Page 41 of Crimson Kingdom
She looked at me when she said that last part, pointedly enough that I glanced away.
“No,” I muttered. “He’s not all in.”
We turned our attention back to the matches.
Gwyn pretended to tire and Avani yelled out, “She’s faking it, Evander.”
His chin dipped in a small nod of acknowledgement. Davin shouted something about Gallagher to Theo, and moments later, Theo came out victorious in that fight.
Then there was only Evander and Gwyn, moving at blinding speeds, neither of them giving up the advantage. I surveyed them for weaknesses.
Though he was skilled enough at traditional sparring, Evander fought best with two swords, whereas Gwyn had only ever trained with one. That would be an advantage to her.
And I badly, badly wanted to see him get his arse handed to him.
Even if watching them spar tugged at something inside me for reasons I refused to examine.
“I’ll put my money on Gwyn,” I told Davin, who was already pocketing his coins from Theo’s victory.
He met my eyes with a knowing look, giving me a nod, but said nothing as Theo and Gallagher came to join us.
Gal called out tips to Evander, and Theo surprised me by jumping in with a few for Gwyn.
Chewing the inside of my lip, I evaluated them carefully before saying anything.
Gwyn was trying to wear Evander down, which usually worked for her because she trained most of every day. But Evander was disciplined, and careful not to expend too much of his energy at once.
This could go on for hours at this rate.
“You need to end this, Gwyn!” I yelled. “His stamina isn’t going to flag.”
I registered what I said about four secondsafterit popped out of my mouth, in time with Davin’s laugh and Theo’s sideways glance and Evander’s infernal, endlessly arrogant smirk.
My only consolation was that somewhere between his momentary distraction and the advice I had shouted to Gwyn, she did, in fact, end it. Taking advantage of the barest hint of an opening he gave her, she came at him in a blur of movement, a burst of speed she had likely saved up for this very moment.
Then her blade was against his throat, and his eyes were widening in surprise.
“Impressive,” he said, raising his hands slowly in a show of surrender. “Again?”
As the coins clinked from Davin’s hand into mine, I tried to feel victorious instead of this curious hollow feeling threatening to overtake me. Gwyn opened her mouth, probably to agree, then Gallagher caught her eye.
They may not have had my sisters’ gift for communicating, but they had some form of wordless twin communication, nonetheless. One look at him was enough for her to shake her head.
“I think I’ll ride the high of this victory instead.”
He nodded, but I swear the aalio’s lips quirked up like he knew exactly what had just transpired.
Theo excused himself to go clean up for dinner, and thankfully, the rest of the men followed suit until it was only Avani, Gwyn, and me left in the courtyard.
“Itwasimpressive,” I told Gwyn. “I’ve never seen anyone get the better of him.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Avani muttered, and I ignored her.
Gwyn glanced between us, shaking her head. “Row, you know that I would never, right?”
I cleared my throat. “I have no claim on him, Gwyn... And really, it would make sense. He wants an alliance but doesn’t care if his wife stays here. You want to be Captain and don’t want the actual entanglement of a relationship.”
“Ah. Well, then, you’ve convinced me.” She turned to Avani. “Can you imagine what excellent swordsmen our children will be?”