His Girl

Chapter 12

I woke up feeling extremely groggy for I wasn't used to having such a late night as I did last night. Not only had I had only a few hours sleep but also I was woken up at the crack of dawn by three boys pulling my eyes open.
"Rise n' shine honey. Today is a big day for ya." Jimmy said smirking at my angry expression.
"Some fancy lady dropped this tent off for you last night." George said as he held up a dress, and laughed, clearly he didn't realise that this dress was nothing compared to those of which frivolous aristocratic women wore, they would be classified as marquees.
"Thank you for such a lovely awakening." I said rubbing my eyes with both tiredness and in pain as they had just been yanked open.
"Any time sweetheart." Tom winked at me playfully. Stepping out of my bed I saw that the boys had cleaned themselves up some what, in comparison to their usual misshaped appearance.
"The Prince told us to tell you that he wants to meet you in his tent, don't know why so don't ask." George announced ceremoniously, they all seemed to mock my relationship with the prince and took every chance to make fun of me because of it. Laughing I rolled my eyes and shooed them out of the door.
I quickly changed into my dress and fixed my hair before exiting the stable and finding myself being thrown into a huge crowd of people. I suddenly found myself being pushed and shoved around, bashed into people as they marched past. I had never been in such a huge mass of people before. I suddenly felt someone crash into me, sending me tumbling to the hard stone ground. The person whom pushed me over walked away, uninterested. Suddenly from out of the crowd appeared Cedric. Seeing me still on the floor since my back was killing from the impact, he knelt down and lifted me up.
"You okay down there?" He asked smiling. Cedric was wearing the colours of Lothelor with his family crest imprinted on the front. Beneath his clothes was his chain mail and across his front lay his belt which carried his glimmering sword.
"Some idiot pushed me over and I think I've done something to my back." I said wincing as I walked. Cedric looked concerned and held his arm out for support. I smiled at him in gratitude since my back was in agony and I needed all the support I could to get out of this crowd. The crowd almost seemed to part for Cedric and ,unlike me, he managed to get us out of their in no time. The crowd seemed to be in the main courtyard since the gates that opened into the tournament area were at the end of the courtyard. The guards standing at the gates smiled at Cedric and let him through.
In the centre of the usual training field lay an arena with seating stalls surrounding it. In the middle of the stalls was the royal seating area with was decorated extravagantly with gold and velvet, to signify Audric's wealth and power.
Dispersed around the arena lay a hundred or so different coloured tents each either representing a kingdom, a certain family or just a group of knights. Cedric led me through the racks of swords, helmets and other various types of weapons until we reached a huge tent with flags and banners stretching out of it. The tent was situated at the centre of all the others and was by far the most elaborate.
Inside the tent all the Knights of Lothelor sat gathered around a table and seemed to be in a meeting. Jackson stood at the head of it either giving some type of a speech, however we seemed to have arrived at the end of it
"Either kill or be killed my friends and I know none of use want to be the latter. Strike fear into the challengers hearts, for we will be victorious and we will succeed. Let the legacy of the Knights of Lothelor be passed down onto you. Make your king and country proud. To the Knights of Lothelor." Jackson cried as he tried to encourage his Knights. It seemed to have worked as the Knights stood up and cheered, ready to win, although I think they all knew who the winner would be. Despite Jackson talking about them dying we all knew he was being over dramatic as no one had ever been killed in the Triad for over a century, but you never know who your greatest enemy could be.
Having finished the speech, Jackson saw me from across the room and smiled at me. I walked over to him as he placed his sword into his belt.
"Quite the encourager aren't we?" I grinned.
"You have no idea what I could encourage you to do." He winked
"I'd like to see you try." I said crossing my arms challengingly
"Honey we all know my charm is irresistible, it really wouldn't even be a challenge to win you over."
"I love how modest you are Jackson."
"You love me now, I told you it wouldn't be hard. If I'm going to win I have to be confident in myself."
"There's confidence and then there's you."
"Just you wait Tania, you'll see once I have kicked ass, mainly King Carsen's."
"He's not that bad really."
"Tania I thought I said to stay away from him." He groaned
"You don't own me Jackson, I can talk to who I want."
"Just do what I say Tania, I don't want you to have anything to do with him. He's not only trying to mess with me but he only wants you because your bloody gorgeous okay?"
"He tried to kiss me before." I blurted out without even thinking, why Tania why! I guess I was just getting angry at him being overprotective and wanted to infuriate him. Looking at his face now I realised that that was the wrong decision.
"He WHAT?" Jackson cried.
"He tried to kiss me." I said again, trying to aggravate him even more, for reasons that still remain unknown to me.
"Did you kiss back?" He demanded.
"What if I did" I joked smiling, taunting him.
"This isn't funny Tania," he exclaimed his jaw tense because of his anger. I couldn't help but enjoy the look of an angry Jackson because he looked so handsome.
"No I didn't." I answered bluntly.
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch." He cried, suddenly realising my mistake I placed my hand on his chest.
"Jackson it really doesn't matter, I didn't kiss him and you know I never would. Just give it a rest Jackson. I think I embarrassed him so he won't try it again. Please calm down don't let him get into your head, that's what he wants you to do." Jackson almost seemed to soften under my touch however he still looked livid.
"Well he certainly has got what he wanted." He spat out
"I shouldn't have told you." I muttered looking down at my feet, if Jackson got injured now since he was so busy thinking of Carsen, I would never be able to forgive myself. Jackson sighed and looked intently into my eyes. "Please calm down your highness, you will get hurt if you continue with this mind set." I continued and wrapped my arms around him, I really was scared as an angry Jackson was an extremely dangerous one, he would end up doing something he would regret.
He relaxed and pulled me closer to him. I nestled my head on his shoulders, slightly confused with the sudden act of affection as I had no idea where we stood as friends or something more. He kissed the top of my head before pulling me away from him and looking into my eyes. I stared into his gorgeous blue eyes, what was I getting myself into?
"Please Tania, I don't want him to hurt you, just stay away from him alright. If he even tries something with you again I will make him regret ever setting foot in this castle." He said seriously. I nodded and smiled at him, I didn't mind Carsen but I sensed there was some background between Jackson and him which had caused this hatred.
"I've told my father that you are to sit in the royal stand. He didn't like it at first but I wanted you to be there to support me and to show you off." He said running his hand across my cheek winking at me.
"In that case I certainly am not sitting there. Jackson you should have got this into your arrogant head that I don't want you to be nice to me just because you think I'm attractive." I said getting annoyed by his comment.
"Tania, Tania, I like everything about you ,although your feisty attitude does piss me off at times." He joked. "Do it for me." He pleaded giving me the most adorable puppy eyes he could muster. I rolled my eyes, unable to ignore his handsome face.
"Okay but please don't do anything annoying." By annoying I meant showing me off in front of thousands of people, which was something I didn't put past his royal highness.
*

