His Girl

Chapter 13

I couldn't help but wince each time the jousting pole got rammed into an unsuspecting knight. Jackson had already qualified into tomorrow's sword fight but that didn't stop me from getting nervous for every man who entered the arena. The force in which the horses galloped combined with the impact of the wooden pole left me feeling flabbergast as to why no one had been killed. Audric spent the majority of the tournament laughing at my reactions, not that I meant to humour him but even when I tried to hide my horror he still laughed at me. Aside from the brutal fighting, which I couldn't see why so many people had turned up for, I got hundreds of death stares from surrounding ladies sat in boxes around the royal stand. They all were dressed up with huge jewels adorning their necks, to symbolise their wealth, power and beauty. I however thought they just looked spoilt and in some aspects almost trashy. This probably wasn't the best adjective but you could tell they were only wearing them to try and win the attention of hopefully Jackson but if that failed either another prince or a wealthy knight. Because of Jacksons previous display of affection they looked at me with distaste that mirrored Audric's previous conversation 'Jackson could do so much better than a plain girl who doesn't even have a diamond bracelet'. They either looked jealous or distastefully at me. It must be strange for them to see Jackson with someone who wasn't royalty, but then again it wasn't as if we were a couple, and I didn't expect we would ever be.

After a few more rounds a third of the contestants had been eliminated and returned defeated to their tents. The remaining currently victorious paraded around the arena as the spectators cheered them in congratulations. However their glory wouldn't last for long as tomorrow was the sword fight which, in my opinion, was even more terrifying. From my kingdom we never had an extremely strong army, that's half the reason why I'm stuck here, so I have never really experienced fighting like this. My kingdom was a long way from here, and a lot different in culture too. Audric stood up and applauded them and having been given death glares from the lady sat beside me I followed suit.

I was led out of the stands by a guard only to find Carsen waiting only a few metres away from the exit. His face gleamed with sweat and dirt yet he looked in pretty good shape compared to some of the other men. He grinned at me when he saw me. He approached me, I looked around nervously as to whether Jackson was anywhere near us. Luckily he wasn't so I smiled towards Carsen in return.
"Quite a show Jackson put on before." Carsen said laughing, I laughed along with him although I didn't find his joke funny.
"Yes I know." I replied
"Well he has always been the performer Jackson, always liked being the centre of attention." He said almost reminiscently as if he and Jackson went way back, but I didn't question him. I nodded and smiled falsely at him. "So what you up to tonight? I though maybe we could go somewhere."
"I don't know Carsen, I mean you know I don't think of you like that, we are friends right?"
"Yea sure, but it's just one night, go on give me a chance." He said when suddenly I felt an arm around my shoulder.
"She's busy tonight." I heard Jackson announce coldly.
"She didn't seem to think that way." Carsen replied clearly wanting to taunt Jackson even more.
"Well she clearly forgot that I had other plans for her."
"Maybe she doesn't want to go with you."
"And you think she wants to go with someone like you?"
"Maybe she would if you would let her make her own decisions."
"Maybe I don't want her spending time with someone like you." Jackson finished as the two of them grew increasingly closer, I felt Jackson tense beside me.
"'She' has a name. Why are you talking about me as if I'm not here, as if I can't make my own decisions. I don't need you, Jackson, telling me who I can and can't see. And Carsen, surely you should understand that I really just want us to be friends and nothing more." I cried in frustration, what was it with noble men and their belief in total control over women.
"See I told you she wouldn't choose you." Jackson smirked as he thought he was victorious. I was now very angry and pushed him away from me.
"Stop it Jackson! Just stop it, you don't own me you can't control what I do. It's not like I mean anything to you, your father made it pretty clear that he can never accept me if I was with you. And you know that, so don't even think for a moment that you have any say in what I do and who I see because at the end of the day you know that I will never mean that much to you." And with that I stormed off, tears in my eyes. In truth I didn't really know why I was crying as for the entire time that Jackson and I had flirted I always saw myself as just being his current fling, although I never wanted to admit it to myself. Audric's words had only confirmed it and the fact that Jackson was preventing me from doing things made me so angry because he would never see me as anything but his 'mistress' and if that was the case why was he so protective over me.