The Labyrinth Heiress

Chapter 4

Andreas~

The clang of metal against metal is music to my ears. Lunging to attack, advancing on one's opponent, and attacking with the flick of the wrist. Its melodic dance soothes me, calms my thoughts, and slows my heartbeat regardless of its intensive nature. It also helps that sparing with Rory is always entertaining.

"Are you going to attack or what, Andy?" He taunts me. We both circle each other around the dirt arena, our swords raised. His smirk remains on his face as we complete a full circle around each other. A soft smile spreads across my face as I lunge towards him. He attempts to parry my attack but comes up short, my blade nicking his throat.

"Lords—Andreas, I thought we agreed to no contact!" he barks, lowering his sword to touch the wound.

"And I thought you could see that coming from a mile away?" I grin, my tone laced with amusement as I set my own down. The arena, near the back of the castle, is a training ground dedicated to all types of training my mother and father have forced us to take up over the years. Like Rory, I have become fond of swordsmanship, and with all the extra time on my hands unlike him, I've become damn good at it. With the midday sun beating down on us, the heat has become torrential. Ry and I stripped off our shirts ages ago, and have been ogled like prize chickens the entire lord-forsaken time.

We share the space with other children of high nobility- many of whom we've grown up with. As much as the stares still disturb me the same as they did during my childhood, I have grown accustomed to them. And as my mother likes to say; smile, nod, and ignore. So that's what I do. Smile, graciously nod, and ignore, ignore, ignore.

Rory wipes away the blood with his forearm, glaring at me with his stormy gray eyes, which only make my grin spread wider across my face. I laugh softly to myself, holding my dropped sword, and walk over to the rack to put it up.

The arena is rather large, with racks of various weapons, targets, and dummies lined up and ready for use. Every station is constantly used no matter the time of day.

We Solarians take pride in our elite forces, but 550 years ago, that wasn't the case. Both bordering kingdoms of Solaria; Elodoris and Iridia were in shambles along with Solaria, fighting against one another for the greed of power. The alliances became severed and peace disintegrated at the sounds of war. Our founding lord, Solas, decided to put a peaceful end to this madness by creating a treaty that benefited each kingdom equally.

Our kingdom was newly founded, with little elite forces, but we had hope. Hope for a new day, a strong kingdom, and peace for all. Now, we thank him, our lord, for the work he did to protect us from endless years of bloodshed and the blight of greed that plagued the kingdoms.

I pick up my shirt that I'd draped over the sword rack and wipe the sweat off my brow. Rory strolls over to where I stand, lifting an eyebrow to the soft grin tugging on my features.

"Do I finally have my brother back?" He asks with a pointed look.

"I don't know what you mean, Ry," I respond carefully, arching an eyebrow. "Oh, like hell you don't," he adds, traces of anger in his tone. "For starters, you stayed locked in your room all evening. You didn't come down for dinner, and you blew up at me three times."

"You deserved—" I stop mid-sentence as he glowers at me.

The afternoon I returned to the palace, with a bag full of river stones instead of those shiny bronze coins, I'd been left starstruck. I swiftly retreated to my bedroom without a word and lay there in silence, my mind reeling from the encounter with the thief. I stared at my bedroom ceiling; intricate, golden crown molding swirling at the edges. My mind replayed her stark blue eyes as they flashed in my mind. Reaching into my coat's pocket, I felt for the only piece of her I had left. My fingers twirled the golden hairpin, feeling its smooth, sleek surface.