229 Kiss Before Duel

Their eyes met again and he could see the shock and fear more clearly in her eyes now. At the same time, the crowd began to cheer, making noise, letting their voices echo in the surroundings.

"Now," everyone fell silent. "He would come to the arena now and the fighting would begin. The rules are simple, first one to knock his opponent out the ring wins."

Everyone cheered again. Some of them began to murmur. It was obvious who would win from the look of things. Clive was much bigger in terms of weight and body size than Jareth.

"Master, don't you think this is bad? With his weight, he could easily throw Jareth out the arena." Snow said to her, his big round eyes now fixed on Clive as he assessed the man.

"Have some little faith in Jareth. He wouldn't easily lose. He is light on his feet, you know."

Even though she said this to her beast, it was still more to encourage herself as her shaky voice gave her away.

"He wouldn't easily lose? Master, are you insinuating that he would lose? Who is now having less faith in him between the two of us?"

True, her words just now made it seem as though she didn't believe he would win even though she did.

She believed his words when he said he would protect her and would not let anyone lay a hand on her, but her heart clutched at the thought of him being hurt.

She couldn't shake this feeling away. She felt the pit of her stomach tightening when she saw the wicked grin plastered on Clive's face.

Her breathing hitched and the beating of her heart increased. Right there and then, she knew they couldn't trust him to play fair.

"Secondly, if after thirty minutes of the fight, we still can't find a winner, the participants would have to defeat their opponent or make him surrender," Clive added and then proceeded to entire the arena, bending below the ropes that demarcated the area.

Jareth followed suit, but rather than proceeding forward to enter the arena, he walked up to where Astrid stood, holding the little white tiger-phoenix beast and stopped right in front of her.

Everyone had their eyes on them about now. Astrid felt nervous from the sudden attention they were getting as some of them were glares, stares full of hate.

Some of the women there disliked her for her beauty and the attention she got, especially since their leader was fighting over her, something he hadn't done before… fight for any girl.

Jareth turned his head so his eyes met with Clive's. After what seemed like a long time but was just for some seconds, he gave him a wryly smile while his eyes narrowed and he turned his head back to face Astrid.

His smile changed upon seeing her. For a moment there, she could see the look of shock flashed before his eyes but as quickly as it came, it was gone.

From the looks of things, he could tell she was nervous about all these, unfortunately, that was his doom.

This only intensified the thoughts he had planned earlier and his eyes blazed with desire and warmth as he stared into her piercing innocent eyes that glistened with so many emotions in them.

"Why do you do this every time?" Not that he didn't know the answer, he never failed to let her know what she did to him with that.

Before Astrid could answer, Jareth closed the gap between them, with Snow sandwiched in their midst and pressed his lips against hers, shutting his eyes close.

Unlike the last time, this time she was partially, mentally prepared for what he was going to do and returned his kiss, parting her lips to grant him entrance and closing her eyes to feel every single bit of it.

One hand snaked into her hair pulling her closer as he deepened the kiss and the other caressed her face lovingly.

As much as Snow wanted to watch, he felt that he should give them space and privacy.

Quickly, it wriggled itself out of her arms, falling to the ground close to her side and looked up. His silly master only gasped from what he had done with eyes still closed and that only gave Jareth a better chance to be more mischievous.

He bit on her tongue, sulking and tasting her as his slender hands on her face moved down, finding their way around her side, to circle around her waist and pulled her body closer to his. She followed his lead and wrapped her hands around his neck lovingly.

Astrid felt their bodies collide, that coupled with how passionately he was kissing her, only made her want to melt in his arms and stay there.

Jareth finally broke the kiss and his hands on her head moved forward to cup her face and chin. "Wait for me," his deep sensual cool voice rang in her ear, sending warmth down her stomach, making weak in her knees.

"Be careful," Astrid whispered back.

"I will be."

"He wouldn't play fair from the way things are going."

"I do not expect him to, but I am ready."

With their faces so close together and nose touching, she could feel his warm breath tickle her cheeks, causing her to blush a crimson red. His green eyes shone with delight at watching her blush then quickly placed a kiss on her lips again before letting her go.

He felt happy inside him and did not know why. Whether it was from the feeling of knowing only he could make her blush or from the thought of embracing his feelings or that his plan was in motion.

Whichever one it was, he couldn't say. In no time, Jareth was already by the rope and bent down to enter the arena.

He didn't look back, but he could tell she was still in a daze. They all were. The only person who wasn't dumbstruck was Clive.

His blood boiled with rage from what Jareth had done. His eyes were a bloody red, with his veins popping out at his forehead and the side.

Jareth traced down and saw him clench his fists so tight, that he turned pale white. Clive shot him a deathly glare, deadlier than his previous ones, bearing the heat of hatred.

Yes, he had accomplished what he wanted. Just like that, he could feel the rage seeping out and his aura turned darker.

His lips curved up into a sinister smile and he walked forward, getting closer to Clive. A dark glint shone in his eyes, bringing with it, everything bad.

Like a bull who has seen red, Clive charged at Jareth almost instantly, not giving him a chance to react as he was still walking close to him and leapt forward, hoping to catch him off guard and pounce on him.

Unbeknown to him, Jareth had already calculated his possible moves and attack and the minute he leapt, Jareth stopped in his tracks, but he didn't look up.

Just when his hands and body were about falling down on Jareth, the latter looked up, a light glint flashed in his eyes and he swiftly moved to his left-hand side.

With no one as a pillow for him to land on and since Jareth's movements were uncalculated and precise for him, he fell face flat on the sandy ground.

Thud!

The cheering and shouting that had been ongoing at the background suddenly stopped, upon seeing how their leader fell, without his opponent lifting a finger.

Clive didn't waste any time and jumped back up, turning and twisting his head on his neck as though he wasn't just the one that fell or like he wasn't affected by the fall just now.

The next second he moved closer to Jareth, stretching his right-hand to punch at his head. Jareth moved to his side and caught his hand and was ready to use the weight he put on that hand to throw him down hard on the ground.

The moment he touched his hand, he fell for Clive's, trap and he pulled his hand back, using his left hand to hit hard on Jareth's back.

Jareth immediately let go and stumbled back. Both of them looked at each other again, more sternly this time and continued.

Clive threw punches and blow, Jareth ducked, kicking at his side and head, then turning around and kicked hard on his knee from behind and giving a blow to his head.

That was not enough, since the man hadn't fallen, he kicked at his neck, but Clive caught his leg and pulled him to his front with it, landing a punch at his ribs.

Crack! Thud!

The ground trembled under the weight of Jareth's body been thrown on the floor, making him spit out blood.

Clive stalked over to where Jareth was, trying to get up on his feet. Once he got there, he placed his huge hands on Jareth's head, wanting to yank him by the hair and lift him up, but Jareth was prepared.

Pow!

"Whoa!"

The crowd murmured out their surprise with the shock boldly written on their shocked faces. That was a swift and great move.

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