Chapter 495 - 496: Proud Princess.

Chapter 495: Chapter 496: Proud Princess.

"What was that all about?" Loac inquires, eyes narrowed as he watches the guy go, like he’s waiting for something. And right on cue, the guy looks back and flashes them both a cocky grin.

"...I think he just invited us for a threesome," Khobi deadpans. It’s difficult to decipher the expression that crosses Loac’s face.

"Did he now," he replies flatly, not sounding in the least bit surprised, "...That sounds like him."

That’s...not exactly the response Khobi was expecting.

"...How exactly do you two know each other?" he inquires, although he’s pretty sure he’s got enough information by now to hazard a guess. Loac gives him a half-shrug and a scoff.

"...How d’you think?"

" Right ," Khobi snorts with an eye roll. He might’ve known. "...And are you... loosely acquainted with many Captains?"

"... Some ," Loac admits, using the exact same tone that Binny uses when Khobi asks him how many sweets he’s stolen. It’s not an answer that comes as any kind of surprise; Khobi had walked in on, overheard, or accidentally caught Loac fucking just how many people? And to his knowledge, rarely the same one twice. Loac leans in to kiss him then; light and teasing and just because as he adds, "...But not anymore."

Just you.

Khobi wonders if he’ll ever get used to the way his heart feels like it blushes when Loac says shit like that.

(He hopes not. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.)

Spoken for, huh?

" Okay lovebirds , you can eat each other later," Montrel drawls loudly, knocking their heads together as he bowls on over, impatient at having been kept waiting. "We playin’ now or what? Seeing you two being all sappy got me in the mood to kick your asses."

"Name one time you’ve successfully kicked Loac’s ass –" Gandy hoots over his shoulder, and gets appropriately flipped him off.

" No one asked you ," Montrel hollers back easily without even having to look back; expression set in a determined scowl, "Today’s the day, I can feel it."

"Oh yeah?" Loac smirks, torn between wanting to get up in Montrel’s face to stare him down and remaining pressed up against Khobi, "What makes you think today’s any different from the rest of your life ?"

" –Got a secret weapon," Montrel replies easily, jerking his thumb back towards the bench where Rogard is giving the princess a brief run down of the rules.

"What, Xena’s gonna play?" he scoffs with an incredulity that has his cousin looking surprisingly petulan. Khobi can’t help but snicker under his breath because he knows that look. Apparently it’s something that runs in the family. "Do you even know how to play?"

"How hard can it be?" Xena replies airily, casually tucking a lock of hair back behind her ear as she settles her cousin with a smug look, " You play."

The soldiers all ooh at the unexpectedly devastating blow , and Khobi gets a swift elbow to the ribs for cackling along at Loac’s expense.

"Okay Xena," he glowers challengingly, rolling a crack out of his jaw. Drunk as they are, even a couple of the nearby merrymakers have the sense to back out of his way. It is a little terrifying and a little impressive that the princess doesn’t seem in the least bit cowed, "You wanna play, let’s play?"

"As long as you don’t cry when you lose~" she chirps back, and it goes to show just whose side the crowd is on that her retort has them in absolute stitches.

Montrel has absolutely no idea what is happening but whatever it is he cannot wait to see how it plays out.

...

This game is not as easy as Rogard and Loac made it look, and Xena quickly decides that is so very stupid and so very fun . It takes her a little while to get her bearings but Montrel hadn’t minded when she’d missed; just taking her by the hand and showing her how to hold her elbow to get a nice, neat throw. If she hadn’t wanted to beat Loac quite so badly she might have even missed on purpose a couple of times just to have an excuse for him to hold her close. It feels both a little naughty and a little thrilling to want that.

But a princess has to have her priorities straight, and she absolutely wants to see the look on Loac’s face when she beats him.

It’s very frustrating being on the losing side for so much of the game, but Montrel takes it in stride; drinking double since it wouldn’t be proper for a princess to be knocking back ale the way the soldiers do, and firing off quips and taunts that make the soldiers hoot and Xena giggle. Khobi and Loac give back as good as they get though; pandering to the fickle crowd and winding each other up as much –if not more –than Montrel.

("They know they’re on the same team, right?" Xena finds herself whispering in Montrel’s ear when Khobi triumphantly sinks two coins at the exact same time and gets right up in Loac’s face about it.

" Beat that ," he smirks, and Loac lets out an obnoxious yawn, slinging an arm around his shoulder.

" Boring~"

Xena wonders if he knows how bright his eyes are twinkling.

" –Sssh, don’t remind them," Montrel snickers back, a finger pressed conspiratorially to his lips.)

Soon enough, Xena gets the hang of it and the first time her coin plinks down in the mug in front of Loac, right where she wanted it to go, the crowd around her erupts in enormous, ear-shattering cheers like they’ve been waiting for this moment with bated breath. They stomp and they beat on the tables and ale and wine slosh all over the floor and their friends and themselves in such fervent celebration you’d think she’d just marched them home from war.

She’s never heard anything quite so loud, and she absolutely adores it.

Her next one goes in, too.

And the third after that. The applause gets louder every time; the onlookers growing steadily more invested in her climb to victory, and the competition starts to get very heated. Loac even goes so far as to accuse her of cheating.

Her ? Cheating ? The audacity! Ladies don’t cheat.

(She’s definitely cheating at every available opportunity, but whether because they don’t want to offend her or because they want to see Loac and Khobi lose, absolutely no one amongst the dozens of spectators seems to ever see a thing when pressed.)