Irene Barclay ran from her wedding- that's the only information the world had, but he knew there was more. Xavier Luca knew that as cold and as empty as her heart was, she would not leave everything behind. Not now. Not when her last act in his pres...
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"Step away from the princess." The soldier struggling within my hold stiffens as soon as Dimitri's voice shatters into the air. For someone assigned to keep an eye on me, he sure took his time to find me.
I tighten my grip around his neck and Dimitri steps closer, close enough to pull me away, but also too far to stop me from hurting the soldier. He had been putting up a good fight up to now, which means that Alexei isn't in charge of training the new recruits anymore. No one under his command would ever have thought of going up against me, they knew they'd lose.
"We're in the middle of something." I step forward and slip my foot under the soldier's, forcing us to the ground, allowing me to hover over him. There's this hint of something in his eyes and I should be used to it by now. Fear. Except he's not afraid of me or even what I'm capable of, no he's scared of Dimitri and what will happen to him once I'm no longer here. I guess if I'm going to get him into trouble I might as well let him win.
I remove my hand from his neck and try to push myself up, but the fear in his eyes is replaced with a taunting tease as he stops me.
"You're right, we're not done until one of us wins." He rolls over and grins. "Fairly." I feel the hint of a smile trace my lips and it dawns upon me that I haven't done that in quite some time.
He stands up and then pulls me up with him. Dimitri's entrance caused us to lose our rhythm which is why we're starting from the beginning. The soldier removes his shirt and pours some water over his head while one of the other soldiers talks to him about strategy. Fair enough.
I turn around to give them some privacy and Dimitri takes this as his time to corner me.
"What the hell are you doing?" I remove my jacket in silence and he glances down at the recently covered wound, now very much revealed by the crop top I'm wearing. "If you're deliberately trying to piss me off by ignoring my rules then go ahead. But you're not in the condition to fight my men like that." He points down at the bandage and I can't help but roll my eyes.
"I can fight your men with one hand, Dimitri."
"What about me?" He changed the volume of his voice on purpose because his question has everyone looking at me. He steps even closer and leans in, just like he did in the infirmary a few hours ago. "Fight me, princess..."
