CHAPTER THREE

"So, what's your name?"

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"It's Bryan,your highness"He bowed.

"Hmm,Bryan" She nodded "So, that's your name"

"So, Bryan, what are your skills"Brenda wanted to ask but she felt she should ask him to sit first.

She didn't want him to get a bad impression of her - Her brother,she corrected herself.

"Have a sit" She said politely

"I don't think I should -"

"Sit" She commanded

She didn't mean to use that tone but she had to.

He sat and faced her.

"So,what are your skills" She finally asked

"I'm a good swordsman and a good archer" Bryan said.

"You're a good archer?" She asked to be sure of what she heard and he nodded.

Brenda had been a big fan of archery since her childhood days and had wanted to learn it but her father refused and also stopped her from learning it.

This was an opportunity for her to learn it and there was no way she would let this opportunity pass her by even if it meant Bryan would be around her all the time.

"Can you... teach me how to arch?" She asked him.

"I can. But your highness, you're a very good archer"

"That's my brother not me" Brenda would have said if she wasn't keeping a secret of pretending to be her brother - The king

Okay, this was the time to speak like a king.

The time to use the tone she used in asking him to sit.

He had to teach her how to arch.

He must.

"Are you saying you can't teach me?" She asked

"If you were to be one of the kingdom army's leader,you would be required to lead others who are older than you and also teach those who are twice as old as you are . Are you saying you can't handle such responsibility?" She said,staring intently at him.

"Your highness,I can but - "

"Good, we'll start tomorrow" She stood and walked towards the door

Bryan followed behind.

He was confused.

The king was a good archer and he had seen the king arch severally during battles when he was still a prince.

Then,why would the king want to learn from him?

He should be the one learning from the king or was this part of the tests the king talked about?

<KING'S ROOM>

Brenda entered her brother's room and laid on the bed,there was nothing else for her to do that day except if there was a case of emergency in which the king was needed.

She loosened her hair and swung it in the air satisfactorily.

She let out a sigh of relief after taking off her clothes.

She went to put on the clothes she wore to her brother's room the previous day.

Being a king was tough; Even the dressing was complicated.

She couldn't even breath properly in the clothes she put on earlier

"You'll have to get used to it Brenda" She said to herself.

Shane finally found his way out of the jungle and into another kingdom.

Immediately he set foot into the kingdom,he was captured and taken to the palace dungeon.

He would have fought back but he didn't expect to be taken captive and he didn't want them to think he came there for a bad purpose.

"So,you came to spy on our kingdom?" One of the men who captured him said.

"No,I just came to look for my mother" Shane said.

"And what would your mother be doing here" Another man asked.

"He's lying, he's a spy"

"We don't welcome strangers. You're going to regret ever stepping foot into this kingdom" A huge man walked in and said.

Shane recognized the voice!

<NEXT DAY>

Brenda was finally going to learn how to arch.

She woke up that morning feeling really excited.

She took her bath and dressed like a king as usual.

But first,before anything,she had to water her mother's rose garden.

<ROSE GARDEN>

Bryan watched as the king watered the flowers gracefully.

He never knew the king loved flowers so much and also cared about them so much.

The way he hummed his song and watered the flowers was beautiful.

"When do we start?" Brenda asked after she was done watering the flowers.

"Whenever you want, your highness" Bryan bowed.

"I'll go get the bows and arrows"

"I'll go your highness" Bryan said and left before she could say another word.

It wasn't long after he left that he came back with two bows and some arrows.

"This way" Brenda said and led him to a field that wasn't far from the rose garden.

"Just so you know, I'll be acting like I have no knowledge about archery, I'll act like an amateur and you're to see me as such and teach me to be really good" She said in order to justify how she was going to act during the archery lessons.

She was an amateur but was pretending to be the king and the king Bryan knew was the one skilled in archery.

She wanted to clarify that without having to expose her secret.

"So,how do I..." She picked up a bow and an arrow trying to fix it together so she could aim at the target.

"Let me" Bryan picked up the second bow and an arrow."Impressive" Brenda said when his arrow hit the middle of the target.

She raised up her bow and arrow again and tried to do it the way he did it but she missed her target.

She frowned

"How come I missed it? I did it the way you did it" She said freely,forgetting she was supposed to speak like a king.

She found it easy not to forget speaking like a king when she was with others but something about this Bryan of a guy was making her feel carefree with him.

While still thinking about these,she suddenly felt someone stand behind her.

Very close.

Brenda could feel his masculine body pressed gently against hers and his strong hands on hers.

Bryan raised her hands gently,trying to show her how to do it without missing the target.

She didn't know why but she suddenly felt shy and awkward.

She blushed but concentrated on the target so he wouldn't see her face which had already turned pink.

Bryan held the king's hand not too tight and made the king release the arrow.

The arrow didn't hit the middle but Brenda didn't miss the target.

She smiled and turned to face him.

Their eyes locked for a while.

Bryan cleared his throat and moved away from the king.

The king's eyes were enchanting.

How could he think the king's eyes were enchanting?.

His brain taunted him.

His mind also went back to when he touched the king's hands;The king's hands were soft and -

"You're here to prove yourself worthy Bryan and not to notice things about the king" He told himself.

Brenda didn't know why she turned to look at him but she liked that she did.

His eyes were so captivating,daring,bold and sure.

Shane couldn't sleep.

He was trying to remember where he had heard the voice of the man who spoke to him last the previous day before.

He was sure he had heard that voice before but he couldn't remember where.

He was still trying to remember when two guards came in.

"It is time" They both said.

"Time?Time for what?" He asked.

TBC...✍️