Chapter 445: Official (1)
"I hate you," Annalis muttered, panting as she glared at Rafael who pinned her down.
"That’s not very nice, Annalise. You put up a good fight for a long time. Many of the knights would be jealous of you. Would you like to go again?" Rafael asked, slowly moving the sword out of her hand.
Annalise would like to go again, but her body was tired and she blamed it on a day of playing around with her friends. If this was another day when she was well rested, he would be the one pinned down. Then again, she knew to never expect all her fights to happen when she was full of energy. This meant she had to train more to be prepared.
Annalise closed her eyes, trying to get over the pain she experienced. All she wanted to do was lay on the ground for a moment and have Rafael bring her water.
"Did I hurt you?" Rafael asked, concerned now that she was breathing heavily and scrunching up her face.
"The armour kept me protected. I am fine," Annalise said, slowly opening her eyes as the pain went away. "I might have overdid it tonight. Did I seem slow to you?"
"No," Rafael honestly answered. "You were quick to block my attacks. I was lucky to get the best of you once and bring you down."
"Good. That means I have not slacked off so much that I’ve become terrible. It is good that you got the best of me because it feels like hours since the fight started. Look at how much the candles have melted down," Annalise said, looking at the candle in one of the lanterns. "This means that I don’t get to see the surprise. What a shame. I was hoping to win to see what it was."
"I told you that there wouldn’t be any losers tonight. Before you dwell over your loss, consider that we are even now. At the manor, if you had not held back, you would have won then. We are even now and later we would have to spar again to break the tie," Rafael said to cheer her up.