Chapter 121

“Kit?”

The sound of Jate’s voice threw her off. She never would’ve expected him to let himself into her chambers, but when she turned around, he was standing in the doorway. “Jaterius? What are you doing here?”

He bowed his head. “I apologize, my Princess. Avinia let me in, but I didn’t think you heard me calling your name from the antechamber. I’ll go if you’d like.”

“No, no, of course not,” she stuttered, setting her glass down on the windowsill and motioning for him to come over. He looked handsome as ever in a gold and lilac outfit, the trim on his jerkin and trousers ruffled in the same color as Kit’s tiara. “How are you?”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. The scent of his spicy cologne was almost enough to make her forget her troubles—almost. “I’m well, thank you. I just came to check on you. I heard you were summoned to your mother’s throne room earlier, and I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

She pulled away to look into his hazel eyes. “I’m fine, thank you.” If she had to guess, she’d wager he wasn’t the only one who’d wanted to come and check on her welfare but that the others had elected to send him. Perhaps there’d been a game of some sort to decide, and Jate had been the winner. “My new lady has arrived.”

“I met her. She seems... nice.”

“What does that mean?” Kit cocked an eyebrow at him, ready to argue.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Only that she was polite when I introduced myself to her in the doorway. What’s the matter, Kit? Do you not like her?”

Trailing her fingers across his muscular shoulders, Kit took a deep breath. She knew she could tell Jate anything and he wouldn’t judge her. He’d kept an awfully important secret from everyone, after all, and only she knew the truth about that. “It’s not that I don’t like her. It’s only... she knows Eli.”

“Oh?”

“I mean... she knows Eli.”

“Oooh.”

She sank down on the edge of the bed, pulling him down with her. “I know it probably sounds absolutely ridiculous of me to be jealous, and that those of you who’ve had to share me and grin and bear it probably think it’s nothing to worry over. I just... don’t like it.”

“I don’t think it’s silly at all, Katrinetta.” His hand moved up her back to the loose strands of dark hair that had managed to work their way out of her pins, and as he ran his fingertips through them, twining and letting go, she began to relax. “I know how hard it can be to have negative thoughts enter your mind when it comes to someone you care about being intimate with someone else. But you don’t have to worry about Eli at all, you know that. He’s yours. He’d never choose anyone over you.”

The soothing touch of his hand in her hair might’ve been enough to lull her into believing that if the story of her own mother and Eli’s father didn’t come to mind. Of course, that’s what her mother was up to. “Jate, I think the queen is hoping to tempt him, to get him eliminated from the Choosing, or worse, find a reason to... sentence him to prison—or death.”

Both of Jate’s eyebrows raised as he considered what she was saying. He turned and looked out the window, weighing his words she was sure. He wasn’t quick to say anything negative about the queen, so it didn’t surprise Kit when he said, “I don’t think you need to worry about Eli.”

“No, but you never know what my mother will stoop to. She could stage it. She could do something awful and underhanded and sneaky.”

“You are speaking of the queen, dearest,” he reminded her, leaning in close to her ear.

“No one knows what the queen is capable of as much as I do.”

“Well, if that’s the case, you should warn Eli. And we shall have to keep an eye on the situation.”

“You would do that? You would help me?” She slid even closer to him, resting a hand on his chest. Visions of the muscle that lie beneath the layers had a heat building in her abdomen, particularly when she thought about the fact that she was the only woman who’d ever touched this man.

“Of course, I’ll help you. All of us will—Cassius, Reeve, Landon, I’m sure Danyen and Drake as well. I’m not sure about Pierce, but there are others. Gavin, Zane....”

“Thank you,” she said, feeling as if he’d listed enough men for now. “I do appreciate it.”

“Kit, you do know we’d do anything for you, don’t you? And if Eli is important to you, then of course, he’s important to us, even if there’s quite a bit of speculation that he can’t be beaten.”

“Do you think that?” She shifted on the bed so she was facing him, and he dropped his hand from her hair to land in her open palm.

“I don’t think anything,” he said quickly. “I know what you’ve said before, about not wanting to choose, and while I don’t know how that’s possible, that’s what I’m hoping for. I’ve gotten to know some of these men very well, and the idea that you’d send them off, heartbroken, it wouldn’t be easy for them—or for you. So... I’m just trying to enjoy every moment I have to spend with you and pray to every goddess I can name that you’ll find a way to keep every man you care about.”

The emotion was evident in his eyes, and Kit couldn’t help but feel her heart overflowing at his words. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, feeling the warmth from his soft mouth radiate down inside of her. His fingertips lightly brushed her cheek as she deepened the kiss, running her hand up through his hair and pulling him even closer to her.

The sound of her ladies reentering the room had Jate backing away, and though she wanted to keep hold of him, she remembered his reaction after the archery contest. He still wasn’t used to having others witness their intimacy. “Thank you, Jate,” Kit said as he stood and headed for the door, tugging at the bottom of his jerkin.

“Thank you, Princess Katrinetta,” he said politely. He bowed to her, and Kit offered her hand. His lips brushed her knuckles, sending shivers up her arm and down her spine to weakened knees. “I shall see you at the play.”

“I am looking forward to it.”

He released her hand and said goodbye to her ladies before finding his way out of her chambers.

“He’s handsome,” Seph said, following him a little too long with her eyes. “Which Representative was that? He said his name, but I don’t recall.”

“That was Jaterius from Rockdale,” Kit replied. “I’m thinking of Rooming him soon.”

“You should. He’s quite attractive.” Seph seemed nonchalant, as if she were just trying to make conversation, but Kit didn’t appreciate her insight.

“Princess, I believe you have a report to work on for the council, don’t you?” Avinia prompted, tilting her head to the table and chair set up in the antechamber where Kit had some paperwork spread out.

“Oh, yes.” It was nothing important, only some busy work the council had given her. From time to time, she’d be given a project of little importance. This one involved working out a schedule for new seamstresses, and Kit hadn’t put a lot of effort into it because she knew nothing she suggested truly mattered anyway. There was a head seamstress for that. Still, the council liked to feel as if they were somehow molding her into being a better ruler by giving her work to do, and Kit obliged them, though often half-heartedly.

She sat down at the table to work on it, though, listening in on the conversation spilling from her own room as her cousins got acquainted with the new lady. She’d have to find a way to warn Avinia and Isla not to trust her, but now was not the time. It was a pity; Seph seemed nice enough, but if Kit knew her mother, and she did, the fact that Seph had been intimate with Eli was the only reason she was selected, which meant Queen Rona was up to something.