Chapter 48
Bradamante stifled a cry.
Rinaldo raised his sword.
His sister stood motionless.
“Please,” Rinaldo urged her.
In the brief space of that moment, with that one brief word, Bradamante lost her desire to win.
Suddenly she wanted everything to be over. She wanted to throw her arms around her brother and leave the field for someplace warm and dry. She wanted to talk to him until their voices cracked and their hearts and minds were empty. Whatever anger she might have felt for him was gone. She loved him. She missed him. They had already lost so much time together, and she couldn’t imagine losing another minute. Nothing else mattered anymore. She had done as well as she could, but now it was time to stop.
“They’re watching,” Rinaldo said. “Raise your sword.”
But Bradamante cou
