A Trial Of Emperors and Empresses

Chapter 16

Adam POV

Adam spent his days in the library, where he felt most at home. Fighting just wasn't for him. He wasn't Evangeline with her lifelong training with weapons. He wasn't Amaryllis, who could manipulate energy into whatever she saw fit. He wasn't Lauren, a former warrior in the army. And he most definitely wasn't Warden, with his quick reflexes and immersive strategies.

He was just Adam, or Mark, and his only weapons his books. His only companion, learning. He had the biggest vulnerability of them all, and would surely be the first to fall. He contemplated surrender, giving up before it even started. Because everything he had said in his speech was true. He could leave without Kansyria.

Please don't eliminate me, he had said. I don't mind losing, I expect it even. I need to tell my mother things I weren't able to before. I need to tell her how much I love her. I beg for your forgiveness, mom. And for the mercy of the crowd. There were no visitors before the Fight. Only after it. Even now, Adam knew what he was going to do. He was going to surrender, and he as going to go back home to Kansyria. He ached to see her, and her face was the only thing that kept him moving sometimes. The only reason he moved forward was with the though that he would see her again. Then he spotted her.

Amaryllis approached him, all smiles. "Mark," she began uncertainty. "can we go somewhere more private?"

Adam agreed w it a stiff nod, letting Amaryllis lead him up to her room. Amaryllis twisted her fingers together, making them  as tight as a woven basket.

"I am sure you've been wondering, why did I help you during the second Trial? Why did I help you during the third? Why did I stay with you at all?"

Adam nodded. Amaryllis took a deep breath.

"It's because I recognized something in you. I saw who you where, what you were. And I knew what I had to do."

Amaryllis looked him in the eye, daring him. "Adam, son of Arthur."

Amaryllis POV

Any other time, the look of genuine shock on Mark's face would send her rolling to the floor with laughter. But not now. This was serious.

"I knew. I saw it the moment I set my eyes in you." She continued, her voice barely a whisper. "And maybe... maybe because a part of me doesn't want harm done to you."

Mark, no Adam, looked at Amaryllis with blank amazement. Then he cleared his throat. "Yes. I am."
He confirmed, not meeting her gaze.

"I knew it." Amaryllis triumphed. Adam bit his lip. "Was that the only reason?" He asked.

Amaryllis but her own lip and shook her head. "No." She admitted.

Adam looked her up and down, fixing her with an intense stare. "Then why?" He pressed.

Amaryllis shook her head furiously, refusing to tell him. "I have my reasons. That I would like to keep to myself." She added hastily.

She because suddenly aware of Adam's pale blond hair that hung in loose curls. She became ware of the dimple on his right cheek, as he grinned hard at her. Then he took a step forward.

Instinctively, Amaryllis took a quick step backwards, almost knocking over a table. "Why Amaryllis?" Adam asked playfully.

Amaryllis bared her teeth and protectively out a hand on the sheath of her sword. She became tempted to draw it out.

Adam's voice sounded teasing now. "Why, Amara? Tell me."

Then, finally, Amaryllis gave in. "Because I like you." She managed to squeak out. Then Adam closed the space between them, lifting her up by the waist and bringing her into a brand new world.

Warden POV

"Still nothing?" Warden asked. The lady at the desk nodded in confirmation. "Nothing."

Warden growled, frustrated. He had scribbled down down replies for his family and yet none of them had responded yet. Sulking, he went back to his room.

He slumped down into the bed and tears started to fall down his face.

He cried for his family, who were suffering while he lived a life of luxury. While they got on with scraps, Warden feasted everyday on the best foods of the Empire. It made him feel sick sometimes, as he often was. He was not accustomed to the rich foods of the palace. His body wouldn't accept them.

Scowling, he made his way to the training centre to relive himself of some stress. When he got there, Evangeline was fighting a dummy, and absolutely wrecking it. Warden found himself unconsciously comparing himself to her.

Her face was clear and pale, unlike Warden's dirty and freckled one. She was an extremely talented fighter and skilled swordsman. And smith importantly, Warden was going to surrender while she wasn't.

Evangeline POV

Hell. That was one way to describe it. While she appeared strong and confident in the outside, on the inside she was slowly breaking.

Pieces of her were shattering and breaking of of her, and she was losing more than what was good.

During the day, she trained hard until her whole body ached and she couldn't train anymore.

At nights, she did everything to distract herself from the projections in her mind. The most prominent one of her mother, the one who kept reminding Evangeline that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be perfect.

And that was what she hated most about humans. About herself. They had limits. And Evangeline had lived her whole life trying to break those limits. Even now, she felt threatened. She became worried that she would win by everyone surrendering.

As if because she was handed it, and didn't take it, it made it be less valuable. And that was indeed how she felt. But maybe a part of it was fear that her mother w  ok do call her out if it happened like that. That Lady Mirrors would say that she was weak, not truly deserving of her title. Just like she always did.

Lauren POV

The world was small, was it not? Escape a danger, and it finds a way to come back to you. Lauren had thought that she was done with the palace, yet here she was.

All these people regarded her with a sort of respect. Like they did with Amaryllis or Evangeline, but unlike with Mark or Warden. But she was not Evangeline and Amaryllis. She wasn't Lady Amaryllis or Lady Evangeline, she was Sir Lauren.

Lauren sighed, tired as she slashed blankly and blindly at the dummy. With a jolt, she realized that she had cut right through its heart.

She tried not to let the stares and whispers bother her. But that didn't mean that it always worked. She heard people gossip about her, how she was a traitor and poor representative of the Royal Guard. Then she heard it. The fanfare.

The call was out. Attentions were turning. And the Fight was beginning.