It had been a month since the princes toured the five villages and welcomed the new governors to their posts. They were back at the castle, settling into their normal routine, when their mother called them into an official meeting.
“I’ve spoken to your sister again and she’s sure she doesn’t want to compete in the Trials, therefore, there's no reason to hold them off any further. I’m ready to step down when one of you is ready to step up. I’d like to hold the Trials in a few weeks, once I can gather up some judges.” Queen Lydia announced.
Caspian and Malcolm looked at each other nervously and then nodded.
“I’d like the judges to continue being from the legacy families, but most of them are still children or young adults like yourselves, so I need to make sure they are ready for this task.” She continued.
“We’re ready when you are, Mother.” Caspian said sternly.
“Malcolm?” Queen Lydia looked towards her eldest son who looked more nervous than she had expected.
“Yes.” He nodded, clearing his throat.
“Remember, you both need to come up with your initiatives for the interviews. Then, you’ll have the physical and mental components. It should only take one day to complete. Expect the Trials to be in less than a month.” Queen Lydia said, standing up to end the meeting.
Queen Lydia left the room, leaving the brothers alone with their thoughts.
“You okay?” Caspian asked.
“What? Yeah, ‘course.” Malcolm mumbled, looking startled as he was pulled from deep inside his own mind.
“Mal?” Caspian looked at him with concern.
Malcolm waved off his worry and stood up from the chair, grinning crookedly at his brother.
“You should be the one who is worried. I’m going to kick your ass at the Trials.” He joked, but Caspian saw right through his fake facade.
“Guess I should get some extra training in then.” Caspian decided to let it go, he knew his brother would talk to him when he was ready.
“Damn right you do.” Mal chuckled, heading for the door.
Malcolm and Caspian rough-housed the whole way to the training grounds before putting on their serious faces. The brothers covered up most of the tension and stress with humor, but it was still there, hiding in the shadows. After a few hours, they wrapped up their training session and went to meet everyone for dinner.
“Hey, Allycat, I heard you decided against the Trials.” Caspian said as he sat beside his sister.
“Yeah, I don’t wanna be the Queen.” She shrugged nonchalantly.
“Oh, you think you’d become the Queen if you went against us?” Cas teased, ruffling the hair on the top of her head.
Ally giggled,
“Duh.”
Malcolm huffed from the opposite side of the table. He thought his sister was too coy about everything. She was too young when the rogues attacked and their father died, too immature to understand the implications of that, and too coddled by Caspian and their mother to grow up.
“Why don’t you want to compete?” Caspian asked seriously.
“Why would she? She’s already treated like the Queen and she doesn’t have to do anything.” Malcolm grumbled under his breath.
“Malcolm!” Lydia gasped in shock.
“Dude, that wasn’t called for.” Caspian shook his head at his brother.
“He’s right,” Ally shrugged, “I’m good just the way things are.”
Caspian basically ignored his sister, his attention still on Malcolm. He had no idea what had Malcolm in such a bad mood. Mal was always so confident and sure of himself, and his ability to win the Trials, so it didn’t make much sense that he’d be so thrown off by their mother’s announcement of the beginning of the Trials.
Malcolm closed off then and the family ate their dinner in relative silence.
“Caspian, a word, please.” Lydia said as the family left the dining hall.
Caspian and Malcolm shared a look before Mal left the room. Caspian sighed and turned around to face his mother.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Has your brother said anything to you? He seems a bit off.” Lydia asked with concern written all over her face.
“He hasn’t said anything to me. I’m sure he’s fine, Mother, just worked up about the upcoming Trials. We both are.” Caspian shrugged, trying to make light of the situation so his mother didn’t start meddling.
“You don’t seem very worried about it.” Lydia said, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling him with a glare.
“Of course I’m worried about it. The Trials will determine the fate of the realm and this family.” Caspian said,
“And you believe that your brother has it in the bag and this is just a formality.” Lydia added.
Caspian looked at his mother with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
“I don’t know where you got that idea…..” He stammered, but Lydia interrupted him.
“I know my own son, Caspian. You’ve always seen yourself as less than Malcolm, as the lesser man, the lesser prince, the lesser candidate to be king. You are none of those things, my son, and the fact that you believe that you are perhaps makes you a stronger man, stronger prince, and a stronger candidate.” Lydia placed her hand on her son’s arm as she walked past him, leaving the room.
*****
“See? Even your mother knows that you’re full of shit.” Cole snapped.
“I’ve been telling you the same things for years.” Jett said as the three of them sat around a poker table in the parlor room of the packhouse.
“Yeah, but coming out of your mouth it just sounds condescending.” Cole shrugged, earning an eye roll from Jett.
“Both of you can just shut up,” Caspian snapped, looking at his cards and then shoving some chips into the center of the table, “We’re here to play poker, not have a therapy session.”
Jett and Cole shared a look before making their own bets. They kept a lid on any king or Trail talk until the end of their poker night.
“Seriously, Cas, you need to stop counting yourself out of this.” Jett sighed as the trio walked through the packhouse and towards the rooms.
“Seriously, Jett, you need to get your own life and stop obsessing over mine.” Caspian replied in a snarky attitude.
Jett just shook his head and said goodnight to his friends.
“You know I don’t normally say s**t like this, but Jett is right, this one time.” Cole sighed, clapping Caspian on the back before retreating to his own room.
Caspian sighed loudly before storming into his bedroom and flopping down on his bed. Despite his own stubbornness, everything they were saying was right. Caspian had basically given up, conceding the title to his brother. But, he wasn’t upset or bitter about it, he was ready to be his brother’s advisor and help him lead the realm into the new era.
Still, he had to fight for the title to appease his friends and his mother. He couldn’t let anyone think that he just gave up, especially Malcolm. His brother would never take the win seriously if he thought Caspian gave it to him.
Which meant that he had to come up with an initiative, and fast. Caspian was scrambling to come up with a good idea. He’s done a lot as a crowned prince, helped with lots of initiatives, laws, and events, but he hasn’t been able to come up with something that was so important to him that he’d stake the future of the realm on it.