Plummet

Warrior

The Princess was dangerously good.

The tutor's chamber provided to me was highly comfortable, and I sat in probably the centre, applying a rich, soothing paste to the wicked wound on my left arm. Well, take that for being too busy trying to glance at that Anh.

She appeared an utter fool to me, the perfect example of beautiful, stupid girl. All the same, she was driving me insane. I had to get her, I couldn't focus on Princess Hue if there was a hundred times prettier girl in the corner, turning the leaves of her romance - smirking at the dialogues, uncaring of how irresistible I was. I could turn all of those dialogues into reality for her. And besides, after Princess Hue was exiled, I would still need wife. Anh was sure rich.

Rich. Beautiful. Stupid. Everything a wife needs to be.

I flexed my arm, the wounded one. Traced a finger across my own ripped muscles. No girl could resist these arms wrapping across her... surely not Anh. A smirk spread across my face at my own admiration, but it died down soon enough. Nobody could resist me, except perhaps for... Princess Hue herself.

I got up, resolute. The evenings couldn't be wasted. I had to bump into the Princess and make small talk as much as I despised doing it. And then maybe bump into Anh at night...

"No." I shook my head, forcing my eyes shut. Anh, later. Princess Hue, now.

+ + +

I was brilliant, and the sooner everybody accepted the fact, the better. Princess Hue was in the weaponry, because that was where the crossbow was. A separate chamber only she had access to. And I had quite a few excuses for being in the weaponry at any time I wished to do so.

She greeted me coldly. A nod, and an almost inaudible good evening.

"I wonder what a common man must do to gain a princess' respect, however good he otherwise might be." I replied, with a small shake of head.

"Behave respectfully." she replied, pressing her hand on the hand-shaped depression on the door. I watched the golden knob glow even brighter. It was locked, and wouldn't open without her will.

"What have I done, Princess?"

Her eyes flashed, "Chi." she stated, sounding disgusted.

I couldn't help rolling my eyes, "I didn't ask her leave her parents and come after me. I couldn't marry he-"

"Her twin!"

"I was never involved with her twin!" I lied, managing to sound wounded. I should have thought twice before meddling with Hue's hairdresser. But basically everyone around her was gorgeous in a way she sorely missed.

Her eyes were narrowed now, "Bia?"

"I admired her, but we were never involved either! She wanted to marry me, I denied, she warned to spread lies throughout the palace about me - and I said I did not care. I think she has done her job well, such that even the Princess believes her." I lied again. "It's just my reputation from Chi's days - when I was seventeen and foolhardy. I was not ready to court a twenty year old who had fallen heads over heels for me. My parents would disown me - I might be poor, but I'm still of noble birth. When she came after me, I did not so much as touch her."

Indeed I did not touch her then, we had already crossed all boundaries way before.

Princess Hue took a step towards me, "So you an honorable man?" she asked, in a low whisper. It unnerved and excited me at the same time. She had been trying to convince herself of my innocence. If not attracted, she was definitely interested in me.

"I try to be, Princess. The world, unfortunately, does not value honor as much as wealth." the truth tumbled out before I could check my tongue. Princess Hue's eyes could have softened a tiniest bit before glazing over.

"Don't think I don't see the way you look at me, Pham." she said suddenly, in a very low voice. Was she abashed? Maybe just disgusted? But I felt a strange vibration in my throat, something was going to happen...

"I don't understand you, Princess."

"But I understand you." she seemed unnerving, "Mend your ways, because apart from those weapons around us, you are sore loser at everything else."

Stinging as the words might be, she had said them... toyed them out, with a challenging smile. I couldn't help smiling back. Challenges. A challenge to my charms... my smile turned into a smirk.

You're in a romance book, Princess Hue. And your heart will never heal.

I watched her leave the weaponry, pulling along the small trail of her evening dress. It suited her tall frame... Princess Hue was just borderline admirable. Not... Her beauty was negligible. But I had to, putting it lightly, try harder.

I turned around, a quick glance at the place. It was magnificent, no wonder Lord Quan's cousin would go to any lengths for it. I was his best man, I had fought tooth and nail to be so. I couldn't fail.

But two minutes later, I found my feet carrying me to the library. Anh.

+ + +

"Minh, you know what to do." the Lord's back was turned to me. He isn't the Lord yet, but for us, he is. Always will be.

"My Lord." I bow, smiling in the way that shows my dimples best. He pulls out a piece of scented fabric, sniffs it, then walks to the window sill right in front of him. The windows never open, we don't work in the daylight.

"The Princess is hard to please." he says, in a slow, measured tone. "Formidable, smart, and dangerously strong. You need to impress her."

"My Lord."

"The crossbow itself is fragile. So fragile that..." he crushes a withered leaf in between his fingers, I hear the creak. "Don't break it, Minh, it will crush your soul. Snap the string. The sacred string..." I hear him break the midrib of the leaf.

"I would willingly crush my soul, Lord."

I knew he was smiling. "Ah no, my child. Do the job and all your generations will live in luxury."

"And power, My Lord?"

"All the powers you can think of, son."

I smile fully for the first time in years. That is why I would do it. Power.