I felt frozen in place. My body would not respond to any request my brain made to move. It was like the words Myles spat at me required my entire body to be still, to process his words. I kept staring at the space he occupied like a child looking at contrails. I felt like Myles had punched me in the gut and couldn't understand why his words hit me so hard.
I had thought about having a woman on the side. Something past a one-night stand, the one I had was fun, but I couldn't even remember her name. I wanted more. In my head it would work perfectly for us to have someone who we were actually attracted to. What I didn't think about was Myles actually acting on finding someone. Even the idea made me want to hit something with all my strength.
With regained motor function, I walked to the gym and accessed the intercom. "Alejandro meet me in the gym, I need to spar."
As I walked to the gym, I kicked my socks off to the side so I could maneuver the way I wanted to. I stepped into the octagon and sat down to stretch; I reached for my feet, feeling the strain in my back and hamstrings.
"Sir, you wanted to spar?" Alejandro walked into the octagon with a look of apprehension. I nodded as I stood to face him. I nodded as I stood up to face him. He gave a nod before his face morphed to one of determination. We circled each other. He shook his legs now and then. We had only sparred once before and that was all it took to teach me to avoid his kicks.
I focused on ways to catch him off guard, knowing my usual techniques wouldn't work on a fighter of his style. Despite my urge to focus, my mind wandered to how Myles did not falter under my stare or manipulation tactics. He was stronger mentally and emotionally than I thought.
Alejandro's grunt brought me back to reality. He ran up to me and kicked toward my torso, which I barely dodged. His steps were quick and soft which exploited my l and reliance on hearing to fight and the difference in how quick we were. I tossed a right hook his way to get him to back up. I wanted to land several punches to release my anger, and he would make me work for it.
I was skilled at fighting guys who were bigger and smaller than me. Alejandro mixed how both types of opponents would fight. He was strong, quick, adaptable, and silent. It was like fighting an assassin rather than a bodyguard. He expected the next few punches and dodged them effortlessly. After dodging a few punches, he returned fire.
He jumped in the air and began trying to land aerial kicks. I tried to launch at him to close the distance, but he spun back on his heels and struck me in the mouth. I stumbled back, stunned that someone had hit me. I wiped my mouth, feeling blood pooling around my lips. I could taste the iron flavor, and that riled me. I changed my hectic anger strategy to a calm and calculated technique. I looked up at him as he bounced from side to side. He was getting too comfortable putting my back to the wall. I would show him what a royal could do at the top of their game.
"Sorry sir," I could see the shadow of a smirk on his face.
"Don't apologize for being good at what you do. I haven't bled in a while so this is actually a challenge," I said.
"You're distracted so I won't hold it against you," he said. I brought my hands together and quickly transmuted the air trapped between my palms into iron. As soon as I formed the projectile I simultaneously threw it at Alejandro and began infusing mana into the ground.
He jumped using his superior reflexes, successfully avoiding the minor threat. Before his feet could hit the ground, I rushed him and connected my fist with his sternum. He coughed before placing his hand out and releasing a gust of wind that knocked me back into the metal gate. I expected that move. Alejandro was one of the best wind magicians I had ever encountered. Wind magic could have devastating consequences if the user is powerful enough.
He threw another gust of wind my way, which I narrowly missed. He was good, but I was prepared. I manipulated the mana on the ground that I had been infusing and raised it into thin ribbons. It was a usual use of my power since it was effective.
"Sir, your mother has rung for you several times." Mileta's voice boomed as she barged her way into the room. Rolling my eyes, I reactivated my bio-companion while returning the ground to its normal state. My mother always had a way of stopping my fun.
"I would not kill you. Just toss you around till you gave up," I assured him. With a second look to confirm that he knew I was telling the truth I walked out the octagon and looked at the multiple notifications she left me. Huffing, I dialed her number and waited as it rang. She was probably looking at the call while leaving me waiting until the last ring.
"Do you enjoy embarrassing me? Do you enjoy making a mockery of our kingdom?" She loved to answer with a yell. I did not bother to complain that she was hurting my ears. She wouldn't care.
"Mother, what are you talking about." Annoyance was just under the surface.
"Watch how you speak to me, I'm itching for a chance to show you who I am," she warned. I could hear that she was close to losing grip on her anger. The wrong tone could send her over the edge.
"Why am I being yelled at?"
"You had a prostitute in the palace and paid her five million dollars. When did you lose the ability to think through your actions?" She was talking to me as if I was an imbecile, and it was pissing me off. I grew more annoyed when I realized that I couldn't respond to her in the manner that I wanted to.
"What?" It surprised me she had found out about it. I did a check over my shoulder to see if there were any cameras around as I walked to an empty living room.
"Are you stupid? I need an answer to that question because I can't tell." HEr voice was going hoarse as she shouted.
"I'm not stupid. We had an agreement in place. We signed a contract and everything," I said. I began searching through my companion files to see where I saved the agreement.
"Well, the agreement wasn't worth shit. I got a call from the Northern Ministry of Publicity informing me they restricted a story of you fucking a woman in your marital bed leading to a confrontation with Prince Myles. Now I knew you would not be the most faithful husband to live ã¼ which is why the infidelity did not break the oath ã¼ but I expected you to be smart about things. I thought you might use better judgement than sleeping with loose-lipped women."
"She shouldn't have said anything. I can sue her for her actions," I said as I scanned through my encrypted files.
"How would it look for you to take her to court? Prince Bernardo is suing a woman whom he cheated with for speaking about the infidelity," my mother yelled as the realization hit me like a freight train. If I did anything to go after her my secret would be out. I wasted five million dollars.
"You need to think things through before you act. You are married for a purpose and every action you make reflects on us and affects the status of the treaty. Queen Norella threatened a response because you made it look like the North were pushovers. I barely talked her down," my mother said.
"Sorry."
"I can't do anything with your piss poor apologies. How is the relationship with the prince?" I couldn't remember the last time I had irritated her to this level.
"He won't speak to me even after I tried to apologize," I said.
"Well, he's not an idiot. If your father would have pulled some bullshit like that with me, I would have turned the air in his lungs solid." she paused as if imagining killing my father.
"What do you want me to do to fix this?"
"I know you well enough to know that you're not good at nor willing to apologize without an underlying motive. What you did was beyond the line of disrespectful. You had sex with a woman in your shared bed. What I will do is make this a lot easier for you to understand. You will not sleep with anyone else, especially in a shared palace. I won't let you embarrass me again. If I receive one more call, I will make sure you don't live to see the blowback. What you need to do is apologize and mean it. I won't allow you to be the reason that the treaty is broken. What we are gaining from this is far too valuable for you to lose. The economy is up by five percent already. Get your shit together or I will make you. Do you understand?"
"Yes," I replied. I was reaching the end of my patience.
"Yes, what?" she yelled.
"Yes ma'am," I replied.
"Also, call your sisters more often." With that, she ended the call.
I sat on the couch and looked at the foyer, seeing a trail of wet footprints going up the stairs. I still did not understand how to get Myles to speak to me and my mother's expectation almost made it too hard to bear. I ever thought one act done in anger would lead to so much strife.