A Guardian's Fate (Book #2)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Elouise giggled. "One of the best things about me, you say? And, if I may ask, what are the other things?" She then started laughing like she wasn't seriously expecting him to answer.

Maybe he was still slightly stuck in the feeling of her hand in his because he said, without any hesitation, "Yer smile."

Elouise immediately froze and gaped at him.

Eldon pulled out an arrow from his quiver. "And that you don't give up easily." He handed it to her, and she blinked hard before taking it.

Then she got it ready for shooting. He moved aside, instructing her to aim for the tree as usual.

She drew the string back and held it in place as she glanced over at him. "I suppose I should say that I like your smile as well. Perhaps you should show it more often. It certainly makes for great motivation."

Eldon held his breath and couldn't move.

Had he heard her correctly?

Elouise released the arrow and he forced himself to look away to see where it struck. Despite being a little too close to the ground, she turned to him with a proud smile. 

Eldon gave her another arrow. She struck it nearly the same. They repeated the process until Elouise had managed to hit the tree a little closer to the center. He then took back his bow and arrows, and he unsheathed his sword for her.

While she tried twirling the sword—and dropping it each time—Eldon got himself ready with his shield. Elouise turned to him and asked him what he was doing.

"I want you to come at me," he told her.

"Oh, no. You are going to easily deflect my every move and make me envious at how quick you are."

"Am I gonna deflect yer every move?" Eldon raised an eyebrow. "Guess that just depends. You might surprise yerself and find out yer faster than me."

"Doubtful." But Elouise got into position, leaving a fair space between them for her to charge.

Neither of them moved for a moment.

Eldon squinted at her. "Whenever yer—" Then she went for it. He managed to block her downward strike, and she jumped back.

Elouise glanced to the left. He could read her next move and stopped it before she was even halfway into it. This frustrated her, he could tell. She wrinkled her nose and then her knuckles paled as she gripped the sword tighter.

"You make it too obvious," he told her. "Don't look directly at where yer gonna strike."

Elouise nodded and took a deep breath. She didn't move, and he watched as the lines between her brows deepened and softened a few times. Then she clenched her teeth and grunted as she ran at him. She was going for a horizontal strike, he figured. But then she abruptly spun to her right. And he still managed to dodge her blow.

Elouise spun back around, aiming for his left. He'd been ready for that, too.

And that fueled her. He could sense it from the way she huffed and narrowed her gaze.

Instead of taking another break to rethink, Elouise continued rapidly striking his shield. And as her impacts increased and shortened the distance between them, Eldon started moving backwards, leading them toward the tree.

Elouise eventually created a steady rhythm with her attacks.

Up.

Across from left, then right.