Chapter 9 Battle of wills

Marianna tried to sleep but she couldn´t the rest of the night. She was wide awake and thought about the upcoming conversation. That would be breakfast from hell. Everybody asking her stupid questions which she would rather not answer. But what could she do? Just before sunrise she wanted to climb out of her window. However there were two problems. 1. She was scared of heights and 2. guards who patroled the garden around the palace. After her failed attempt to sneak out the door, because there were more guards, she gave up and waited till it was time for breakfast. And that was what she was doing right now. She was on her way to the dining room. She was really nervous and scared, althrough the King had ressured her that everything would be good. But Rath could be a huge obstacle. She didn´t know why he reacted so angry the night before. It wasn´t like she had threatened his family or something. He made everything worst than it was. Men, they were so sensetive sometimes! Marianna was so deep in thoughts that she almost crashed in the door to the dining room. She shook her head to get rid of her notion. She had still time to think about Rath after her questioning. With shaky hands she took the handle and opened the door. And what she saw was so not what she expected. The whole family was present. They sat around the large table and looked her way. She felt like she would be standing infront of them in the nude. That would at least explain why they stared so intensely. But Marianna wouldn´t let them intimidate her.

" Good morning", she said friendly and looked at everyone.

" Good morning dear", replied Abidale in her motherly tone. Her husband had told her everything last night. At first she was angry then after Mael described the situation she felt pity for the girl. No one should witness the death of the own mother. And her father was the murderer, too. No wonder Marianna was so sad." Why don´t you take a seat?"

Marianna did as told and sat slightly apart from the others." Why don´t we get it over with quickly", she had no real desire to be here and the waiting would propably kill her, literally.

" Allright. We only thougth that it was best to wait after breakfast. But if you´re up to it, we can do it now", King Salem rose from his chair. He and his family had discussed it really long and although Rath had his objections everybody came to the same conclusion. " You know what you did was wrong, right?"

Marianna nodded. Logical it was wrong but practical it was right." I know and I´m sorry. But I thought I did what was best for me".

" And nobody will pass sentence on you. But still it was wrong and you have to bear the consequences" King Salem put on his father face, which looked like a mix of concern and anger

" We only want that you are honest with us from now on. It was horrible what you had to experience. But we want you to trust us and in contrast we want to trust you, understood", Queen Lutecia interfered. Vilandra showed her the whole incident and it was disgusting. How a father could do something to his own daughter, she didn´t know.

" Wait. Let me get this straigth. You don´t hate me and I don´t have to go?", Marianna believed she didn´t listen right. It couldn´t be. She had lied to them over weeks and they didn´t punish her? That was really a strange family.

Now Abidale had something to say." Of course not. You thought you did the right thing", she laid a hand on Mariannas." We all make mistakes, but that doesn´t mean we hate each other".

" Besides, you are a part of our family now", Mael repressed a smile." That means we can give you house arrest or you have to do the chores for a few weeks".

Mariannas eyes widened out of fear." Chores? In the whole palace? You´re not serious, are you?". No No. They wouldn´t do that to her. Allright, she was lying, but she didn´t destroy the planet.

" Welcome in our family", Vilandra couldn´t hide her smile any longer. She knew her uncle. He was dead serious about that. He let her trim the huge garden, only because she was a little late. So, she had help from Ava and her brother, but it was still horrible. She had to scrub her nails for hours and her hair was dirty.

" Now that we have the important stuff out of the way, we can finally eat", King Salem knew that it would be a while before everybody would trust Marianna again, but it was a start for now.

" Yeah. I´m starving", Zan rubbed his belly. He didn´t say much, but he trusted his father. If he said Marianna was not a threat then he believed him. Maybe he could try to make friends with her. Except for the lying she was a funny person, especially when she spoke back to Rath.

" Tell us something new", replied Vilandra sarcastic. Her brother was always hungy. If he wasn´t careful he would put on weight.

Zan glared at his sister." Hey, I´m a growing boy. I need all the food I can get so that I will be tall and strong", he tensed his non existing muscles.

The whole table broke out in laughter. That was what Marianna missed at home. No matter how cold her father was, her mother was always so tender to her. She stopped sometimes by her room and they gossiped about people or they teased Nikolai. Too bad she didn´t have the strong connection to her own brother like Zan and Vilandra did. But she couldn´t dwell to much on the past. She couldn´t change anything, although she would do it gladly. Maybe she could let go of her anger towards her father and move on. He would get what he deserved, no matter what. Until then she had to go a long way before she would feel completely at ease with these people. Marianna took a look at Rath. He was still angry, which revealed his scrowling face, which stared at her. She didn´t know what his problem was with her. At first he treated her like she would break any minute and now he did so like she would attack his family any moment. He was so hard to read. But Marianna was never a girl to back down from a challenge. Therefore she glared back at Rath. If she was really good in something than "who can hold the gaze longer". A couple of minutes later the meal arrived and Rath was the first to drop his gaze. Marianna was pleased with herself and she clapped on her back mentally. She dropped her head, because she tried to hide her smile. She would show him who was the better soldier.

