17. Met his match

"But this is prince Barak's room, even though you are his personal knight which I am guessing you are. Are you allowed to mess around in his chambers like this?"

"I did tell you that I am prince—"

"Oh quit it. Stop trying to be who you are not. I know you are not the prince."

"Very well then, Prince Barak is probably out with one of his numerous wives and probably won't be back till mid-noon tomorrow."

"Ah-ha! So he does have wives!" Neriah said in disgust as she took some steps away from the door and closer to the bed.

"According to you, yes."

"Oh that despicable being! I wonder why fa— I mean the king would want to give the princess away to such a despicable man."

"Well maybe your princess's personality matches that of the prince. Despicable as you put it."

"How dare you speak of the princess that way! The princess is a smart and beautiful young woman," she took another step closer to the bed. Although her actions thus far tonight proved her to be anything but smart, and she didn't feel beautiful at all.

"And she is kind, and compassionate, and loving, and cares about the people who are dear to her. She excels in swordsmanship, archery and hand to hand combat. The princess amongst all other things just came of age and has kept her chastity with much dignity. Which is far much more than I can say for your almighty prince Barak."

"I see. You think very highly of your princess."

"Well of course, she is the princess after all." Neriah tossed a lock of her hair back with pride.

"Well, my dear spitfire, although I cannot promise you that Prince Barak has kept his chastity, he is a man of war after all. What I can tell you is that he is the best swordsman in the kingdom, and although elves are known for their natural gift with the bow and arrow, I can assure you that he is a perfect marker. And as for hand-to-hand combat, he has yet to be beaten by anyone."

"Well I bet that ia because he hasn't met his match!" she snapped back and inched closer to the bed.

"Oh really, and who might that be?"

"Me of— I mean the Princess of course!"

"Oh she sounds fun already. I think Prince Barak would like her. I am sure he believes that his bride to be is a spoiled, pampered young woman who can't even hold a ink brush."

"Oh, then he is in for a surprise, for if she wills it, our dear princess can kill with a mere ink brush."

Now she stood at the foot of the bed, his own feet crossed above each other there. A wave of weird silence passed through the room again. Their syncing breaths filled and blessed the air.

He inhaled and exhaled loudly, breaking the tension and silence between them.

"Tell me," he suddenly said. His voice, still commanding, but he had tempered it with a little bit of coaxing tone, "what is the message?"

Dark lashes swept over her eyes. Only Aria knew of her affair with Lyle. She was going to try and table her matter with the prince, but she had ended up in this situation. Should she tell him? Would he pass her message across to the prince? Oh, but it seemed like a foolish thing to do. Well I've been doing foolish things since the beginning of this night, there's no harm in following up the foolishness. She concluded.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

…

"What do you mean the princess already has a lover? From what I've heard, she just came of age a few months ago."

"Well she met him about two weeks ago."

"She made a lover out of a man that she met two weeks ago!!"

"Oh please! Don't judge her!! She's to marry your prince and she's yet to even see him!"

"Well that is an entirely different issue."

"How so my honorable sir? Do enlighten me!"

Barak sincerely thought about her words. What was different about making a man you met two weeks ago a lover, and making a man you haven't met at all a husband? In fact the latter felt more heavy if he were to think about it honestly.

"Alright, fine. Maybe you're right. There's not much difference." He admits.

"Thank you for your honesty, good sir." She curtsied playfully.

He chuckles at her gesture as he suddenly stood up from the bed where he sat, causing her to jump. "Easy now, I gave you my word. I won't touch you." He reassured her and walked past her toward the hearth.

He bent down, picked some wood and tossed them into the hearth. "I just felt like you'd like a little light." he explained, and then added, "not that I have a problem with the darkness." with those words, he opened his palm, and a fireball the size of a baby's head appeared over his hand.

He directed the fireball toward the wood and the wood began to burn…

"Ack!" he yelped as he turned to stand up only to realize that she was already crouched next to him.

"You just did that?"

"Did what?"

"Made fire out of nothing!"

"Ah, you did not know that us barbaric dragons have the ability to make fire?"

"Oh you can be so bitter!" she snapped. "I already told you I know all about your kind, and I do know that you have the gift of fire, and I know you use it to burn down poor villages with women and children in them."

"Where do you get these stories?"