Realm of the Chosen: A Reverse Harem Romance

Chapter 25-1

Chapter Twenty-Five

Eli’s eyes trailed Kit as she disappeared out the door and down the hallway. It was evident she was concerned about his welfare, and he couldn’t blame her. There was reason to assume Rona would take any opportunity afforded her to remove his head.

Once the princess was gone, he tried to push her out of his thoughts, a difficult task considering his lips were still burning from the most sensual kiss he’d ever stolen. But Blankka clearly meant business. She walked to the library door, looked out into the hallway, and then closed the barrier with a resounding thud before coming back to stand in front of him her arms folded beneath her chest.

“Well, Commander, I suppose you realize what a precarious position you’ve placed yourself in. I suggest we go straight to my room, and you finally pleasure me, or else I’ll have no choice but to go directly to the queen.”

He should’ve been surprised; Blankka was supposed to be loyal to the princess after all, and she must know that anything Queen Rona did to punish him would absolutely destroy Katrinetta. But it hadn’t taken him long at all to discern Blankka’s true motivation. She was selfish to the core, and since it wasn’t in Kit’s nature to suspect anyone, he was certain Blankka would work every last angle to her advantage. This, however, seemed low even for her.

“Are you honestly attempting to force me to bed you in order to keep you from telling the queen what you think you just saw?” He rested his hands on his hips, wondering how in the world she had gathered the gall to approach him with such a ridiculous demand.

A smirk formed on her pretty face. “Force seems like a dirty word the way you use it. But, yes. It’s not as if you won’t enjoy it.”

“Because I am a man, so it really doesn’t matter who the woman is so long as I have the opportunity to pleasure her?”

“Precisely,” Blankka replied with a pouty bottom lip. “Everyone knows that.”

Eli realized it was ridiculous to try to tell her she’d been misinformed and decided to revert back to his previous point. “Listen, Blankka, I’m not going to do that for all of the reasons I’ve mentioned when you’ve asked me before. And I strongly suggest you don’t go to the queen with this. It can only do you harm.”

Blankka’s eyes widened, and her face started to turn a deep crimson. “After that, you still deny me? Do you not understand what I have just witnessed? I saw you—I saw you kissing the princess, during her Choosing! That is a crime punishable by death. And if the queen wanted to, she could punish Katrinetta as well, although, if the princess was smart she could simply tell her mother that you forced her. I’m certain her mother wouldn’t want to end her royal line over an errant kiss in the library from a man she detests. But you must know how this will end for you.”

“Blankka, your loyalty should be to the princess. She trusts you. You’re her lady-in-waiting.” Even as the words were leaving his mouth, he could see she would not be convinced.

“My loyalty first and foremost is to the queen! Clearly, you do not feel the same way. Yet another reason why she will have your head before dawn!”

Eli took a deep breath, unable to understand her reasoning. “So now that I have denied you, you will go to the queen and tell her what you’ve seen, and once she has my head, you’ll, what? Spit on the bleeding stub of my neck and do a little jig?”

“You seem to think this is funny!”

“Not in the least.”

“Fine! Yes, that’s precisely what I will do. So I will ask you once more, Eliason Goedwig of Eastbury—will you accompany me to my room or not?”

With as much resolve as he’d ever replied to anyone, Eli said, “I will not.”

Blankka’s eyes narrowed. “You will be sorry.”

“I would rather be dead than betray Katrinetta’s trust, and I think you should consider what you are doing long and hard. I’m warning you, Blankka, regardless of what happens to me, this cannot end well for you.”

Blankka spun on her heels, her green gown flowing out around her as she headed for the library doors. Eli was certain that she would head directly to the queen, and while Blankka might think she was presenting a situation that wouldn’t bode well for him, he was only concerned about Kit. Once the princess found out her own lady had betrayed her trust, she would come undone.

Kit sat on the stool before her mirror contemplating what had taken place in the library. Avinia and Isla were working on her hair, and Kit tried to sit still, but her mind wasn’t focused, and every once in a while, she’d list to one side or the other and have to be brought back on course like a ship sailing in heavy winds.

She had no doubt Blankka had seen the private moment between herself and Eli. As much as she wanted to reflect on how it had felt to finally kiss him, to have his arms around her, if only for a few moments, her mind kept going back to the conversation she’d overheard in the hallway the day she’d gone to the infirmary to check on Jecob. There were other spiteful comments Blankka had made about Kit’s Choosing as well, how it wasn’t fair that noblewomen had opportunities the lady-in-waiting would never have. Blankka was jealous, and clearly she wanted Eli for herself. Surely, she cared enough about him that she wouldn’t do anything hasty and put him at risk. He had said he would handle her, so Kit took a deep breath and tried to let it go. She had to trust him. What alternative did she have?

“Wherever has Blankka run off to?” Avinia asked as she put yet another pin in Kit’s hair. “This would be so much easier if she were here to lay out your gown.”

“We do need to hurry. The queen will be expecting you shortly. Did Blankka say where she was going?” Isla asked. “We assumed she’d walk back with you.”

