The Silent Knight

-2-

"For our final battle, Maddox Knight and Matthias Lannister! Knights ready your swords! Fight!" I hear cheers as we come face to face with our swords.

We both lift our swords at the same time, hearing the clinging of metal drives me to make my first move. He swiftly collects himself as we begin to circle one another.

"You know, I hear you and the princess are pretty close." He begins as I lash forward a bit hearing him bring her up in terms of a battle strategy to mess with my head. He laughs at my movement.

"When I win, she'll be under my watch. My protection. And every time we fuck I will pity you. Pity you for not being what she needs in order to succeed as a Queen. Pity you for not being able to give her what I can." His words make me stop for just a split second.

With that, he uses this advantage to charge me. He uses his sword to swipe the left side of my face, knocking my helmet off and onto the ground. A unison of sharp breaths are released from the audience surrounding us two.

He swings his sword back and around, barely touching my face but still leaving a deep cut above my eyebrow. I wanted him to do this, make him feel as though he could win. What he doesn't know is that because I am a Knight, I know every houses weakness.

"You know, I hear the Lannisters have weak knees." I quickly move to the side as I stick my foot beneath his footing, causing him to fall on his knees.

I then take this opportunity to kick his back with full force, knocking him to the ground, his face covered in dirt.

"House Knight remains undefeated, Maddox Knight is the winner!" The king shouts as an uproar of applause spreads throughout the arena.

I slowly fall to my knees as I see Marisia walk over to me. I slowly bow my head and hold my sword up towards her with both of my hands. She takes it and taps my left shoulder with the pointy end of my sword.

"I Marisia Targaryen, make you Maddox Knight, my knight and protector as I continue my reign as a Queen under House Targaryen until I release you of your duties." She takes the sword off of my left shoulder and slowly moves it above my head and to the right. As she does this I take the chance to sneakily look up at her.

We make eye contact as I see her take a breath in. A smirk makes its way onto my lips and I raise an eyebrow when I see her nervousness under my gaze.

She coughs, making me quickly bow my head back down.

"You may stand." She states as I stand in front of her.

She looks at me with a furrowed eyebrow and bottom lip tucked in as she stands on her tip toes to lightly brush her index finger over the cut above my eyebrow. She then embraces me in a hug that I am taken aback by. Her arms latch around my neck as I hold her around the bottom of her back.

"Congratulations Maddox Knight." She whispers into my ear sending chills down my spine as she moves to part away from our closeness. I stare down at her and smile like I always have and she does the same.

The crowd cheers as I make my way to the infirmary to get my injuries cleared up before I begin my duties as a knight.

I undress and am only in my thin black night pants and a black band that covers my breasts but exposes the rest of my upper body as the doctors take a look at my injuries.

A girl of my age comes in and begins to examine the bruising around my stomach. She is attractive but she isn't my princess. Matthias was right about one thing in that arena. I can't give her what she needs in order succeed as queen. I can not give her a child. Society will never approve of us to begin with.

Without saying a word the girl looks up at me and I look down at her. She blushes and looks back down at my bruising.

"You put on quite a show from what I have heard." She says, keeping her eyes on the bruising. I keep my eyes on the girl as I consider what it would be like trying to love another woman. If I even could. We suddenly hear the door open and I keep my eyes on the girl attending my wounds.

"Your grace." The girl stands quickly and bows her head. My eyes don't move from the girl.

"You may leave, I can finish from here." Marisia's voice knocks me out of my trance and I look over at her as she is staring at me intently. The girl leaves quickly, shutting the door slowly behind her.

"Now I knew of the women fawning over you all over Kings Landing but even one of our maidens?" She says astonished. "How will I ever let you go anywhere alone?!" She playfully says as she walks slowly towards me.

She straddles my lap and takes the wet rag out of the bowl next to me. She attends the cut above my brow as I analyze every inch of her face as if I'm seeing it for the first time.

I take her hand with the rag and move it away from my face. She looks at me with a worried gaze as I place my thumb underneath her bottom lip, my hand holding the right side of her face. We stare into each others eyes, unable to break the comfortability amongst the love we share for one another.