Moon Blessed

Chapter 11 ~ Right and Wrong Options

    If there was one thing Nikolai hated, it was standing still, and that's what he'd been doing for the past two hours. A heavy length of yarn was stretched and wrapped around his extended wrists while his mother rolled it into a neat ball.

    As long as Nikolai could remember, this had been one of his many household tasks. When they were children, he and Volya took turns helping their mother, but after Volya began training as a guard, he no longer had the time.

    "Stop fidgeting," Maria scolded, not looking up from her work. "I swear you get worse every time we do this."

    "I'm bored," Nikolai muttered. "Not that I don't enjoy helping you, but there are other things I could be doing."

    "Like what? You aren't needed at the palace today, and I know for a fact that Mischa and Yuri are working late." Maria glanced up, catching his eye. Her gaze was a mirror image of his own, a deep, rich brown flecked by amber. "And you are forbidden from seeing the Princess."

    "You don't have to remind me."

    That fact was grating against him worse every day. He hadn't been able to see Nastasia since sneaking her out of the palace almost a week ago. She'd been kept occupied with lessons and meetings while he was busy running errands and seeing to the horses of arriving Knights from across Nyctoli. There were only a few days left before the Knights set out for Blod, where the tournament would begin.

    Nikolai straightened as the door opened and Volya crossed the threshold. He came no closer, but stood beside the door and watched them. "Are we needed for something?" Maria asked. That was the only reason Volya ever came home during the day. Otherwise, he was constantly on duty. Nikolai was surprised he even bothered to come home and sleep.

    "No. I came to collect some things."

    "What things?" Nikolai asked.

    "Clothes, weapons and tools, and my armor."

    An icy sensation clawed through Nikolai's chest as he realized what his brother was saying. He went utterly still, staring at Volya through narrowed eyes. "You entered the tournament."

    "I did."

    "Why?" He practically spat the word. "Why would you even bother? You don't care about Nastasia. You've had nothing to do with her beyond what duty dictates since you became a guard."

    "I'm a member of the Order of Knights. It's my duty to fight for the Princess, be it on the battlefield or in a tournament."

    The ice filling his veins melted in his rage. Nikolai dropped the yarn and stormed towards Volya, but Maria caught him by the wrist. "What if you win the tournament, Brother? Will you marry her for duty's sake? Do you think she'll thank you for it?"

    "Better she marry me than some Andrian bastard."

    "And what about me? Do you think I could bear to see her married to you?"

    Volya's coppery eyes sparked with irritation. "This isn't about you, Nikolai. None of it is. What you think and feel matters not."

    "And if you were anyone else, I'd remember that. I'd shut my mouth and bear it in silence, but you aren't someone else. You are you. You are my brother, and you know I love her!" Nikolai wrenched free of Maria and pointed an accusing finger at Volya. "I don't give a shit what your duty is or isn't. You have no right to..."

    "I think you'll find I do," Volya interrupted. "Because unlike you, I chose to become a guard. I chose to work towards knighthood, and here I am. Captain of the Guards, and a member in the Order of Knights. I have every right to enter the tournament and I will. You could too if you'd just listened to Father."