Prince and the Throne (Fedosian Wars #2)

7. Duel of Honor

seven

Duel of Honor

The grand hall of the den had a lion skin splayed on the floor and the duke and duchess were seated on a dais with the Shield red banner hanging behind them. Commanders, soldiers, and castleguards crowded the hall, and the accusatory shouting of the men made it impossible to hear what Aleksei and Vukhir were arguing about in front of the dais. Vukhir’s gestures were large and aggressive while Aleksei had his hands clasped behind his back.

On one side, Niko stood like a puppy, downtrodden and his large scarlet eyes ballooned even bigger with fear. Eugene stood with his prince. On the other side were the duke’s children.

Duchess Elena cried into a white handkerchief while the duke’s expression remained stern.

“This is some type of dark alchemy beast?” Ignat asked.

Sofia saw he was prodding the lion’s head with his boot toe, and said, “It’s called a lion. They come from the southwest continent.”

“Southwest of where?” Ignat asked.

“I don’t know. Somewhere over the Zapadnoi Morye. A foreign emissary gifted my uncle a cub is all I know. It died in the winter.” Sofia followed Zoya with her eyes as she and Daniil stepped into the half circle by the dais. “What in the necromancy hell would she have to say? She wasn’t there,” Sofia said.

“Neither was Eugene, was he?” Ignat said.

No, he hadn’t been with the prince, which was his only duty. Esenov, another sentinel, had been with them, but he was left behind to watch the horses at the foot of the cliff.

“What the hell is happening?” Dominik pushed his way through the crowd. The sentinels were being made to wait outside by the castleguards so a deadly fight didn’t break out in the duke’s hall.

“You’re a liar!” Niko’s voice cut through the competing noises. “She’s lying! I never said that!”

The duke lifted his hand and the chatter in the hall ceased. “Say it again, dear girl, so everyone can hear.”

“The prince confided in me that he wanted Lady Teo’s head because she offended him strutting around with a crown,” Zoya said. She avoided looking at Aleksei who glowered at her.

“Liar! Liar!” Niko pointed and yelled while Eugene held him back.

Appalled ladies fanned themselves which included Sofia who wasn’t being called to testify. They wanted Guards out of it, she supposed, but what were they doing? They couldn’t kill Niko, surely.

Outraged men had begun shouting again but the voices faded as the duke spoke. “…is that your word, boy?” Sofia didn’t catch what the duke said before that, but he was looking at Aleksei.

“On my honor, Your Grace,” was Aleksei’s answer.

“And do you stand by it, Aleksei?” boomed the duke’s voice. “Not as a sentinel obligated to the prince, but as Burkhard’s son who’s freely choosing your words?”

“I do, Your Grace.”

“And is it your word Prince Nikolas murdered Lady Teo?” He looked at Oleksandra. “Speak not as my daughter but as a lady of Shield.”

“It is, Your Grace,” she said.

“Duel of honor,” Ignat muttered beside Sofia, and a breath later, the words were echoed by the duke.

“And who will defend Lady Oleksandra’s honor?” the duke asked.

“I will fight for myself, Father.”

“You will not.” His tone had finality.

All three sons of the duke volunteered to fight on their sister’s behalf, but the duke picked the largest man Sofia had ever seen, the captain of the castleguards who’d also stepped up along with a dozen others.

“Thank you for the honor, Your Grace.” The giant bowed, his voice as deep as Sofia would have imagined from looking at the tree of a man. She was dizzy and no amount of fanning helped shuffle any air into her suffocating lungs.

“And Aleksei,” the duke said, “I hope your father taught you Shield duels of honor are fought with plain swords. Your alchemy is tainted with Durnov, and your weapon is unclean. You will leave it behind.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“And it shall be to death. We are Red Shield. We don’t prance around for points like Guards.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Sofia’s knees folded and Ignat caught her, wrapping his arm around her waist to hold her up. “He’s so large. He’s so damn large. Saints have mercy,” Sofia had been ranting.

“That’s what she said.” Ignat smiled but the humor didn’t reach his eyes. The pale gaze was keen, calculating, sizing, and measuring.

The duke rose and marched out with his men. So, this was their play. They’d been looking for a reason to kill Aleksei, because without him the prince was a child with furrowed brows, crying into the cloak of Eugene, who had his arm around him. The sentinel’s cold blue eye, the other white, stalked the Chartorisky siblings as they exited after the duchess. Hatred burned him and he made no effort to conceal it. Sofia didn’t blame him, though. Zoya blatantly lied. The girl had found another way of clawing at the throne rather than trying to recover Niko’s good grace.

“Aleksei!” Sofia fell into him and draped herself over him when he came to her. The men were filing out of the hall. The duel was now.

He held Sofia but spoke to his sentinel. “Doma, I need your sword, and you and Ignat will get Sofia out of here should this thing turn to shit. She is your only concern. The others will care for the prince. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Captain,” they both said.

“It’s all right, Sofia,” Aleksei said, and let her go. “It’ll be all right. I can handle him.”

