The Royal Deal

Chapter 83

Alexcent tried to wake Amethyst at dawn the next morning. “Amethyst,” he said softly.

“Mm,” she mumbled.

“Wake up,” he said and nibbled at her lips, lightly.

“No,” she mumbled, “A little bit more of sleep.”

She snuggled into his arms and murmured something and fell asleep. Alexcent rose out of bed and stretched. He looked at her sleeping figure curled on the bed. It made him want to spend the day with her in bed. He shook his head and got dressed. He was going to walk out of the bedroom when he heard her voice.

“You should have woken me,” she said, as she yawned and got out of bed. Alexcent smirked.

*

Amethyst stood in the training area with Alexcent. He held a sword in his strong arms, his muscles taut. The sword was long and beautiful. She felt her nerves tingle. It was her first time seeing him with a sword. His eyes looked cold. He approached her and stood behind her.

“Let’s teach you to hold it first,” he said as he handed her the sword. “Lift it.”

“It seems so heavy,” she said as she tried to lift it with all her might.

“It will be alright,” he said.

It wasn’t alright. The sword was made for someone larger and burlier than her. She tried to lift it above her head and trembled with the weight. Her hands shook before the blade dropped to the ground.

“Can you swing it?” he asked. “Try.”

“You have never taught anyone else before, have you?” she asked, looking at him.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you are asking me to swing a sword that I can barely lift,” she said, “It’s obvious, isn’t it?’

“Why are you trying to learn sword fighting when you can barely lift one?” He smirked.

“Whose sword is this?” she asked.

“Mine, of course,” he said.

“Your sword?” she said, “So how in hell am I supposed to swing it? Have you seen yourself? You are thrice as large as me!”

“You aren’t a good student if you insult your teacher so much,” he said, jokingly.

“That’s because you are a bad teacher,” she retorted.

“It’s child’s play, Amethyst,” he said, grinning, “If you were in battle, you would already be dead without being able to lift a sword, much less swing it.”

“Is that so?” she asked, “I will show you.”

Amethyst clenched her teeth and lifted the word to swing it. “Be careful,” he said as he pretended to run.

“You asked for it!” she said, as she chased him. Eventually she got tired and stopped.

“Is that all you got?” he asked, chuckling.

“Don’t laugh,” she said, panting from all the running around.

“I won’t, sorry,” he said as he tried to hold his mirth.

Amethyst tried to Lift the sword again to swing it. She lifted it up high and stumbled. It was just too heavy. She almost fell because of its weight and Alexcent rushed over to her.

Alexcent grabbed Amethyst’s sword with one hand and her wrist with the other, “I said it’s dangerous.”

“You’re the one who told me to swing,” Amethyst shot back, “I’m just being a model student.”

“You always try to win,” he said sternly, staring down at her.

She stuck her tongue out. Alexcent couldn’t help but smile, his heart beating a little faster. Before he had time to think, his body reacted—he bent down to kiss her. The hand that had been holding the sword moved up to grab her chin, and the one that had been on her wrist snaked up to her neck to deepen the kiss.

Amethyst went rigid in surprise, but her heart fluttered.

His tongue ravished her mouth and lips thoroughly, only making her want more. The smell of her perfume hung heavy in the air. He didn’t know why she wanted to learn how to use a sword, but he had no desire to stop her. He wanted her to give up on her own and so had given her his own sword that, in the past, he had kept only for himself. Amethyst had been adorable from the start of the training to the finish. Alexcent had kissed her to suppress his emotions.

Hill, Buer and Leyrian stopped in their tracks when they saw the two lovers sharing a kiss.

“When did the training area become so flamboyant?” Leyrian said to the others.

“I guess since now.”

“Is that… Is that our Master’s sword?”

“I think it is.”

“That sword holds a soul stone…” Buer couldn’t finish his sentence.

And Amethyst had no wish to stop her training.

*

“This is the budget proposal for our annual festival and the upcoming hunting competition,” Alexcent said, “The budget for the former is the same as last year.”

“Sir, since you have just been married, might I suggest this year be a bit more festive?

“Do as you like,” Alexcent said half-heartedly.

“In that case, I will add an increase of 15% and add it to our supplementary budget. The hunting competition is that held by the royal family a few months later.”

“Since our mistress will participate, we have allocated more funds to it.”

“Don’t,” Alexcent said, “She won’t participate.”

“Sir, this is the first event our mistress will participate in after becoming Duchess. Her Majesty will not let this slide.”

“Remove it,” Alexcent said firmly. He’d been half listening to the proceedings of the budget meeting. It was only when Pone came rushing in that his attention piqued.

Before Alexcent could ask why he was here, Pone blurted out, “Madame has fallen from a horse!”