Chapter 10
The Corona archery tournament is Rapunzel's first large scale obligation as royalty. All she really has to do is have fun at the festival, then watch the tournament, and then present the winner with their prize, but she is very excited nonetheless.
Eugene is only mildly looking forward to the ridiculous amount of fried food that will be available, but he's having fun watching Rapunzel gush about how great it will be. It's also just too funny watching her practice as she picks up random objects and presents them to him as if he had just won the archery tournament, with a speech about victory in manly sports.
He spends the morning of the tournament being dragged around town by the hand as they watch fire dancers and sword eaters and puppet shows. They determine that the best of the festival food is the deep fried cookies, but after sampling so much indigestible junk, Rapunzel starts to feel a bit sick, so they make their way to the tournament grounds where she can take her seat in preparation for the contest.
Half way there they run into Maximus and have to stop so the horse and the princess can hug each other. The Captain of the Guards stands at Max's shoulder and watches their exchange with an air of amusement. He's out of uniform and Eugene barely recognizes him without his extravagant hat.
"Rider," the captain growls.
"Hey," Eugene grunts with a jerk of his chin. He's really not in the mood for manners today, or at least not with this guy.
Rapunzel's face peeks out from behind Maximus. "Are you entering the archery contest, Captain?"
"I am, your highness."
"Good luck. I hope you do well."
"As do I, but there's some stiff competition this year. How about you, Rider. You entering?"
"No. Projectile weapons are cheating." Eugene considered this a good cover for the fact that he has no clue how to shoot an arrow. Not that he minds or anything, as he can't think of a situation where he would have to use a bow.
"Hmm. Who's your money on then? I hear that young Lord Wesley, Lord Herbert's son, is quite the archer." The captain's face bends into a leer. "He's turning out to be quite the noble and honorable young man. Just like his father."
Something contracts in Eugene's chest at the mention of the family he never had. He suddenly feels clammy, but he'd rather die than let the captain see his discomfort.
The captain smirks. "Too bad the same can't be said about you."
Eugene smirks back. "Yeah, it's a real shame. I have yet to have a heart attack from being an obesely fat drunkard, and I don't have a half dozen bastard children."
"You sure about that?"
"Pretty sure." He turns to Maximus. "What do you think? Have I been putting on weight lately?"
The horse shrugs one shoulder. Meh.
"You're an idiot," the captain says.
"Ooo. That's original."
The captain's eyes narrow and his voice drops to an angry hiss. "And I don't like you."
"Wow. Another great insult. I seriously think you should give some consideration to taking your show on the road. Maybe you can form an act with glue-face here."
"Stop it." Both men snap around to see Rapunzel glaring at them. Maximus gives an affronted snort, but that's probably deserved. "Just stop."
The captain's shoulders relax and his face eases into a smile. "You're right, of course, your highness." He bows his head to her. "My apologies." Eugene doesn't bother to point out that he's the one who needs an apology, not Rapunzel.
She accepts his apology with a nod, and then – much to Eugene's surprise – turns her glare on him.
"What?" he asks.
She rolls her eyes, a gesture that Maximus somehow duplicates at her side.
"If you'll excuse me," the captain says. "I must prepare for the competition."
"Of course," Rapunzel replies with a smile. "Best of luck."
"Thank you."
As the captain leaves, Rapunzel rounds on Eugene again.
"What?" he repeats.
"You were rude."
"Me?"
"You insinuated that you would turn Maximus into glue."
"Maximus insinuated that I was fat."
"And you called Lord Wesley's children bastards."
"No," he corrected. "Lord Wesley doesn't have any children. I called Lord Herbert's children bastards, which I have every right to do. And I don't use that as an insult, only a technical term… Like when I call someone an ass hat."
She blinks at him a moment, then decides it doesn't matter and moves on. "You didn't have to pick a fight with him."
"He picked a fight with me."
"He's just upset about all the stealing you used to do. He's a guard. That's his job. You can't really blame him for disliking you."
"Sure I can," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. If that was the case, then she couldn't blame him for disliking the man that chased him across the country when he was just doing his job.
"He's actually very nice when you get to know him."
"When have you had the chance to get to know him?"
She shrugs. "He's usually there when I go to see Maximus. He's introduced me to the rest of the guards."
"That sounds fascinating. Bring me along next time, won't you?"
She scowls magnificently and raises herself up beyond her full height by using the horse's shoulder for support. "You, Eugene Fitzherbert, are an ass hat."
He blinks at her. Then he laughs. "Good one, Blondie."
She tries to deepen her scowl, but it's not working because now she's kind of laughing. He reaches for her cheek and pulls her in for a kiss, which thoroughly disgusts Maximus.
He sits in the stands and watches the archery competition, even though he really doesn't care as long as no one he dislikes wins. He can't sit with Rapunzel because her place is in the royal box and his place is anywhere but the royal box. His absence confuses the king for a moment until he remembers that Eugene actually isn't a part of his family.
Eugene is too distracted as Lord Wesley has his turn to notice how well he scores. The man has his nose! Honestly, the nerve of some people! He catches Rapunzel squinting through one eye and holding up a thumb to cover a part of the lord's face, so apparently she's noticed it too. When the semi-final is over the lord doesn't progress, and Eugene cheers in celebration along with everyone else.
