45 Gary

Siv takes her time to get ready and walk to training. It doesn't feel dreadful today, on the contrary, she is actually excited to train. The reason is that Erling is not there, and she is not going to be there for the next week or so. The captain accompanied the prince on his trip to the East.

"What a beautiful day." Siv exclaims as she stretches.

She does her laps first, all seventeen of them. She promises herself to at least do one extra lap tomorrow. Even if she is unsupervised, training is for her own good and nobody else's.

'I have to do my best.'

She moves to the training hall and starts her sword drills. Thankfully there is nobody around today because a lot of soldiers left with the prince. Siv feels even more comfortable since she doesn't have to be self conscious about every single one of her moves.

She starts with a straight up lung and repeats it for a hundred times. Then she moves to working on her redoublement. She tries to stay focused but her mind keeps drifting to the tea party she has in two days. She has been studying her guests trying to learn as much as possible about them.

'I wish I had some music while doing this to help me focus. Some League of Legends soundtracks would be perfect for training.'

"You drop your guard too soon." Siv turns around and finds a tall man leaning over by the threshold.

"Excuse me?"

"You need to keep your guard up until you are far enough from your enemy, otherwise they can get you in one lung." Siv stares at him for a moment.

"And you are?"

"Oh my apologies, my lady." The man bows low in a dramatic way. "Gary, at your service."

"Just Gary?" Siv asks, wondering how she should address him. She needs a family name or a title to make sure she calls him accordingly.

"Just Gary." He flashes her a white toothy smile.

"Well, thank you for your advice… Sir Gary. I will go back to my training now."

"I can help you train." Suspicion starts to rise in Siv's mind.

'Who the hell is this guy?'

She studies him, dark auburn hair, long enough to reach the middle of his back. He has it bunched in a low ponytail.

'So, not a soldier.'

His clothes are not fancy but they're not cheap either. He is well groomed and, even though having the top few buttons of his shirt unfastened is quite inappropriate, there is way too much confidence radiating from him to be a low class nobody.

'Maybe a guest... and... why is he ginning like that?'

"You like what you see, my lady?"

'Ha.'

"Do you know who I am, sir?" Siv is ready to inform him that she is the prince's fiancee. She refuses to use the title of Rouva. But if this man doesn't even know who she is, then a little white lie won't matter.

"Oh I do, Lady Siv." Gary takes a step closer to her and Siv automatically puts her sword up. The man puts his hands up in surrender. "I came to see the woman who killed one of my strongest men."

Siv's blood freezes in her veins. Her mind has done a great job erasing that part from her memory, until now that is. The part where she dug her dagger into that Eluf guy's neck. The sound that the blade made as it ripped through skin and muscle. The feeling of her hand pushing it through the flesh. The warm blood spilling on her and the metallic smell that came with it. Siv feels her stomach turn.

'Is he here to kill me?'

Gary watches Siv's face pale and the hand holding the sword tremble. This is not the reaction he expected.

'Is this really the woman who killed Eluf?'

He watches as the woman comes back to her senses and blinks away whatever was going on in her head. She removes the rubber safety tip from her sword and points it at him. This time with more confidence. The sight makes Gary's blood race with excitement.

"What the hell do you want, Gary?" Siv's tone has dropped to a low and dangerous level. A smile pulls on the side of Gary's lips.

Siv's adrenaline is pumping, she eyes the man as he licks the corner of his lips. Combined with that grin, the gesture sends a shiver through her body.

'This man is dangerous.'

"I just wanted to meet you, my lady." Gary finally speaks.

"For what reason?"

"Curiosity?"

"Then, now that you have met me, you can leave." Siv prays he does. He looks way stronger than her, and from the few visible scars she can see on his arms and chest, she probably doesn't stand a chance against him.

"How could I?" He takes a step closer. "After you have just invited me to a passionate sword fight." Gary unsheathed his sword.

'Damn it.'

Siv squeezes the hilt of her blade.

The two circle each other like wild animals ready to attack and tear each other apart. It is not Gary's intention, though. He is just curious about how strong Siv is. He couldn't believe it when he heard news about Eluf. He was shocked when he found out that Brandt's fiancee was the culprit, especially that he saw his man's bloody corpse. She looks too weak, too fragile to cut a man's throat like that.

'Who in the world would believe that a noble woman is capable of something like that? A beautiful woman, for that matter.'

"Sir Gary." Siv brings him back from his thoughts. "I don't have all day." He stares at her for a moment before bursting out into a loud laugh. His whole body shakes.

"You are very unpredictable, Lady Siv." Gary puts his sword back in its sheath. "I like that." Siv looks at him with a confused face.

'Huh?'

The man takes slow strides toward the entrance. He stops before leaving and throws Siv a side look.

'What is going on? Is he not going to fight me?'

"We will meet again very soon, my lady." He winks at her. "Don't miss me too much."

Siv stands there with her sword held up for a few minutes after the man leaves. The encounter is too confusing for her to wrap her head around it and her body still doesn't recognize that she is not in danger anymore.

'Why would he go through the trouble of coming all the way here to find me if he wasn't going to kill me? Or was he just assessing me to do it later?'

Siv finally relaxes her shoulders.

"Who the hell is this Gary guy, anyway?"