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OSBERG

The Duchess

On a cloudy day, I stood with my arms folded in a thick jacket. Aware of onlookers, I inspected the last repairs to the Misttide water fountains. A crowd started gathering as we prepared to turn on the water. Giving Jen my notes, I ambled past the crowd to the fountain with Kurt close by.

“Fixed, Your Grace. Now for the test.” A repairer gestured for me to try. I stepped closer to four wide basins facing each other. I looked around at the interested Mouve residents.

Quite the crowd. So many thirsty mouths to quench. Sorry, but this is all I can do on short notice.

I turned back to the fountain and flipped the faucet. Freshwater gushed out, splashing me across the face. The repairman hastened to close the bursting fountain and his face turned faint at the sight of my soaked hair and clothes. Gasps sounded off around me and I saw concerned faces, scared of what punishment might befall them.

I burst into laughter with my head back, with Jen joining as well, leaving the audience confused. “Haha, I haven't been pranked like this since I was a child! It's ok, good sir. It is a little water. Just make sure to lessen the pressure a notch.” I patted the worker on the shoulder with a smile, which seemed to ease his nervousness.

“Y-y-yes, Your Grace!” The repairman trembled.

“Let us go to the next assignment. Maybe I will slip on soap at the bathhouse next.”

Jen chuckled as we walked away. “If George saw that, he would never let you live it down. But it’d be better than Tarion or we would have had a head rolling for embarrassing his darling duchess.” She said, with a teasing tone.

I heard boots squeaking to a stop while I received a towel from a kind soul.

“Who is George?” Kurt asked.

“A friend,” Jen said with a sly smile. “What's it to you, stoneface?”

“Knowing details about the people her grace speaks to is of utmost importance to securing her safety.”

I looked back, watching the fun and drying my hair.

“So…” Jen's eyes on the ground and fingers laced together, she asked. “What if he talked to me?” She looked back at the bodyguard for a reaction.

“As Her Grace's confidant and good friend, many people would go through you to reach her-”

Jen looked away from the blockhead, trying to hide her sadness.

He coughed. “Is he handsome?”

Huh.

Kurt tapped on his sword hilt. Mouth squirming. Jen beamed and her sly smile returned.

“Very. Haha! What’s it to you?”

Although Kurt’s face was unchanged, his ears glowed a bright red.

If Tarion was here to see this…

The thought of him brought flashes of yesterday. Callused hands that could crush a boulder carried me gently. His body was a furnace on my skin. His kiss sent me into shock as he traced down to my breast. A gaze that wanted me. Needed me.

I hate him. Why did he stop?

You can't make a lady fall in love and leave her frustrated.

I pulled up a high collar, hiding my healing marks of love.

I did not see him at breakfast… I hope he is well.

I faced my people. “Jen, stop bullying the feller. We need to hurry. We have three more inspections at Honey Spring to do. ”

The Duke.

Mana repelled from my soles to slow my descent and we landed on the streets of the Desaw Borough with onlookers.

“Greystone!” Citizens said as they clamoured to see me walk to the officer who was warding away the public.

“Excuse me, this is an area off limit- Oh gods… Your Grace! Why might you be here?” the third circle asked.

“Chaperoning my brother for his first work experience.” I let my brother go and he nearly fell on the cobbled street. "Officer, show him the way to the cursed. I will follow behind.”

“Brother…”

I gave him a look that his younger brother should understand and he reluctantly followed the officer into the wrecked building. A cobbler store with its windows shattered, the damage didn't look too extensive.

I could help them out but finances need to be in mind.

“Any runes, magic circles, or strange writings around?”

“No, Your Grace. Seems to be a typical possession.”

“Good. Then you won’t have it as hard. Lucky you.” I smiled at a pissed-off Joshua.

Further into the store, we walked past the shoes on display, and several items piqued my interest. Around the counter and into the back, a stairway leads upward to three stories above.

I felt it. The icky feeling that soils your being. “Above?” I asked. And the officer replied with a nod. “Alright. Go back and hold back the public. Actually, push them back a few metres. You know how unpredictable cursed humans are.”

A salute and a loud, “Yes, Your Grace!” And he ran back to his post. Joshua's eyes followed the guard and I pushed him towards the stairs.

