Leh and Niya made their way to the duel ground their swords strapped at their sides.
Niya took out her sword from its sheath. It was recently polished and glinted in the sunlight. The sword not just any sword. It was made by the best smith in the whole empire. It was an honor to get a sword made by that very smith as he was known for his eccentric nature and made swords for people, he only deemed fit to hold the swords he made. Even the crown prince did not have one. But Leh did.
Instead of taking out his sword from its sheath Leh takes out a long piece of black silk cloth and raises it to tie around his eyes. Niya stops him while the cloth is still in his hands.
"What are you doing?"
"Preparing to spar?" He asked as if it was obvious.
"I was not informed we were going to spar blind." Niya was not prepared for this.
"Not we, I am going to spar blindfolded."
"That is not fair. It is against the rules, you should have informed." It was a rule to take permission from your opponent if you want to add elements to your fight and it should be done at least two weeks prior, then the instructor is to be informed too.
After a decree from the royal army is to be signed by both parties stating that they agree to this.
"It is neither unfair nor against the rules. The 345th page of the duel rule says that the increase the difficulty of the spar for himself if a person wants to add a disability element example blindness, or using one hand only. He shall be allowed to do so without the need to inform any of the authorities."
As Leh said that the instructor nodded at his assistant to check whether it is true or not. Niya did not need to wait for the instructor to affirm that it was true she already knew it was.
At that moment Niya realized that she was stuck. If she wins it will not be a glorious one as Leh had to fight blind. If she loses that would be an insult to her because even when Leh was blind he still managed to win. And withdrawing is out of option as it was mandatory and would be considered cowardly.
Before she could think more, the instructor yelled.
"The second prince is right, so without any further ado start the fight."
With the defeat, Niya decided to fight like she normally would have done if Leh was not blind.
The fight started Niya used Leh's blindness to her advantage. She made very few sounds when she moves and swung her sword at him. But, Leh did not hold the position of the best warrior through luck. He listened to the lightest sounds she made and how the wind rustled or the air cut off with the moment of her sword.
The match was the most fascinating one till now nay knights had ever seen. They all focused on from the sidelines and did not even make a sound. Leh managed to make an almost fatal moment with his sword but Niya saved herself at the last moment. Niya managed to make a cut on his upper bicep and it started bleeding but the match was not over yet. Leh smiled at the wound and swung his sword. Even with the blindfold on Leh was able to do as good as seventy-five percent of how well he usually fought.
Niya realized this too. And she felt ashamed because it was stupid of her to ever try to compare herself to the prince. Ralph was right, Leh is practically a monster. Niya felt defeated and angry, So, she took out her anger on the match and after a lot of struggles surprisingly won.
Leh fell to the ground panting, his sword thrown away. He took off the silk cloth from his eyes and smiled at Niya standing in front of him panting. Niya looked at his face and felt angrier and angrier. She sheathed her sword back at her side.
"Niya of the general's household won and the second prince was defeated. Niya will move to the next rank."
"No, I will not, the duel rule page 207th page states that a knight who has a ranking of ten or higher can deny moving up a rank." Saying this Niya left without doing her usual ritual of giving pointers to the new admissions of the academy who took part in duels.
Leh realized too late that Niya might not be happy with the win. So, immediately got up and followed her.
Niya swiftly walked across the academy to do the jungle behind. She did not head towards the stables as she did not want to go home and let her father know that she was distressed. When she was quite far off the training grounds the people started to thin out as most of them were still there.
Leh noticed that Niya had reached the entrance of the jungle and now they had enough privacy that they could talk called her name,
"Niya! Niya!"
Niya ignored him and kept on walking. Leh jogged up to her and asked,
"What happened Niya? You won, what else is bothering you?"
That was it Niya snapped,
"I won, you say, huh?" she walked toward Leh instead of walking ahead. They were already in the jungle and nobody was around.
Leh noticed that Niya was fuming with anger and a storm was brewing in her eyes.
"Yes, you won, what else do you want?" Leh asked still patient.
"Are you stupid? I want to win but fairly." She shouted at him.
Leh had enough so he started walking toward while her talking too,
"Do you have any idea? How hard I have been trying to make you happy? Or to make you see that it would be much better if you train with me? You know the way to become stronger yet you still deny it because of your vain pride. You practice day and night as if you really want to become more powerful and win from me. But Niya you and I, both know that the only way to win is by learning from me. And I thought you might finally see the reason if you won once. So, I came up with this method because even, if I played using less of y power it would still appear to you as unfair. So, tell me Niya Wrlno, what else do you want me to do?
With every word Leh spoke he took a step forward in Niya's direction and she took two steps back. Until her back was against the tree and her front was pressed against Leh.
Suddenly she felt a knife against her neck and she did not even realize when Leh placed it there,
"You are so out of your element. You should be ashamed Niya. And even then, one day as the order of knight you will go to the battlefield, there will be no time to feel ashamed as one rookie mistake and you will die. So, for your own sake, it is better to learn. What will you do with your pride if you are not even alive?"
Niya was still panting with her anger or was it something else? Whatever it was Leh felt it too. And he knew what he felt. It was tempting to have his way with Niya. Nobody was around and there would be no one to witness it too.
Leh noticed the faint flowery fragrance that seemed to always cling to Niya. How her pupils were dilated and how she deliciously responded to his closeness.
Leh put his fingers through her hair from his left hand and tilted her head in a way that his mouth was against her ear.
Leh then whispered,
"Do you feel what I feel Niya? Or have I finally gone crazy?"
Niya shivered against Leh as she felt his hot breath brush her ear shell. And then Leh bit her ear shell delicately. Niya's knees went weak, she almost fell if it was not for the tree supporting her back.
Niya did not know who made the first move. All she could notice was that Leh's mouth was against hers. Their breathing is hard. Leh was gripping her hair to move her to his desire. Her arms looped around his shoulders pulling him impossibly closer. They were kissing if it could be even called that. His lips were brushing hard against hers all anger he had towards her stubbornness. He bit Niya's lower lip and she let out a whimper. He licked as if to soothe the pain and then went back to punish her with the most tantalizing kiss ever.
Niya herself was not far behind she too took out her anger and frustration of the years. The kiss was nothing sweet or soft. It was burning and anger the kind that made your blood rush and made you forget that anything existed beyond the touch and feel of the person against you.
Leh forcefully inserted his tongue in Niya's mouth and took all the sweetness he could and dominated her body. While Niya's eyes were closed Leh kept his open.
If Niya had opened her eyes now, she would have noticed the way Leh was trying to capture every expression she made. He even noted how Niya enjoyed the way he dominated her mouth.
The moment was broken when they heard a twig snap and then Niya tried to shove Leh. Leh himself moved away but still held her hair which was a mess now in his grip. He took her upper lip in his mouth and sucked on it and then kissed the corner of her lips.
While he did all of this, Niya noted three things. One, the way Leh looked at her right now scared her. He looked at her so intensely and for the first time, she felt like what ladies claimed about Leh having eyes that could suck anyone in and trap them there forever might be true. Because at that moment to her it felt like that is what exactly Leh is planning on doing with her.
Second, the thing that made her heart beat faster was that she noticed that even while they were kissing Leh was holding a knife against her neck but he did not even scratch her.
Third, the thing that warmed her heart was that the prince was bleeding and injured from their fight, but he still came to look for her first when he noted that she was upset, instead of going to get medical attention.
Without saying anything else Leh, there is a limit to how hard he can work on trying to prepare Niya for a battle that will eventually fall upon their empire when the current emperor dies.