Chapter 5 : Friendly Fire

*Rowan*

Sleep eluded me. I tossed and turned most of the night. I couldn't get any rest, and so when the sun finally threatened to rise over the horizon, I was exhausted. I had work to attend to though, so I needed to get going. Maybe exercising would help me to feel more awake.

I started to get ready, looking for my gym shoes in the pile of discarded shoes next to my balcony doors.

Something about Aurora didn't sit right with me. I wasn't sure what it was that was making me uneasy. She was sweet, with the ability to make conversation out of anything. I didn't think there was anyone in the world who she couldn't befriend. She was a perfect politician and would make an excellent queen someday.

However, something still felt off about the whole situation. I chalked it up to the fact that it was an arranged marriage and so neither of us truly had a choice in the situation. Maybe it was that lack of freedom that had me on edge. That made sense, I wasn't used to being optionless often. Usually, whatever I wanted fell at my feet.

I let that explanation be enough for me as I left my room for the day. I trudged down to the gym, yawning as I went.

The gym was dark when I got there, but I could hear one of the machines going. One of my guards had a bad habit of leaving a treadmill going because he jumped off it without turning it off most of the time. I sighed and hit the light switch.

"Morning, sunshine," a familiar female voice called from the row of treadmills. "Nice to see you finally up."

"Genevieve," I answered, strolling over to where she was jogging lazily. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I have to stay in shape somehow. Not all of us can splash and play at the beach," she taunted.

I turned on the treadmill next to her and stepped on it. "I didn't know I was supposed to be keeping up with you."

"You couldn't even if you tried. I've dedicated my life to being ready for any situation. You're already too far behind," she pressed. A broad smile pulled across her face and I felt my heart fall into my gut.

I wanted to make her smile that way for the rest of my life.

I pushed away that ridiculous thought. I was engaged to Aurora. Genevieve wasn't a part of the equation at all. My only concern with her should be ensuring that she did her job and nothing else. However, I just couldn't shake the way she made me weak in the knees.

"Is that right? You don't think I can keep up with you? I beg to differ. I bet you a thousand dollars that I can keep up with you just fine," I retorted.

Genevieve choked out a laugh. "You think I have a thousand dollars to just be throwing away on bets?"

"Fine. Ten dollars. I bet you ten dollars that I can keep up with you just fine." I shrugged, but inwardly I was cursing myself. Of course, regular people didn't just have a thousand dollars to waste on pointless bets.

"You're already behind me by ten miles and I don't have time to wait for you to catch up," Genevieve dismissed.

"Fine. No bet this morning, but pick a morning and we will meet here and I'll do your workout. Then, another day, we'll meet here and you can do my workout. We'll see who's more fit then," I offered.

"Deal. I'll kick your ass though, without a doubt. Name your morning," she retorted.

I picked a day and she nodded, agreeing on the time that we would meet here. I was already looking forward to it, and scolding myself yet again. I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be setting up gym dates and having times to look forward to with anyone other than my fiancée. And yet, spending time with Genevieve already made me feel lighter.

"Ten miles this morning already?" I asked, looking at the screen on her treadmill to confirm.

"Just a light warm-up." She shrugged.

The fact that she wasn't breathless at all as she talked and jogged already had me impressed. I was doing my best to hide the fact that I was going to be huffing and puffing soon. I hated cardio. Weights were more my style.

Luckily, as she hit mile twelve, Genevieve shut off the treadmill and hopped down, taking a long sip from her water bottle.

"What's after your run?" I asked, turning off my treadmill and drinking from my own water bottle.

"Trying to figure out what my workout is so you can try and practice before our bet?" She chuckled, walking over to a weight machine.

"No, just making conversation." I shrugged.

"I like to change things up, keep things new," she said, sitting on the machine and getting in position.

I sat down next to her and started getting in position to get going. "That makes sense. Also, I think you're lying, but I'll wait to call you out on it."

"That's really generous of you. Seems like a bad call to accuse me of lying when you barely know me, much less know what my regular workout is like," she laughed.

Music to my ears. She was more at ease here, in the gym. It was like she was a little more free from her duty, so she could cut loose a little. She still held me at arm's length, but there was something more playful about her, and less annoyed.

"I'm good at reading people," I lied.

"Sure. You can keep telling yourself that, but it doesn't make you any less wrong." Genevieve started her reps, with an amount of weight that honestly had me impressed.

