I’m Done Letting My Sister Take It All Chapter 03
In the field, Matthew and I stood side by side near the edge of the grounds.
Nearby, Christopher stood close to Katherine, raising his arm to shield her from the harsh sunlight.
They leaned in near to one another, murmuring in intimate conversation. Katherine covered her mouth with a soft giggle, and Christopher immediately joined in her laughter, his adoring eyes never once leaving her face.
I averted my gaze, unable to watch any longer.
Before the tournament commenced, a lady-in-waiting attending Laurenapproached me. “Miss Clarice, Her Majesty has been longing to see you. Please, come with me.”
I followed her into the royal pavilion, where Lauren was reclining gracefully upon a soft daybed. When she saw me, she reached out, taking my hand in hers with a mock-scolding pout. “You ungrateful little thing. You have been back down the mountain for so long, yet you haven’t come to visit me once.”
I offered her an honest, humble reply. “Your Majesty, I knew your days in the palace would be far busier than our quiet times on the mountain. Besides, the palace is governed by so many strict rules, and I feared my clumsy ways might bring trouble.”
Hearing this, she gave my hand a gentle, affectionate swat and laughed. “Listen to you, you mischievous girl, talking of rules and propriety! Where did that wild spirit go? You used to raid birds’ nests and climb the tallest trees for wild fruit. Do you think I forgot that?”
Her words brought a flush of embarrassment to my cheeks, and I lowered my head, hiding a quiet smile.
“I have a token for you. Keep it safe,” she said. “With this, you may come to see me whenever you wish, without the need for formal announcements. Do you understand?”
I nodded, a sudden wave of emotion catching in my throat as my eyes welled with warm tears.
Lauren treated me with immense kindness. Everyone in the court knew that because the Queen Dowager saw in me the resemblance of her late daughter, the young princess, she shielded and doted on me at every turn.
“Why are you not partnering with that Hinchcliffe boy this year?” she inquired softly.
My heart tightened at her question, but I forced a bright smile onto my face. “Matthew is exceptionally skilled in riding and archery as well, Your Majesty.”
Lauren studied my face, the warm smile fading from her lips. “Clare, speak to me honestly. Have you been mistreated since you returned home?”
I shook my head and lowered my face, afraid she would see the tears gathering in my eyes.
Lauren didn’t press me further. She merely reached out to gently stroke my hair, letting out a soft, sympathetic sigh.
“Go on then,” she encouraged me. “Show them all that my Clare is more than capable, even without that boy beside her. If you win today, I shall personally add to your prize. I have a ruby jewelry set that’s been sitting untouched for years, and I have long prepared it specifically for you.”
I looked up at her, nodding with fierce determination, and let out a genuine smile.
The moment I stepped out of the pavilion, Matthew grabbed my wrist in a tight, bruising grip, his eyes boring into mine. “Did you go and complain to Her Majesty?”
“No,” I replied.
He narrowed his eyes, studying my still-red rims, his brow twisting into a harsh scowl.
“You had better be telling the truth,” he warned coldly. “If Katherine faces even a whisper of blame because of your petty complaints, you know exactly how severely Father and Mother will punish you.”
A sharp pain pierced my heart.
In all my life, I had never done anything to harm Katherine. When we were children, she once took my candy. I cried for half a day, yet when Mother asked what happened, I just lied and said I had fallen.
Later, Katherine pretended to be sick to avoid going to the mountain and pushed me into five years of hardship instead, but I had never uttered a single word of complaint about it.
Why, then, must Matthew always view me with such malicious suspicion?
As the tournament began, I notched an arrow and drew my bowstring taut. The arrow flew true and struck the dead center of the bullseye, drawing a sudden burst of cheers and applause from the spectators along the sidelines.
Then, it was Matthew’s turn. He spurred his horse forward, but his shot was completely off-target, grazing the very edge of the board and embedding itself in a nearby tree trunk.
