The Sovereign's Sacrifice ☆ EDITING ☆

Chapter Twenty One: Ivan

The month flew by, Eliana had gone on her missions and I retrieved as much intel as possible from my position. When she was home, we slept in my bed, holding eachother.

The man responsible for the crimes against our people was a powerful mage. He had come to our kingdom ages ago to seek refuge. My great grandfather turned him away, stating that we could not allow such darkness into the kingdom. And with that, our people became the target of his wrath.

Tomorrow we would finally be married, Eliana would be bound to me for life. Then she and I could vanquish this enemy together. We could defeat him.

As the days went by, she grew more determined. As if she already knew what must be done. I thought back to her vision, terrified that it would come to pass.

I gathered my things, and left our room.  I made my way toward the training grounds. As I suspected, she was already there, sparring with various soldiers. Amelia, our wedding planner stood at the edge if the arena, verifying details with Eliana as she dodged various blows.

"My lady, I must protest!" Amelia called out. "You should be relaxing and preparing for tomorrow."

"This is how I relax Amelia," she laughed, dodging another blow and landing one of her own on her opponent.

"You relax by fighting a man three times your size? I'd hate to see you angry, M'lady," Amelia shuddered.

"My anger is reserved only for one man Amelia, you have nothing to fear unless you've swapped my wedding gown for something pink," Eliana teased.

She knocked her opponent to the ground and pinned him in place. "Good match Vesemir," she smiled getting up

"There's nothing like seeing my future bride tackling another man to the ground," I chuckled. She laughed and reached out a hand to help him up. "Getting jealous are we?" She quipped.

"Maybe," I laughed.

"Then come, I shall defeat you as well," she laughed.

I leapt over the railing and landed on my feet across from her. "Thank you for training My lady," Vesemir bowed his head and stepped off to the side by Amelia.

"You think our fight was interesting, you're in for a treat," he chuckled to her.

"Are you ready?" she asked me. 

"Always," I smiled, tossing my cloak to the side.

She leapt forward, feigning an attack but slid past me at the last moment. I turned to face her once more and swung towards her side but she dodged away. "Quick as always my love," I smiled.

"It seems wrong to watch them fight like this," Amelia whispered.

"Just watch," Vesemir insisted.

I lunged at Eliana, but she didn't move away. My body made contact with hers, but before we hit the ground, she rolled us over, landing on top of me. She flipped backwards off of my body, and landed on her feet.

"Is that the best you've got?" she taunted.

"You don't know the half of it," I teased. I jumped to my feet and lunged forward, as if I was going to punch her. As she raised her arm to dodge and block, I grabbed it and spun her into me.

He body collided with mine. She giggled for a moment as she fell against my chest. She pulled downward on my  arm, flipping me over her. My breath was forced painfully from my lungs, as I collided with the ground.

She stepped forward, to see if I was alright, and I gripped her leg and tripped her so she fell against my chest. She laughed uncontrollably as I rolled on top of her.

"Did you just let me win?" I taunted her.

"Consider it a wedding present," she laughed looking up at me.

"Well, my future bride, while there are many things that I would love to do with you beneath me like this, we have an audience," I growled playfully.

"Tomorrow night, you shall do whatever you wish my love," she whispered back.