Promise Me

Prologue

"You can swing at me, you know. You are not about to hit me."

"Don't tempt me," Gabriella grunted as she sat up. Her sword lay on the ground beside her, her arms ached from the effort of wielding it, despite the fact that it was made especially for her. Not only that, but it was commissioned by the man now standing over her, looking more than a little smug as he folded his arms over a broad chest.

"So, why don't you?" Those thick arms unfolded and he held out a large hand with deceptively elegant fingers.

She lay her hand in his and let him draw her up. "I don't know. I suppose I fear hurting you."

He chuckled. "I think it would take more than what you could deliver to hurt me, Gabby. Come, let's try again."

"No. I'm sore and tired and my arms might very well fall off if I so much as think about swinging that blasted blade even one more time."

He moved to pick up the blade in question, then handed it to her. "I don't know when the next time I'll be able to spar with you will come, you know."

"Don't remind me, please." She took the sword from him, carefully slipped it back into its scabbard, then looked up at him, squinting as the sun sinking into the horizon behind him temporarily blinded her. She blinked the spots from her eyes and looked instead at him. Boromir, oldest son of Denethor II, Steward of Gondor, and her closest friend in all of Middle Earth. They'd grown up together, and in recent times he was away from Minas Tirith more often than he was there. But when he did come home, he made certain to come by the tavern and see her. And if he planned to be around for more than several days, he found the time to work in a sparring session with her.

Come the sunrise, he'd be leaving. Rivendell was his destination and he would not say why he'd been summoned there, which meant it couldn't possibly be good. War was coming. She knew it. They all knew it. For the last several weeks, men had been working almost round the clock to attempt to fortify the city, to evacuate as many of the women and children as they could.

"You're staring," he broke into her reverie, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"At you? Hardly," she snorted. "Why would I stare at you?"

A lie. Of course she stared at him. How could she not, when he was, quite simply, the handsomest man in all of Gondor? He was tall and broad of shoulder and chest, with hair the color of fresh honey and eyes the same green as a lush meadow after a spring rain. He was noble and proud and kind and strong.

And he saw her as nothing more than a friend. The sister he'd never had.

One dark gold brow rose ever so slightly. "Why, indeed." He glanced up at the thickening clouds. "Let me see you home before the rains come."

She nodded and they set off back toward the tavern not far from the inn. Her family ran said tavern, and lived above it and while her best friend Dora liked to tease her about someday marrying Boromir, Gabriella knew such a match was unlikely to happen. He showed little interest in any woman, and even less in the notion of marrying any time soon. Of course, the time would come when his father would decide it was absolutely time, and so would choose a suitable bride for his son.

And that bride would not be the daughter of the tavern keeper.

They made an odd pair as it was, but no one seemed troubled by it, and she valued his friendship above all else, so if friends was all they were to be, she would treasure it still.

"Do you truly have to go? It's grown so dangerous to travel beyond the city walls."

"We've talked about this, Gabby. And yes, I truly do have to go."