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
Kit had pushed her way through the double doors when she spotted Jecobian standing on the wide porch waiting for her. He turned with a broad smile on his face, and taking her arm, led her down the wide, marble steps, a little way away from her guards. Behind him, she could see groups of Representatives dotting the yard. Some of them were sitting on the grass carrying on conversations, others were headed in the direction of the largest barn, while Cassius and about half of them were standing in a group not too far away. He held a slingball in his hand, and Kit assumed he was organizing a game. As intrigued as she was that Jecobian wanted to speak with her, it had been ages since she’d watched a good slingball match, and she’d love to see one again.“My darling Princess, how are you?” Jecobian said taking both of her hands and spinning her to face him. “I wasn’t able to sleep a wink last night for thinking of you.”Kit would&rsqu
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
The game began with Landon attempting to sling the ball over the tops of the opponents heads into the hands of his teammates while Cassius’s side tried to knock them down or steal the ball. Landon nearly missed connecting with Jate, but the ball hit the ground and rolled right to Gavin of Wanesborough, and just like that, it was Cassius’s ball.“Oh, how I love watching a nice game of slingball!” Avinia marveled next to her.“You ladies have been so quiet,” Kit murmured, her eyes not leaving the game. Jecobian was also shirtless, and after their encounter the night before, she wasn’t surprised to see how chiseled he was. He seemed to be paying her more attention than the game presently. Reeve was playing slinger for Cassius’s team, and he was able to toss the ball straight to his captain who ran a good twenty paces before Landon grabbed him from behind and tackled him to the ground. Sweat was already starting to glisten of
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.
Dinner with her mother and the rest of the council had been mostly chatter about the Representatives and more of the festivities her mother had planned. Kit was quite embarrassed and afraid her mother would screech when the duchess Zora mentioned she had walked by the window and noticed a fascinating game of slingball going on earlier and asked if Kit was happy with the outcome. Her mother quirked an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t question what her daughter chose to do with her men, and Kit was relieved when it was time to head back to her chambers.She was dressed in a long blue gown, her mother’s favorite color on her, with her hair up, also to appease her mother. The pearl tiara she wore was one of her favorites, as were the satin slippers that glided across the floor as if she wore nothing on her feet at all. Galter and another guard she couldn’t name had brought her to her mother’s dinner table, and they were the ones to bring her back to her chambe
After a moment, Jecob stepped back and took a deep breath, clearing his head. “Pardon me, Your Majesty. It’s just… I can’t get enough of you.” He lowered his eyes, and she rested her forehead against his, sinking into him for a moment as his eyes traced the curves of her breasts peeking out above her bodice. If only his eyes could be his hands, but that would have to wait. She just hoped he would remember that since he’d had trouble with the rules the night before and hadn’t even been drinking, as far as she could tell. She would have to admit he seemed like he had had some sort of artificial bravery when he climbed through the shrubbery.“Did you have a nice day today?” he asked in a breathy whisper.“I did. You’re an excellent athlete.”He chuckled and leaned in to softly kiss her lips. The urgency was gone this time; the kiss was sweet and soft. “It was nice to see you, but it was
“Pardon me?” Jecob asked, turning around to face the lady, Blankka.“I’m sorry. I wasn’t meaning to overhear. It’s just, I have several friends in Eastbury as well, and my understanding is that you got lots of practice in order to ensure you’d be one of the princess’s favorites should you ever have the opportunity to visit her chambers—not this one of course, the one you must be invited into. Do you know the history of how that land, the acreages you’d like to split up, was attained? I’ve not heard the entire story, but from what I do know, it’s not something you should be discussing either. You have no idea why that particular family was disgraced.”Kit wasn’t sure whether or not she should tell Blankka to mind her place or wait to see what Jecob would say in return. She was more than a little lost herself, only gathering they were discussing unfairly confiscated land. Wh
Kit knew that she was dreaming because the horse she was riding was flying. Through skies the color of the purple tulips Jecob had brought her, she glided, alongside a man with a perfectly sculpted chest whose face she could never quite see. He was just about to turn to face her, to plant a kiss on her lips, when her arm was tugged in the opposite direction, and she realized someone was calling her name.“Princess Katrinetta! Wake up!” Avinia was saying, pulling harder each time she said her name. “Your mother is requesting your presence!”The fact that the voice was not part of her dream finally registered, and Kit managed to open one eye. Sunlight streamed in, nearly blinding her. It had taken so long for her to fall asleep the night before, she could’ve happily rolled over and gone back to sleep. But something was wrong or else her mother would not be requesting her presence so early in the morning on a day when they had nothing schedul