As miserable as facing her father's mortality was, Irene found silver linings all around her. Most of them had to do with the man that she was set to marry.
Despite the circumstances, Henry was sure to carve out time with Irene so that they could get a bit of sword practice in. After all, it would be too depressing to see the patch of worn dirt in the practice yard become covered with grass because of lack of use.
"I think if you really put your mind to it, you could take me out in less than two minutes," Henry insisted.
He held his left arm behind his back, taunting her. He was using her frustration at being taken out a few moments before to hopefully light a fire underneath her and get her out of her head.
