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CHAPTER TEN
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2021-04-20 13:07:25“Don’t do that,” Archer was slowly getting irritated by Adalia’s guilty expression each time they crossed paths with Xander. It made him feel like she didn’t think what they were doing was right. However, to him it felt perfect.
“Do what?” She squeezed back tears.“I don’t like it when you make that expression,” he pressed his palms against her cheeks. “Like what we are doing is wrong?”She pulled his hands down. “What we are doing isn’t wrong. But what I did was. I shouldn’t have told him I would marry him without being sure first.”“Are you sure now?”“Yes,” she kissed into both his palms.He felt a whoosh of tense air exhale from his lungs. “It’s going to be fine.”***Once they were far enough from the North Kingdom, Xander turned his horse and geared it towards the forest. He was going to hide and watchRelated chapters
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Adalia’s heart broke when he kissed her. She felt his fear, his doubt and also his will to stay alive. Her fingers smoothed over her lips. She wanted to say I love you back but he hadn’t given a chance to. She watched as he fought and knew that she had to do her part. She had to find his sister and her brother.“Your highness.”She heard someone say behind her. They were waiting for instructions. She had always wanted to be a warrior in her father’s army. But now as they stood in the thick of things, stepping into pools of blood and over lifeless bodies, she suddenly realized her idea of war wasn’t as poetic.“We are going into the forest. Find the prince and princess,” she barked out and led them.Adalia bit down on her trembling jaw. She couldn’t show fear, not to her men. She held her sword in front of her as she tiptoed around the leafy forest. But when she heard the sound of a branch break underneath some
Last Updated : 2021-04-21BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER ELEVEN
He felt his body being pulled, but he didn’t know where to. He felt like he was in a daze and not completely in touch with his body. Archer opened his eyes and the sudden bright light was blinding, but all he could see were green leaves.His eyes weren’t doing him that much good, so Archer relied on his ears. He couldn’t hear any voice that he recognized. But what made him even more scared was that he couldn’t hear Adalia’s voice. The last thing he heard was her begging him to breathe and at the time he couldn’t. But now he seemed to be able to. He didn’t understand. Was he dead?It would explain the bright lights, the leafy green trees around him. But this couldn’t be heaven, his heaven was with Adalia. Archer tried to sit up but a hand forced him down. He saw something like a cloth cover his face. He tried to fight against it, but the darkness claimed him once more.***Adalia stood at her bedroom window. She hadn
Last Updated : 2021-04-22BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER ELEVEN (B)
Kicking, he had woken up from his insistent nightmare. He was back at the field fighting for him life. But the dream didn’t end with him being stabbed but Adalia. The dream always ended the same way, with him standing over Adalia’s withering body helpless. His heart was pounding as he shook and drowned in sweat. The dark terror of the dream writhed in his belly. Archer felt a dull ache in his side, followed by a sharp pain. His body was still weak but at least he could feel something. He lifted his body up on his elbows and looked around the room. There was nothing inside that hut that he recognized. Nothing in there looked like a place he would frequent. It looked like a poor man’s home. His bed was made out of straw and the ground was of pure dirt. He could smell everything from there, the dirt the different scents of flowers and food. A low grumble from his stomach affirmed it, he could smell food.He tried to sit up but the pain in his side was too m
Last Updated : 2021-04-23BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER ELEVEN (C)
“Lola, where is this?” he wasn’t sure what kind of answers she could offer him but he needed something.“Its home,” she chirped.“Of course it is,” he mumbled. “What else did you expect her to say? That it is the rebel headquarters.”At the corner of his eye he could see the same raven hair he always had in his thoughts and dreams. He stopped thinking, stopped breathing, and stopped time itself from intruding between one heart beat and the next. It was impossible. She was here; the love of his life was her. Without thinking he went for her, hobbling until he got to her. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “Ada- I’m sorry.”The hair was the same like hers and from the back she could pass off as Adalia. But her face wasn’t as glorious, wasn’t as perfect as the love of his life. Her lips were full but not red. Her skin wasn’t as white as snow but brown, she was beautif
Last Updated : 2021-04-24BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER TWELVE
Xander carried the tray of soup and bread into the dining room. But before he went in, he paused at the door, and added a little seasoning of his own. Adalia wouldn’t speak to him, so that meant they couldn’t get married. He had tried to be the gentleman and wait it out. His advances had been met with cold rejection and icy words. But this wasn’t going to fail him, he was sure of it.He picked the tray back up and marched into the dining room. “Sire, your snack,” he put it in front of Gabrielle and stood beside him as he watched him drink it.With each sip he took, Xander could feel himself get closer and closer to the throne room. A few more snacks like this and Gabrielle wouldn’t be a problem, and Adalia would be too weak to resist him anymore.***Adalia was staring at her diary. She hadn’t written anything in it since she was in the North. She didn’t feel inspired to write anything. The dark thought looming in h
