XXV. A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved.
Steve was winning. Two events so far and he had been successful enough in both to put him in good stead for the three still to come. He was sweaty and tired out after the second and yet as Danny entered his tent, Steve was happily engaged in conversation with Freddie and looking like he could still go three rounds with a dragon and survive.
"Prince Daniel," Freddie's face straightened along with his back as he showed respect to the monarch.
Steve turned to him, a smile erupting on his face. "Danny!" he greeted, much more informally. Danny refused to give the stomach flip he experienced any credence. He kept his hands behind his back.
"If I may have a moment with Sir Steven," Danny said and the knight took the hint immediately.
"Of course. I must go check in with my squire," Sir Frederick carefully moved past Danny, leaving the two men alone.
"Congratulations on your victories today. I think they heard Grace's clapping in Lord Anthony's lands."
"Her enthusiasm was very inspiring," Steve told him.
His daughter had taken a liking to Steve from the moment they'd met following Steve's win the previous year. She'd insisted on being at the celebrations and Clara was unable to refuse her granddaughter much. Grace liked Steve and as much as Danny found it endearing, he also had to be wary. He did not want Steve to win for this third year and with Grace so attached to the knight, he knew it would break her heart if Steve wasn't able to fulfill her desires for them.
Because ever since they'd met; and because Grace enjoyed spending time with Steve when he was about the castle, she had insisted that Steve was, without a doubt, going to be The One for Danny.
The people put so much stock into the Games as a true test of love. If one man (or woman) had the ability, the strength, the stamina, the determination to win for those three years then it was a testament to fate. To true love. The Games had become something of legend. A fairy tale. Grace was still so young that she believed in them.
Once upon a time, Danny had been in the same position. He remembered being a young boy and knowing how his parents had met and seeing just how much they were meant to be together had given him this expectation that it would work like that for him too.
But watching his aunt year after year be disappointed at her lack of suitor, that no one was able to win her hand had made Danny doubt. It made him think the Games cruel. And by the time he'd met Rachel and fallen in love with her while knowing she was not the kind of person who could ever hope to win such a tournament, it made him believe the Games to be bias in favor of those capable in body and mind and those born into a family that could support the training necessary. Who was to say that only those of physical prowess and mental agility combined could win the chance to marry into royalty?
And so the Games took on a horrible meaning in Danny's head that one day he might be saddled with whomever won. He'd already lost love, he doubted he could find it again, especially amongst the pool of knights who usually had their heads so far up their own asses that-
"Are you okay, Your Highness?" Steve asked, bringing Danny out of his thoughts. He must have looked a fool standing there trapped in his own head.
"I'm fine. I was simply curious."
"About what?" Steve asked as he continued to disrobe, throwing his soiled garments in a corner. Now he stood in nothing but his breeches, chest on display and the bruising from the morning's first event beginning to stand out on his skin.
"You told me once that you participated that first year because of your father."
"That's true. It was his dying wish."
"I've never understood why you continued. You won, you showed off your abilities as a knight to your father and to the world. As victor you set up a lucrative career for yourself. The accolade of winner here goes far. Why return with such determination?"
"You really don't know?" Steve asked, towel in hand as he took steps towards Danny. "It was my father's desire that I win, yes, but not to prove anything to the world."
"Then why?"
"To prove something to you," Steve answered, like it was obvious.
Danny was taken aback, not just by Steve's words but by the look in his eyes. There was something familiar that he couldn't put his finger on. There had always been something about Steve that prickled the back of his neck and he'd never been able to explain it, choosing instead to brush it aside. Perhaps that had been the wrong thing to do.
"My father once quested with Sir Edward. It was over ten years after your father had secured Queen Clara's hand in marriage. You would have been no more than eight years old. The quest was to recover the stolen gold from the treasury and it led them to the Dark Mountains where they faced the snake headed demon. Do you remember?"
Danny frowned. Yes, he remembered the stories. His father had succeeded, the money had been recovered and the demon summoned by the Noshimuri Dynasty had been vanquished. But Steve wasn't looking for Danny to repeat the facts. He wanted him to remember something else about it.
"I remember my father leaving with three knights. I remember him returning with two," Danny said. Though he knew Sir John had been one of the returnees.
"I was young and upset that my father would leave so soon after my mother's death, leaving my sister and me in the care of our aunt. In order to take my mind off things, my father charged me with an important task for while he was gone. Something that would further my training."
"And what was that?"
"To make sure nothing befell the Crown Prince."
"You mean me," Danny said. "I had castle guards for that. Not to mention a legion of knights."
"Then you don't remember," Steve said sadly. "I thought not."
"Remember what?"
"I followed you. The castle guards knew me, knew my father, they knew I was no threat to you and they thought it was a game. I hid in bushes and I stood outside doors. I checked in the kitchens to make sure the food you ate was safe. I was a shadow and one I was proud you were not aware of, though admittedly, at ten years old, I had hoped for some recognition, but a knight doesn't fight for glory or plaudits. He fights to protect, because it is the right thing to do."
Danny listened, recognizing Steve's words as something Sir John must have told him time and time again. They were similar to the values Danny's father had instilled in him. Danny thought back, trying to piece things together. How could he have missed another kid following him around all over the place? Had he been a stuck up brat or was he just oblivious? Or was Steve just that good, even at the age of ten.
"Wait," Danny held up a hand, a sudden thought. "That quest. It was during that quest that I… that Billy died in the lake."
Steve's face took on a solemn look. "I tried, Your Highness. I tried to save you both but I couldn't. I did as ordered, I made sure you were okay but by the time I could go after Billy, he'd already disappeared below the water."
