15 Fame And Fortune

Now that Daisy knew what Rukelion was planning on doing (to a point), he was able to practice his sword drills back on the farm at night. She watched them curiously from a nearby hay bale where she sat with her chin resting on her knees.

When he finished and set the sword that had once belonged to Barry down, he wiped his sweaty bangs off his forehead since no one else was around. She was already aware of his eyes.

"Where did you learn all that?" she asked.

"From some mercenaries camped not far from here," he confessed, figuring it wouldn't hurt to tell her now that they were so close to leaving. "I wanted to get stronger before I joined the army so I didn't get stuck in the lowest rank forever. I've heard it's difficult to advance if you only learn the basic skills they teach you in their training."

If the Mirean Royal Army was anything like the Katalyan one, new recruits were sorted based on their skills. He needed to get into an elite squadron from the beginning if he ever wanted a chance to do anything worthy of being noticed by the king.

He also needed the chance to fight against strong opponents to continue honing his skills if he wanted to take the royal family and all of their guards down by himself. Ideally, he would be able to seamlessly integrate his sword skills and his magic rather than solely relying on one or the other.

Now that he wasn't going to be spending so much time training with the mercenaries leaving town, he would have more time to work on that aspect of things. His magic had grown leaps and bounds over the last couple of years but he still wasn't sure if it would be enough to destroy his enemies.

Daisy tilted her head and regarded him curiously. "Why do you want to advance so badly?"

"Fame and fortune," Rukelion told her, though that was but a small part of it.

He needed both of those things so he could buy himself some allies and a way into the castle. Appearing trustworthy was absolutely crucial for him to execute his plan.

"Do you need those things to regain what you lost?" she asked with a small frown.

He was confused for a moment before it hit him. That was what he had told her about what he wanted out of life. He was able to truthfully tell her yes since they were vital to his plan to take over this kingdom and see those murderers punished.

Daisy's frown grew more pronounced. She seemed troubled by this but he wasn't sure why.

"Are you worried about me getting hurt?" Rukelion asked. "Because I'm strong. I can beat all but four of the mercenaries and they've been training much longer than me."

"Well, there is that but I was thinking that you're probably going to forget all about me once you've made a name for yourself," she confessed as she twisted a lock of hair around her finger. A nervous tic of hers that she only did when she was truly bothered by something.

His spirits lifted. If she was worried about that, it was a good sign for him, wasn't it? Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult getting her to fall in love with him after all. He smiled warmly at her and spoke softly.

"Hey. I could never in a thousand years forget you, Daisy. Promise."

Daisy wasn't convinced. She drew her knees tighter to her chest and wouldn't meet his eyes. Perhaps he needed to be a bit more assertive than usual to prove his point. He truly wouldn't ever be able to forget her even if he was dead.

Rukelion set his sword down and sat beside her. He hesitated only a moment before putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her slightly closer to him.

"I mean it. I'm not leaving forever. I swear on the fire within me that I'm going to come back for you."

That was the most serious promise a fire mage could make. As long as he was alive, he would return to the farm or send for her wherever he ended up. Because he loved her. He couldn't deny that anymore and hadn't been able to for a while.

Daisy was all he had left. The one bit of goodness after his entire world was snatched away from him in an instant. He hadn't thought he was good enough for her and, truthfully, he probably wasn't but he was strong now. He would protect her no matter what happened and would do whatever it took to keep her by his side as long as it fit into his plans.

He loved her and if things were different…if he wasn't the prince of a fallen kingdom who owed it to his family and countrymen to take revenge…he would stay on this farm forever. Working and laughing together with her wasn't such a bad life.

She deserved better though. Maybe when he became king of Mirea, he could have her be put in charge of the royal gardens. He was sure she would do a great job considering her encyclopedic knowledge of flowers.

"On the fire within you?" Daisy asked curiously as she turned to look at him.

"A fire mage's oath," Rukelion told her. "Do you believe me now? No matter how rich or famous I become, I'm coming back for you, Daisy."

A tiny smile appeared on her face. "I suppose I can't doubt an oath coming from someone like you. Why would you do that though? If you could get what you wanted, there wouldn't be a reason to come back here."

It was on the tip of his tongue to say it was because he loved her but he couldn't. That might backfire on him terribly. He could be honest without telling the whole truth.

"You're the only person I care about anymore. Why wouldn't I want to see you again?"

"I suppose that makes sense," Daisy replied in an unfathomable tone.

What was she thinking? For all their conversations, she never did say much about her true feelings. They were alike in that way.

He got the sense she wasn't nearly as carefree as she appeared. Someone or something had hurt her but he wasn't entirely sure what. He wished she would tell him but couldn't fault her for keeping secrets considering how many he was still keeping from her.

He hadn't even told her his real name despite the fact that she had revealed hers. The only reason he felt comfortable telling her the truth about his fire magic was because she knew nothing about magic, Mirea, or any of the surrounding nations.

Daisy wouldn't know about the fall of Katalya or how members of the royal family were the only ones with fire powers since they were so rare. Only people who carried on specific bloodlines could wield magic. Wherever she came from must be impossibly far away for her not to know that but he could sense no guile in her eyes when she said they didn't have magic in her home country.

That raised the question of how she had gotten here in the first place. Mirea was completely land locked. It would make more sense for her to have ended up in a country like Katalya that bordered the sea.

Rukelion didn't know what else he could say to reassure her so he simply rubbed her arm comfortingly. It seemed to be working because after a while she leaned her head against his shoulder.

It was highly tempting to kiss the top of her head but that would be crossing a line and he knew it. He contented himself with the simple closeness. This was far better than nothing.

They stayed there for a while before getting back to their chores. Daisy was the first to hop up and gave him a sad attempt at her usual smile. "Come on then. We have work to do. Impressive as your sword skills are, they won't help us gather berries."

Raspberries were pretty fragile so they had to be careful with them. Rather than tossing them into the basket, they had a contest for who could fill theirs the fastest while gently placing them there the way they usually did.

Rukelion won but barely. Daisy didn't seem terribly happy about it either so he told her to toss one at him and he caught it in his mouth to make her laugh. It worked and she insisted on trying again, wanting to see how many he could do in a row. His previous record was five.

She laughed and clapped her hands in delight every time he managed to catch one and, with that sort of encouragement spurring him on, he broke his record and made it all the way up to nine. He took a bow afterward and that made her laugh even harder to his relief. She had always been easy to cheer up.