Realm of the Chosen: A Reverse Harem Romance

Chapter 13-2

“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 amused, so she turned her attention to Cassius.

“Good, good, and if that is your choice, I shall select Jecobian, then, because I think having him on the opposite team as the commander should make for an interesting match.”

That sparked a chuckle for most of the men, though Jecob and Eli didn’t seem to find it at all amusing, and the two captains continued to pick until all of the players were appropriated.

“How shall we remember who is on which team?” one of the Representatives asked. Kit scoured her mind for his name but couldn’t remember it, only that he was from Erthmeet. He was short and stout, and Kit wasn’t at all interested in him, but that had been a fair question.

“Perhaps half of us should take off our tunics. We’ll play shirts and skins,” Cassius decided.

“A fine idea!” Kit exclaimed. She turned around to see Avinia, Isla, and Blankka coming her direction and clapped her hands in glee. How fun would it be to watch the men run about, half of them bare from the waist up, with her best friends?

“We’ll be skins then,” Cassius offered, already pulling off his jerkin and tunic.

“That hardly seems fair,” Landon retaliated.

“You did pick first,” Cassius replied, but Kit was too busy staring at his n***d chest to pay much attention to what he had to say. His biceps rippled as he tossed his tunic aside, and Kit did her best to keep from l*****g her lips. Looking around, she took in the other shirtless Representatives, and while they were all shapes and sizes, a few stood out to her. She made mental notes regarding which ones she’d want to see again sooner rather than later and which ones could stay dressed from now on.

“Perhaps I could switch teams.” Reeve of Erast Hollow hadn’t removed even his jerkin, though he was on Cassius’s team, and he looked around from one leader to the other, a worried expression on his face, his hands on his narrow hips.

“What is it?” Cassius asked, clearly concerned.

“You haven’t got a set of t**s under there have you?” one of the frumpy men whose belly hung over his pants asked, and Kit covered her mouth and gasped.

“Not in front of the princess, there mate,” Cassius admonished. She wished he’d said the man’s name because Kit couldn’t place him, though she assumed Cassius didn’t know it either. “Reeve, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not a problem.”

“Unless you’ve got three n*****s,” Merek, the slovenly fellow from breakfast jested. He was on Landon’s team and standing close enough that Landon backhanded him in the arm hard enough to make him wince.

“Reeve, regardless of your purpose, I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned about,” Kit said with a smile. “Don’t be bashful.”

He seemed hesitant, as if he wanted to do what the princess asked but was still unsure of himself.

“Let us make a rule,” Kit announced, getting everyone’s attention. “Each member of the winning team shall get a kiss from me. But anyone who makes fun of anyone else’s physique shall forfeit their right to kiss me—indefinitely.” She looked around and met their eyes and watched as they all decided it was much too harsh a punishment to risk it.

“That sounds like a fine arrangement to me,” Cassius said with a sly smile. “Especially since my team shall win.”

“I think not,” Landon replied, crossing his arms.

“Very well.” Reeve took a deep breath and then removed his jerkin, throwing it over into a pile by the bench. He grabbed the bottom of his white tunic and whipped it off in one fluid motion, and then flung it aside as well.

Kit tried not to gasp again or to stare, but he had a horrible scar that started at his navel and wound its way around his left side to his back. It was pink and raised, and she imagined whatever had happened to him, it had to have been excruciating. But he had a nice chest and abdomen, and she was able to meet his eyes and smile. “I think you have nothing to worry about, my dear Reeve.” She added a little wink for effect, and he turned almost as red as the berries on the jujube bushes in the garden behind him.

“If Her Majesty is done ogling my teammate, perhaps we should begin,” Cassius said with a teasing lilt to his voice. Kit winked at him, too, and he broke into a wide grin.

“To what score are we playing?” Landon asked, organizing his team to play offense since he insisted they get the ball first having lost the opportunity to take off their tunics. Kit was slightly disappointed that she wouldn’t get to see Landon’s bare chest, and as her eyes flickered to her commander, who had removed his scabbard and the layer of chainmail he usually wore, she was more than a little sorry she wouldn’t be able to see him without his tunic on as well. She had seen Eli’s chest before, but that was years ago, and something told her he was even more muscular now.

