As miserable as facing her father’s mortality was, Irene found silver linings all around her. Most of them had to do with the man that she was set to marry.

Despite the circumstances, Henry was sure to carve out time with Irene so that they could get a bit of sword practice in. After all, it would be too depressing to see the patch of worn dirt in the practice yard become covered with grass because of lack of use.

"I think if you really put your mind to it, you could take me out in less than two minutes," Henry insisted.

He held his left arm behind his back, taunting her. He was using her frustration at being taken out a few moments before to hopefully light a fire underneath her and get her out of her head.

In preparation for getting married, Irene never thought that part of it would be sparring with her betrothed at the start of each day to burn off some steam and hopefully put them on the right path for the rest of the day. It was a strange way to bond, but it was bonding nonetheless. Those outside of the knighthood—particularly her mother—thought that the way the two beat one another up was alarming. Fortunately, she didn’t have to understand their relationship for it to work.

"Don’t be smug or I’m going to have to hit your pretty face," Irene shot back and tightened the grip on her practice sword.

"Mine has plenty of scars, so what are a few more?" he wondered. "On the other hand, I’ll avoid hitting your beautiful, stunning, delectable, freckly face, dame."

Irene was caught off guard at not only his compliments but the name he used as well. However, it was clear that Henry was using it against her because the moment she was swayed, he rushed forward and forward thrust his sword towards her chest.

"Hey!" Irene cried. "That was purposeful."

She barely smacked the blade away with her gloved hand and the side of her sword so it wouldn’t hit her where it would undoubtedly hurt. However, despite her reprimanding words, there was a small grin on her face, not entirely hating the attention he was giving her.

Irene decided to get more serious. She tightened the glove of her right hand by pulling it lower on her wrist. Her eyes narrowed at Henry, and she approached him.

"You wouldn’t like it if I used your weaknesses against you," she explained.

"Oh?" he asked. "What sort of weaknesses are you referring to?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Never mind." She let out a light sigh as soon as she was close enough to lean into him. "Enough talk of weaknesses, I’m feeling tired."

That seemed uncharacteristically hot and cold, but he couldn’t blame Irene for feeling depleted while she was going through such emotional turmoil.

Without hesitation, he let his wooden sword fall to the ground, and he enveloped her with both of his arms. He glanced at the manor they practiced beside, and upon seeing no one peering out any of the windows, he attempted to pull her closer.

However, she had a firm stance.

"Rule number one is never let go of your weapon during a fight!" Irene taunted. "And I thought you weren’t going to use your left hand?"

As she said this, she thrust her elbow into his chest and pulled her boot behind his foot, so he stumbled backwards. What took him down the rest of the way was her giving a downward diagonal strike across both of his shoulders.

He stared up at her in amazement, feeling less competitive and more impressed.

"A taste of my own medicine," he muttered.

"I never said the match was finished before," she persisted. "Pay attention to your sparring partner."

Despite that, Irene flopped onto the dirt ground next to Henry, but she took it a step further by tossing her sword a few feet away and lying on her back in a heap. She wasn’t lying about being tired, at least. Sleeping was hard despite all the measures her parents took to make it so others didn’t hear her father coughing through the night.

Henry admired Irene with a small grin that wrinkled his eyes. Never would the young Duke have thought he’d fall so hard for a woman so willing to get dirty after experiencing what it was like to be beside someone mostly confined to the pristine walls of a palace. Then there was his beautiful knight, who didn’t even consider that her fiery hair would be covered in dirt from lying on the ground. She was also sweaty from their sparring, but not shying away from it. She was so naturally herself, and it made him absolutely mad for her.

Even though she could feel his eyes burning into hers, Irene stared at the passing clouds above. It always felt a bit cruel that their summer had been temperate, but her father wasn’t out there to enjoy it. No one loved nice weather more than him, despite having the same freckling issues she had whenever she sat in the sun for too long.

"Your mother and Commander Lothian are set to arrive soon, aren’t they?" she uttered her question.

"Yes, and I’m counting down the days even though I know the trail is unpredictable," Henry admitted. "My mother is going to love you."

Irene welcomed more distraction.

"It’s their turn to get married," Irene decided. "How long have they been together now?"

"Has to be over two years by now..." Henry quietly mused.

"But he’s loved her since he was a child, right?" Irene asked, suddenly more eager as she sat up and met Henry’s eyes.

Henry laughed.

"You won’t hear Commander say that, and you also didn’t hear that from me," he warned. "If there’s only one person left in the kingdom who can take me down, it’s him."

Conveniently, their conversation happened only a day before Henry’s mother and the southern Commander arrived.

Irene felt shy when the first thing Henry’s mother, Celia, said to her was, "I’m thrilled to get to know the woman who stole my son’s heart. In letters, he has spoken very highly of you."