Reese felt anguish wash over him. He couldn’t help but feel this was his fault. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Chapter Twelve
Jayce stood beside Nicole the following day at noon, trembling. It wasn’t the slight wind that made her cold. Even though the sun hid behind clouds, it was a very warm day. Yet, she still felt a chill. The wooden platform she and Nicole stood upon creaked each time they shifted their weight.
Jayce’s gaze scanned the field and the fenced area surrounding the arena for Reese, but he had not come. He doesn’t care, she thought. She bowed her head in disappointment.
Nicole squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry,” she promised. “It will turn out fine.”
“He’s your brother, too,” Jayce murmured. “Don’t you care about Morse?”
“Of course I do,” Nicole answered sadly. “You don’t think anyone will get hurt, do you?”
Jayce turned her gaze to the field, a feeling of dread settling about her shoulders. “I hope not,” Jayce murmured.
Two horses suddenly appeared from the opposite side of the field of honor. One broke away from the other and galloped to the platform the two women were standing on.
The chain-mailed knight who rode the steed flipped up the visor on his helmet. Dylan stared at Jayce with sad but determined eyes. She stepped toward him, clenching a veil of light blue in her fists. He dropped his lance to the platform so she could tie her favor on.
Jayce’s gaze fell to the lance. She unfurled the material from her hands and reached out to tie it around the lance, but suddenly stopped as she heard the pounding of another horse’s hooves. She looked up to see another mounted knight coming toward her. The clouds parted, and the sun shone down upon the approaching knight. The bright rays reflected off his armor up into her eyes, and Jayce held up her hand to block them. The shining armor still blinded her, and she had to look away from it, blinking. Finally, she heard the hoof beats halt.
Jayce heard Nicole sigh.
She lifted her gaze to see that the knight had stopped before them. The elevated platform put her on an equal level with the knight. He stared down at her from the slit in the helmet’s visor. The cold blue eyes gazing at her sent a mixed form of relief and dread searing through her body.
Finally, the knight lifted his gauntleted hand and pushed the visor from his face. Reese.
A smile lit Jayce’s face, and she lifted her favor toward Reese, waiting for him to lower his lance.
Reese’s gaze settled on Dylan. “Your services are no longer required. I will fight for the lady’s honor.” Dylan opened his mouth to protest, but Reese quickly silenced his unspoken objection. “It is my right,” he told the young knight.
Dylan hesitated for a moment, then bowed respectfully and steered his horse off the field.
A thrill of joy swept through Jayce and she straightened her spine proudly. Until Reese turned his gaze on her. There was a frostiness to his look, a frigid anger that chilled her pride and melted her confidence.
With a sharp jerk on the reins, Reese turned his horse from Jayce to meet his opponent.
It wasn’t until Nicole reached out and pushed her hands down that Jayce realized he had coldly dismissed her favor. Jayce stared down at the sheer blue material in her hands for a long moment. Then she lifted her gaze to the combatants.
A silence spread through the crowd of onlookers as Morse faced Reese across the field. “M’lord!” Morse called. “My fight is not with you.”
“Lady Jayce is under my protection,” Reese answered in a low timbre that reverberated through the field. “As such she is my responsibility. Since you will not take back your unsavory remarks, I have no choice but to fight for her honor.”
A lump rose in Jayce’s throat. ‘My responsibility.’ ‘I have no choice.’ He didn’t want to fight for her, anyone could hear that in his speech. “Why even bother?” she mumbled.
“Hush,” Nicole whispered harshly.
Reese leveled the long jousting pole at Morse’s mount.
“As you wish, my brother,” Morse replied, and pulled his visor down over his eyes. He took his lance from his squire and spurred his horse on.
The two horses thundered down the field toward each other, their riders’ lances pointing skyward, large clumps of dirt spraying out behind them in their wake. The two combatants lowered their weapons, aiming for each other, pushing their steeds on with sharp kicks to their flanks.
Jayce leaned forward, her fingers gripping the palisade with such force it made her knuckles ache.
There was a loud crash and Reese jerked back as Morse’s lance struck his shoulder.