No, it would not be. Sofia remembered he wouldn’t duel with Lev for points because he’d said he couldn’t fight with a plain sword.

“He’s a large bastard, Captain.” Dominik was one of the handful of sentinels who carried two swords. The one on his back was a darksteel greatsword, but as he unbuckled the one on his hip and handed it to Aleksei, Sofia saw it was Apraksin steel. As far as plain swords went, that was the best money could purchase, and it was of some consolation, but not much.

“I have eyes,” Aleksei said, responding to Dominik pointing out the castleguard’s size.

“Better end it quick, Captain,” Ignat said.

“You don’t say?” Aleksei walked away.

“He’s in a foul mood,” Ignat said.

But who wouldn’t be? The size of his opponent was astounding!

The courtyard of the soldiers’ quarters was well lit with torches forming a ring around the arena. Men sat on rooftops and battlements, and crammed into every nook and cranny, including the second-floor windows. Some even sat on ledges along the wall, their feet dangling, like children trying to watch the execution at the city square.

‘It’s going to be an absolute shit parade trying to get out of there.’ Ignat hadn’t wanted Sofia in the courtyard. ‘It will not make a lick of difference to him whether you are there or not, my lady. It will be better if we leave now.’

That may be, but Sofia wouldn’t abandon him. What if he got killed and this was the last time she saw him?

Niko was there with Eugene. The duke and the duchess were with their children. Commander Volg bowed to Sofia when their eyes met as though they were greeting each other at an afternoon tea. Copper changed hands and ghastly enough it was both sentinels and the castleguards betting on the duel.

“They would bet against their captain?” Sofia found it appalling.

“We bet on everything,” said Ignat. “It’s our way of dealing with death and should this be our last night on this side of the dver , at least we would have won some copper.”

Zoya was nowhere to be seen, but Daniil stood by his aunt. They were betting as well, but the wagers of the lords were for the throne of Fedosia.

Aleksei had to swap his vambraces for plain steel, no gold or alchemy, and he stood alone buckling the leather straps as the castleguard swung with his greatsword and twisted at the waist to warm up. At least Aleksei’s shield was his own, tall and almond shaped, and the weight would be familiar to him.

Sofia pulled Dominik. “The Apraksin sword, it’s genuine, yes?”

“Of course, my lady.”

“It’s a rather expensive blade, how did it come into your possession?” She wasn’t trying to be rude, but Apraksin blades were often forged. Count Gavril Illeivich had spent a fortune on one, but the saber cracked the first time he fenced.

“It was a gift from Lord Dariy Apraksin, my lady,” Dominik said.

Good enough, she supposed, but she was so nervous a porcupine was rolling around in her belly. She thought she might gag, and no amount of fanning was helping though they were outside, and it was winter night.

“Give us a name.”

The shadow passed by Ignat and the sentinel shivered. “Cold out here,” he said.

“Go away,” Sofia whispered.

The stranger didn’t leave and slowly circled the castleguard now warming up his trunk like legs with squats.

“Niko, get back,” Aleksei said, drawing her attention. Sofia found the prince in the ring, staring right at the stranger, his head cocked. Eugene yanked him back.

Reminded of how the prince had seen the archmage’s light tentacles, Sofia frowned at the boy, but she didn’t get to think too much on it as a horn blew and Aleksei picked up his shield. She turned away as the gargantuan man with a ludicrous sword charged at Aleksei, his blade swinging like a reaper’s scythe.

She shut her eyes but couldn’t get away from the pitiful tune of metal grating, clanking, scraping, making her skin crawl with every wretched note. She could hear the shuffling of feet on the well worn earth and the excited breaths of men.

“Give us a name,” temptation whispered, but too late, she didn’t know the castleguard’s name. It was for the better because she would have given it, and the ensuing chaos would have swallowed them all.

A sudden roar, but she couldn’t look. She folded further into herself, waiting, waiting for someone to tell her Aleksei was killed.

“Ah, fuck,” she heard Ignat.

“Has he died?” she asked.

A high pitched shrill of a woman cut through the deep rumbling of men. Everyone yelled, and the chant she could hear was, “Kill! Kill! Kill!”

A complete silence. She counted, and it lasted an eternity. With every fiber of her being protesting, Sofia opened her eyes and slowly turned her head.

So much red on the ground. Aleksei dropped his shield and spat blood. Sofia tipped her head back at the sky, night but not dark, where the light of the saints shone bright.

Thank you.

She closed her eyes again and breathed. The sight of the headless castleguard sitting on his knees remained behind her lids, but only for a moment. She was too glad to be horrified.

“It appears you were mistaken, dear daughter,” she heard the duke say, while a woman, probably the duchess, wailed. “The fates have spoken. I will hear no more on the matter. Now we’ll feast in the honor of our prince whose innocence remains unblemished, and in the memory of Teo whose heart was pure and untouched by the world for she now shines among the stars.” Every word of that was a lie. The duke was only trying to save face in front of his men. A bloodbath was coming sooner rather than later, but Aleksei lived, and in that moment, that was all that mattered.