Chapter 23

“What do the gentlemen do now?” Blankka asked, pulling the gown they’d decided on earlier in the day out of the wardrobe. The dress she would wear to dinner was heavily beaded but made of a light yellow material.

“Well, they will move into their chambers as they arrive. They can keep a liegeman with them, but everyone else must stay outside of the castle. The servants who will stay with them throughout the time they are asked to dwell at Wrenbrook are allowed to put up tents in the fields behind the castle, though I have no idea why any of them would need more than one servant,” Avinia explained with a shrug. She gestured for Kit to move onto the stool in front of the mirror so they could start doing her hair, and the princess ignored her. A sharp clearing of her voice had Kit sighing and pulling herself to her feet, tromping the few steps to the stool and collapsing once more.

“I do wonder why no one ever refers to you as ‘Your Grace,’” Avinia muttered. Kit scowled at her reflection in the mirror.

“Are they allowed to mingle with the nobility at the castle?” Blankka asked, gathering the jewelry Kit would need while Avinia and Isla set about unpinning her hair so they could comb it out and it more neatly.

“All but the princess,” Avinia nodded. “They will also visit the physician, and Armant will begin keeping records of their health immediately so as to ensure whoever Katrinetta chooses is a good partner for her and able to give her a child. They’ll visit him a few times before she begins making requests.”

Kit liked the new physician, Armant. He had come to the castle not long after her Proem and was much younger than Mikali. He had new ideas, new technique for healing the sick and injured as well, and Kit had asked him many questions over these past few years whenever something of a medical nature had come up. She trusted him to check over all of the Representatives carefully so that no one who was in poor health would be allowed to stay. As far as she knew, that had never been a problem in any of the previous Choosings, though she didn’t know for sure.

“Are you nervous at all?” Isla asked, and Kit met her eyes in the mirror. “Now that it’s officially begun?”

“Of course I am a bit nervous,” Kit replied rationally. “After all, this is the event my entire life to this time has led up to. That is, since I was a small girl I’ve been told of the significance of this process. Now, here we are. The forty-two men I’ll have to choose from are arriving. I’ll have to whittle that number down to seven to Room and then choose a mate. It is a bit intimidating.” Her head was high and her shoulders were back, as they often were anymore, but there was something about her own statement that made her uneasy, as if she still didn’t quite grasp the difficulty of the task she was embarking upon. Unlike all of the queens before her, she refused to select a mate based on who could best pleasure her or who was best equipped to ensure an heir. No, even the Exploration hadn’t changed Kit’s mind about the importance of finding someone she truly loved. The thought that she could potentially develop feelings for more than one Representative began to play at the back of her mind, and she wondered if it would be as easy as the others had made it sound.

There was no sense in voicing all of that now, though. If her mother caught wind of her uncertainty, she’d likely find a way to choose for her, though it could potentially cost Rona everything. Tampering with a Choosing in any capacity was a fine way to lose one’s head, even if that head wore a crown. That didn’t mean her mother wouldn’t try.

“I suppose the gentlemen are nervous as well,” Avinia said as she placed a series of pins in Kit’s hair. “Can you imagine leaving your home, your family, to travel all of this way just for the small chance you might have the opportunity to marry the princess?”

“I wonder how many of them travel so far just for the chance to pleasure the princess,” Isla noted, her tone seemingly innocent, but Kit’s mouth dropped open. Seeing the princess’s reflection in the mirror, the lady shrugged and asked, “Don’t you think? Surely, that is the first goal for all of them. They must hope that they can find a way to be invited to pleasure you, that you’ll enjoy it so much you’ll decide to Room them, and then once they make it to the final seven, they can sweep you off of your feet once and for all.”

“I suppose some of them have spent hours practicing pleasuring women just so that they would be prepared,” Blankka added, a small smile on her face like she was imagining one of the most attractive men in the act.

Kit wanted to shake her head but couldn’t because it was being pulled in two separate directions. “I never know what the lot of you are going to say. I haven’t spent too much time thinking about this from their perspective, if I’m honest. I’ve only tried to keep my own head on straight.”

“Well, you should consider their motivations; that’s all I wanted to say,” Avinia said. “I imagine most of them are happy to be here, proud to have been selected to represent their provinces. Most of them truly want to win your affections, I’ve no doubt. But don’t assume all of them do.”

“Don’t assume you can trust anyone,” Isla nodded, and Kit’s stomach flip flopped. She hoped they weren’t speaking from experience. “You are skilled at seeing the good in people, dear cousin. Just don’t let the shining light glow so strong you can’t see the blade behind a person’s back.”

Kit thought she saw Isla’s eyes flicker across the room momentarily, but she couldn’t be sure, and she had no idea why her lady would’ve taken such an action, but Kit nodded as best she could to show she understood. At that very moment, she didn’t want to think about anyone’s intentions; she only wanted to curl up in her bed and go to sleep. Unfortunately, her mother awaited, and there would be no getting out of that. Hopefully, dinner would go smoothly, and there would be no more surprises that night. Something told Kit the Choosing would be full of them, however, and she tried to take the advice of her beloved cousins to heart without letting herself grow suspicious of everyone.