Anders grinned wolfishly. ‘You don’t understand do you, Jorn? It isn’t how you play the game that matters, it’s whether you win or lose. And I intend to win.’
They fought again, blades flashing and sparking. But now the outcome of this fight was no longer a question. Anders would win because Jorn would be unable to strike a killing blow. The witch standing next to me would make sure of that.
Jorn got the upper hand again in the battle and he lunged forward, his blade aimed at Anders’ heart.
‘Darla!’ Anders shouted.
Then I realized that the guards weren’t holding me anymore. I wasn’t restrained in any way. Everybody had underestimated the big girl in the room. They saw me with my curves and my cartoon nightshirt and they assumed I was helpless.
Darla raised her hands to cast the spell.
And I punched her hard in the face.
She went down screaming, her cute Barbie nose broken and bloody.
Jorn’s sword found its mark and pierced Anders’s chest, going right through him and poking out of his back. Anders’ eyes went wide and he sucked in a breath. His eyes locked with Jorn’s and Jorn said, ‘You lose.’
He pulled the blade out of Anders and faced the two men behind me. They both left the room in a clatter of armor.
Anders fell back against the wall and slid down it, clutching the wound in his chest.
Darla crawled over to him. ‘Anders!’ she sobbed, taking him in her arms.
‘The wound isn’t fatal,’ Jorn said, ‘but it’s going to keep you off your feet for awhile. I’m taking this…’ He went to the the Crystal Shard and and removed it from the iron holder. The monks shrank back in fear.
‘Without this you’re stuck here in this realm of yours,’ Jorn told Anders. ‘So I’ll say goodbye now because we won’t ever meet again.’ He took my hand and led me from the room. ‘Good work,’ he said, ‘the witch had it coming to her.’
I smiled and said, ‘I’m just glad you’re alive.’
‘I couldn’t have done it without you, Amy.’
As we reached the hallway, we heard Anders and Darla shouting for the guards. We weren’t in the clear yet. Jorn led me along the hallway quickly and through a door that led out onto the battlements. A storm had started and lightning crackled in the distance.
‘You ready?’ Jorn shouted above the hiss of the heavy rain. He led me to the edge of the battlements. Below us, the moat raged dark and deep.
‘I’m ready,’ I said. We kissed long and hard then stood on the edge together.
Without any hesitation, we jumped.
CHAPTER TEN
Home
Three days later, I sat behind the counter of Pulp And Paperbacks daydreaming about Jorn. Denny was in the back of the store sorting through a new lot of books Mr Jacobs had bought from a house clearance.
After we had come back through the portal, I had been sent home from the command center while Jorn was debriefed after his mission. He had come to my apartment later that night to say he was in negotiations with the Director regarding his future. I returned to work, deflecting Denny’s questions about my whereabouts for the past couple of days, and prepared myself for whatever decision Jorn and the Director would come to. Jorn had said it was possible he would be transferred to one of the Order’s headquarters in a different country and if that happened he would consider leaving for good.
I didn’t want him to have to give up his vocation but I also didn’t want to lose him.
The bell above the door rang as a customer entered then a voice said, ‘Do you have any Gor novels?’
I looked up. Jorn stood at the counter grinning.
I was so pleased to see him I squealed and hugged him over the counter.
‘I had a talk with the Director,’ he said.
I nodded, trying to stay calm. He was either about to hit me with great news or a lightning bolt that would stop my heart.
Denny came out form the back. ‘Is everything OK? I heard a scream.’ Then he saw Jorn and looked him up and down. ‘Is this…? Are you…?’
‘Everything’s fine, Denny,’ I told him, ‘now go back and sort out those books.’
He nodded and backed away slowly, his eyes locked on Jorn until he disappeared into the back room.
‘I told the Director that my life has changed,’ Jorn said. ‘I still want to be a knight of the Order but I have other things I want do. Other things I want to experience.’
I swallowed. ‘OK. And how did he take it?’
‘We talked for a long while and he looked over my mission debrief. He realized that we wouldn’t have the Crystal Shard if not for you. But he also told me that the ancient rules state that a knight cannot have a relationship with anyone outside the Order.’
I nodded, disappointed.
‘Then he reminded me that that there have been female members of chivalric orders since the fourteenth century. And since the mission to retrieve the Crystal Shard could not have been accomplished without you, he wanted me to ask you if you would like to become a member of the Order of the Black Rose. You wouldn’t have to fight, of course, despite your killer right hook. But it would mean we can see each other as much as we want.’
‘What? Really?’
He nodded. ‘Really.’
‘Oh my God….yes!’
He smiled and I came around the counter and hugged him again.
‘There’s just one thing,’ he said, reaching into his pocket. He brought out a dragon and rose pendant. ‘You’ll need one of these.’
He reached around my neck and fastened the pendant in place. ‘There’ll be an official initiatory ceremony, of course, but for now just promise me that you’ll wear that forever.’
I looked into his eyes and nodded.
‘Forever.’
THE END
For more books by Angelina .Jenoire Hamilton:
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