TBATE - What if Tessia was the legacy ? - The legacy of it all

Planning 4 steps ahead

-Touché, coulé." Said Art in a weird accent as I glared at him with growing frustration as I felt my eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

-You're cheating." I hissed at him as I squinted my eyes to look straight at him.

-Well, unless you are trying to argue that the study of human psychologie can be used as a way to read people's minds, I'd say that I won fair and square." He answered with a smirk as he put away the small figurines he had placed on his side of the board.

-You're winning because you're challenging me at games I never played before, and which you seem to have studied far too much." I answered as I leaned toward him with eyes full of suspicion and frustration.

-Beyond the rules, I know much about them, I didn't learn any of the specific tactics, that'd be far too slow." He answered nonchalantly as he turned the board around and started collecting my pieces to put them back in the bag.

-What did you do then, mister genius?" I asked with heavy sarcasm as I got even closer, my head only being a few centimeters away from his.

-Human psychology." He repeated as he tapped his head with his finger while still wearing that smug expression.

-I'm an elf." I hissed back.

-Close enough." He shrugged before closing the folding board we had put together for this game of battleship. "So, want to play anything else princess?" He asked with a smirk as he gestured around.

Sitting back down on my seat I glanced around the large playroom we were in and which had seen many hundreds of games, arguments, laughs, moments of incredible tension in the past year.
Although some of those games were traditional elven games, most came from Arthur and his seemingly endless list of board and card games which I, or anyone else in the palace had ever heared of before. This did mean that Art had to teach me the rules every time he introduced a new game, but most had very simple rules, almost as if they had been designed to be played by childrens, so it didn't take long to understand them.

Narrowing my eyes on the bookshelf where most of the boards and pieces we had been using, and which we had made ourselves using a combination of my plant magic, Art's earth magic and a quite a faire amount of recycled scraps we borrowed from around the castle, my eyes landed on a very particular square shaped board.

-Let's play chess." I said with a fire in my eyes as I looked back at him.

-Didn't you say that you would never, ever play chess again after I beat you without a queen last time?" He asked with a devilish smile that infuriated me, especially after reminding him of what happened.

-Because withheld information from me!" I shouted back after smacking the table.

-Well, I had already explained all the rules and we had seen those in action. Realy, it's your fault for not seeing the line." He answered while rolling his eyes and using a very nasal tone that made my blood boil.
-You'll see who the last one to laugh will be." I answered with a menacing tone as I stepped off my chair and walked to grab the board and piece. "I won't lose this time!" I shouted back as I threw the box at him, only for Art to effortlessly catch it before gently placing it down.

Getting back to my place, we placed down the pieces on the board and, after a long standoff where we glared at each other with all the malicious intent we could muster, I graciously let Art take the white pieces.

-Your arrogance will lead to your demise, princess." He answered after a slight chuckle with a devilish smirk as I really wondered which one of us was the most arrogant before seeing him place his king's pawn two spaces forward.

-Always the same first move." I pointed out with a mix of disappointment and mockery as I moved my own king's pawn two spaces forward to meet his.