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“Touché!” Raul said, falling back. “Good attack.”
They joined battle, and Gabriel won three more points.
“Dios! You’re fighting like a crazy man,” Raul gasped, his chest heaving.
Gabriel smiled to himself and dropped into en garde. There was Kodra again, refusing to speak to him, taking him to the surgeon for mutilation, stripping him of the hospital gown he’d begged to keep.
Gabriel lunged and drove his foil toward Raul’s breastbone, hitting it so hard that the foil bent in a high arch.
“Touché! Ouch!” Raul said, dodging backward and massaging his chest. “Match to you, loco.” He pulled off his mask and dropped it on the floor so Gabriel could see his cousin’s sweat-soaked hair plastered to his skull.
“Sorry, primo. I didn’t mean to come in that hard, but you’re so fast, I had no choice.” Gabriel lifted his foil in a salute to his cousin. He ripped off his mask and yanked the hem of his T-shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face as he sucked oxygen into his laboring lungs.
“Bravo!” It was the king’s voice, along with the sound of clapping.
Gabriel jerked his T-shirt back down to find his uncle and Mikel standing in the doorway. The king was applauding.
“Excellent match,” Luis said as he strolled into the room. “Somewhat unorthodox but impressive. Raul, you need to work on your riposte. Gabriel, you took too many risks with your attacks. A cool head is key.” The king cocked an eyebrow at them. “Would either of you care to challenge me to a match?”
Gabriel and Raul looked at each other. Gabriel was sure that his face mirrored Raul’s expression of panic. They were both exhausted, and his uncle fenced with a controlled ferocity that Gabriel couldn’t match at the best of times.
Luis laughed.
“Maybe Mikel would cross foils with you,” Raul suggested.
“My regrets, Your Highness, but a fight that has rules is not my style,” Mikel said with an ironic little bow. “I prefer guns.”
Gabriel looked at his slender fencing foil. “That would be a short bout.”
“Exactly,” Mikel said, his face impassive.
That gave him a short glimpse into Mikel’s world. Gabriel had been forced into it once, but Mikel lived there. Gabriel shuddered, blaming it on the drying sweat that suddenly chilled him.
When he looked back at his uncle, he was surprised by the disappointment that had doused the light of anticipation in Luis’s eyes. “Guns have their uses, but they lack elegance,” the king said before he pivoted to Gabriel. “I understand you are going to New York in a few weeks.”
Gabriel had to register any travel plans with the royal household for a whole variety of reasons, including security. However, he didn’t have to share his reasons. “Yes.”
Luis tilted his head toward the open guitar case on the floor. “You’re playing again?”
“I am.” Gabriel carefully rested the tip of his foil on the floor.
“Good.” Luis turned toward his son. “Raul, will you join me in my office, please? We need to discuss the renewal of the military base contract with the Americans.”
“Of course.” Raul thrust his bare feet into his loafers and tossed his foil to Gabriel. “Rematch tomorrow.”
“You’re a glutton for punishment,” Gabriel taunted.
“In more ways than one,” the king said in a dry tone. “Gabriel, I understand you are meeting with Francisco tomorrow for your briefing on the lily delegation.”
“Yes, Señor,” Gabriel said. Now that he had started practicing again, he begrudged every moment he didn’t spend with his guitar. However, he would honor his obligation to do whatever was needed to handle the greedy nobles.
Raul gave him a thumbs-up before he turned to follow his father out of the room.
Gabriel bent to lay the foils on the floor.
“What made you go back to your guitar?”
Gabriel straightened to find Mikel still in the doorway. “A feeling.”
