The Way We Fall

Chapter 72 (Tigris)

"Where the hell is Roche?" Tigris snarled at Finn as she struggled to tug off her armour in the armoury. Her entire body ached.

Finn crossed his arms. "How am I supposed to know?" he asked. Tigris growled at him.

"You two are as thick as thieves, I'm fairly certain she'd tell you if she was going back to the tavern." Tigris grunted, the muscles in her arms throbbing as she tried to unlace a thick cord hanging low on her back.

"She'll be back soon, Tigris." Kai promised, "She told me she had an errand to run for Verita."

As if on cue, Roche re-entered the armoury. Her face flashed with a small amount of guilt and fear when she saw Tigris' murderous expression. Good, Tigris thought to herself sourly, she should have been attending me this entire time.

"Sorry, my lady!" Roche yelped, running forward, "I was running an errand for Verita."

"Your duty is to me first and Verita second." Tigris snapped, feeling Roche's practised, nimble fingers working the knotted cord on her back. The piece of armour fell away easily. Roche flitted around her.

"You try telling Verita no." Roche grumbled. She peeled off the front plate of armour and hissed, "What happened here?"

Tigris looked down. Among all her throbbing limbs, she hadn't noticed the thin gash that had split the skin just below her collarbone. She grimaced and moved to cover it.

"Don't! Your hands are grimy, you might infect it." Roche yelped, batting Tigris' hand away.

"Oy, you can't call a princess grimy!" Tigris snapped, swatting Roche's head instead, "Besides, it's just a little cut."

"Nope!" Roche said cheerfully, "I'm taking you to Leinos."

Finn watched the exchange, his eyes strangely sharp. "Who managed to land a blow on you?" he asked, arms crossed tightly.

Tigris frowned. It wasn't like Finn to be so serious.

"I don't know."

"Sir Harold," Kai said, snapping his fingers, "He was the only one who swung near your head."

Tigris felt warmth stir in her chest. "You were watching me train?"

Kai sputtered nonsensically, his cheeks darkening further with a blush that made heat rise in Tigris' own cheeks. She looked away, grateful that she could blame her flush on exertion from training.

Finn seemed to ignore the sudden tension in the air. He narrowed his eyes at Tigris. "I'm starting to think that Roche was onto something, Tigris." he muttered, "Sir Harold is a seasoned knight, he should know better than to swing his sword for your head."

Tigris frowned at her brother. "It was just an accident." she argued, "Nothing more."

"You know Sir Harold better than me." Finn reasoned, his green eyes startling intense, "Do you really think he would ever normally lapse in control enough to ever hurt you?"

Tigris looked away. To be honest, the fervor and erratic nature of Sir Harold's attacks had caught her off guard. She'd attributed the sudden change in his fighting style to be from traumatic captivity. All that time alone, watching knight after knight get slaughtered while helplessly standing by was sure to change the way a man felt and fought.

"He's been through a lot, Finn." Tigris replied, unable to stop the sharpness from leaking into her voice, "I'm just happy he's well enough to fight. Once the tournament is over, I'll retrain his precision."

Finn's eyes darkened. "Tigris-"

"Finn," Tigris interrupted roughly, "I won't be hearing anymore of this nonsense."

Finn's eyes flared with hurt. "When you didn't listen to me in the past, things didn't go well for you." Finn said carefully, like the words had a meaning that Tigris should know. She bit her cheek as the implication hit her.

"Finn, you can't possibly be thinking of that stupid test still." Tigris groaned, frustration billowing off of her. "We've proven your so-called 'visions' were false."

Finn's face turned red with a mix of anger and humiliation so potent that Tigris stepped back. She was stunned to see the glossy sheen of unshed tears in her brother's eyes.

"You're not listening, and not just to me!" Finn gritted out, his voice a dangerous kind of calm "And you're putting yourself in danger by doing so. Honestly, I think you can be more ignorant than Father!"

The mention of their father made Tigris' pride flare. She crossed her arms. "Don't talk treason, Finn. It's unbecoming."

Finn barked out a jagged laugh, so sharp that Tigris flinched away from it.

"I'm trying to save your damn life, and you're calling me a traitor." Finn muttered.

"Enough, Finn!" Tigris ordered, wondering if the way Finn was trembling meant that he would go into hysterics soon. She softened her voice. "Please, Sir Harold is my friend. And yours too. We abandoned him once, I won't abandon him again. Can I trust you to keep these concerns to yourself?"

Oddly, Finn's gaze drifted past her for a heartbeat. Before Tigris could make anything of it, Finn softly replied, "Fine." He grabbed Kai's wrist and turned on his heel, storming out of the armoury.

Tigris leaned back against the cool wall, exhausted physically and mentally. Honestly, sometimes talking to Finn was a workout of its own.

Roche's tinkling voice pierced through the silence. "Come on. Leinos needs to see that cut."

"You can't be serious. Let me bathe first." Tigris whined. Roche held open the door with a self satisfied smirk.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, my lady. But if you go to Leinos, I'll have the bath drawn by the time you reach your chambers." Roche replied smugly, dabbing at Tigris' wound gently as they walked. Tigris' muscles pulsed as if in agreement.

Sometimes, Tigris wondered how she ever got on without a maid.

A/N: Here's another short chapter for you! It's a bit of a filler, but poor Finn is just ignored by Tigris so much, I really wanted to showcase that.

What did you think of this chapter? As always, happy reading!