Annushka watches him carefully as he steps back and sheathes his blade. That brief apology tells her more than the duel itself. It was not a sigh of weakness, nor shame, rather he was in perfect control of the power within him, truly admirable.
That kind of control was forged only through long struggle.
For a moment, her gaze lingers on him in silence, as though trying to look past the composed king and glimpse whatever storm he keeps chained beneath the surface. She recognizes it more easily than most people would. Warriors who carried darkness rarely mistook it in others.
Still, she does not press.
Instead, Annushka lowers her own greatsword with a slow exhale before resting its massive weight against her shoulder. The tension finally leaves her posture, though the flush of exertion still warms her cheeks beneath the cold night air.
“You need not apologize,” she says at last, voice calmer now. “If anything, I would be insulted had you treated me delicately.”
A faint smirk touches her lips.
“I did challenge a king renowned for surviving battlefields.”
With practiced ease, she reaches behind herself and secures the greatsword across her back. Only once it is fastened does she truly seem to relax. The severe knight from moments ago softens into something more human beneath the moonlight.
At his mention of retiring for the evening, Annushka actually hesitates.
Duty tells her to agree immediately. Rest. Preparation. Discipline. Tomorrow mattered.
But another part of her the part still alive from the clash of steel and the rare exhilaration of meeting an equal finds herself reluctant to simply walk away.
Her eyes drift briefly toward the quiet night around them before returning to Hikari.
“…Probably,” she admits, though the word comes slower than expected. Then, after a small pause she would add “Though I confess… it has been a long while since I have enjoyed another warrior’s company this much.”
The honesty seems to surprise even her slightly. She clears her throat softly afterward, composure returning in measured layers.
“But you are correct. A Sacred Guard knight who stumbles into tomorrow exhausted would be an embarrassment to her order.” she adds with small hint of dry humor there now.
Still, Annushka doesn’t immediately turn to leave. Instead she steps closer not intimately, but comfortably within conversation range now that the battle tension is gone.
“When this business is concluded,” she says, her expression carrying quiet certainty, “I would like a rematch.” A small glint appears in her blue eyes again.
“And next time, Your Majesty… do not hold back quite so much.”
areudirty
2087
tangentwithtanner
