"I like you," she said quietly, but firmly.
Joedan looked at her, studying the blue of her eyes, her hair tucked behind her ear. Broken was his moment of staring, his ears caught up with what she said.
"What?"
"I like you," she repeated, again, more confidently this time.
"You like me?" he said, parroting her.
Amelia's eyebrow lowered. Was he serious right now? Why was he just repeating what she said? She pursed her lips and made a face at Joedan.
Joedan still in disbelief over what he had just heard, was struggling to find words. His mouth was dry. She likes me? What? He didn't think she'd be the first one to say it. He looked at her and saw that her eyebrow was lowered and she was frustrated. Realizing he still hadn't said anything back to her, he blurted, "I like you too."
She sighed with relief and then she smiled. A real smile.
Before Joedan could say anything else, Amelia leaned in and pressed her lips to his.
Joedan's ghost ascended from his body.
No, not really, but he was freaking out.
Amelia was kissing him.
THE lady Amelia, the duke's daughter.
He returned the kiss and they broke apart.
Amelia laced her fingers between his and rested her head on his shoulder. Joedan, stiff as a board, was trying so hard to get his breathing under control. His heart was racing. After a few moments, he relaxed and lowered his head against hers as they both stared at the stars in the night sky. Did Amelia want to be with him? Joedan bit his lip as he contemplated what this meant for their future.
Eventually, it grew colder and Amelia shifted, raising her head. Joedan stood to his feet, still holding her hand and the two headed back towards her estate. Joedan walked her back to her chambers, with courage, Joedan faced Amelia and leaned forward. Amelia smiled at Joedan again, not being able to help it, after a moment, she leaned in and returned the kiss. She had finally kissed the man she liked.
They broke apart and Joedan opened her door so she could walk inside. Turning around, so she was facing him from inside her room she said, "I'll see you tomorrow. Do your best for me," she said as she smiled at him one more time before stepping back and closing the door. She rested her back against the door, her heart beating rapidly. She made her way towards her bed and changed into her night clothes.
Everything was going to be different from now on she thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
*****
Joedan turned away from Amelia's door and headed away from her estate and back towards the academy. Joedan was both relieved and the most nervous he'd ever been in his almost 21 years of life. Relieved because Amelia was just as interested as he was, but also nervous for the same reason. He really hoped he didn't muck it up now that they had finally made it this far. He walked along, with a little pep in his step as he smiled over the memories from this evening.
Everything was going to be different starting tomorrow, he thought to himself as he entered the barracks. Walking over to his bunk, he put on his night clothes and crawled into his sack. Rolling over, he closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep dreaming of what his new future might be.
*****
There was a bunch of rustling as the recruits jumped down from their bunks and began getting ready for the final day of their exams. Joedan rose to a seated position and began dressing with the others. He had slept great the night before and he looked forward to today with anticipation. He wondered how Amelia was doing. Tying on his boots, Joedan stood up as Brad and Jeff approached from their side of the barracks.
"Mornin sunshine," Jeff said, chuckling as he raised his eyebrows up and down at Joedan.
"Someone came back late to the barracks last night."
"I bet he was with a certain lady," Brad joined in on the teasing.
"Knock it off guys," Joedan said as he tried to hide his smile. Both of them saw it though.
Not letting up, Jeff leaned in, "What happened, dude?"
"Nothing, man." Joedan said, locking his lips. He wasn't sure if Amelia wanted anyone to know so he wanted to respect her wishes.
"Recruits, report to the arena!" came the bark of instructor Willis.
All the cadets scrambled into a single file line. Lionus and his cronies were in the front of the line, sneering back at Joedan and his friends. "He doesn't look happy," Jeff said.
"His problem," said Joedan to the others as they started exiting the barracks.
The arena wasn't that far away. Walking down the familiar tunnel into the arena, Joedan and the others made their way over to their section and sat down. Instructor Willis walked out into the center of the arena. It had been changed since yesterday. Gone were the obstacles and mock castle. There was an octagon set up in the middle. A red line marked the edges of the platform.
Instructor Willis marched right into the center of the octagon. The crowds had already gathered. There were more people in attendance today than yesterday. Joedan looked around at the stands and was surprised to see many people were looking back at him. He wasn't quite sure how he felt being the center of such attention but he quickly turned his focus back to the instructor in the center.
"Welcome, everyone. As promised, we are back and today is the final day of our final exam. Today is my favorite part of this exam. One-on-one combat," the instructor beamed.
"Today, you will see bouts of courage, skill and strength as these recruits face off against one another. Like yesterday, win or lose will not determine whether you enter the army, but more rather, where you end up in the army," the Instructor was engaged with the crowd as he gave his speech.
"Some simple rules to go over," the instructor said, as he brought his focus back towards the recruits.
"The battle ends when either your opponent yields or you force your opponent past this red line," he said, as he pointed his foot to said red line.
"Again, weapons will be blunted, but even still there are to be no head shots and no crotch shots," the instructor lowered his gaze to each recruit, working his way down the line.
"Am I understood?"
All the recruits responded with "Yes, sir."
"Good, then with that out of the way, let's talk about the line-up."
Across the arena, Joedan saw a board with each of their names written across it. Tournament style brackets adorned it.
"Each person's first match has been assigned at random. The matches will continue until the last two men are standing. This will be our final match. The winner of today's match will receive 50 points towards his final exam and prime option of position of placement should that put him as the highest score across both pieces of the exam. Any questions?" the instructor asked as he looked again at the recruits.
The recruits all said no.
"Then, let us begin. First fighters, you're up," and with that the instructor stepped off the field.