"But the guards… I thought they pulled me out."
"It was me."
"I had no idea," Danny breathed out. He had been in and out of consciousness. Water had filled his lungs and he'd thought he was going to die. Ever since, he avoided that lake. It was no wonder that during the summer solstice gatherings these last few years, Steve had shown up and discouraged anyone from inviting Danny closer to the water. Danny hadn't even thought that significant until now.
"I felt guilty about Billy's death for years. It drove me on to be a better knight. To get myself to a point where if something like that happened again, I'd be quicker, I'd be stronger and I'd be able to save everyone."
"You were a kid. And you did everything you could. I would never blame anyone for not being able to save someone from an accident," Danny told him earnestly.
"I did my job. My father told me he was proud of me for saving you, for doing what was asked of me. Sir Edward even awarded me a medal."
"But what does any of this have to do with proving yourself to me? If you'd just said something I'd have told you how unnecessary that is. I would never blame you for Billy's death."
Steve took a second to think, putting the towel aside despite the streaks of dirt and sweat that remained on his body. "My father told me that when I looked at you from afar, it was with something more than loyalty. He said my actions and my devotion were one thing, but that my eyes were another. He believed I was destined to be by your side."
"So when you said you were proving yourself to me you meant… you meant you were doing this in order to win three years. Not one. You're doing this to win the chance to ask?"
Steve bowed his head in respect.
Danny had no idea what to make of it. From the start, Steve had never made any intentions clear. He had played everything close to the vest and Danny was stunned to hear that all along Steve had a game plan. Danny had thought Steve cold at first, thought him the usual braggart - he had been playing the part well. To think Steve had these hidden depths was astonishing.
"My father trained me in all fifty possible events. He wanted to give me my best chance at winning. He told me on his death bed that my training was complete."
Danny stepped aside, suffocated by how close Steve was to him, feeling the heat from his body and practically hearing the beat of his heart. "I don't know what to make of any of this," he thought out loud.
Steve followed him, took him by the arm and had them facing each other again. "I don't know if it changes things for you, but if I win, which is looking likely, then I will be by your side for the rest of our lives, which is where I'm meant to be."
"You believe as your father did? That you and I are fated to be together," Danny asked, with only a hint of the bitterness he felt towards the tournament seeping through along with his disbelief in fairy tale happy endings.
"You don't?" Steve's eyes narrowed, his own beliefs unshakeable.
"I only truly met you after your first win. We only see each other at special gatherings and parties and anything else you get invited to here. I feel like I barely know you!" Danny argued.
"What's my favorite food? The name of my sister? The most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me?" Steve asked.
Danny scoffed. Of course he knew the answers to all three but that didn't prove anything. "That's not-"
Steve cut him off continuing. "And as for what I know about you? How much you love your daughter and put her first? The way your father trained you in the art of swordplay? They way your mother wanted you to have a rounded education and schooled you in mathematics, history, geography? The time you tied your brother up to the fence by the cow fields and told him you were leaving him there as food for the bulls. Or when you broke your wrist climbing the tall oak outside your chamber window trying to escape the jester at your birthday party when you were six."
"Who told you that?"
"Prince Matthew's lips get very loose when he's had a lot of wine," Steve explained through a smile. "My point is, you know more than you realize. As do I."
"But that's not proof that we're meant to be. That we're in love? That's what the people believe about this tournament. That it finds true love. If you win, if you ask, if you become my husband, there are expectations. Are you so convinced you can meet them?" Danny asked, thinking Steve might be easily put off by sharing his bed.
"We can put that to the test right now," Steve said with confidence and before Danny could ask him how, he was swept forward into an embrace and Steve was kissing him. It was intense, unyielding and determined but it hid a softness and care. It was like everything else about Steve. There was desire and need and sweetness as it deepened. Steve's hold relaxed on Danny but only enough for one hand to travel over Danny's back while the other gently held his neck.
Danny didn't know what to do with himself except to return the kiss. Hidden desires sprung forth and he wanted more as his hands found purchase on Steve's arms then slid up to his shoulders.
He felt Steve gently bite at his lower lip before delving back into his mouth, their noses pressing together as the kiss moved and then there was tingling and heavy breathing. The kiss was finished but they hadn't parted, instead Steve stayed impossible close to Danny, his tongue darting out to lick his own lips but Danny felt it too and it made him instinctively lift his head up and forward for more.
Steve soothed the hair back from Danny's forehead as they looked into one another's eyes, so close that it made everything blur.
"I think a lack of passion is not a problem we face," Steve commented and as first kisses went, in the face of it, Steve's statement was not something Danny could refute.
Danny's hand had slipped from Steve's shoulder. It was on his chest and he could feel the heavy thump of Steve's heartbeat. He was slightly in awe of it and swallowed at the sight of his hand resting where it was on Steve's naked chest.
"Sir Steven, dinner is being served in the banquet hall," a voice called from outside of the tent.
"I'll be right there!" Steve shouted back.
Danny rested his forehead on Steve's collarbone and inhaled deeply the musky, sweaty scent of Steve, the earthy tinge of dirt, and the armor's metallic tang that hung in the air. Steve wrapped his arms around Danny and took a deep breath, laying a reverent kiss into his hair.
"I will win, Your Highness."
Danny had nothing to respond with, nothing that would make any sense.
Steve pulled back, grabbing an old, baggy shirt from the table beside them and dragged it over his head.
"I have to go. They're waiting for me. I shall see you tomorrow, my Prince." He was out of the tent before Danny could answer.