Chapter 35

Elena’s POV

“Elena.” King Harvey’s voice cuts through the muck of my mind. “You can take me down, use your mind.”

“I am glad you believe in me, King Harvey…” Muttering, I draw in a breath. I know his werewolf ears would catch my words.

Opening my stance, I swing the sword again widely and King Harvey grabs it with both his armored hands and throws me backwards.

It is a soft toss, but it still sends me a few feet back. Stomping my feet to stay solidly on the ground, I ready myself again and stab upwards with the blade at his helmet. I want to see his face and see if I can take it off.

King Harvey grabs the sword with one hand and drags it down.

“Too slow, Elena.”

“You are having too much fun with this, King Harvey.”

King Harvey laughs happily. “It is good to see what you can do, Elena.”

We both reset our stances and he circles me with a light step.

“The armor is not heavy?”

“No, Elena. But very powerful.”

“Huh. Really?”

“I am not human, this armor would crush a human, but not me.” King Harvey steps toward me and swipes with his right hand, and to my shock I block it with his sword.

He freezes his swiping with his left hand and stares at me.

“I blocked you!” I exclaim, absolutely overjoyed.

I am so glad I did that without being taught. I can keep going.

“Do it again!” King Harvey swipes at me with his left hand and I duck instead, and try to stab upwards again, snagging his helmet. Applying force, I shove the sword back and his helmet is now on the end of the sword.

“Oh!” I collect his helmet and feel the weight of it.

While King Harvey wears it with ease, this helmet weighs about four pounds.

When King Harvey charges up at me in my distraction, I throw the helmet at him and watch him duck.

It hits the wall behind him with a thud and he laughs heartily.

Now, standing right in front of me, King Harvey places his hands on his hips. His armor sings with his motion and shines.

“Elena, use the diagram.” King Harvey commands, standing still.

“…don’t remember much…” I whisper.

King Harvey lifts his leg and smacks his ankle. “Start here, Elena.”

King Harvey lightly kicks at me, and I slam the sword down on his ankle.

There is no reaction.

“Why didn’t it hurt?” I ask.

“You missed.” King Harvey informs lightly.

“Really?!” I huff and try again.

He skips backwards, grinning.

King Harvey kicks at me again and to be sure, I swing slowly. Lamely, I only tap his ankle and of course, he remains standing.

I am getting tired of this and would rather talk to him. Even though this is interesting and informative, there is more we can do.

I am not winning, and it is getting annoying.

What comes after the ankle anyway? The knee?

I need a refresher of this diagram and will ask him about it later.

“Use the sword.” King Harvey commands.

At my limit, I find myself swinging madly at his chest left and right and back again.

King Harvey simply steps back and out of the line of fire.

“Never get mad, Elena. You become foolish and that is when you die. See?” King Harvey takes the sword from my hand in one motion and leans down to stare me in my face.

Well, there is only one option left.

Getting on my tiptoes, I press my lips to him gently.

King Harvey’s knees squeeze as he bends his knees to kiss me properly. Tangling my hands through his hair, I press him into our kiss and kiss him ferally.

There is only one way to drag him to his knees, and I have no battle skills. A kiss will get him.

Pulling away to breathe, I gasp to him. “I love you.”

King Harvey finally sinks down to the ground and kneels in front of me. King Harvey pants slightly, his eyes shimmering light silver.

“I love you too, Elena.”

The lopsided grin on his face makes me smile back down at him.

King Harvey slowly regains himself and strips himself of his armor. He places it back on the shelf where it belongs and puts the sword in his golden scabbard.

“King Harvey, would you mind teaching me how to make something?”

“A bracelet, Elena. For your bravery.” King Harvey says warmly. “You may pick the gem in the center when we finish.”

“Okay, King Harvey, thank you.”

“Do as I say, this fire is deadly.” King Harvey instructs.

He goes to the back and pulls out a metal rod and a block of gold. King Harvey takes his cloak off and throws it off to land in front of his armor.

King Harvey balances the block of gold on the metal rod and lets it melt slightly. When the bar of gold begins to drip, he pulls it away from the bubbling pot of lava but says nothing.

“King Harvey?”

“Watch closely, Elena.” King Harvey replies over his shoulder.

King Harvey waves his hand over the melting pot and a cover slips out on top of the pot. With a snap of his fingers, a metal plate falls from the ceiling, held at the sides by a small thin metal rod at either side of it.

“King Harvey, how does this work?”

“It follows my heat signature, Elena.” King Harvey places the melting gold onto the metal plate and slices it with the metal rod, taking the piece of melting gold that he wants.

He smooths the melting piece of gold with his bare free left hand.

“As long as I allow it to cool slightly, I can touch it just fine. Of course, you cannot. But now you understand werewolf levels of stamina.”

King Harvey smooths the piece of gold once more, then rolls it on the metal plate to make a cylinder.

“Does it hurt?”

“No, Elena. It is just warm.”

With his free right hand, King Harvey wraps his hand around my wrist for the size of it. He hums as his fingers squeeze my wrist.

“You have very small wrists, Elena. I will feed you more.”

I laugh nervously. “Well, thank you, King Harvey.”

I know he is being kind, but all this attention is still rather new for me.

King Harvey closes the cylinder with one motion, connecting the two ends together, then rolls it lightly on the metal plate to fix the bump he has created.

King Harvey steps to the bubbling pot of lava and taps the metal rod on the lid of it. A sudden smell of burning metal overwhelms me and I look up at King Harvey in shock.

The sound of whistling and violent bubbling lava freezes me. King Harvey steps in front of me as the pot lid flies upward violently and a wave of lava splashes onto King Harvey.

“No!” Grabbing King Harvey by his shoulders, I see his arm is charred.

He smiles at me as tears roll down my face.