The fifty or so contestants gathered around in a semi circle, mounted on their horses and adorned in their glinting armour. I recognised a few of the Knights because of their family crests but the majority were men I had never seen before. To my right Audric sat, even though Jackson had said that he wasn't happy with me sitting in the stands specifically reserved for royalty he had told me that I was to sit next to him. I felt quite nervous about this as I wasn't sure whether Audric had forgiven me.
Suddenly the crowds cheered as a man in red and gold galloped in on the most elegant yet powerful horse I had ever seen. On the mans chest was the crest of Lothelor, I knew immediately that this was Jackson. The gorgeous black horse carried on galloping as the crowd cheered hysterically until it reached in front of the royal stand. I heard Audric chuckle beside me and I knew that Jackson hadn't stopped here to talk to his father.
The prince jumped off his horse rather spectacularly, and gained even more cheers from the spectators who had now gathered in their masses on the stands. He took off his helmet to reveal his hair tousled around his handsome face. I saw several ladies in the stand giggle amongst themselves as if they thought the prince was going to them.
I raised my eyebrows at Jackson, I knew he was only doing this to annoy me, as I predicted, and just to please the crowd, he was their future king after all. Jackson reached the front of the stall and Audric nudged me as if to indicate that I was to go and meet him. I got down from my chair and the whole arena fell into immediate silence.
Jackson smiled at me and winked before gesturing towards the piece of material that I had tied around my wrist earlier this morning. I didn't know what the material was for and was too small to go in my hair so I just tied it around my wrist. I frowned at him before untying it and handing to him. I must have read somewhere that this was etiquette, a lady always gave a knight a token before battle or a tournament. He smiled at me and pulled my face down to meet his, as I was slightly higher up on the stands. He planted his lips on mine much to the delight of the spectators, nothing goes better than love and war.
I whispered in his ear "Try not to get killed." He smirked at my comment.
"Don't worry I'll be back this evening" he replied suggestively, before I could utter a retort he had already swung himself back on his stallion and galloped off to join the rest of the contestants, earning yet another round of applause from the crowd, that boy clearly knew how to put on a good show.
Having sat back down Audric turned to me.
"I hope you understand what your getting yourself into." He said as the crowd jeered on the first challenge. I frowned at him.
"What do you mean your highness?"
"Jackson can never love you, your not of royal blood. He needs to marry for the better of the kingdom, someone who will contribute to Lothelor's wellfare. I won't be happy until he has married a princess of some type, preferably a crown princess but if that's not possible I'd settle for a wealthy one at that. You do realise that you are just his current girl, I've seen many before, he didn't make such a public display of them as he does with you but then again you are quite different to the type he usually goes for." Audric replied with no regard to my feelings as he told me that his son could do so much better than me. I guess he was right though, I'm labelled as his mistress, not as his future queen. Then again why would I want to marry him, Audric is probably doing me a favour.
"What do you mean, not his type?"
"My son usually goes for beautiful girls who fall at his feet in desperation to please him. You'll be good for him Tania, despite my previous repercussions about you I think your relationship will do Jackson good. You don't do what he orders you to do and you can hold your own ground, as I have witnessed firsthand. However you must understand that I can not permit your relationship to go any further than what it is now. You are a servant and he is the future king of the greatest Kingdom in the world."

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Sorry for the delay... How do you feel about Jackson, I have to say I am falling in love with him lol. Do you think Jackson is just playing with her or actually has feelings for her?Please leave your comments and don't forget to vote because it would mean the world to me.

Till next time my lovelies
Beatoria