Realm of the Chosen: A Reverse Harem Romance

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Bright flags and banners in every color imaginable lined the road leading to the castle. It seemed like a never ending caravan of horses, wagons, carriages, and people marching in on foot. Kit stood next to her mother, most of the Royal Council members nearby, while her own ladies and her mother’s assistants stood in the distance, watching the Representatives pour into the castle grounds. A glance over her shoulder let Kit know her father was also there, though as a male, and only a duke, he stood in the back and would not actually greet anyone. Still, it calmed her to see his reassuring smile. She couldn’t imagine how he must feel about the beginning of this process; his little girl finding a mate had to be unsettling to some degree.

Taking a deep breath, the princess prepared herself to meet the next delegation. Today was the first of several where she’d spend long hours standing outside waiting for the Representatives to arrive. Each province had selected a man to submit as their candidate for the princess’s Choosing, and while she was eager to finally see who she would have to select from, under the current conditions, she found herself lacking any true connection to any of them. She hoped that would change once she had the opportunity to hold meaningful conversations with them as individuals.

Already this morning, she’d met the candidates from some of the nearby provinces. Chorsmy, Banckburn, and Arch Hollow were fairly close to the castle, and those men hadn’t looked tired or weary from the road at all, only excited to finally be a part of this process. She imagined those who would come from farther away, provinces like Iceforge and Longfall would be less interested in making her acquaintance and more interested in finding their beds.

It was meeting everyone in the delegation that took so very long, not the suitors themselves. The first two weeks of the Choosing would be full of festivities for all of the people in the queendom to partake in, though the princess would be too busy meeting the Representatives to attend. Most provinces sent large parties with their Representatives, sometimes hundreds of people, particularly noblewomen and their families. Because the castle couldn’t possibly house all of them, they would camp out on the grounds around the Wrenbrook. Those delegations that arrived last might be forced to find spots miles away, even in some of the closer provinces. It was all a wonder to Kit who had never experienced a Choosing like this at all since the last one of this magnitude had been her mother’s. Her Choosing was so much more elaborate than the process the other noblewomen of the castle had undergone, including her cousins. She couldn’t imagine anyone traveling hundreds of miles by carriage or horseback just to see their candidate off for such a contest.

The word contest made her stomach churn; she was not a prize to be won. But she’d heard the events referred to that way for so many years, it was hard to keep the term out of her own vocabulary. She nodded and accepted the greetings of the last of the processional from Arch Hollow, waiting to see who the next group would be, and wondered how she would’ve ever survived this if she was still the same person she’d been three years ago, before her Exploration.

At the beginning of that ritual, she had been terrified. Yet, that shouldn’t have been a surprise considering she was a naive child. She remembered how frightened she’d been, waiting for her first pleasuring. After that first night with Terrowin, her entire life had changed, as had her countenance. She knew now, after three years of experience, what she wanted from a man, and not all of it could come from satisfaction in the bedchamber.

Thinking of Terrowin made her glance at her guards. Most of them were screening the delegates as they came in to make sure the princess would be safe. The Queen’s Guard was busy with the same task. There was a line of armed men both in front and behind the women who stood on a dais to the right of the castle entrance. This was the same spot where her mother always addressed the people, but looking out over the crowd of thousands of onlookers now, all of this seemed different. These people were here to see her, and Kit wondered if Terrowin was out there somewhere.

She doubted it. Her mother had sent him away a few months into her Exploration once she had determined Kit exhibited enough confidence to no longer need him. The princess had objected, of course. While she had been with several other men by that point and knew who to request again and who to steer clear of, Terrowin had grown special to her. That was, of course, her mother’s logic for sending him away. In fact, she’d disposed of every man Kit had grown fond of, three others after him, so Kit had learned how to show disinterest in an attempt to thwart her mother’s schemes. It made little sense to Kit that her own mother didn’t want to see her child happy, but Queen Rona insisted it was for her own good. What was the point in becoming attached to a man she could never marry?

“The delegation from Metfirth!” the royal announcer shouted from his position near the line of guards who checked each individual before they came through.

Kit didn’t remember the colors of each province well enough to know which was which, though she marveled at the blue and gold flags that decorated the Metfirth carriages and horses. As the excited Metfirthians headed her direction, Kit noticed most of them were also wearing blue and thought it was a nice testament to the support of their land.

It took a few moments for the carriages to begin to empty, and then the screening process began before Kit could even see any of the delegation. An older woman was in the lead, and she bowed low to the queen first before moving on to Kit, as was the custom. “My lady, Princess Katrinetta, I am Lady Enora de Lunge. May I present to you my son, the Representative from the great province of Metfirth, Pierce de Lunge.”

Kit did the same thing she had every time, nodded her head at the speaker and then offered her hand to the Representative, but as soon as he had her hand in his, she paused. There was something familiar about this one. His light hair and pale complexion sparked a memory, though she couldn’t remember from where.

He bowed and kissed her knuckles, as they all had. “My Princess, it is lovely to see you again.”

“You as well,” Kit replied, smiling amicably, as if she could remember who he was. “I trust your journey was not too long?”

“Nay, Your Majesty, not too long when the result is seeing you.” He stood and smiled, his white teeth gleaming in the sunlight, and she realized where she knew him from. The dance before her Proem. He was the one who explained to her that the queen had been asking for donations to her favorite charities in exchange for an invitation. Though Kit couldn’t remember seeing him sense, she was certain she had danced with this man at her birthday celebration. He was a bit taller now, his shoulders broader, overall more attractive, but she could still place him.

A small smile broke out across his face, and she thought he must be able to tell she’d only just remembered him. Since there were dozens of other Mefirthians waiting patiently for her hand, she said only, “I shall see you again shortly. I hope your stay here is comfortable.”

