Page 3 of Journey to the Elderoak (Daughter of the Earth #2)

A va ran a hand over her face and groaned, tossing and turning in bed for the hundredth time. They’d be arriving in Saxumdale tomorrow and she was much too anxious to sleep. The silence from her otherwise empty cabin didn’t help.

Half an hour later, she was still awake when the door opened and closed, and she turned to find Raine taking off his shirt and boots.

“Scoot over,” he said as he approached the bed.

She sat up. “What? What are you doing? Where’s Casimir?”

“He got roped into the sailors’ games. So, I’m on Ava duty tonight and I’m too good-looking to sleep on the floor. Move over,” he repeated.

“I never said you could sleep in bed with me.”

“I’m not asking permission.” He pulled the blankets back and climbed in bed.

“Oh my god, you’re serious.”

“Absolutely.” He settled in beside her. “We can snuggle if you want. I mean, I’m no Cas…but you can pretend I am if it makes you feel better. ”

She rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder as she scooted to the wall, pulling her pillow with her. “I hate you.”

He turned his head and gave her a huge grin. “No, you don’t.”

She stared at the ceiling. “What is this ‘sailor’s game’ you mentioned?”

“It’s some tradition they have the night before port. They pull out a bunch of straw mats and beat the shit out of each other.”

Ava turned and propped her head on her hand. “Seriously? Why aren’t you participating?”

“Because I’m not barbaric. Besides, I need my beauty sleep.”

“No romping in bed with Gisela tonight?”

“She’s out there with the rest of them. We’ll get back to it later. On that note, I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight.”

Raine was snoring within minutes.

Though Ava tried to fall asleep, her mind wouldn’t stop racing. Add in Raine mumbling in his sleep and his horrible habit of hogging the whole bed and the covers, she gave up and glared at the ceiling. It seemed she would be meeting the queens with zero rest.

Raine groaned and rolled over, throwing his arm across her. “Ughhh,” Ava said as she moved his arm and shoved him to the other end of the bed. He didn’t even wake up. “This is stupid.”

Abandoning her attempt to sleep, she climbed over him and got up. Throwing on a tunic and a pair of pants, she pulled on her boots and left the room.

The cool breeze whipped the sails above as the sound of cheering floated through the night sky. Following the noise, she walked to the circle of spectators at the middle of the main deck.

Ava stood at the back and raised up on her toes, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on in the center of the crowd.

Fists were raised in the air in front of her as they cheered the fighters on, but she couldn’t see much over the tall fae.

Some of the crew noticed her and parted, allowing her closer.

Now, standing at the inner edge of the circle, she had the perfect view.

A burly muscular woman was facing off with Eamon, the cook.

They both had their shirts off, the woman wearing a bandeau similar to Ava’s, and she had Eamon in a headlock on the ground.

The crowd chanted as they counted to ten, then she released him.

Eamon remained on his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

The winner stood, raising her fist in the air, and the crowd went wild.

Ava scanned the spectators for Casimir. He stood at the edge diagonally from her, zeroed in on the mat, not having noticed her arrival.

Shirtless, his arms were crossed as usual, his unbound hair framing his intense eyes as he watched the winner choose the next two fighters.

His chiseled physique glistened with sweat, apparently having already fought, and her eyes caught at the way his biceps bulged against his chest.

Two male sailors, equally huge, took center stage next and removed their shirts while taunting each other. Energy contagious, Ava found herself cheering alongside the rest of the crew as they began their match.

“Princess?” Pax’s gruff voice cut through the noise as he pushed through the crowd to stand next to her. “What are you doing out here?”

“Hey, Pax.” Ava smiled. “I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d see what all the fuss is about.”

He laughed. “It’s risky being in this crowd. You might get chosen to fight next.”

“Really?” It hadn’t even crossed her mind.

“Maybe. Though I don’t think the general would allow it.”

For some reason, that annoyed her and she frowned, returning her attention to the circle.

They watched two more rounds of fights and now Zeph was facing one of the crew members Ava had eaten dinner with.

He threw a punch which she dodged, giving him one of her own to his gut.

He blew out a breath with a grunt and staggered on his feet.

Zeph darted behind him, wrapping her arm around his neck in a choke hold.

The crowd cheered as she tried to bring him down to the mat, but he managed to get free of her hold, whirled around, and had her on the ground, arm behind her back within seconds. The fight hadn’t lasted more than a couple of minutes and Gisela declared him the winner.