Later that afternoon

Rath was in the fighting room. In this room was the whole equipment to boost the strength. Only the soldier had access to it. Every day they met here and finished their training after they trained with the weapons. Rath was usually more often in this room, because he had the most pressure. As future Commander he had to be the best of all. Today he was there because he had to work out his anger. With all his might he beat at the punching bag over and over again. He didn´t know why he behaved like a jerk or why he treated Marianna like a plaque. She had lost her family and he should be more sympathetic towards her. But he couldn´t forgive that she was lying to him for a long time and that she thought she couldn´t trust him. If he was true to himself he was more mad at him, because he didn´t realize sooner that something was wrong. And a little part was furious that somebody could do such a thing to a innocent girl, which was not older than his own sister. If he imaged something like that would happen to Ava, he would propably tear the whole kingdom apart until he found the culprit and then he would torture him as long as his powers would work. Rath shook his head. He had to stop thinking about that. He would do everything in his part that his family would never be harmed. Everybody who wanted to hurt them had to go through him first.

" You´re doing it wrong", a voice startled Rath out of his thoughts.

He turned around and saw Marianna standing at the entrance of the room. She was leaning against the wall and had her arms crossed infront of her chest. " What?"

" You are fighting to uncontrolled. Every opponent would predict yout next move and dodge it" She seemed to be amused over his baffled expression.

Rath was not excited about the suggestion of Marianna. What could she possibly know about fighting and battles." Yeah. And you know that because?"

" Well first of all I was the second highest officer in my fathers army", Marianna pushed away from the wall and walked in his direction."Secondly every blind man can see that the anger leads you and not the other way around". She placed herself infront Rath." Rule number one : Don´t let anger cloud your senses".

" You were a soldier?", Rath had problems to stifle his laughter. No woman had the physical shape to survive one week at the exercise. Only the strongest and fastes men made it to the troops.

Marianna didn´t like the way Rath was so amused about the fact that she was member of the royal army. She pressed her right hand at her hips and glared dangerously." Why should I lie about that?".

" I don´t know", Rath pretended to think about it." Maybe it´s because you were lying to me before".

" Could you drop it. I said I was sorry", Marianna´s patience snapped. Why couldn´t he stop the harassment. His family was in the process to forgive her. Why couldn´t he do the same?

" But that could be a lie also!", Rath raised his voice. If he would be any louder the whole palace could hear him.

" I´m so sick of your attitude towards me", Marianna took her shirt and pulled it off. Then she threw it forcefully down on the floor. Thank god that she wore a tank top underneath otherwise she would have given Rath a glimpse of her almost nude body." Let´s deal with the situation like men".

Rath was slightly distracted through the little top that did nothing to hide her breast. But he heared the last part." But you´re a woman".

" That´s beside the point", Marianna was so furious that she couldn´t think clearly at the moment." Let´s do it right here and now and I´ll show if I´m lying or not".

" I don´t fight with girls", Rath had never raised a hand against a woman. His father taught him that much. Althrough he was quite angry at her, he wouldn´t touch her in any way.

" Too chicken? Afraid you could lose against me?", If Marianna knew something it was that men had one weakness. Their ego. Tell them they were to afraid and they would do everything. Men were so easy sometimes.

Rath was really mad now. Nobody questioned his manhood and would get away with it." Alright, fine. Let´s do it".

" Wait a minute. I just have to adjust my bra", Marianna pushed her breast upwards with both hands.

Rath stared fascinated at the white flesh which peaked out of her tank top and the next thing he knew he landed with his back on the floor and Marianna sat on his belly. She pinned down his arms to the ground beneath his head.

" Rule Number two : Don´t get distracted. Be on guard all the time", Marianna smirked happy about her successful attack. She used the oldest trick in the book. Men think always with their dicks.

Rath felt really embarassed. He was usually not so easily fooled. Hopefully his father would never know about this. It would be too humiliated for him. " That was not fair. You tricked me".

" Fighting is never fair", Marianna bent forward until her mouth was at his ear." But if you want I can play nice". Her breath tickled his throat and let every hair stand at his neck. Something in his pants began to stir.

" Don´t do me any favours", Rath rolled really fast to the right side. And now he was on top. Yeah he liked this position much better. Now he had the control again.

" You´re really good", Marianna had to give him credit for that. But they were only at the beginning. Now it would be really serious. No cuddling, no holding back. With that thought Marianna used her powers to throw Rath off of her body. He landed with a thud a couple of feet away from her on the floor. " But I´m better". Marianna rose from the ground

Rath jumped immediately back on his feet." Alright. You want it rough. I give you rough", he pulled his tank top off of his sweating body.