“Work for your coin.”

“I AM A NOBLE! ”

“Useless pride! Where did it come from? The equally useless friends in the gentlemen's clubs? Happy you’re useless? You can't do anything? Want mommy to come get you? Get Uncle to spoil you?”

Red eyes flare with an anger I wish they always had. Left hand on the bannister, the wood broke into splinters from his grip. His body was poised to snap at me.

“If you don't want me to talk down to you, BRING YOURSELF UP!”

Joshua’s eyes narrowed as he seemed shaken. But the fire in him had not died down.

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I smiled.

"You feel that, brother. The disgusting feeling. Of shame. Of anger. Use it. Funnel it. Charge your rapier with it. This is the first start. The beginning of Joshua Greystone. Not the coward who hid with his face in his mother's bosom but the great knight of our grand house!”

Those blazing eyes of red that I saw in the brothel are back.

“Want me never to repeat such scathing words? Prove me wrong.”

Joshua turned on his heel, walking towards the stairs. “You do not need to tell me to do something so evident.”

Blue smoke leaked from his officer garb as he stamped upstairs. To think this was the same lazy cunt that caused Vanessa so many tribulations.

Change more. From the one to harm to the one to protect her.

I could still smell her hair in my mind. Her soft body felt like cotton candy on my hands and sweet on my tongue. Her lips on mine brought me into a trance that has extended to this day.

“Weren’t you coming?” Joshua peeked from the top of the flight of stairs.

“Um? Oh, yeah, coming.” I stepped onto the stairway with my mind still in disarray.

I missed her badly. Every waking moment, her smile was on my mind. I needed a distraction. And the lands above afforded me one. However, at the odd moments, I would remember her heart beating as I kissed closer and closer too…

Thatcher. Bookcase. Financial reports. BBC Radio 4. I inhaled and exhaled slowly.

I needed to think of anything else other than what choice I should make. I cringed as the icky feeling assaulted my senses. Finally, on the third floor, evil pulsed from the barricaded door.

This should be enough. I thought. “Open.”

“Do I have to do everything?” Joshua whined.

“Huh, yeah. Ain't that the point of having a younger brother?”

“Actually it's to kindly teach life lessons-”

“Unblock the fucking door.”

“OKAY, okay. Yeeesh…” Joshua took a chair and table from The door's way until there was a path for us to walk through.

“Ready, Joshua?” My brother stared at the door with sweat dripping on his forehead. With clenched fists, his eyes looked to the floor.

“I… I don't know…”

Mmm…

He turned to me. “What if I am as weak and cowardly as you say?”

I put my arm around my brother.

“The pressure can get too much sometimes, right? Expectations levied on us can exceed what we can bear. I feel the weight every time I pull my blade, not knowing If I am strong enough, wise enough.”

“You do…?”

“Every meeting, every battle. I am a Duke. governor of thousands. I would be inhuman if I felt no pressure at all.”

Something clicked in my mind and I stared deep into my eyes like my father.

“You don't want to be Duke.” Joshua shuddered under my arm. He looked back at the floor and nodded.

“Mother…is always insisting.”

“Mmm… I get it. Dying brother, a very ambitious mother and the only other heir around. Uncle would rather drink toilet water than be chained up as a Duke. Expectations from our vassals and subjects wouldn't have helped with your psyche either. So you just gave up. No more pressure if you gave them nothing to expect. Am I right?.”

“Yes.” Joshua sighed. “Unnaturally so.”

“Older brothers usually are. Sadly, your dear mother would try to make you Duke, whether you liked it or not. So, if not a Duke. What would you rather be? Like Uncle?” He nodded his head.

“Mmmm. That's an achievable goal. And it would piss the old bird right off.”

“You think I can do it?”

“Brother,” I said, holding his shoulders and making him face me. “I would not try this hard if I didn't.”

A small smile peeked out from Joshua. I spun him around to face the door.

“Is this enough pressure for you to handle?”

I heard his slim blade shinged from its sheath.

“Most definitely, Your Grace.” Mana eased off him in a blue haze before condensing

“Fine-tune your senses. Hear its movements.”