The captain does fairly well, moving on to the quarter-final, then the semi-final, and then the finals. That's annoying. Eugene cheers for the other guy, even though he has no idea who the man is. Unfortunately the captain wins the whole stupid thing, but it lifts Eugene's spirits to see that there are many people in the crowd who are less than happy with this development.
The captain steps up to the royal box and drops to one knee in front of the princess. She stands and gives her speech, which Eugene can't hear over the babble of the crowd, but he has it memorized already and he can tell that she is about to burst with joy. She presents the captain with a golden arrow for a trophy, and one of the secretaries from the treasury gives him a bag of money. They have a brief exchange: she says something, he says something, she laughs and says something else, he nods enthusiastically.
Eugene has the feeling that something just happened and whatever it is can't be good.
The next day he finds out that it's not good at all. In her excitement, she decided that she wanted to learn archery and asked the captain for lessons. Where she finds time to take archery lessons is beyond Eugene. He doesn't let it bother him because she's obviously enjoying herself. He's been able to find a balcony that overlooks where she practices and he is able to watch her progress. She's getting pretty good. Or at least he thinks she is. It's kind of hard to tell.
All he's doing is watching her progress. Seriously. He isn't spying on her because that is creepy and shows he doesn't trust her, which he does. And he isn't spying on the captain because… alright, maybe he's spying on the jerk a bit just to make sure he keeps his hands to himself and doesn't make her cry or something.
And, he tells himself, it isn't like he has a claim on her or anything. Not really. If she wants to ditch him and date… ugg, he couldn't even finish the thought, but if she wants to do that then she had every right to. It wasn't like he had died for her and given up everything to be with her. It wasn't like he was madly in love with her and jealous for the first time in his life. No. That wasn't what was going on. At all.
It's just that he doesn't understand how she can spend time with the captain of the guard and still laugh about it afterward. Doesn't she realize that he's a giant tool? Apparently not. And he's so old. Way too old for her in Eugene's very knowledgeable opinion. But that's ok because she can spend time with whoever she wants. He isn't going to stop her. She'll be mad if he tries, and he'll feel like an ass about it later.
He is not going to be like Gothel and keep her jealously hidden away all for himself. Reminding himself of that makes him less anxious. Not that he's anxious.
But the main reason he isn't bothered by it is because she still shows up every evening in his room to tell him all about her grand adventures and how well she's doing, and she grins just for him and she looks absolutely beautiful.
She hums as he kisses her, her tongue working furiously against his because she hasn't quite got it down perfectly yet, but the sheer eagerness of her movements makes it better than even the most adept, practiced kiss. She kneads the muscles of his chest, and his breathing speeds up, growing deeper yet more constricting with each beat of his heart. Her hands are still cold from the night and he shivers as they run across his abdomen. He nearly groans with frustration as they veer off to wrap around his waist, and he pulls her closer to make up for it, to try to reduce the demanding need to have her touch him.
He fills both greedy hands with the rise of her hips, then slides back to cradle the curve of her rear. She gasps at the contact, then again as he squeezes her flesh, then again as he pulls her tight, holding her so she can feel every inch of him pressed against her thigh. For a second they stay like that, breathing heavily, eyes squeezed closed, the heat of their desire and the discord of their inaction building, drawing them together, making her fingers claw against his back. She can't restrain herself for long and claims his mouth with a vehemence that will leave her lips swollen. She shifts against him, bringing his cock between her legs and squeezing it between her thighs.
He groans and bites down on his lip, pressing his forehead against hers, feeling her breath hot and fast against his face as she ever so slowly rocks her hips. He swears and she lets out a breathless laugh before she rocks again, firmer and stronger and more confident than before. She matches her rhythm to the squeezing of his fingers.
He hates that he's still wearing pants. He absolutely hates it, and he pushes himself between her long, gorgeous legs in an attempt to make things better, but it only makes it worse because - maybe he's imagining it - but he can feel the heat of her pressed against him, and he just longs for her so badly. He makes a passionate, frustrated noise in the back of his throat that comes out like a growl, and he's all but had it with self control.
He snatches up one of the hands at his back and swallows thickly, just cogent enough to remind himself to go easy, not to scare her. Quicker than he really should be moving, but far too slowly for his throbbing need, he eases her hand around, guiding it into his pants. Her breath catches, and he wraps her fingers around his length, covering her delicate hand with his own. Having her touch him feel so good, and his head spins, and the temperature rises, and he can't find enough air as he shows her how to stroke him. He's still restrained by fabric and he's still far too confined, but he reminds himself through the feeling of her sweating skin that he should take what he can get. In a way it's like he's doing it himself, controlling the pressure and the speed, but her fingers are so fine, so distinctly foreign, and somewhere distantly he can still feel the rest of her pressed against him - around him.
"Like this?" she whispers, breathless against his neck. But all he can do to answer is open his mouth in a silent moan and nod. So she kisses him, and it's perfect, and he doesn't know if he can hold out much longer if she keeps doing that and holding him close and squeezing him tight. And he realizes that there's no need to hold out, no need to impress, no need to save up for round two. With her he's free. With her everything is as it should be.
Gripping her tight, he falls apart in her hands.