Impossible to Love (Book 1 of The Starlite Heart)

The Trap

King Suffle waved a parchment at Sophie. "Look at that. We have a schedule."

Sophie looked at it and exclaimed, "Another month? Aren't we all prepped enough?" She pointed at the arena which they had built for the tournament. "The discussions already took a whole month," she pouted.

"Think about the weather. Even though we have had clear skies for quite some time, the rains are not over yet. We don't want our wins to be spoiled by a little water now, do we?"

"I guess." Sophie shrugged.

Sophie took the parchment and read it more thoroughly. The tournament was to last for seven days. Most of the events were scheduled to take place on the grounds. "So that most people can see," the king explained. But there were some events that could take place only on the participants' terrain. Those events were to be held simultaneously on alternate days.
Sophie had no interest in events like arrow-aim, fast-fly or fist-fight. She didn't even read the events for humans and nymphs. Her eyes were on the prize for swordskill.

"Well it certainly gives me more time to practice." Sophie had won the internal compitition of swordskill among the starlite females.

"Me too," the king replied with a smile. He had won the same among the males. He wasn't satisfied with his win because his son had refused to take part in the compitition citing his inability to procure any spare time in the midst of the preparations. The truth, that everybody knew, was that he considered such things to be beyond his station. Sophie could swear that she had seen him smile when Princess Mishty had lost her fight.

"I'm pleased with the arrow-aim tryouts yesterday. Even the fighters are good."

"I wanted to ask Your Majesty about the names. Can't we just call it archery and wrestling? The fighters are going to use more than their fists."

"The idea came from Peshtim." The king showed his palms. "The names apparently make the war tactics feel like tournament events."

"But fast-fly? What's wrong with race?"

"Speaking of that, I'm disappointed that our fastest flier will not be participating."

"Why? What happened to Berta?" Berta was the royal messenger and the fastest starlite Sophie knew.

"No, she'll be representing us at the tournament. But there is someone faster than her."

"Sulphur is not faster than..." Sophie's eyes flickered to the past, but before its shadow could reach her face, she flicked it off. "There's nothing to be done there," she said with as much composure as she could muster.

Suffle ignored the redness of her nose and continued, “I’m just fed up of these boys, Dai is too busy, Neal is too busy. How are we supposed to win anything?”

His attempt to change the subject succeeded. “Prince Neal is not participating?”

“No, and he could have participated in anything; fist-fight, swordskill, and even,” Suffle paused, “I can’t remember… the thing that the humans use for travel, what is it called?”

"Horses?"

"Yeah, horseriding. But what can we do.” He waved his hand. “You seem to have learned quite a bit about the humans."

"Not as much as I would have liked."

"Then you should meet more humans."

"I don't know that many."

“Have you ever met the empress?”

Sophie’s ears tingled. She was warned about it. “Yes, but not properly.”