurled his way; more than once he’d look over at me, all but begging for help with his eyes.
What was I supposed to do? I wasn’t even armed.
I shrugged as prettily as I could and stood back to watch the show I’d seen several times at this point.
Nothing was required of me during the chess match, so I could just settle back for a good ogle.
Alex paced in his square, in character but idle, as it wasn’t time for his fight yet.
I watched him fiddle with the hilt of his sword, and thought about the way those hands had felt skimming over my body.
Those same hands had touched me everywhere, and now he was just out there in front of everyone like I wasn’t thinking about him doing it again.
I had the best sex of my life with that guy, I wanted to tell the crowd.
I know the look on his face when he’s falling apart.
Just the thought of saying those words out loud brought a wide smile to my face that had nothing to do with what was going on out on the chess field.
I reminded myself to stay in character. Maintain decorum.
Back straight, hands softly folded in front of me, indulgent smile on my face.
Just another royal lady enjoying the show.
Definitely not thinking about what was under those breeches of his.
Before I knew it, it was Alex’s time to fight.
There was nothing furtive in the look he cast in my direction as he strode proudly to the center of the field, ready to cross swords with Simon.
I touched the rose in my hair, smiling broadly as Alex blew a kiss in my direction.
Even Mitch noticed; from his place at the sidelines his head swiveled from Alex to me and back again.
I bit down hard on my lower lip; that was going to be a fun conversation on the way home.
But it felt good. There wasn’t much that felt normal about a relationship born at a renaissance festival, especially a relationship that wasn’t meant to last longer than a few weeks. And maybe it didn’t need to feel normal. As long as it felt right.
—
A joust, a handfasting, and several meet and greets later, Lulu stopped short at a crossroads, Toby and I coming to a quick halt behind her. She looked left, then right, before turning back to us. “You know,” she said, “it would really help if I were allowed to carry a map.”
Toby coughed into his fist, hiding his smile, and it was apparently up to me to handle this. I took a step closer. “Character,” I reminded her in a murmur before stepping back with a practiced smile. “Your Majesty,” I said in my own character voice. “What is thy will?”
“Oh, shit. Right…” I could all but see Lulu collect herself, straightening in her costume, putting the persona back on. While she did so, I took a good look at her. Her cheeks were deep red from sun and heat. Sunburn?
“My will…” Lulu sounded tentative. A confused look came to her face as she swayed on her feet. Ah, shit. This wasn’t sunburn. No, she was overheating. Toby and I gave each other an alarmed glance and snapped into action. Our Queen wasn’t getting heatstroke on my watch.
We stepped up on either side of her, each taking an elbow. “Break time,” I murmured. Now wasn’t the time to worry about staying in character. “Let’s get you down to the Hollow.”
“Do Queens get breaks?” But she didn’t protest as we hustled her along the lanes, toward the food court and to the side path down the hill.
“They do now.” It took a lot to rattle Toby, so the concern in his voice made me walk even faster. It probably looked bizarre, two members of the Queen’s court all but dragging her around. But it would look even worse if the Queen keeled over in the middle of the lane. Or worse, during a show.