“Duke. It's right outside the door. listening to us.”

“Creepy bastard.” I walked to the side and placed my hand on the door knob. “On my mark, I will open the door and you lunge.”

Joshua gulped, moved his red hair from his face and nodded.

“3.”

Feet wide and stance low, Joshua went into a fencing position tightening his body like a spring.

“2.”

Mana covered his blade, lighting the corridor in blue.

“1.”

I wonder how Vanessa is doing...

The Brother.

My brother opened the door and I sped inward. Immediately, I crashed into a decrepit old peasant covered in a swirling black mist. My rapier jabbed right into the cursed shoulder, forcing him back two steps before a disturbing amount of strength pushed my back. From the mist, he formed a drill-like appendage from his hand. Out of my wits, I dodged the snarling monster, rolling to the left of the bedroom. Bumping into a dresser in the way, I narrowly avoided being stabbed two times before I was marked on the arm.

“Eye on the cursed. Focus Mana on the eyes. Track its movement and deflect.”

“EASIER SAID THAN DONE, YOU ARSEHOLE!” The cursed swiped from the left, destroying the wall as I bent out of the way. I ran to the left to gain distance away from the cursed.

“Missed a good chance there.”

Annoyed by my brother's voice, I waved my sword between the monster and me, creating a barrier.

“You will exhaust yourself like that. Think, brother. You were able to dodge so far. Why don’t you just, I don't know, attack after?”

My battle high almost obscured my senses. I inhaled, calming my nerves. Sword ablaze, I watched the cursed, the sliding of his foot, and the jerk of his arm as it prepared to pounce. I jumped back and parried the drill coming for my body. The black mist weapon was hit to the ground, and days of practice, weeks of drills, and years with my uncle on the training platform triggered in my body. Three blurring thrusts hit the cursed chest and he flew back into the bed in agony. I looked at my hilt with surprise.

“Wow.” I turned to my brother. His kind smile raised my spirits even more.

“See. You can handle it. But it isn't over yet.”

The cursed broke the bed as it jumped for me. Noticeably more irate, both arms were drills as he stabbed and jabbed. I parried. Leaned to the right. I shifted my feet to the right and backwards to thrust deep. My blade bounced off the mist-covered chest and I danced back from two drills piercing my head.

Close call…

I heard a mouth click and saw my brother sitting on the broken bed. “Not enough mana.” He moved his gloved finger in a circular motion. “Make them spin.”

I focused, using the strange technique my brother taught, my circle spins, and used mobile meditation to move the current of mana through my body. My circles spin faster until I feel a whirl in my heart.

To my sword.

My sword flashed with great light.

I have to concentrate!

I bring the mana back, controlling the raging storm of mana.

Was it always this easy? I looked at my brother from the corner of my eye, leaning forward with a big smile. For years, his eyes looked at me with disdain and anger unrivalled. How long has it been since I saw that smile from him? Since that day in the courtyard? I wanted to see him smile more.

I didn't want to replace you, brother…

The curse sprang forth, screeching aloud. A left hand batted away and a right parried, I slashed the cursed body and red spurted. I slashed again and again. Blood dripped the floor and yet the cursed stayed standing

“Don't restrain it. Let it be free.”

“YES, YOUR GRACE!”

My circle spun wildly and I felt my chest rattle with power. Hilt to my chin and my stance low, a storm of mana engulfed my rapier, feeling hot to my face.

The cursed attacked once again.

Now!

The wood floor snapped under my feet as I pressed forward. I pushed my sword in full sprint, skewering the cursed on the point. I groaned, pushing deep with my feet, breaking the floor with each step.

Die already, you smelly peasant!

My mana exploded from my rapier. A beam of blue light shot from my sword’s point through the curse, into the wall, and outward. The cursed fell to the floor, smouldering with a hole in its heart and the mist dispersed from the elder corpse. I collapsed to my knees, exhausted and stressed but feeling accomplished.

A familiar hand rubbed my hair. “Not bad for your first cursed,” Tarion said. His large, toothy smile, which I thought was long lost, welcomed me. I jumped up and hugged my amazed brother, who embraced me back.

“You did well. Joshua.”

How I missed my older brother…