CHAMPION ── ALFIE SOLOMONS

prologue ━━ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴍᴀ.

1899

"Mama?"

Five-year-old Willa willed herself to open her eyes, determined to receive answers before she relented to sleep. She leaned up from where she was curled comfortably in her mother's lap in the rocking chair situated in the corner of her bedroom.  

Elsie hummed distractedly from over her shoulder where she was smoothly brushing the tangles from her daughter's blonde locks.

"Mama,"She pressed, fighting a yawn."mama, can I ask something?"

"What is it, dearest?"

Willa indulged in the rocking for a moment more before persisting with her curiosity.

"My books—"

"Your fairytales?"Elsie reminded tenderly, brushing aside a few tresses that were free from tangles.

"Fairytales. Mmm-hmm. They have what Mr. Berrow called me earlier when I saw him by the door—a princess."

She rubbed tiredly at her eyes with her small fist and glanced at her mother over her shoulder.

A yawn escaped as she finally asked her question."Am I a princess?"

Elsie stilled in her task for a few seconds. Willa picked up on a barely audible amused laugh before her mother resumed brushing.

"Not officially, no."

Brows knitting together, Willa's eyes clouded over indignantly. She straightened with brimming frustration.

"Then why did he say it? To be mean?"

Another laugh, low and reassuring, floated from over her shoulder. Willa squirmed in her mother's lap impatiently.

"No. He doesn't have the gall to be mean to you. But your father—be still, Willa."Elsie chastised her squirming daughter with a tut."I'm almost done."

Willa complied with a murmured apology. Elsie brushed through her hair once more as she mulled over her response.

"Right. Your father, he is the ruler of his men, yes?"

Memories of holding her father's hand tightly as he led her through his workplace flashed through her mind. 

Those memories were vivid in her mind because of the many heads that turned for her father, eyes following as he passed through with measured steps, his daughter hastening to keep up.

Because they work for me, don't they, little one? Willa recalled him telling her when she'd asked why they stopped and stared.

"Yes, he is."

She cast a grin over her shoulder at her mother who returned it proudly. Her grin stretched higher as her mother's response pieced together logically in her mind.

"Many rely on him for monetary reasons, for protection, and guidance."Elsie tucked a loose blonde lock behind her daughter's ear."And you are his little one, aren't you?"

Willa snapped her mouth shut when her mother, noticing that Willa was about to ask yet another question, gently touched her nose. It was an action that told her to listen, Willa, and you'll get your answers.

"So I suppose, in a way,"Elsie leaned back after setting aside the hairbrush. She opened her arms for Willa."you're not unlike the little ones in your fairytales."

Suddenly wishing bedtime occurred after her father's return home from work, Willa nestled into her mother's arms with a giggle that soon waned into a yawn.

Then, she clambered to sit upright when another question popped into her racing mind.

"So, if I am a princess—"She wriggled around in her mother's lap until Elsie complied and turned Willa around to face her."Does that mean I'm going to marry a prince?"

The rocking came to a slow standstill, Elsie's gentle expression gradually altering into something thoughtful. Silence hung between them as Willa waited for her mother's response for a second time.

"In a world like ours, Willa,"

She breathed her daughter's name around a doting smile, fingertip crooking under her chin to keep Willa's attention. Willa, despite her heavy, glazed eyes, gazed up at her mother with unreserved reverence.

"It is not a prince we should look for, for they are blinded by hope, arrogance, lack of foresight, and proper judgement. Such things will get them nowhere in life and, if you follow them,"Elsie shook her head with careful consideration."neither will you."

Willa undertook her mother's counsel with a wordless promise to adhere to them. She was aware that she couldn't completely comprehend the wisdom behind her mother's words at the age she was.

But she would. One day, she would.

With that thought in mind and, because she knew her mother would never say things simply for the sake of it, Willa listened closely. She was determined to keep them in mind for when she could grasp them thoroughly.

"You, as I did, should pursue a man with a firestorm in his eyes, calloused fingers, and wily mind."

The words rolled off Elise's tongue in a drawl though Willa could detect a stern, underlying emphasis on certain words.

"A champion, if you will. Like in those stories you like me to read to you."

Willa beamed with wide eyes."You mean a king?"

A quiet laugh fell from her mother's lips, earning her a furrowed brow from her daughter who was, once again, confused.

"No, dearest."

Willa pinched her lips as disappointment filled her eyes. Mumbling soothingly, Elsie leaned forward so her forehead touched Willa's. The smile she gave was, as it ever was, loving and honest and devout.

"You will do better."

Willa nodded once, nuzzling close to her mother."Like you did?"

Reading the child-like uncertainty in her daughter's eyes, Elsie pursed her lips as she sifted through her thoughts, absently twirling a blonde tress the belonged to Willa around her pointer finger. 

It wound and wound until Elsie let it uncoil and tucked it behind her daughter's ear.

"A champion earns his title through blood, will,"Her fingers tapped once against her temple."and sense."

Eyes darting around as realization dawned on her face, as the words immediately became associated with her father, Willa nodded in agreement with herself.

Her eyes flooded with light again."Like daddy?"

"Like daddy."Elsie recited with a praiseful nod."The title king, along with the crown, is something that is handed to spoilt boys. When you are grown and have your pick of suitors, you must remember that you are too worthy,"

Elsie's features softened when she cupped Willa's face in her hands."too glorious for the likes of silly boys whose boots are too big for breeches. You must look for a man—listen to mama."

Elsie offered a reassuring, steady smile that, for some reason, made her seem all-knowing, and she gathered her daughter in her arms.

"Willa..."

She breathed her name in a tone that Willa was well acquainted with. It was the tone her mother used whenever she wanted instructions or rules repeated and duly noted.

I will mind my manners, I will wash my hands before dinner, I will not play in the mud in my best shoes, and I will not hide where mummy and daddy cannot find me.

"...with a firestorm in his eyes, calloused fingers, and wily mind."Willa dutifully echoed with a sharp nod, heavy-eyed and drowsy."A champion. I promise, mama."

Elsie's smile blossomed and she held her yawning closer as she began to rock them back and forth again, humming soothingly low in her throat. Willa let herself be guided, pillowing her cheek on her mother's shoulder.

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