I glanced at him in utter disbelief. Yet, Matthew remained entirely unbothered, offering only a flat explanation. “The sun got in my eyes. I lost my focus.”
Across the field, Christopher and Katherine were coordinating flawlessly.
Christopher released an arrow that struck the exact center of his target. Katherine followed with her own, landing another perfect hit. The crowd erupted into waves of applause, and the two exchanged a radiant look, exuding an undeniable chemistry.
I pulled my gaze away, biting my lip hard as I forced myself to refocus on the competition.
Over the next few rounds, every single one of my arrows flew with deadly precision, never missing the mark. Matthew, however, performed as though he had forgotten how to hold a bow. His shots were utterly disastrous; out of every ten arrows he released, barely two or three managed to scrape the target.
His skills should never have been this abysmal.
A deep sense of unease began to settle in my chest, though I could not quite put my finger on what was wrong.
Meanwhile, due to Katherine’s occasional misses, Christopher’s team kept the score neck-and-neck with ours. The attention of the entire crowd was fixed entirely on our two groups.
Matthew guided his horse closer to mine, casually bringing up a new topic. “Clare, I heard this year’s prize is a diamond hairpin shaped like an Orange Blossom.
“Katherine’s birthday is just around the corner, and you…”
The implication hit me instantly. I gripped the reins with such fierce intensity that my knuckles turned stark white.
Did he truly expect me to yield yet again?
I stared unblinkingly at the distant target, gripped by a sudden, fierce stubbornness for the first time in my life.
“No, Matt. I’ll not yield.”
I had surrendered last year’s prize without a fight, but this year was different. Lauren had encouraged me, promising her own special reward. She loved me so dearly, and I refused to disappoint her.
Matthew’s face darkened, a low, dangerous anger vibrating in his tone. “Do you really have to be this competitive? Can’t you take even the slightest loss? She is your sister!”
A wave of bitterness washed over me. “Matt, this is a competition. It’s supposed to be fair.”
“But she is your family,” Matthew countered, his voice dripping with impatience. “If you simply hold back a little, no one will ever know.”
I remained silent, refusing to offer him a reply.
On the opposite side, Katherine missed another shot and looked on the verge of tears. Christopher rushed to her side, pulling a comical face that immediately chased away her sorrow and brought a bright laugh to her lips.
Taking a deep breath, I turned away from the display, wanting nothing more than to bring this tournament to a swift end.
I pulled three arrows from my quiver and notched them all at once. Just as I prepared to release them, my mount was suddenly slammed from the side with immense force. The horse lurched violently, spoiling my aim. My fingers slipped, and all three arrows flew completely wide of the target, striking nothing but empty air.
I whipped my head around to look at Matthew. He met my gaze with utter composure, his expression laced with a hollow pretense of innocence. “Forgive me, Clare. I simply didn’t see you there.”
Before his words had even fully registered, my horse let out a terrified shriek, its front hooves rearing high into the air as though gripped by sudden panic.
I clung desperately to the reins, nearly thrown from the saddle by the violent motion. In the next instant, the frightened beast bolted forward, charging across the field like a creature possessed.
The wind roared past my ears. Behind me, I heard two voices cry out at the same time.
“Clare!”
“Clare!”
Pressing my body flat against the horse’s back, I fought with every ounce of my strength to maintain my balance. Through the chaos, I heard hoofbeats thunder behind me, rapidly closing the distance.
Christopher caught up and rode alongside me. He stretched out a hand and shouted anxiously, “Clare, give me your hand!”
After a fleeting moment of hesitation, I reached out toward him.
Yet, just as the tips of my fingers were about to brush his palm, a sharp, piercing cry echoed from behind us.
Katherine had somehow slipped and tumbled from her saddle. She sat upon the ground, cradling her twisted ankle as tears streamed down her face. Hearing her cry, Christopher instantly withdrew his hand, turning his head back toward Katherine.
My outstretched hand met only empty air. With my balance utterly lost and nothing left to hold onto, I fell straight down toward the hard earth below.