Chapter 41

“9?” someone gasped.

I agreed, that seemed like so many people to be eliminated all at once!

“9,” Nathan confirmed. “When you are eliminated, you are to pack your bags and immediately vacate the premises. There will be cars waiting to escort you home. There will be no arguments or reconsiderations.”

A rising mumble roused again, as the girls whispered to one another.

Many of them turned to look at me.

“The first one to go…”

I tried to ignore them.

Soon, they stopped paying attention to me, and instead cast their dagger eyes at each other.

After Nathan’s announcement, many ‘accidents’ seemed to consistently happen amongst the candidates.

Spilled drinks. “How clumsy of me.”

Tripping. “You should really watch your step.”

Torn dresses. “Didn’t you notice that nail sticking out there?”

It seemed that with the quickly approaching elimination, the girls had begun to turn on one another.

Olivia and Linda were the most vicious, though neither seemed to take any action themselves. Rather, they relied on their alliances to defend them and carry out acts of subterfuge. Yet it was clear who the masterminds were.

Fortunately for me, no one took me seriously, and they didn’t even bother hiding it.

One girl had been ready to ruin my dress with an opened lipstick case, until she realized it was me. “Sorry, Piper.”

“It’s fine.” I was happy to be considered unimportant enough to be left alone.

The next night, a banquet was held. Yet before we had even sat down, the fighting between Olivia and Linda had reached a boiling point. Though they never raised their voices, their sniping at each other had turned lethal.

“Is that a new dress, Linda? I’m sure I saw it on sale last season.”

“Oh, Olivia, you must have trouble telling the decades apart, which would explain your hairstyle.”

Olivia and Linda smiled tightly at each other.

Then, Olivia ‘tripped’ and spilled her red wine all down the front of Linda’s mauve gown.

“Oops. How terribly clumsy of me.” Olivia held out a tissue. “This might help.”

Linda’s face turned red. “Why, you ---!” She moved to slap Olivia, but Olivia ducked out of the way just in time.

Unfortunately, I had been standing just behind her. That slap was now headed for me!

Yet before it could reach me, Nicholas caught Linda’s wrist, stilling her. Her eyes went wide, her face impossibly redder, all the way to the tips of her ears.

Nicholas was absolutely not impressed.

“You are embarrassing yourself,” he said, and threw her arm down.

Linda sputtered a moment, but never managed to form coherent words. Instead, she just stormed away, out of the room.

A few of the girls made soft noises of excitement, and for good reason.

Linda was typically considered a front-runner, but here she was, losing her temper enough to be scolded by a prince. With this poor showing, she might drop far enough to be considered for elimination.

Nicholas looked at me. I was about to thank him for stopping that slap. It would have hurt something fierce. But he spoke first.

“Be more aware of your surroundings.”

My gratitude shriveled on my tongue. Did he just imply being almost slapped was my own fault?

“Thanks for the advice,” I said, snidely, making it clear I was not thankful – at all.

Nicholas narrowed his eyes at me.

Which was exactly when Julian cut in, stepping between us. “Piper, will you sit beside me tonight?”

If Nicholas had been glaring at me, he looked at Julian like he was trying to light him on fire.

“I… uh…” The sudden question made my head spin. I already sat across from Julian. Why would he ask me to move closer?

But then he motioned to the chair I would be moving to. My previous spot had put me in direct line of sight of the Luna.

Where Julian wanted me to move would give me two chairs as a buffer. And one of those chairs would be filled by Julian himself, who could easily deflect any hostility from the Queen.

Julian smirked at Nicholas. “You don’t have a problem with that, do you, brother?”

Nicholas tugged at his cuffs. “Why would I?”

“I don’t know.” Julian shrugged. “But if you glare at me any harder, you’re likely to burn a hole in my forehead.”

Nicholas did glare harder then, for a moment. When nothing happened, he turned away and made his way to his own seat.

Lilliana was still seated beside him, though she didn’t say a word as he sat down. If they didn’t like each other, why hadn’t Nicholas asked someone else to sit there?

“Shall we, Piper?” Julian asked, a smug grin on his face.

We walked the two feet to our chairs. Julian held mine out for me, then helped push me in after I sat. He took the chair beside mine.

Sitting like this, I couldn’t even see the Queen unless I leaned forward. Relief washed over me.

I still wasn’t feeling all the way better. I wasn’t sure I would have had the energy to wade through royal politics tonight.

At least, not the Queen’s kind.

Julian was his own mess of royal riddles.

“I did try to talk her out of it,” Julian whispered to me. “Your punishment, I mean. I went to take responsibility for the morning I stole you away, but she wouldn’t hear of it.”

I softly shook my head. “That was only one of the things I was punished for.”

“A rule-breaker, huh?” He winked. “A girl after my own heart.”

I rolled my eyes. “Be serious.”

“Why?” he asked, deadpan. Then he straightened. “Don’t look now, but Nicholas is glaring at me again.”

I turned my head, and locked eyes with Nicholas, who was leaning improperly far over the table to look at us.

“I told you not to look,” Julian hissed from behind me.

Nicholas stared a moment longer, despite having been caught. Then his gaze shifted to the Queen.

Wait. He hadn’t been worried about me being so close to the Queen, had he? But then why hadn’t he asked me to sit near him?

Unless Julian beat him to it.

No, that was impossible. Nicholas had made clear that he had many girls he admired here at this table. He wouldn’t waste so much effort just on me.

Nicholas sat back in his chair, and I did too.

“He’s such a sore loser,” Julian said with a sharp laugh.

Before I could ask him more, the King touched his knife to his glass, creating a sharp ringing sound that drew everyone’s attention.

“We thank you all for joining us this evening,” the King said, speaking mainly to the cameras. “As you know, it is only a few more days until the first round of eliminations, and therefore you should be using your time to improve your ranking.”

He cast his gaze around the room but never focused on any one girl for long. He did, however, frown at Linda’s empty chair for a moment before continuing.

“You will have your chance at our next royal event. Tomorrow we will begin a three-day hunting event.”

Oohs and ahs resounded around the table, some girls excited to show off their miscellaneous talents. Many others seemed nervous, glancing around the room.

I used to have many skills that would have beneficial during a hunting trip, but I hadn’t practiced them in years. I could still shoot a bow, it seemed, but I doubted other skills would return as naturally.

If they expected anything other than straight aim from me, I’d be in trouble.

“Here at the palace, we hunt differently than hunters of modern day. We reached back to our roots, and use our brotherhood with the wolves to help us.”

I frowned. What did that mean?

“As such, each candidate will be paired with an actual wolf for this event.”

Suddenly, the tension in the room dissipated, replaced by excitement.

“How rare!” said the girl beside me. “I’ve heard our inner wolves can connect with actual wolves. I’m dying to see if it’s true.”

“It’s true,” Julian said, smiling wide. It only dimmed marginally when he looked at me. “Oh… Well, I’m sure they’ll have an alternative for you, Piper.”

I felt small and insignificant. Perhaps they had not considered me when they designed this challenge. I didn’t want to consider the alternatives…

Yet, even without looking, I could feel the cold eyes of the Luna upon me.