Duty and Destiny

From her father’s room Adalia could hear the fracas going on outside. When she walked out, she saw Archer and Xander wrestling to the ground, both their faces bloody from hitting each other.

Adalia kicked a table into them. “Stop it.”

Taking her cue, the guards ran between the two to separate them. Samson pulled Archer aside when he lunged at Xander once more.

“My father is ill, we are about to be attacked and the two of you have time to fight,” she lifted her hand to silence them then walked to her room.

Xander started after her, but Archer blocked his path. “Don’t even think about it.”

He ran after her into her room. Archer found Adalia cited by the window staring out at the moon. She heard him come in and immediately she said. “You know I spent most of the time you were away like this. I always sat here wondering whether you were happy wherever you were.”

“I was happy, but confused,” he whispered.

“Of course, you were. You were being nursed back to health by a beautiful girl,” Adalia began laughing at herself. “She’s a good healer. I should be grateful to her. She saved the lives of the two most important men in my life.”

“She is nice.”

“Ha!” she burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggling. “And I am the one who tried to kill you right?”

“I’m sorry I ever thought that.” He went to her, but she waved him off.

Archer soon realized that her giggling was slowly turning into crying. Ignoring her attempts to push him away he pulled her into his arms. “A single day didn’t go by when I didn’t miss you.”

“That’s why you stayed away for so long,” she pushed past him and took on the other side of the room. She didn’t like how weak she felt in his arms. It was like he was controlling her all over again.

“I stayed away because someone tried to kill me, someone in this castle,” he spoke slowly so that she could understand. He let that first part sink in first before he went on. “That someone is Xander.”

“What?” her mind went back to that day of the ambush. Xander was nowhere to be found. He only appeared once Archer was wounded. He appeared from the trees the same place where the murderer had disappeared into. She thought of her father and his illness. He only seemed to get worse whenever he had a visit from Xander. It was him who was trying to rid her of any support and protection. He wanted her to be all alone, to be at his mercy. He wanted to control her and to weaken her. But that wasn’t who she was.

***

Archer watched Adalia as her face seemed to take an odd calculating expression. She seemed to be in a trance, caged in by her thoughts. But when she drew her sword out of her scabbard, he didn’t doubt that she believed him.

“Where are you going?”

“Do you have to ask?” She pulled her door open but before she could walk out, Archer hauled her back in. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t let you do that,” he disarmed her and tossed her on the bed. “First of all, we need to wait and find out what he is planning, and secondly I get to kill him not you.”

“If he’s not dead by sunrise I will kill him,” she huffed impatiently. She took her sword back and slid it back in its sheath. “Are you coming with me or what?”

“Where are we going?” he asked confused.

“I am going to see my father and you are going to make sure I don’t foil your plan,” she marched out of her room with Archer hurrying to catch up.

***

Adalia drew in a long breath when Xander stopped in front of her. Her fingers curled around the hilt of the sword, ready to pull it out on command and relieve Xander of his head. Archer put his hand over hers reminding her of the plan. Her heart still frozen in her chest she bit into her lower lip and let out a long breath.

“I need to speak to you,” Xander shot darts of hatred at Archer, every look in his eyes telling him to leave them.

Archer wasn’t sure that Adalia would be able to keep her cool. He wasn’t sure she would be able to refrain herself from killing Xander right in the very spot he stood in. But he had to trust her. He excused them but didn’t go very far. He stood in a corner next to Samson.

“What’s going on?” he asked when he saw the intense hatred Adalia was staring Xander down with.

“I told her that it was Xander who tried to kill me, who wants to kill her father,” his eyes didn’t leave her for a second. “Where is Fiona?”

“She’s with your sister in one of the rooms,” he answered then went on. “I suppose she isn’t too happy about the attempt on her father or you.”

“She wants to kill him, but I convinced her not to.”

“But he could kill her; he’s a very skilled fighter,” Samson cautioned.

“He might be, but you haven’t seen her fight,” he felt a sense of pride burn into his chest. He could remember the first time they fought side by side; it was the time he realized that he could actually love her. “She is ruthless and skilled but still beautiful.”

“Are you in love with her?” Samson asked after studying the radiant smile on his face.

“Hopelessly.”

***

Adalia watched as Xander’s lips moved, each second a word left his lips she wondered if it would be his last.

“I love you and I think we should get married right now. Your father is sick, and this was his wish for you,” he was grasping at straws but depending on Adalia’s blind sense of duty to be on his side.

She marveled at how the words seemed to easily slide off his tongue. He didn’t seem the least bit troubled or bothered that she didn’t want anything to do with him. Adalia could feel her temper flaring, as she wondered how he could try to kill her father and still ask for her hand in marriage. Frustrated and stymied shot Archer a glance, begging him to come to her side, if he wanted his plan to push through without a hitch.