Not my cock, my sword!
No wonder Arthur was panting over her. “Do you want to learn?” I forced out.
Anna shook her head, carefully handing over the sword to me. “No, I’m good. I don’t think I would be any good.”
I didn’t take it. “I think you will be fucking awesome.”
She arched a brow. “A compliment? From a king? I think I will die from shock.”
Her words caused me to laugh aloud. “I’ve been known to give out a compliment or two.”
“But to your pauper?” she asked, carefully placing the sword on the mat. “I mean, that’s like an anomaly.”
Fuck yeah, she was my pauper and I felt like the baddest fucking man on the planet when she said it like that. A primal urge to take her now swept through me, but I knew I was treading on fragile ground to begin with. “I like to throw you a bone so that you will keep coming back for more,” I finally answered.
She shook her head, but there was a smile playing on her lips.
“What?” I asked, my voice coming out more desperate than I liked. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what made Anna tick. Somehow, I felt like there was no one who knew Anna, not really anyway.
Anna sighed, looking down at the sword at her feet. “Nothing. I think I would like to learn sword fighting. That way if I screw up this whole princess slash empress thing, then I can go on the road.”
I choked on my laughter. “Is there anything that comes out of your mouth that will not shock me, pauper?”
She winked at me. “Isn’t that the point, Royce?”
I couldn’t help it; I gave her a real grin, one that was reserved for no one but myself. In my world, I didn’t let people inside. I didn’t let them see the real Royce Whitehall. I couldn’t afford them to see that lest they use it against me or my family.
But Anna, she could drag it out with just a few words and that damn smile of hers and that scared the shit out of me.
Clearing my throat, I reached down and swiped the sword off the mat. “Where did you learn how to fight, pauper?”
“In the orphanage,” she answered, her voice soft. “I don’t know how much you know about orphan kids, but they are the first ones to be picked on in school. We are the first ones to get shoved in lockers, or have food randomly thrown at us because of our hand-me-down clothes.” I watched as she started to walk around the mat, looking at all the weapons that were displayed on the wall for fighting. There were all sorts of weapons and I was well versed in all of them, making it a point to learn how to use them all effectively.
It was a thing of mine to never hesitate to pick up a weapon and know how to handle it.
“And then when I was fostered a few times,” Anna continued, drawing in a breath. “I had to protect myself from, well, you know.”
Shit. I hadn’t expected her to say that. Her words reminded me of how differently we had grown up and what I had done to her since her arrival here at the academy, first in the bathroom, and then in the hallway.
No wonder she fucking hated me.
“But,” she finally said, turning to look at me. “Here I am. You know the one thing that I learned that stood out over everything else from my time being in an orphanage? It was that no one else was going to look out for me. I could talk until I was blue in the face and no one would believe me, save my current case worker, I guess, but even she could only do so much. I just quit trying to report things, honestly, and learned how to stand up for myself. So yes, Royce, I want to learn sword fighting. I want to learn everything you can teach me so that I don’t ever forget that I can defend myself.”
I wanted to be the person that taught her. “I will teach you everything I know,” I said hoarsely, wanting to go to America and find everyone who had ever made her feel like she wasn’t worth it and run my sword through them.
Never had I ever felt the need to be someone’s protector before, but I wanted to be hers.
She wiped her hands on her pants. “All right then. Where do we start?”
“Not with the sword,” I said abruptly, pushing it aside.
Anna’s eyes narrowed. “You just said you are going to help me, Royce.”
“I am, pauper,” I answered, coming up beside her. “But first, you need to know how to protect yourself if you don’t get the jump to throw the punch first.”
Realization dawned on her face. “Okay.”
I positioned myself, bracing my hips before I raised my fists. “Your stance needs to be wide, but keep your hips solidly over your feet or you will end up on your ass.”
She mimicked my stance and I gave it a once-over. “Pretty good.”
“What next?”
“Throw your fist like this,” I said, throwing a punch. “You should try to put your entire body behind it. It’s not about how big you are for the power; it’s about trying to make certain you do it right.”
“How did you learn all this?” Anna asked as she threw a few punches.
“Same as you,” I answered, frowning at her technique. “Keep your elbow up and don’t drop it when you throw the punch.”
She adjusted her arm. “You fought?”
“All the damn time. Just because you went to private schools doesn’t mean you don’t get into fights all the time.” I had done my fair share of fighting too, trying to
