May Death Do Us Part

304 Chapter 304 : He came

“What are you doing?”

The unexpected voice of his sister made Jacob almost spill a bit of the potion. He quickly emptied the vial into his canteen of water and closed it before turning to look at Janis who was standing behind him with a skeptical look on her face.

“I am preparing to go out and claim my wife,” Jacob responded with a smile that riddled Janis’ skin with goosebumps. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“I saw you putting something into your water,” Janis pointed out. “Jacob I hope you don’t plan on cheating. It will bring shame upon the family!”

“Why don’t you shut up and mind your own Janis!” Jacob hissed. “Go take all of that nonsense to your little boyfriend Zhelimir, I have important things to do.”

Jacob shoved his sister aside and walked towards the battlefield where Eira was standing waiting for him. She wouldn’t be able to understand, no one would. It seemed no one knew the extent to which he loved Eira, all he wanted to do was to spend the rest of his life making her happy, and that is exactly what he was going to do, no matter the means.

Janis felt her stomach knot up as she watched her brother walk away. Jacob was definitely up to something, and she had to find a way to stop him before he did something stupid. The blue eyed woman lifted the skirt of her dress and ran to where Zhelimir had been sitting watching the battles. If there was anyone who could stop Jacob it was him.

*

At long last, after riding for what seemed like an eternity, Elric saw the Gavarian palace come into view. He whipped the reins of his horse and increased his speed, praying in his heart that he had made it in time.

.....

“We’ll go on ahead and distracted the guards!” Jonathan yelled out to the silver haired prince.

“Use the opportunity to head straight to the palace training grounds! That is where the selection is being made!” Alexander added on.

The two brothers let go of the reins of their horses and leapt up into the air. Elric’s eyes widened a little when he saw the two men grow large wings from their backs and fly towards the palace. He had completely forgotten that they were part nosferatu.

Jonathan and Alexander flew towards the gates and knocked out the gaurds who were guarding it, landing at the center on the courtyard.

More guards came, but they were clearly outmatched. Because within minutes, all of them were knocked out cold, leaving the gates and courtyard completely open.

Within a few seconds, Elric rammed through the place gates, his steed leaping over the pile of unconscious men and dashing towards the training grounds.

“Eira..” he muttered to himself as the grounds apppeared in front of him.

*

Eira drew her dagger as she watched Jacob casually waltz onto the battle field with a smile on his face.

“Are you ready Jacob?” Eira spoke to the man. “I will not go easy on you just because you’re my friend!”

“And I don’t expect you to,” Jacob responded, “you’re a woman of resilience, so I too will put in my all in order to win your heart.”

Eira rolled her eyes at Jacob before trailing them to his hand. He was holding a water canteen instead of a weapon, was this man taking any of this seriously?

“And what is that?! Do you wish to go against me with a water canteen?”

“Not at all,” Jacob responded with a chuckle. He then tossed the canteen to Eira who caught it. “As a gentleman, I thought you might need a drink of water before we start. Are you not parched?”

Without thinking anything of it, Eira opened the water canteen and took a large sip before closing it and tossing it back to Jacob.

“Enough talk,” Eira told the elven man. “Shall we get this over with?!”

“As you wish princess..” Jacob replied and drew a sword. He wondered how long it would take for the potion to kick in, and how he would know. Would she merely drop her dagger and run into his embrace? He couldn’t wait to find out.

Across the field, Janis’ heart stopped when she saw Eira take a sip from her brother’s canteen. Oh gods, what had Jacob done? What had he just given the princess?!

“Janis?”

The woman turned around and found Zhelimir walking towards her. He had a rather worried look in his eyes.

“You look pale,” he spoke as he held her arms gently. “Are you feeling alright? Should I take you home?”

Janis opened her mouth to speak but to no avail. She had been the one who pushed Zhelimir into putting her brother on the list, so she was practically responsible for what ever was going on, and whatever Jacob was planning to do to Eira.

The blue eyed elven woman knew how much Zhelimir cared for Eira, so if anything happened to her, Zhelimir would hate her.

*

Isabella rose to her feet when she saw Leonard running towards her. He was gasping and sweating regardless of the cold, and he had a relieved smile on his face.

“What happened?” She asked him, her anxiety peaking with every passing second.

“He’s here,” Leonard gasped while still trying to catch his breath. “Prince Elric, he has arrived.”

“Are... are you sure of what you are saying?”

Leonard grabbed Isabella’s hand and dragged her towards the direction he had come from. “You can ask questions later, for now let’s go to him and get him in the loop of things, we don’t have much time!”

*

Jacob gasped and coughed when his back hit the ground after Eira’s kick sent him flying across the field. He groaned in both frustration and pain, when would the bloody love potion take effect?! He was getting his ass handed to him out here.

Before he could stand up, Eira appeared above him and pointed her dagger to his throat.

“Do you yield?” She asked him.

To be honest Jacob was spent, he had lost his sword and was bruised badly. In as much Eira was a woman, she was a highly skilled warrior, more skilled than he was that was for sure. Even if he wanted to go on, he knew he couldn’t beat her.

But he had to push on, he couldn’t back down until the potion took effect, he wasn’t going to give up on his last chance to be with the woman he loved.

Jacob slowly got to his feet and looked Eira’s way. She had knocked him around rather badly that his vision was starting to blur, but he was not going to give up. He took a step forward, trying to scan the area for his sword, but his legs gave in, and he fell to the ground.

As he felt himself losing consciousness, Jacob cursed, this was not how things were supposed to happen. Why in the bloody hell had the love potion taken so long to take effect?

Eira sheathed her dagger as she watched some guards carry Jacob away. She slowly looked to the announcer with mixed emotions before giving him the go ahead to call in the last suitor.

This was it, Elric had not come for her like she hoped he would, and she had not selected a husband. She knew that after this, her mother would not give her the liberty to choose for herself who to marry, because clearly her methods had not worked. Instead, the queen would simply choose a man to wed Eira, and she wouldn’t have a say against it.

The announcer rolled out his parchment ready to call out Isabella’s name, when Damien walked to him and whispered something in his ear.

The two seemed to have a bit of an argument before the announcer finally conceded to whatever Damien’s demands were.

“It seems we’ve had a bit of a change!” The announcer yelled. “Instead of lady Isabella, someone else will be taking her place in today’s battle!”

Eira took a step forward, her heart racing as she spoke. “Who will be taking her place?..”

The gasps from the audience made Eira turn towards the entrance of the battle field, and there he was. His silver hair whipping in the cold breeze as he walked forward. His honey brown eyes held her purple orbs captive, and before she knew it, her body moved on its own towards him.

“I will be taking her place,” Elric spoke when he closed the gap between them.

Eira was at loss for words, he had really come, he really did care, he really was her blood half.

“Elric...”

“Eira...”