I had left Lady Francesca a lot less confident in my decision making skills. I had thought if we spoke I could decide what was the right choice. But here I was, even more apprehensive.
Could I be drunken from like that and come out completely fine?
I thought back to how he drunk my blood in the forest. Had it hurt? My brain had forgotten most of the memories from the forest. Some sort of traumatic reaction.
I shivered just recalling the incident.
But then, for a split second I saw a memory that was both entirely mine and also not mine at all.
I was in the library, fear had shaken my core and Jules was biting my neck.
It was gone as it came to mind and I frowned, curious as to where this could have come from. An after thought that was coincidentally vivid?
I shook my head and decided to head back to my room when I came across a maid that looked like she was having a meltdown in the middle of the halls. Her face brightened when she caught sight of me.
"Lady Colter, the princess candidates have been summoned to the main arena" she curtsied but it was obvious she must have run up and down all the many floors of the palace just to look for me.
"The arena?" I repeated, sure I misheard.
"Yes that is correct" she nodded and I blinked.
"Do I require some sort of weaponry?"
"No!- not at all. You were simply summoned" she shook her head, hands held up in a surrender position.
I nodded, raising a brow at the very thought of a bunch of ladies in an arena.
Just what exactly was the next task?
I stared at the crowd of Knights. Three group of them in completely different formations. I thought they might be training, but they were stationery. Nobody moved an inch.
I looked back to the noble ladies who awaited further instructions as I joined them, standing beside Crystal.
"Any idea what exactly is going on?" I asked, curiously peering over the edge of the arena.
Crystal grabbed hold of me, probably thinking I might slip, "Careful- I'm not why we've been told to come here. But Charlotte said it might be a sort of game".
"A game?" I echoed brows furrowed, my eyes wandered once again to the knights lined up.
A game…
"Can you see it?" Charlottes voice asked from beside me.
"It doesn't look like a game…" I murmured to myself as the word for what it actually looked like was much less… child-friendly.
Like a battle…
The way each formation faced the same centre point, in a way they all could face each other at once. The one formation that protected a Knight, dressed to look like nobility. Archers at back, knights in front. The other a mixture of equal defence and offence, both archers and Knights. And the other that prioritised offence, but had no defence in place.
I felt a groan in my throat as I saw a book on war philosophy at the top of a stack of them.
Don't tell me…
Our favourite ginger showed up wearing a smile wide enough to surpass his face and behind him followed a towering mountain of darkness. In other words, our prince.
I greeted both along with everyone, following along simply to abide by the rules of the nobility.
"Greetings your majesty" Charlotte spoke confidently, as if Jules didn't look terrifying. I glanced up to finally look at him and I noticed he actually didn't seem intimidating, aside from his height and all. He… was smiling. He even looked kind of… happy?
I shivered when his red pupils slid to me and I looked away. I felt so small under his gaze, like I was suddenly a pebble. Like I was… vulnerable.
"Good Morning everyone. I hope we haven't disturbed your morning by calling you here" he spoke so eloquently, his voice silky.
"Not at all your majesty" replied Lady Montgomery. Further curtsying as she said, "You look as brilliant as always".
"Of course" Jules' reply made me snort. "Does something amuse you, Madeline?"
My head shot up.
Did he just… call me by my name?
The looks of curiosity the ladies shot among themselves confirmed that I hadn't misheard. They all stared at me. The only differing expression was Jules. He wore a smug smile. Along with an expression that challenged me to stop him.
"No… I simply coughed your majesty. Please excuse my rude behaviour" I improvised, but he didn't seem to back down.
"I'm not sure. It sounded quite like a laugh to me" he strode forward, stopping before me. I looked away from him, but his torso was equally distracting, so I looked up and faced my foe. Just as our eyes met, his brows rose and the most mischievous smile appeared on his handsome features, "why don't you simply laugh so I can confirm whether or not I heard the right sound?"
I stared at him blankly.
What?
"You want me to laugh?" I repeated dryly.
He nodded, smile not faltering.
"I hope I'm not asking for too much" he said, forcing me to deny it.
"Not. At. All".
We stared straight at each other as I smiled fairly and let a laugh my mother would be proud of. A laugh every noble lady would envy.
Jules was somehow smiling even wider than before.
"Is that adequate, your majesty?"
He shook his head.
"I may have missed that. Can you try again?"
This bastard…
"Your majesty, why not hear out your aid. He looks to be in considerable pain" I nodded towards the ginger who had been begging me to go along with princes antics this whole time.
"Is that so?" Jules turned his way with a frown, a stray hair falling over his eye and that's when I made my fatal mistake.
I reached over, lifting an unsteady finger towards his hair and just when I almost had it he looked my way. He didn't move, simply sliding his eyes my way.
I jolted at the sudden realisation of what I was doing, pulling away in surprise, face flushing. I could everyone looking at us as he slowly smirked, turning to his aid as he let out a refreshed voice.
"Right. Shall we begin?"