Sue
I stood in the required spot and raised my hands up to eye level, with one hand pulling the arrow back which I had already placed between the bow and the string. After pulling it back, I squinted and got my aim in sight, and then I pulled the trigger.
The arrow flew and everyone's eyes followed it at once. The arrow hit the exact aim I hoped it would, and everywhere was pitch silent around me and I glanced around to take in the shocked expressions across their faces.
That's right! You're impressed, are you not?!
I picked out another arrow and placed it between the bow and arrow, pulling it back in a straight line before letting it go. It flew through the air and landed in the exact spot underneath the first arrow, and once again, I let my eyes wander around everyone, reveling in their shocked expression. I could feel my self confident bubbling within me, the look of awe across their faces was stroking at it and it was undoubtedly a nice feeling.
Before I could shoot the third arrow I picked out, Damon let it a tskikg sound and approached me, he didn't look impressed as he stared down at me. "That was nothing jaw dropping lr anything. All my men could do that since they were in diapers." He drawled and as I stared at him right now, I wished I could plunge the arrow right into his throat.
After that, Damon turned around and shot three arrows back to back that knocked of my two arrows and had the last one he shot sitting in the place of my previous arrows. This time, every man in Damon's army hooted and clapped, like this was what actually impressed them and not my own display of skills.
"That technique is outdated and washed, I'm not moved in the slightest." I gritted out as I marched past him to retrieve an arrow, ignoring the way he snickered mockingly. "Of course you haven't. One can't expect a girl to have witnessed real talent, now can they?"
I placed the arrow between the strings of the bow and tugged on it, squinting my eyes and focusing on one the last arrow Damon had shot at the board, and after letting go of the arrow, I watched with glee as my arrow tore right into Damon's, embedding deep into the board, while Damon's was still trapped underneath mine. When I glanced around this time, almost all of Damon's men had their mouths hanging open with shock and awe clearly painted across their faces. When i glanced at Damon, he looked stunned as he looked between the board and my face a few times, and a laugh bubbled in my throat and I forced it down. No one needed to cheer for me right now, the looks on everyone's faces was more than enough.
I cleared my throat and everyone snapped out of the little haze they were in, and then I marched past Damon again to drop the bow, and then I turned around to face everyone.
"So, what do you think? Impressive? Was that good enough or was i still lacking?" I drawled, eyes on Damon whose face was back to appearing Blank. He dropped off the bow he was with to one of his men, and then he grasped my arm and tugged me along with him till we were away from his men.
"What was that back there?" He demanded and I gave him a stink eye before tugging my arm from his grasp.
"That was me showing you how to shoot an arrow." I informed him and he scowled at me.
"Are you nuts? You've just made my men start to doubt me a little with your stupid stunt." He snapped and I let out a frustrated huff. He wasn't making any sense to me.
"But it wasn't a stupid stunt though, it was just me being better than you, and there's no shame in that. I'm sure you're still better than me in a lot of things." I informed him with a shrug and he let out a long sigh.
"You're impossible."
"You were the one who asked me to literally show you what I could do with the bow. You didn't ask me to hold some skills back because of your fragile masculinity." I snapped, already feeling irritation start to grow within me.
Damon stepped closer to me, too close for comfort, and whatever it was that I planned to say, instantly died down in my throat. He stepped even closer, eyes boring into mine and I swallowed emptily, spit pooling across my tongue as soon as his scent began to flood my lungs and senses again, I wanted to step away in order to get some air, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of him believing he could get to me with close proximity.
"You need to start to start watching your mouth around me." He finally spoke, voice throaty and low and my breath stumbled in my throat as a shiver rolled down my spine. I blinked once, feeling tongue tied for a moment.
I finally got a hold of my senses and leveled him with a hard glare, while my heart pounded against my chest.
"Or what?" I gritted out, heartbeat accelerating even more when he leaned even closer till we were sharing the same air, till it felt like I might faint.
"That's for you to find out when you disobey me, but keep in mind that it's gonna hurt… really bad."
I didn't know why goosebumps broke out across my arms after those words left his mouth, but it did, and then it felt like my insides were being set on fire.
Before I could attempt to come up with a response, someone was clearing their throat beside us and I attempted to jump away from Damon, but his hand shot out and gripped my waist, preventing that from happening and knocking the breath out of my lungs at the same time.
"Your majesty!" I squeaked out on noticing it was the Queen who had cleared her throat.
I could feel Damon's hold on my waist, his palm felt hot through my cloth and almost burning into the skin of my waist and I had to pretend that it wasn't affecting me in any way.
"Why don't you two come have tea with me?"
~~~
We were once again in the east wing, but not the throne room this time. We were seated across from the Queen, around a compare table staked with fruits. After we accompanied her here, she had a maid pour us tea before disappearing, leaving us with her.
I felt a little uneasy as I sipped from my tea. The queen was smiling at Damon and I, and I didn't know a thing about her, but I could already tell that she was a snake who wasn't to be trusted.
Beside me, Damon had a permanent scowl on and wasn't even bothering to pretend to be sipping at his tea. I didn't know the history they had, but it was clear that he didn't like her because he wasn't even trying to hide it.
"Are you two sure you aren't mates?" She asked, breaking the tense silence and a bit of my tea spilled as I jolted from the unexpectedness of her question.
"We aren't mates, your majesty. Why do you ask?" Damon asked, voice cold and I resisted the urge to flinch. The Queen was unfazed as she chuckled sweetly and sipped at her tea again.
"I'm just… curious, you know? I've been hoping you'd find your mate because that's the best feeling out there and I want the best feeling for my sons."
"We're not your sons." Damon said coldly and the queen only chuckled again.
"Perhaps not by blood, but by…" she was still speaking when Damon abruptly loudly pushed his chair back and rose to his feet, and I instantly did the same after he glanced down at me.
"We'll take our leave now. Thank you for the tea, it was lovely." Damon practically barked out before whirling around and I made sure to bow respectfully before trailing after Damon.
After we fully exited the east wing, Damon turned around to glance at me.
"You don't like the Queen." I stated and he rolled his eyes.
"No shit."
"Why?" I asked but I already knew he wasn't gonna respond. The silence stretched between us till we got to another corner, and then he spoke.
"The Queen is gonna try to sink her claws into her as soon as she gets an opportunity, so be at alert at all times and be very careful." He warned, voice serious and I swallowed before nodding.
"Okay," I mumbled and he stared at me for a moment longer. His gaze darted towards my throat for a moment, and then he was stepping backwards and nodding towards me, then he turned around and left without a word.
Leaving me feeling more stunned than I previously was.