Last Updated : 2021-04-25BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER TWELVE (B)
Archer fell back on his straw bed. He was getting dizzy from everything he had just found out. The soldier in him told him it was right to remain behind, wait to heal, find out more information before leaving. But the romantic in him wanted to burst through the South gates and protect Adalia. He couldn’t imagine who the mastermind behind all of this was, Conan or Xander; those were the only senior commanders he knew. His fists punched into his make shift bed as he let out a loud growl of frustration. He had never felt this useless in his life.After a labored supper he went to bed. Archer was back in the forest where Novia and Randi’s carriage had been ambushed. He had just gotten there with Adalia. He remembered sending her into the forest to look for his sister, then getting into the fight. Archer looked around as the fight came to life in his mind, he could see everyone there, Doran, Conan, Lionell and Gabrielle but there was one person he didn’t see. The f
Last Updated : 2021-04-26BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER THRITEEN
“What is wrong with father?” A fresh faced Adalia budged in her parent’s bedroom. She had heard that her father wasn’t well but she always thought it was a ploy to get her to come out of her room. But it wasn’t her siblings’ habit to use the same lie thrice. She sat next to her father on his bed and took his hand. “What’s wrong daddy?”Gabrielle grunted in pain when he tried to move. “I think I ate something bad.”“That can’t be it,” Liora paced around the room, her desperate fingers clawing through her hair. “It’s something else and I know it.”Adalia looked over at her mother and she knew exactly how she felt. “Don’t worry daddy, the healer will get something for you.”She jumped off the bed and signaled Conan to follow her outside. “Are you sure it’s not an assassination attempt?”“I’m not completely sure,&r
Last Updated : 2021-04-27BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER THIRTEEN (B)
“We will see about that,” Xander echoed in a low deliberate voice. “You have a strong will but so do wild horses, but they are broken and trained.”***Archer was struggling to lift his left hand for more than a minute. He needed it to hold his bow up. Frustrated he broke the wooden bow over his knee and tossed the pieces into the tree.“That is the fifth one in ten minutes,” Samson pointed out. “We might live in a forest, but I am afraid we will run out of trees before you can reel in your temper.”Archer kicked up the dust. “I can’t do this.”“Can’t is a word that a prince should not know,” he picked up his bow and handed it to Archer. “I love this bow. If you break it, I will shatter your other wing.”Archer handed it back to him. “I like having a functioning limb. You better take this back.”“Archer, this can’t be solved by a
Last Updated : 2021-04-28
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She slipped on her white dress and put the veil over her head. Adalia didn’t let her mother talk her into wearing her diamond tiara. She wanted to get married as she was, not as a state symbol but just as a girl. She waited outside the chapel doors her flowers in her hands. When the doors flew open she took one step at a time to the altar where Archer waited for her.He was in his royal attire, clean shaven, his hair cut short. He looked just like she had seen him the first time. Adalia thought about all the times that she could have lost him that this day seemed to be more like a dream than anything else. His face radiated a smile as she walked up to him. He was going to be her husband and she couldn’t be happier.Once they had taken their vows, Archer and Adalia ran to the balcony. She pulled off her veil and let her hair loose. Archer combed his fingers through her thick raven hair as it flew in the wind.“You want to fly with me?” he took off his jacket and tossed it on
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Xander felt like he had lost everything with Archer’s return. He went out to the palace gates and asked the rebels to fall back. He had a new plan. But this time he didn’t expect to come back after it was executed. He sent word to Archer and Adalia to meet him at the South gates. His need for power disappeared the second he walked into the chapel to find Archer and Adalia joined. Now all he wanted was revenge. Archer had robbed him of everything he wanted, while Adalia had watched and laughed in his face. Xander took several breaths to calm his unraveling nerves. He vowed to come out on top. They were going to regret ever mocking him.***“Are you sure about this?” Adalia knew Archer was more comfortable with leaving Adalia back safely at home while he faced Xander by himself. She knew something was up when the rebels suddenly pulled back. She had no doubt it was they did so under Xander’s instructions. “I don’t want you put in any
BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER SIXTEEN (B)
This wasn’t the wedding she wanted. It felt forced, unreal. But she couldn’t say no either. The rebels at the palace walls told her so. For the sake of her people she needed to commit to this shoddy matrimony. Maybe later she and Archer could have a real bonding ceremony.“I do,” the words left her lips without a thought. And in a second she was out of Conan’s arms and into Archer’s. She stared into his eyes as he looked down at her. His touch fired the senses, his voice as though drifting on a magical breeze as he said. “I love you.”“I love you too,” she didn’t sound as melodic as he did. Her voice came out as a bare whisper, hoarse and scratchy to the throat. But Archer didn’t seem to mind. The gentle pressure of his lips against hers rendered her mind senseless. There was no more thinking, all she was capable of was feeling and she loved each and every moment of it. When he pulled away, a tentative
