Once & Future (Once & Future #1)(23)

“Get your sword.” The black knight turned her back, waiting for Ari to get to her feet.

Now that they were helmetless, Ari could feel the riot of the crowd more intensely. She dropped her leather gloves in the sand before picking up Excalibur. Her grip tightened around the already familiar handle in a way that centered her. This time Ari didn’t attack first, but reviewed the blond force of nature.

All right, Merlin, I’ll bite. What is the black knight up to?

“For my queen,” the girl said quietly, snapping Ari’s concentration.

She lunged, and Ari wasn’t sure how to move, but Excalibur directed her, coming down to meet the knight’s parry with extreme force. The black knight’s sword shattered above the hilt, and Ari recoiled from the calamity of breaking metal. When she reopened her eyes, the black knight was on her knees before Ari.

The entire tournament ring had gone silent.

Ari looked at Excalibur and then what was left of the black knight’s blade. She had won, but she had definitely not won. Touché, Merlin.

“Make way for the queen!” Val’s voice rang out.

An aisle appeared through the crowd as people pushed back, allowing the young queen to descend from her pavilion and cross the tournament ring.

Gwen came toward Ari with a steadiness that was unnerving. The last three years had given Gwen a substantial boost in the curve department, a lush sheen to her long brown hair, and a lavender gown undoubtedly worth more than a brand-new astro-class spaceship. The years had done nothing to soften her fiery brown gaze or alter the way Ari’s blood rushed at the sight of her. Not necessarily in a good way. Not in a bad way, either.

Her steps took a hard right, veering from their direct path to Ari and choosing her champion instead. Ari gripped Excalibur while Gwen guided the black knight to her feet, kissing her sweetly on the mouth in a way that made Ari shove Excalibur into the packed dirt. Gwen was playing with her. Gwen was always playacting. And for the first time, Ari wanted to play as well. She reached into her knowledge of Gwen, into their tense past. What could she use to get through to her? To win Gwen’s help with Mercer?

The black knight, Jordan—Ari remembered her name now—and Gwen conferred in hushed voices. At one point, they looked at Ari and then continued to whisper. Ari ached for the crowd to do something. Scream or cheer. Even boo. The silence felt like the weight of the dead.

Finally, Gwen turned to Ari, and the black knight stepped back.

The closer Gwen got, the smaller she became. More petite than Ari remembered, but then, Gwen hadn’t shrunk; Ari had grown. If Ari’s body matched Excalibur’s in length and steel, this girl was a jeweled dagger. Treasured, yet dangerous. Concealed in a boot. Or a bodice.

Ari’s eyes slipped to Gwen’s glorious cleavage before she stared at the brown braid that wreathed the queen’s head, hoping to mask her ogle. “Shouldn’t queens have crowns?” Her nerves were turning her cocky. That wouldn’t get her far.

“Shouldn’t knights have armor that fits?” Gwen shot back, eyes openly on Ari’s oversize breastplate. “I take it you’ve done something to the original contender. Unless you’ve changed your name to Pete, Ari.”

There.

Right there.

Gwen’s voice had faltered on Ari’s name, and they’d both heard it.

“Long time, no see?” Ari said, using a soft hand to squeeze Gwen’s shoulder.

“Are we pretending to be friends now?”

“We were friends,” Ari said truthfully. “At the very least.” Gwen’s cheeks pinked, and Ari felt the better parts of Merlin’s advice. She didn’t need the brunt of her honesty; she needed the best edge of it. “We drove each other wild. That doesn’t mean we weren’t friends.”

Gwen looked down, stepping much closer. “What the hell are you doing here? Three years and you just show back up in the middle of my tournament ring?”

“Trying to save Val from Mercer’s wrath.”

“And you put my entire planet in the cross fire?”

“What?”

“I doubt it will surprise you to hear that the Mercer force now residing in our spaceport has issued a warrant for your immediate arrest. I’ve been ordered to turn you over.” Ari opened her mouth, but the queen held up a finger. “What I want to know—and if you lie, I’ll have Jordan stick you like a hunk of lamb—is why Mercer is after you. What have you done to incense the most persistent amoral force in this universe?”

Ari couldn’t have lied if she wanted to, but she doubted Gwen was ready for all of her truths. “I snuck onto Old Earth. And I accidentally helped my friend over there break a moon colony. And I’m Ketchan… and I’m not behind the barrier.”

The queen flared her eyes, a calculating look that was no small part intimidating.

“I’ve never lied to you, Gwen. Not even when you were lying to me.”

Gwen sighed with a slight growl that slipped through Ari’s armor and rubbed along her skin like a purring cat. The feeling amplified as the crowd began a methodic, expectant clap.

“What are they doing?” Ari asked.

“They’re excited because I’m going to kiss you.”

“That’s what the winner receives for this tournament?”

“No, this is the final round. Only three contenders have made it this far. Jordan does not throw a fight unless I ask, and no one has ever beaten her. Including you.”