“I’ll never surrender to you,” Ruexner ground out between clenched teeth.
Just then, the marshals tried to get between them, declaring that the match was over and Valten was the victor. They urged Valten to back off, but he wasn’t willing to let Ruexner up just yet. He pressed his sword point to Ruexner’s neck, between his helmet and his mail, pricking his skin. How dare he play his dirty tricks — striking Sieger and throwing dirt in Valten’s eyes.
The marshals pulled Valten off Ruexner by force.
As Ruexner slowly got to his feet, one of the marshals stood between them, but Valten could see Ruexner’s bloodshot eyes fixed on him.
“It is finished.” Valten meant to warn the man.
“It is not finished,” Ruexner shot back. “I am not finished with you, Valten. Not until I defeat you. You will surrender to me. I swear it.”
Don’t make me kill you. Valten kept the words to himself. It had been his good fortune to have never caused the death of any of his opponents. But he was at peace with it if he was forced to kill in self-defense.
Ruexner just might be the first.
Gisela’s breath caught at the sight of Valten’s limp left hand and the way he was holding it.
Blood oozed down Ruexner’s sides, showing bright red against his armor. He was hurt too. Good.
The marshals forced Ruexner to walk away from Valten and off the field. The crowd shouted insults and hissed, and the ignoble knight yelled curses and shook his fist at them. The crowds laughed from the safety of the perimeter and shouted back at him.
While Ruexner was leaving, Valten’s squire helped him take off his helmet, and Gisela noticed he didn’t use his left hand. Though his face was sweaty and dirty, he didn’t appear to be seriously hurt. Valten raised his sword at the crowds, facing one side, then the other, while the people cheered wildly and yelled praise and cheers. Gisela forced herself to swallow down her anxiety for him before he faced her side of the lists. He lowered his sword and bowed to her.
Her heart lurched inside her.
He bowed low, going down on one knee, and the crowd went even wilder with their cheers. She acknowledged him with a shaky smile and a slow nod.
As Valten stood, he put his sword hilt to his lips, then opened his arm in a wide gesture to his queen. He stood there until the crowd gradually stopped cheering.
When the people were quiet, he said in a loud voice, “Long life to Queen Gisela, the Queen of Beauty and Love.”
Gisela felt all eyes on her, but she only saw one person. “And to you, Valten, Earl of Hamlin, the bravest and most noble knight of them all.”
“Hear, hear!” the crowd cheered, yelling and stomping and clapping.
He seemed to raise his chin at her in approval. She tried to look demure. All those years as a child when she had dreamed about him, she could not have imagined how it would feel to be here now, the object of his homage and his smile.
Valten walked off the field, and his squire led Sieger away. Gisela was happy to see that his caparison wasn’t even torn and the horse didn’t appear to be injured.
How she longed to go to Valten, to find him as she had the day before. She would love to know how badly his hand was injured, if he had other injuries. But she could hardly wander around unnoticed today. Yesterday she had been nobody. Today she was the Queen of Beauty and Love.
Gisela could hear people discussing whether Valten would come back to fight the rest of his opponents. Was he finished for the day? How many more challengers were waiting to fight him?
“Gisela?”
She turned to Cristyne, who was standing at Gisela’s left side. “Emeludt and I want to walk around. Will you come with us?”
Was she allowed to leave her place while the tournament was still going on? “I think I should stay here.”
“Valten was wonderful, wasn’t he?” Cristyne squeezed Gisela’s arm, her eyes wide.
“Oh yes,” her cousin Emeludt agreed. “He is the bravest knight of all. I hope we will see him fight again.”
Cristyne must have understood Gisela’s lack of excitement, for she said sympathetically, “I don’t think he is seriously injured, but if we find out anything, we will come back and tell you.”
“I would be grateful.”
“He looked very well when he smiled at his queen.” Cristyne winked.
“Yes he did,” Gisela admitted. She clasped her new friend’s hand for a moment before watching Cristyne and her cousin go down the steps of the gallery and disappear into the crowd.
Two more knights came out onto the field to fight, but Gisela felt little interest in it.