283 Claim Your Prize
At Castle Cordon
With Jayra’s wedding with Bartos having been concluded, life went on as every single one of the invitees went on their separate ways. Some stayed behind, of course, but Xenia couldn’t afford such luxuries. Instead, she promptly went home with Darius, her mind already going back to the trials that she still had to go through.
So here Xenia was, already hard at work in the training grounds as she went through the motions of what few spells she could remember. While Jayra was still busy with her new arrangements, it didn’t mean that she allowed her to go home without a few pointers to take home with her.
But just because she had notes didn’t mean that she understood them all that well.
“Seriously… Did you really have to write like this, Jayra?” Xenia grumbled as she gave her notes another passing glance. “Just practice, haha… Like that’s going to help…”
With a sigh, the princess tucked away the notes back into her pockets, having decided that she was better off just doing trial and error with how useful the notes had been for her. Granted, she knew that Jayra meant well with how detailed some of her scribblings were, but for someone that wasn’t as well versed in magic as she was, they might as well be gibberish without her friend’s assistance.
Firing off a few spells on her own, it didn’t take long before Xenia decided that she was done with spellcasting for the day. Sure, she felt like she still had a bit more in her to continue, but she might as well focus more on where she was best at, which was sword fighting and actual physical combat.
She went out to go to the private part of the training ground her mate arranged for her. Wordlessly, she drew her sword, her grip tightening as she went through her stances. With practiced ease, she went through the motions, her weapon becoming a part of her body as she let her instincts run free. Still, she knew it wouldn’t be enough for what was ahead, so she went ahead and picked up the pace.
“One… two… three…”
Counting out her imaginary strikes, Xenia fought against her own shadow, following her own movements as she tried to outpace her own attacks.
“Four… five… six…”
A flurry of strikes, her blade singing through the wind as her own breaths echoed from underneath her chest. There was strength to her every move, her strikes coming out of her with ease and swiftness. Still, despite her speed, she wanted to go faster.
With a deep breath, she went further beyond, her arms straining with every imaginary strike as her shadow kept apace. Her heart hammered with each beat, her senses working hard to make every attack count in terms of power and precision.
“Xen.”
She paused, her blade stopping in midair as she heard Darius address her. Turning around, she wiped the sweat off her brow before she smiled at him.
“My King,” she nodded. “Come to see me sweat?”
“Perhaps,” he scoffed, his eyes lingering on her form for a tad before going back up to meet hers. “I see that you’ve been hard at work.”
“I have to,” she shrugged, sheathing her sword as she caught her breath. “If the trials are going to be as bad as you all say, then I’ll need all the help I can get.”
“That, you do,” he hummed in agreement. “Still, perhaps you want to spar with something more substantial than your shadow?”
“Even with how busy you are?” she dubiously asked. “I’m pretty sure everyone’s running around in preparation for both the war and the trials.”
There were also preparations being made for the wedding, but that was something Xenia didn’t want to jinx for herself.
“I can spare a few minutes,” Darius smirked. “Either way, I can just say that I’ve been held up by rather important matters.”
“So I’m more important than the kingdom now, huh,” Xenia teased, her hand already going to the hilt of her sword. “I’m honored.”
“You are going to become Queen sooner or later,” he sagely nodded, his stance already going low on the ground as he prepared himself to strike. “If anything, you should be preparing yourself to lead by example.”
Xenia shook her head as she raised her sword. “You’re just jinxing me at this point. Don’t declare things that haven’t happened yet.”
“What can I say? I’m more than confident that you’ll pull through,” Darius chuckled. “You’re basically guaranteed to succeed. The only thing left for you to do is for you to claim your prize.”
Letting out a small laugh, Xenia didn’t let her amusement blind her from what her mate was planning to do. While unarmed, Darius was more than capable of blindsiding her into submission. And from there, he’ll probably disarm her and render her unable to fight.
“Ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she smirked.
A terse silence settled between them as they sized each other up. Seconds passed, and only by the beat of their hearts did they finally lunge at one another.
Xenia knew what she was doing this time, her time with Darius giving her some clues as to how to deal with the man should he try to fight her. Using her smaller size to her advantage, she deftly avoided the punch that Darius aimed right at her.
“There!”
Seeing a blindspot, she aimed her sword at his midsection, a smirk forming on her lips as her victory was all but assured.
Still, that didn’t mean that Darius was unprepared.
“That’s a no, my love.”
“Wha-“
Before she knew what happened, Xenia found her feet flying firmly off the ground as Darius decked her with his other fist. Her back landed on the ground with a thud, his feet planted firmly on her stomach as she had no choice but to admit defeat.
“Again, you’re overconfident,” Darius pointed out. “Don’t go for obvious faints, especially if you know your opponent is stronger than you.”
“I know that already,” Xenia scoffed. “Anyway, can you get your foot off me?”
With a chuckle, Darius helped her up, holding her by the hand as she stood up from her prior defeat.
“I still have a long way to go, huh,” she chuckled.
“Indeed,” Darius hummed. “Again?”
Xenia laughed, her blade already drawn as she faced him. “Again!”