Kit considered the question. Yes, she had said why she would be delayed, but it shouldn’t have taken this long. And the request was so unusual. She had thought perhaps Blankka wanted to greet Eli since she had likely missed him, but having seen him with Kit, she had to be angry. Was she still standing in the library, letting him have it?

“Katrinetta? Did she say where she was going?” Avinia asked, her voice louder this time.

“Yes,” Kit replied, snapping out of her thoughts. “She asked to speak to the commander alone.”

“The commander?” Isla echoed, stopping mid-pin. “Eli has returned?”

“Yes. He only arrived a short while ago. I... spoke to him briefly in the library.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Avinia asked. “Did he mention whether or not the farmhand won the vote?”

Kit stared at her own reflection in the mirror, still having trouble focusing on her ladies’ questions when she couldn’t fathom what Blankka could be up to. It took her a moment to reply, “He didn’t say.”

“Why would Blankka need to speak to him?” Isla asked. “That seems a little... odd to me.”

“I agree.” Avinia’s forehead was crinkled in concern; Kit could see it in the mirror.

Perhaps she should confess and let her cousins help her sort this out. Should she be worried? Could Blankka have been gone for so long because she went to the queen? Surely not. Eli said he would handle it—she should let him handle it.

“Katrinetta—I said do you have any idea what she wanted to talk to him about?” Avinia asked.

Kit’s thoughts collided with each other until only the worst possible scenario filled her head. She could imagine Blankka in an audience with her mother, kneeling before her as she told the story—she’d walked by the library and seen Eli ravishing the princess, pressed up against the window. The princess had cried out in fear, begging him to stop. Or would she say that Kit had welcomed it, that she’d been the one tempting him? Would her mother believe the woman? It was the truth, after all....

“Katrinetta?” Avinia asked again.

“Pin faster!” Kit demanded, all of the scenarios shuffling into each other in her mind at one time, telling her none of them could possibly end well for Eli. “I need to go at once. Isla, get my gown. Hurry.”

“But we need you looking your best. You’re to go straight from the audience with the queen to the ball, remember? There’s no dinner, no break....”

Kit was aware of her mother’s plans. Dinner would be served during the ball in order to announce the Representative from Eastbury as early as possible. There was no time for any of this. “Pin faster!” she demanded. “Or leave it be!”

“I cannot send you to your mother with your hair looking like this,” Avinia argued. Half of Kit’s hair was pinned up while the rest still fell past her shoulders. “She’d have your head.”

“It’s not my head I’m worried about!” Kit had never worked on her own hair before, not when it was such an elaborate style, anyway, but she could see what Avinia was doing and she began to try to pin it herself.

“Whatever do you mean?” her cousin asked, her voice starting to shriek a little, the same as Kit’s. “And stop that. You’re only making it worse!” Avinia pushed the princess’s hands away and started taking bigger swaths of Kit’s hair. One side wouldn’t be exactly the same as the other, but she thought it would still look presentable. She could always wear a larger crown.

Isla came over with the gown they’d decided on for the festivities. It was silver with little strands of blue shimmering thread worked through. Kit loved it and thought it would play up her eyes nicely. Right now, she only wished she could somehow get into it while Avinia pinned her hair. She was about to run from the room in the plain gown she’d been wearing all day with part of her hair hanging down her back.

“Did you say something about someone losing their head?” Isla asked.

“Please, just hurry,” Kit pleaded. She couldn’t possibly explain at the moment.

Isla set the dress on the bed and helped Avinia finish with her hair. It looked better than Kit would’ve thought considering the circumstances. The second her dress was unlaced, she was tugging it off and was thankful the shift and other underclothes she was wearing would work with the more formal gown and that it didn’t have a complicated closure. The ladies dropped it over her head carefully. Then, Kit threw her arms in, and Avinia laced her up while Isla helped Kit slip her feet into her shoes. The three inch silver heels would not be ideal for running, but she didn’t care if her feet fell off. She needed to get to her mother before Blankka did. She had no idea what she would say to the queen—but she’d think of something.

Earrings, a necklace, and her crown were hastily tossed on, and then Kit gathered up her skirts and took off for the door.

“Princess, you still have a quarter hour before you’re to arrive! Your mother won’t like it if you’re early!” Avinia shouted, but Kit didn’t pause to explain. She ran as fast as she could in her dress shoes on slick marble, aware that her guards were alarmed and were trailing her, asking her what was the matter. She could stop and answer them or run, and since she felt as if she were sprinting to save the life of one of the people she cared most about in the world, she kept going.

Kit turned the corner and nearly collided with a man carrying a platter of food toward the ballroom. The thought of some sort of sauce landing on her gown didn’t even deter her, and Kit skirted around him, still running as quickly as she could, wishing she’d had enough sense to carry her shoes.

Behind her, Galter barked an order to the other guard. She hadn’t even realized it was him with her until just then. He seemed close to her, such that she should’ve understood what he said, but her head was full of conversations that had yet to take place. What would she say to her mother? What if she was already too late?

The last corner almost took her out. She skidded around it, a stitch in her side making her lose focus, and her shoes went sliding. Kit grabbed ahold of Galter’s shoulder just in time to keep her bottom from making contact with the hard stone floor. He righted her, and Kit took off once more, no longer able to breathe but thinking she could always do that later, when this was all over.