Marianna had to swallow for a moment. He was built really nice and very tasty. His belly muscles were well trained and the light hair at his belly button which seemed to reach inside his pants were a total turn on. Just as she thougth about that a blast hit her square in the chest and tossed her at the nearest wall. If she would be a normal girl that would have had hurt. But her body was used to bruises and she didn´t hurt that easily anymore.

" Did you forget Rule Number two", Rath imitated Marianna and tried to sound like a woman." Don´t get distracted. Be on guard all the time".

Marianna knew he would throw her words back in her face. Why couldn´t he be ugly or have a big belly. No he had to have a body like an Antarian god. But she couldn´t let him think he will win this figh. Immediately she stood up and gathered her strength. She stretched her right arm out and Rath hung a few feets above the floor on the wall.

" Now that is a sight you don´t see everyday", Marianna droped her arm. She didn´t need it anymore. She pinned him down with her mind.

" Let me down, right now", Rath tried to fight against the spell with his powers. But they were not strong enough. Irritated he scrowled at her. She seemed to enjoy it to much.

" No. I let you hang there for a while", Marianna thought about something funny." Maybe I can torture you while you´re at my mercy. You know for the way you treated me", the evil twinkle in her eyes made Rath a bit afraid.

" What will you do to me? Talk me to death?", no matter in which situation Rath was, his sarcastic comments never ceased. Besides what could she do really to him? She wouldn´t hurt him. At least not badly.

" No. Althrough that´s a great idea", Marianna stepped closer to Rath. Maybe she should let him hang until he begged to release him. Or she could have her way with him. Oh my. Where did that thougth come from? Marianna shook her head. No sexual fantasies about Rath. She noticed how her cheeks got warm and a blush covered her face. Immediately she tried to hide it with her hands.

" Marianna", Rath cried. She seemed to think really hard about his punishment. Hopefully it would be not to bloody and hurtful. Suddenly her face changed her colour. Was she blushing? " Hello. I´m still there".

Just as Rath wanted to call again he crashed with full force on the floor. She must have lost her holding on him. Quickly he attacked again. He knew that his powers couldn´t compare with Mariannas. She was stronger, but hand to hand fight he was the best. Therefore he tried it with a frontal attack. But Marianna expected it, althrough she seemed to be still in her thoughts. She sidestepped him. Rath lost his balance and fell to the floor. However Rath was no newbie in fighting. He kicked his leg out and brought Marianna down, too. Rath reacted immediately and rolled on top of her. With his hands he nailed her on the floor.

" You seem to like it on top", Marianna laughed. Not that she minded. No stop it. Why couldn´t she have other thoughts about him. He was a jerk.

Rath smirked down at her." Of course", he dropped his head until his mouth reached her ear. " I like to have control", he waited a second and then he added." In everything".

Marianna had to fight against her lust. If she wasn´t careful she would beg him to take her. Here and now. Her heart threatend to jump out of her chest, her breathing was heavy and her eyes changed to a dark green. Rath noticed the change in her. He saw in her lustful eyes. Before he knew what he did, he pressed his lips against hers. Her mouth was soft and tasted wonderful. Carefully he pushed his tongue against her lips. Seconds later she opend her mouth. Immediately both tongues were fighting for dominance. Marianna moaned quietly. Rath knew what he was doing. His right hand traveled from her wrist to her cheek. He was so sensitiv and rough at the same time. Her whole body shuddered for longing. Her nails bore in his flesh. Suddenly Marianna realized what she did and with who. With all her strength she pushed Rath off of her and jumped to her feet.

" We can´t do that", she stuttered embarressed. She avoided eye contact with Rath. " It´s wrong. Your engaged and so I am, at least in theory". She felt her cheeks blushing again.

Rath had to laugh about that. She was really cute if she was nervous." Relax. It was only a kiss". His smile grew wider.

" That was not only a kiss!", Marianna threw her hands in the air." I know what a kiss is, that was definitively more than a kiss", she pointed a finger at him. " you forced yourself on me!".

" I didn´t notice that you were against it", Rath retorted back. He felt no pain. It was worth everything. Now he could sleep really good tonight.

" You surprised me. That´s all". Marianna knew that was a lie. But she wouldn´t admit it to him. Ever.

" Tell yourself that, but I know that you loved it", Rath winked at her seductively." Admit it, you want me".

" I admit nothing!", Marianna stomped forcefully her right leg against the floor. She cursed her body, who yearned for his touches and tingled for longing." I go now and try to forget that this", she pointed at them both." ever happened", she glared at him." I would do the same if I were you". With that she turned around and made her way out of the room.

Rath could hear her babble that she would get to hell for this. He couldn´t restrain his laughter. This girl would definitely make his life more interesting, that was for sure. He noticed Mariannas shirt, which lay on the floor. He took it in his hand and smelled. Yeah he would keep it as a trophy. If she wanted to forget about the kiss, he would do everything to prevent it. No matter what she said, she wanted him like he wanted her. With that thought he went to his room. He needed a cold shower, badly.

TBC