Pierce smiled at her, bowed again, and moved on down the line, the next beaming guest ready to be greeted.

So went her day, and Kit wondered at how long it took for the first dozen Representatives and their delegations to arrive and come through the line. She knew she wouldn’t see any of the Representatives again for a few days because she would be spending her time here, and while they did have two more weeks to arrive, her mother said she didn’t believe it would take any of them that long. She thought they would all be there within the first week, which would leave the second week for entertaining the Representatives before the Choosing itself would begin, assuming the queen didn’t alter the timeline of activities, which she could at her own discretion.

The setting sun ended the welcoming for the first day, and Kit returned to her chambers to freshen herself before dinner. She wouldn’t dine with any of the Representatives this first week as that might give them an unfair advantage. Their quarters were on a hall near her own, and there was a small possibility some of them might see her in the hallway, but her guards were meant to keep her from interacting with any of them. Still, of the twelve she’d met that day, the only one she’d recognized was Pierce, and the only one she was truly curious to see again soon was a tall, broad shouldered blond by the name of Landon who had arrived with the delegation from Brendrake late in the day. As soon as she’d laid eyes on him, a familiar warmth had spread throughout her abdomen, and she thought she’d surely see his light blue eyes in her dreams later that night.

“How did it fair? You must be exhausted,” Blankka asked as Kit made her way immediately to the cushioned chair in front of her window.

“I am utterly drained.” Kit propped her feet up on the end of her bed despite the looks doing so earned her from her cousins.

“I can only imagine. Let me get you a cool drink.” Blankka smiled and set off across the room to pour Kit a glass of something—wine or water, she didn’t care at that point.

The blonde handed her the goblet and Kit took a long swallow of strawberry wine before nodding in thanks. Avinia and Isla had been on their feet all day, too, and they sat now on stools across the room, trying not to look tired. Luckily for Kit, Blankka was not nobility and hadn’t had to attend the welcoming ceremony. She looked fresh as a daisy as she hurried to get the other girls drinks as well.

When Isla had begun her Choosing ceremony, just as Kit started her Exploration, Blankka had been selected by her mother to take her cousin’s place temporarily. However, the girl had become such a good friend and companion to the princess, she’d asked her mother to let her stay on, and the queen had agreed. Isla had chosen her husband, Frano, in three months from a candidacy of ten noblemen selected by the council. Shortly thereafter, Isla had returned to Kit’s service, but having three ladies made things much easier, and the queen prided herself on her good choice in Blankka.

“Well, darling,” Avinia said sipping from a goblet similar to the one Kit had nearly drained, “did you find any intriguing characters?”

Kit’s eyes sparked, thinking of Landon. “One. But I won’t say who.” She winked at her cousin, and Isla began to giggle.

“No matter. I can guess,” Avinia said with a matching grin. “The tall one with shoulders so broad we could both sit on one of them? From Brendrake?”

Kit began to laugh as Blankka asked, “Is she right?” over and over.

“My cousin knows me well,” Kit nodded. “He reminds me a bit of our sweet Terrowin, don’t you think?”

“Is he that powerful?” Blankka asked, a dreamy expression on her face.

“Not quite,” Avinia replied on the princess’s behalf. “But he is younger and most charming, I thought.”

“He seemed very excited to be here,” Isla agreed.

“We must get you dressed soon,” Blankka reminded her, and Kit let out a groan, not even wanting to think about dinner or ever standing up again.

“One of the others looked familiar to me,” Isla said, thoughtfully.

“Pierce de Lunge,” Avinia nodded. “He has been to the castle before.”

“For the celebration of my eighteenth birthday.” Kit remembered a few other men from that night, but the one she would’ve most liked to see was only a faded memory in the back of her mind most of the time. Allowing him to be anything more than that was too painful, so she kept him locked away.

“Did Eastbury arrive yet?” Blankka looked as if she were seeing straight into Kit’s thoughts.

“Oddly, no,” Kit replied, setting her goblet on the windowsill, which made Avinia growl in protest. “They are closest. Why wouldn’t they be here?”

“Perhaps by the time they prepared to come, the road was already so congested they couldn’t do so.” Isla looked around for confirmation that her idea made sense, and Kit nodded. She could see that being a problem.

“Oh. I was curious to see who they might bring,” Blankka said with a nonchalant air Kit could see right through.

“Do you know anyone from Eastbury?” Avinia asked, and Kit shot her a sharp look. Another memory from her birthday night came to mind—Blankka staring after Eli as if she wanted to snatch him up and keep him in her apron pocket. That had been back when the girl worked in the kitchen, before she and Kit had become so close, and while she knew Blankka wouldn’t be pining for Eli if she knew Kit’s history with him, it still made a tinge of jealousy well up inside of her to think of the pretty blonde longing for him. Surely, that’s not why she was asking about Eastbury now.

“I know a few people from there,” Blankka nodded. “Back when I worked in the kitchen, if we ran out of certain items and there were none to be found in the castle, I’d be sent to one of the villages there to fetch them from the market. I met a few kind folks that way.”

Kit believed her. It was silly for her to think that Blankka might still be longing for Eli after all of these years. As far as she knew, he was still in the army, and he could be as far away as Iceforge. She seriously doubted her mother would allow him to come back now—or ever, for that matter. Her stomach rolled as she thought of the injustice, but she couldn’t dwell on it. Having Eli back during her Choosing would only complicate matters anyway. If he were to have come back during her Exploration, perhaps that would’ve been a different matter. But now, she was bound to only the forty-two Representatives. A distraction of that magnitude would be t*****e.

“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.