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“Father,” Adalia smiled at him. She sat next to him on the bed and held onto his hand. “I don’t blame you. But I think that it would be best if I chose m own husband from now on.”“You are my little diamond, you know that right?” His palm cupped her face and Adalia leaned into it. “I would never make a decision that would harm you.”“I know daddy.”“Your highness,” Adalia turned just in time to see Conan send a way a guard that she never knew had joined them. Conan’s brow drew together in a formidable frown, as his fingers curled around the hilt of his sword. “The rebels have formed a front line, just outside the palace walls.”“And where is Xander? Adalia rose from the bed, and with three large strides she was at Conan’s side.“He is with the palace guards. Apparently he is forming a defensive line,” Adalia could see the doubt and disbelie
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Adalia drew in a long breath when Xander stopped in front of her. Her fingers curled around the hilt of the sword, ready to pull it out on command and relieve Xander of his head. Archer put his hand over hers reminding her of the plan. Her heart still frozen in her chest she bit into her lower lip and let out a long breath.“I need to speak to you,” Xander shot darts of hatred at Archer, every look in his eyes telling him to leave them.Archer wasn’t sure that Adalia would be able to keep her cool. He wasn’t sure she would be able to refrain herself from killing Xander right in the very spot he stood in. But he had to trust her. He excused them but didn’t go very far. He stood in a corner next to Samson.“What’s going on?” he asked when he saw the intense hatred Adalia was staring Xander down with.“I told her that it was Xander who tried to kill me, who wants to kill her father,” his eyes didn&rsq
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Xander was at the palace walls. He had one more contact in the palace he was sure wouldn’t let him down. He had to send word to the rebels outside the palace. He had to postpone his plan to attack because right now everyone was waiting for them. They needed to catch them by surprise, especially now that Archer had arrived with an army of his own.He was cursing Archer’s return, wishing that he had driven his blade a little further into his body, and then maybe he would have died. But he needed to get back to Adalia’s side, play the concerned fiancé and hopefully push their marriage through.***“Adalia are you sure you are up to this,” Lionell could see the exhausted look on her face and so could everyone else.“You need to get some sleep sister,” Randi held her up by her arm.“I’m fine,” she mumbled.“When was the last time you slept?” Archer spotted the dark rings under her
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“Archer?” Adalia asked a silent question that only he could answer.Unable to contain his feelings anymore, he rushed to her and held her tightly in his arms. At first she didn’t reciprocate the hug. He could feel her uncertainty, her fear. So he said. “Feel my heart beat for you. Fell my arms around you, my breath on your cheek,” he kissed her. “My kiss on your lips. I’m real and I am never going to leave you.”Adalia felt her body collapse. She tried to wrap her arms around him but she couldn’t. There was no strength left inside her feeble body and there was barely and breath left inside her soul. She felt her body give in and the darkness took her.Archer stared into her face. He was taken in by how peaceful she looked immobile. Without a single expression on her face, he could see her; her lips, her rosy cheeks and her still eyes. But his moment was cut into when Xander appeared.“What did you do to
BRED FOR DUTY CHAPTER FIFTEEN (B)
Adalia walked out of her room, she didn’t wait for the royal band to serenade her, or for the flowers to be laid in her path. She matched out in her dress, without any make up or jeweler. She held her hair in a ponytail and placed her tiara on top of her head.“Adalia?” her mother asked her eyes wide in terror.“Let’s get this over with mother,” she walked into the chapel. She saw Xander waiting for her and she marched down the aisle. As people stood up and started clapping she shushed them. “Stop, sit down let’s get this over and done with.”The room fell silent as she made her way to the alter. “Xander.”“Adalia, you look beautiful.”“Liar,” she stood next to him, half paying attention to everything the priest said half wanting a wind to blow through the palace and blow her away.“Princess would you like to make your vows to Xander,” the priest asked.
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Liora found her daughter sitting next to the window as the first ray of sunlight slithered into her room. She didn’t look like she had had a wink of sleep.“Do you want to take a nap first?” She took her by the shoulders and led her to the bed.“Just five minutes, then I have to get married to Archer,” she moaned.“Xander,” her mother corrected.“Yes Xander,” Adalia pulled the covers over her head and closed her eyes.***Archer, Samson and a couple of men from the colony hid in the bushes outside the palace walls. They had been waiting there the whole night. At first they had planned to invade the castle in the dark but their numbers were nothing compared to the place guards that marched and flew over and around the palace walls.They slept outside, but Archer couldn’t sleep. His arms itched for Adalia especially since she was only a few footsteps away from her. Being so close he felt his
