Although the descent most likely on lasted a matter of seconds. The darkness that engulfed her as she fell downward felt like it lasted far longer before she reached the end. Not having a chance to collect herself, Lena tumbled out on her back, wincing slightly as she hit a hard floor. The sudden brightness contrast from the darkness she was just in made it hard for her to see anything around her as her eyes tried to adjust while she collected herself and moved so that she could stand up. She stopped short of fully standing when she heard the sound of someone clapping behind her.
"Bravo! I must admit you did a much better job than I had expected you to." Even though she wasn't quite able to see the other person, she recognized the voice to belong to Jovani from the call she had with him the previous night.
"As expected of the queen, you did that much quicker than I had expected. I suppose I could've give you a tighter time frame to work with. That might've made it more fun." Once her eyes had adjust she saw that he was sitting in a rather comfortable looking armchair on the opposite side of the room from where she was now standing.
The room was completely empty aside from the chair Jovani was using, everything else appeared as though it had either been cleared out or the room had been left empty for one reason or another. The walls were the dark color that didn't match the room she had just been in and the floor appeared to have been made of concrete. There was two doors positioned on opposite ends of the room.
"What did you think?" Jovani asked as he fixed her with an expectant look which she returned with a glare. She didn't like being made a fool of like this. Especially since based upon his appearance, he seemed far less intimidating that she imaged he would've been based upon their phone call.
"Oh now dear, dear princess, don't give me such a look. I'm sure you'll come to understand sooner rather than later why all of this is really necessary." He told her as she folded his hands together while his elbows rested on his legs.
He was a man in his late twenties with short black hair and rather smooth looking face. His eyes seemed friendly enough but there was a glint that spoke of a dangerous edge to his personality as did the smile that was on his face. Although he was sitting, based upon how long his legs were, it was evident that he stood around six foot tall and was rather well built. He was wearing a black suit with matching black dress pants and boots. His current behavior and aura made it seem much more laid back and careless than someone who belonged to the second larges mafia group should have been.
"Where's Samuel?" Lena asked as she took a step towards the other, she had enough of games and wanted to get whatever was going on out of the way. Jovani smirked at her in response to her question.
"You will get to see your fiancé in due time. Before that however, you're not quite done. While you have made it this far, I still haven't gotten a chance to test you yet myself princess." He explained to her, shifting his hands so that he could get ready to stand up.
"I hope that there will be no hard feelings between us, but I'm actual the last part of this you need to get through if you wish to be able to see your dear Sam again."
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" The princess asked as she made sure to maintain a defensive position while waiting to see what the other's next move would be.
"Why it means exactly what it sounds like- you and I will be having a little sparing match. Just to make sure you're really capable of taking care of the king. I can't have him ending up in the wrong hands after all." Jovani explained as he took off his suit top so he was only left in his dress shirt, he began to roll up the sleeves as he continued speaking.
"It really is nothing personal and the rules are fairly straight forward. Hands only, nothing else and the first one to stay down is deemed the winner. No dirty games on my end either. Just a straight forward sparing match. To which I'm sure you'll comply if you want to see Sam again. Time is still ticking though I must remind you and based upon my calculations, you only have twenty minutes to figure out what you're going to do."
"Basically you're saying I have no choice, but follow through with this?" She asked as she rolled her shoulders back. She hadn't been expecting this type of situation. Jovani was someone who was definitely strange, but seemed to like to handle things in a more old-fashion way compared to what she had expected. Considering how empty the room looked, it didn't seem like there was anyone else waiting to ambush her if she agreed to this.
"Pretty much, unless you intend to walk away without him. Which is an option." Jovani replied as he stepped closer to the middle of the room.
"Absolutely not. And you better understand that if anything has happened to him while he has been in your hands-there will be hell to pay in return." Jovani gave her an amused look in response to her warning.
"I see. I guess I will consider whether to take that threat as something to be scared of or not after our match is over." He replied as Lena adjusted her position. The start of the match was always a waiting game- whoever moved first wasn't always the one with an advantage after all. And Lena wanted to keep a small advantage.
