Rona watched Eliason leave the room, her eyes staying on him as if he were an insect, and she might need to squash him at any moment. Thoughts from her past intermingled with the present for a moment, and she narrowed her eyes even further. Why she had allowed him to stay in her castle for so long momentarily escaped her, and part of her wanted to fling him out into the world, sending him as far away as he could go.“It’s a shame,” Zora said quietly. Rona’s head swiveled slowly to face her cousin. The queen did not speak, only waited. “I know he hasn’t spent much time in his home province, but Katrinetta has always been fond of him.”A chirp escaped the queen’s lips. “You can’t actually be suggesting Eliason Goedwig would’ve been a good choice for my daughter?”Zora shrugged. She was one of the few council members who never seemed to care if she raised the queen’s ire. “I’m

On the sixth night of the welcoming, her mother declared the next day Kit would be free to speak to the Representatives, and while she was glad to finally have the ban lifted, the proclamation made everything seem much more real.Kit took refuge in her flower garden, the one place where she still felt at peace. The sun was beginning to set, and two of her guards kept watch for intruders off in the distance, but their backs were turned, and she doubted they were truly paying her any mind.She hadn’t seen much of Eli, and sometimes she forgot he was back at all until she came across him in the hallway. He’d always smiled and greeted her, and she’d arrange her face so that she might appear to be happy if he weren’t studying her too closely and then go on about her business. She’d always just assumed he wouldn’t be here for all of this, and if she ever saw him again, it would be after she’d already chosen the man she’d spend

The next morning, her mother arranged a large meal for every Representative to join them in breaking the fast and celebrating the ban on interaction—speech anyway—between the princess and her suitors. While Kit thought sitting out among the men would’ve been more fitting for such a situation, she was positioned up on a dais in the middle of the room where she could see all of them but not speak to a single one very easily. Still, she’d had the opportunity to greet each of them again, and it was nice to chat with the men as they came in and found their assigned seats in the dining hall. Her mother had spared no amount of trouble in having fancy name plates created that showed the crest from each of the provinces, and the gentlemen were impressed at the lengths the queen had gone to make them feel at home.She sat next to her mother and Duchess Zora on the riser, more interested in the men before her than the fare on the table. Some of them seemed nervou

A few of the men moved one of the benches near where they’d already marked off two areas that would serve as scoring zones, and Kit made her way over, still on Cassius’s arm, with Eli and Jecobian on either side. One seemed ready to prove his manliness and the other likely wished he was still out on an adventure as far away from the castle as possible.“Very well, let us draw teams,” Cassius announced, giving her a polite bow before rejoining the rest of the men. Jecob seemed exhilarated as he bounced on the balls of his feet while Eli crossed his arms and stared at the ground. “Landon, I shall let you have first choice.”“Thank you,” the other man said with a little nod. “Well, I suppose I’d be foolish not to choose the princess’s commander first.”Eli looked up, and Kit could see the surprise wash over his face. He moved to stand by Landon, and Kit smiled at him, but he was still not amuse

Kit did not think Jecob’s comment about the other team being losers was funny, so she ignored it. “The other team will receive a kiss on the cheek from me, and the winners shall have a different sort of kiss!” More cheers went up, though some of the winners sniveled that it wasn’t fair that the losers received anything.While Kit wasn’t looking forward to kissing some of the men, she thought this might be a good opportunity to gather some information. She thought nothing would get too out of hand, what with so many onlookers, and she was just about to step forward to begin the awards when Landon asked, “What about the commander? He played just as hard as the rest of us.”“True. He scored nearly half of our points,” Jate agreed.Kit looked around, not even aware that Eli wasn’t with the rest of them. He had his scabbard and chainmail back on and was headed away from them. “Yes, Commander, I agree.