Chapitre 8: Chapter 6
Throughout the night, I woke up from the pain. The first two times, the prince was still there, but eventually he left as the night progressed. The next morning, I woke up with a gentle throb in my arm. I wasn't going to let this stop me.
After slowly getting dressed, I make my way to the dining room. As I enter, I feel the prince's gaze on me. I ignore is as I walk to my usual spot. Zander greets me with a good morning and examines my arm.
"Two days in and you've already got a battle wound," he says with a chuckle.
"Well it's not really my fault," I argue defensively. "The prince wasn't being careful."
"Okay okay. I was just joking around."
We have a nice conversation as we finish breakfast. Once everyone is done, the prince stands up to make his announcements.
"Today, we will be heading of the archery ranges," he starts.
A murmur passes through the crowd as he announces this. Most of the stronger men don't look too enthusiastic. I, on the other hand, am ecstatic. While I love sword fighting, archery has always had it's own place in my heart. As this thought comes to mind, my joy is immediately dampened when I remember my injury. I don't think that I'll be able to pull the string back easily without a lot of pain or ruining the stitches.
"While many of you will be swordsmen, all skills will be useful at some point in life," he continues. "You are dismissed. Iris, may I talk to you for a moment?"
Everyone gets up and heads out. I head to where the prince is and bow slightly.
"Yes, your highness?" I say.
"I hope that you have come to the realization, that you will not be able to train for a few days; perhaps even a week," he says.
"Yes, your highness."
"By instructions of the nurse, you are to remain in bed this first day and keep it still so that it can heal."
When he says this, I immediately protest. "No! I'm not just going to lie in bed all day. It's only the third day! I refuse to do nothing."
The prince chuckles weakly and runs his hand through his jet black hair. "I thought you might say something like that. Perhaps I can bend the rules a little bit."
He calls a servant to bring a chair outside to the archery grounds. Then he leads me outside. On the way there, my arm begins to ache again. As the pain gets worse, sweat drops down my forehead. The prince glances over at me and I see a slight change in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"I'm fine," I say as I wince a little bit.
"It doesn't look like it."
"I'm I said."
At that he goes silent and we make it to the training grounds. There I take a seat in the chair that was provided. I breathe a sigh of a relief as the pain subsides a little bit. Who knew that just walking could hurt your arm. I watch as the prince instructs the men on how to properly shoot an arrow. Most men already know how to.
As they shoot the targets, I notice a couple of men who just can't shoot it right. This begins to bother me and continue to watch until I can't handle it anymore. Standing up, I walk over to the first man. The prince also walks up to me and whispers in my ear, "What are you doing?"
"What you aren't," I reply.
"What do you mean?"
"It's so clear that some of these men have no idea what they're doing, and yet you just stand around acting like nothing is wrong. After all, you said yourself that at some point in you life you'll need these skills."
He sighs and motions for me to continue. I show the struggling man how to properly hold the bow and give him some tips. When he releases, the arrow flies into the edge of the target with a thunk. Grinning, the man gives me a thumbs up. I smile back at him.
"See?" I say to the prince with a smirk.
He just shakes his head but I can see the smile in his eyes. After I repeat this with the other men, I return to my seat. I fiddle with a stick until I get sick of doing nothing. I grab my own bow and a stack of arrows and head to an empty target. Despite my protesting arm, I shoot five arrows straight into the center of the target. I continue with this until I realize that people have stopped to watch me. I stop and realize what I have done.
Some of my arrows split the other ones straight down the middle. One man begins to clap and others join in. I jokingly bow and grin. But then I see the prince's face. He looks disappointed. I walk back to my seat and the others resume their own work.
"Why?" I hear the prince say.
"Why what?" I reply innocently.
"You were given specific instruction not to do anything. You're lucky you even got to come out here!"
"Why do you care so much?"
"Because your arm needs to heal!"
I look up into his eyes and see his disappointment. But mixed in with that, I see genuine concern. He sighs and runs his finger through his hair.
"You know I have to punish you for this," he says.
I look down and nod my head. "I'm sorry," I say.
"Tomorrow, you must stay in your room like instructed. You may not even join us for meal times.
"But-" I protest.
"No. You will learn to do as I say."
With this he walks away. The rest of the day is uneventful. I just continue to watch the men. Eventually, we return to the dining room. Tonight we're having stew. I also notice that the prince is absent. I'm eating peacefully as I notice one of the men getting up with his bowl of stew and walking towards me. This particular man has always made me uncomfortable. Often, he gazes at me angrily and jealously.
"How's the prince's pet doing?" He asks in a rude tone. I continue eating.
"Think you're too good to answer me?"
At this I glance up and recoil when I see the deep hatred in his eyes. By this time, the room has gone silent and everyone is watching. Then all of a sudden, he dumps his large, almost full, bowl of stew on me.
A couple of guys stand up and grab the man. "Hey what did you do that for?" One of them says.
At this time the prince walks in. Immediately, the commotion stops. The prince sees me covered in stew and yells, "What the hell is going on?!"
"Your highness," one of the men starts, "Nathaniel here decided to attack lady Iris."
"Is this true?" The prince asks me.
I bow my head and nod.
"Guards! Take this man and send him home immediately," the prince says. "Iris, you are excused."
I get up and walk to my room. There I clean up the best I can and sit on the bed. I'm so mad at myself. I showed off earlier and now someone is being punished for it. Sighing, I decide that I should call it a night. I lay under the blankets where sleep overtakes me.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone