Chapter 266: A Taste of Home
In the end, Ashlynn won the loop tossing game by a single toss. Nyrielle’s ability to match Ashlynn toss for toss broke the younger woman’s rhythm enough that she missed her fourth throw by a laughable margin. Even with her enhanced physical abilities as Nyrielle’s Seneschal, there were limits to the level of perfection she could achieve.
After that, it would have ended in a tie if Nyrielle hadn’t failed on her last throw, trying for a winning toss on a red peg and narrowly missing it. Ashlynn, however, wasn’t entirely convinced of Nyrielle’s failure.
As the barker gathered their prizes, Ashlynn studied Nyrielle’s face. That last throw had been suspiciously wide for someone who had matched her shot-for-shot until then, but perhaps even Nyrielle was capable of feeling a little bit of pressure and making minor mistakes.
"You didn’t let me win, did you?" she asked, even as the man presented them with more spindle-shaped shells than she’d ever won before. Her eyes widened at the collection before she caught herself and waved him off.
No matter how real this felt, they were still sharing a dream. These weren’t prizes she could take with her, even if it would have been nice to have a keepsake of the evening. Still, the suspicion remained as she turned back to Nyrielle.
"That last throw," Ashlynn said, letting her voice trail off as she raised an eyebrow at Nyrielle.
"My darling," Nyrielle said with a light laugh. "You don’t have to save face for me. If I lost, I lost. I’ll just have to win the next one," she added with a twinkle in her eye. "What other games are there to play?"
"We could go fishing," Ashlynn suggested, pointing to a booth further down the street with a small crowd of people holding crude fishing poles and clustering around a row of barrels. "There are colored wooden rings floating in the barrels. You have to collect rings to earn better prizes. I guess it’s not that different than the game you mentioned in the Southern Steppes, just played with fishing poles."
"There’s a large difference between a game that tests a lancer’s aim at a gallop and a game that that is simpler than hooking fish in a barrel," Nyrielle said, giving Ashlynn a teasing poke that turned into a light tickle. "But that doesn’t mean I won’t play with you," she added with a sly wink as her hand slid lower on Ashlynn’s hip, pulling her close enough to bestow a chaste kiss on the other woman’s startled lips.