They shook hands and the sailor turned, scanning the crowd for the next victims. His eyes landed on Pax and pointed at him. “You,” he said. His eyes moved and landed on Ava.

Shit.

“And the princess.” He gave her a feral grin. “I know you’re a feisty one. Let’s see what you got.”

Casimir’s eyes snapped to hers and widened, discovering her presence at last, as he marched her way.

“What are you doing out of bed?” he whispered harshly.

“Raine was snoring and I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to see what all the commotion was about.”

“You can watch, but you’re not fighting,” he ordered.

“Are you coming, princess?” Gisela yelled from the center of the ring where Pax was waiting, a look of blatant discomfort on his face as Ava and Casimir continued their argument.

“Give us a minute!” Casimir barked at her, not breaking his gaze from Ava.

“Why can’t I try?” she said. “You know Pax won’t hurt me. It’ll be good practice, especially since you’ve been teaching me moves like this.”

He stared down at her.

“You know I’m right,” she urged.

“You’re meeting the queens tomorrow. You need to rest. You spent almost the whole day training. ”

“I’m so anxious about tomorrow, I can’t sleep anyway. It’ll help me work off some of my nerves.” She gave him a pleading look, pushing her bottom lip out just a little.

He narrowed his eyes, glancing at her lips. “What is that?”

“What?” she looked at him innocently.

“That look. Are you…pouting?”

“Nooo…I’m asking nicely. Please.”

“Fine,” he said as he jerked his head to the ring. “But don’t expect that to work again.”

She gave him a triumphant smile and could have sworn his lips twitched, suppressing his own amusement, before she turned and joined Pax on the mat.

Gisela addressed the crowd. “Since this is the princess’s first time, I’ll go over the rules,” she shouted.

“No kicks or punches to the groin. No kicking or punching when your opponent is on the ground. No head-butting. No strikes using your knee or elbow. And no punching in the face since Ava is meeting the queens tomorrow.” She gave Ava a grin.

“First one to keep their opponent on the ground for ten seconds or until their opponent taps out, wins.”

Ava glanced at Casimir, who had reclaimed his spot at the edge of the ring. He grabbed Pax’s arm and pulled him close, whispering something in his ear. Pax nodded, a flash of fear on his face, and took his stance back in front of Ava.

“What did he say?” she asked.

He stepped closer so no one else heard him. “He said if I hurt you, he’ll strip my rank and make me clean the dungeons with one arm because he’ll break the other.”

She looked at Casimir again, who was observing her so intensely she felt exposed beneath his stare.

Turning away, she whispered back to Pax, “As the princess, I technically outrank him, so I’ll make sure you don’t lose your title. ”

He laughed and they backed away from each other, taking their fighting stances.

“Shirts off, you two,” called the captain.

“Ava—” Casimir started but was interrupted by Gisela.

“Other than leaving her pretty face alone,” Gisela said, clapping her hand on Casimir’s shoulder. “She gets no preferential treatment.”

Pax removed his shirt and tossed it on the ground, revealing his green skin. The orc was huge, bigger than Casimir, with rippling muscle. There was no way she’d last long in this fight.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at Casimir defiantly and didn’t break eye contact as she removed her tunic and tossed it aside.

Her breasts were bound tightly, no different than wearing a sports bra, albeit a strapless one.

Casimir’s pupils enlarged almost imperceptibly as his eyes flicked down and back up again, but he regained his composure and was back to looking irritated.

She smirked at him and looked back at Pax. “Don’t go easy on me.”

“Yeah right.”

“Alright, enough chit chat,” said Gisela. “Get on with it.”

The crowd cheered and Ava shook out her arms as Pax crouched and grinned at her.

What the hell was I thinking fighting an orc soldier?

She tried to ignore her racing heart and focus on the moves Casimir had taught her. Pax lunged forward, quick as lightning. He wrapped one arm around her torso and moved behind her, ducking his head at the middle of her back.

He gripped her as they pushed each other in the center of the ring.

Ava yelped at his strength and tried to get one of her legs under his to topple him, but his feet were planted too far away.

She reached one arm behind her and wrapped it around his back.

Well, she tried to, but he was so wide she couldn’t reach all the way across.

With her other hand, she yanked his arm with all her strength.

Twisting, she used the angle and momentum and rolled him onto his back clumsily, almost falling on top of him.