Page 7 of Journey to the Elderoak
She rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder as she scooted to the wall, pulling her pillow with her. “I hate you.”
He turned his head and gave her a huge grin. “No, you don’t.”
She stared at the ceiling. “What is this ‘sailor’s game’ you mentioned?”
“It’s some tradition they have the night before port. They pull out a bunch of straw mats and beat the shit out of each other.”
Ava turned and propped her head on her hand. “Seriously? Why aren’t you participating?”
“Because I’m not barbaric. Besides, I need my beauty sleep.”
“No romping in bed with Gisela tonight?”
“She’s out there with the rest of them. We’ll get back to it later. On that note, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight.”
Raine was snoring within minutes.
Though Ava tried to fall asleep, her mind wouldn’t stop racing. Add in Raine mumbling in his sleep and his horrible habit of hogging the whole bed and the covers, she gave up and glared at the ceiling. It seemed she would be meeting the queens with zero rest.
Raine groaned and rolled over, throwing his arm across her. “Ughhh,” Ava said as she moved his arm and shoved him to the other end of the bed. He didn’t even wake up. “This is stupid.”
Abandoning her attempt to sleep, she climbed over him and got up. Throwing on a tunic and a pair of pants, she pulled on her boots and left the room.
The cool breeze whipped the sails above as the sound of cheering floated through the night sky. Following the noise, she walked to the circle of spectators at the middle of the main deck.
Ava stood at the back and raised up on her toes, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on in the center of the crowd. Fists were raised in the air in front of her as they cheered thefighters on, but she couldn’t see much over the tall fae. Some of the crew noticed her and parted, allowing her closer. Now, standing at the inner edge of the circle, she had the perfect view.
A burly muscular woman was facing off with Eamon, the cook. They both had their shirts off, the woman wearing a bandeau similar to Ava’s, and she had Eamon in a headlock on the ground. The crowd chanted as they counted to ten, then she released him. Eamon remained on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. The winner stood, raising her fist in the air, and the crowd went wild.
Ava scanned the spectators for Casimir. He stood at the edge diagonally from her, zeroed in on the mat, not having noticed her arrival. Shirtless, his arms were crossed as usual, his unbound hair framing his intense eyes as he watched the winner choose the next two fighters. His chiseled physique glistened with sweat, apparently having already fought, and her eyes caught at the way his biceps bulged against his chest.
Two male sailors, equally huge, took center stage next and removed their shirts while taunting each other. Energy contagious, Ava found herself cheering alongside the rest of the crew as they began their match.
“Princess?” Pax’s gruff voice cut through the noise as he pushed through the crowd to stand next to her. “What are you doing out here?”
“Hey, Pax.” Ava smiled. “I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d see what all the fuss is about.”
He laughed. “It’s risky being in this crowd. You might get chosen to fight next.”
“Really?” It hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“Maybe. Though I don’t think the general would allow it.”
For some reason, that annoyed her and she frowned, returning her attention to the circle. They watched two more rounds of fights and now Zeph was facing one of the crewmembers Ava had eaten dinner with. He threw a punch which she dodged, giving him one of her own to his gut. He blew out a breath with a grunt and staggered on his feet. Zeph darted behind him, wrapping her arm around his neck in a choke hold.
The crowd cheered as she tried to bring him down to the mat, but he managed to get free of her hold, whirled around, and had her on the ground, arm behind her back within seconds. The fight hadn’t lasted more than a couple of minutes and Gisela declared him the winner.
They shook hands and the sailor turned, scanning the crowd for the next victims. His eyes landed on Pax and pointed at him. “You,” he said. His eyes moved and landed on Ava.
Shit.
“And the princess.” He gave her a feral grin. “I know you’re a feisty one. Let’s see what you got.”
Casimir’s eyes snapped to hers and widened, discovering her presence at last, as he marched her way.
“What are you doing out of bed?” he whispered harshly.
“Raine was snoring and I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to see what all the commotion was about.”