I started my own reps, watching as she moved through her workout. I was starting to think that maybe I was in trouble with our bet because she seemed more capable than I had previously predicted.

"Did you grow up in Reyna?" I asked lamely.

"Yeah. I did," she answered. It was a curt response that was out of place here in the gym. I was used to her short responses when she was out in the rest of the palace, but here, she had been much more amicable. I worried I had touched a nerve.

It was a boundary. I decided to leave that subject alone and try another angle.

"How does one become a captain of the guard in Reyna?"

"I worked my way up through the military. There are still a lot of people who doubt my ability, but as long as Aurora is safe, that's another day I've proved them wrong." Genevieve looked solemn now, but it was an improvement from the abrupt shut-down when I asked about where she grew up.

"I'm impressed. I wonder if anyone in our military is as well trained or as dedicated as you," I complimented.

She turned to look at me as she pressed another rep. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"And where do you think I'm trying to get?" I teased.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," she retorted, but she at least cracked a half smile again. Finally.

"Well, I can't help if the honest truth also happens to be quite flattering," I continued.

"Is that a rock climbing wall?" Genevieve asked, pointing to one wall of the gym.

"It is. Do you climb?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow in confusion at the change of subject.

"Sure. From time to time." She shrugged, standing.

"The harnesses are in that crate over there," I started, watching her wipe down her machine.

"Oh, I don't need that. I free climb," she dismissed.

I followed her over to the rock wall. She reached into the crate to find some chalk, dusting her hands before turning to the wall. I wondered how she planned to climb in her boots, but she had her foot planted on the first peg before I could ask.

"That seems sort of dangerous. How do you plan to do your job if you fall?" I asked, standing behind her.

"Easy. I just don't fall." Genevieve started climbing the wall, practically a spider.

"How do you manage that?"

"Lots of practice," she answered, still going higher and higher. I watched her, hypnotized by the fluid way she moved.

"Where do you get that kind of practice?"

"You ask a lot of questions," she shot back. She looked over her shoulder and grinned at me.

"Just trying to get to know you. You're moving into my home, after all," I returned.

"You should put this much effort into trying to get to know Aurora. That's your fiancée, in case you forgot." Her tone was teasing, but there was a hint of some other emotion there that I couldn't name.

I understood the feeling though. There was an echo of it deep in my chest, something neither of us wanted to name or talk about.

"She's a much more open book. I don't have to try as hard with her," I answered.

"I shouldn't be important to know anyway. I'm just the guard," Genevieve retorted, nearing the top of the wall.

"Captain. Captain of the guard. That seems important," I shot back.

"You're one of the first people to believe that," she scoffed. She slapped a hand on the ceiling and then began her descent.

I frowned. That couldn't be right. It seemed like she was very important. To be a captain of anyone's guard required some measure of importance. And working her way up through the military? You'd have made yourself important by doing something like that. Right?

"I doubt it. I think you're too hard on yourself. You seem very important to me."

I watched her scramble down from the wall, taking hardly any time at all. Again, I was so impressed with her athleticism. I was also realizing that it was incredibly likely that I was going to lose this bet, especially if she decided her workout involved any level of free climbing.

"I appreciate that, but I have a hard time accepting that compliment when we've both agreed that you hardly know me." Genevieve wiped her hands on her pants.

"Fine. We can revisit this conversation in a few weeks when we know each other. Of course, you would have to open up a little more and let me get to know you better for that to work," I pressed.

"I'll consider it," Genevieve said. She took a long drink from her water bottle, dusted her hands on her pants one more time, and then walked past me.

And kept going until she was out of the gym, gone down the hall, and presumably back to her room.

I was stunned by her. She was beautiful, mysterious, and captivating. I wanted to follow her, but I didn't have enough bravery to go after her. I couldn't anyway. Aurora should be the only woman I was running after. I would do well to remember it.

Staring at the rock wall, I considered climbing it. I knew lots of the guards in the palace enjoyed climbing it. I had tried it a handful of times, but never free climbing. I placed my hands on the pegs I'd seen Genevieve use, but they were too close together for me. She was much smaller than I was.

I wondered how she was able to do the things I'd just seen her do. There was so much more to Genevieve than met the eye and I was desperate to try and get to know more of her.

The strange feelings about Aurora didn't help my captivation with Genevieve. She was the one I wanted. I wished I was engaged to her instead. I just didn't know what I was supposed to do with these feelings.