“We’ll play to twenty points,” Cassius announced, and they all agreed that was a fine score to play to. Kit settled in, ready to do her best work as referee, though she imagined she would be easily distracted by the sight of the men running about in front of her, especially those n***d from the waist up.

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 off of Cassius’s back, and Kit wouldn’t have minded doing a little tackling of her own.

“I suppose we’re taking it all in. For us married women, it isn’t every day we get to watch powerful young men run around the back garden half n***d,” Isla mused.

“I’ll admit to having stopped a time or two to watch your guards,” Blankka said with a chuckle. “But my goodness, that Cassius has muscles for muscles.”

“Yes, he does. There are several out there I wouldn’t mind toweling off when the game is over.” Isla’s face was turning slightly pink, and Kit let out a little giggle, just as Gavin caught the ball and tossed it further down the field toward Cassius, close to the scoring marker.

Eli seemed to come out of nowhere and pluck the ball out of the air. It took Cassius’s team a moment to react, and by the time they did, Eli had sprinted through most of them and was almost to his own scoring line. Jecob closed in on him at the last second, and as Eli dove for the marker, Jecob made contact, jamming his elbow hard into Eli’s face. He managed to get the ball over the line, but when he came to his feet, his lip was bleeding.

Kit was standing before the play was over, her hands over her mouth. “Foul!” she shouted. “That’s a foul!”

“Oh, come now, Princess,” Jecobian argued, stepping toward her as Eli made his way back to his side, wiping his lip on his hand and spitting blood. He didn’t even look twice at Jecob. “This is slingball. It’s a man’s game. It’s rough.”

“No bashing each other in the face!” she argued. “That’s a rule, isn’t it, Cassius?”

“Any rule that you would like to make a rule is a rule,” he replied. “That means Landon’s team gets a foul shot.”

“Even if the rule was made after the fact?” Jecob asked, squaring his shoulders and placing his hands on his hips.

“Even if,” Cassius replied calmly. “It’s just a game, Jecob. It’s meant to be fun.”

Jecobian didn’t seem to care for that explanation, but he moved to his position as Landon’s team took a foul shot, which consisted of two defenders from Cassius’s team against three runners from Landon’s team. He chose Pierce to act as slinger while he and Eli were the runners, along with Jate, while Cassius and Jecob defended. Pierce faked a throw to Eli and hit Landon near the scoring marker. Cassius just missed grabbing the other team captain from behind as he crossed, making the score two to nothing.

“How in the world are you meant to pay attention to rules and scores when you’ve got so many bare-chested men running about in front of you?” Avinia asked, covering her hand with her mouth.

“I’m honestly not sure, but it’s a nice conundrum to be in,” Kit replied, not able to control her smile. She already had a fair amount of men from the game alone she wished to get to know better, and not all of them were half n***d. Landon was not only attractive, she could see leadership qualities in him. And Jate was always first to congratulate anyone on a job well done, even if he happened to be on the other team.

She tried to avoid looking at Eli at all and was second guessing her approval of letting him play. He was a distraction, to say the least, and he didn’t belong here. But there he was, nonetheless, and when he intercepted another throw from the other team, Blankka made a low moaning noise in her throat, causing Kit to turn and look at her. “Did you see Cassius’s biceps?” Blankka asked, but Kit was not fooled. A pang of jealousy shot through the princess as she realized Blankka was capable of requesting Eli to pleasure her, if she wished. She tried not to let any images enter her mind and returned her gaze to the rippled abdomens in front of her.

Despite Landon’s team getting off to an early lead, Cassius was able to come from behind, and after an hour or so of play, the score was tied at nineteen points for each side. “The next team to score wins!” Kit announced, seeing determination on nearly all of the men’s faces. A couple of them, Merek and the unattractive fellow from Erthmeet she’d discovered was named Iame, seemed ready to fall over at any moment.

Kit caught Jecob’s eyes, and he smiled at her. While she’d done her best to spread her attention to all, she could often feel him staring at her, and when her eyes flickered his direction, he would smile knowingly at her, as if he was reminding her they already had a bond, something the others knew nothing about. Well, no one except for Eli, but as it was with most things, he did not count.