Kaden | ✓

part fourteen ♚ noachian

"I can't take you out of the palace."

"I don't care." She said. "Take me away from here for a few hours."

I stopped a guard and told him to go straight to Officer Leger to tell him that Emmaline and I would be exploring for a while. He nodded once and raced off without question, and I grabbed Emmaline's hand and ran.

She wasn't sure about mounting a horse even though she knew how to ride, so I helped her up before climbing onto my own, and we raced out of the stables. I lead the way, weaving among the flowers and bushes and trees and taking her all the way down and around the lake. Her hair whipped around her head and something in her seemed to have brightened, like the sunlight crawled into her skin and decided to take up residence there for a while. When I looked back, she was smiling, and it was contagious.

On the other side of the lake was a grove of flowering trees, and we dismounted our horses to let them graze in the tall grass. She kicked off her heels and stuffed them into the saddle bag, and I tugged off my jacket and tie and did the same, rolling up my sleeves in an attempt to keep cool in the hot sun. She reached up and messed up my hair, a smile on her face.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"You're a lot more attractive with your hair not all stiff-looking. You remind me of the dolls I played with when I was younger when your hair's like that." She turned and started to walk away into the trees.

"Meaning?" I started to follow.

She called over her shoulder, "Plastic."

We wandered around for hours. Dirt dyed the bottom of her dress and her feet brown, and pale flower petals drifted down into her hair, getting caught when she ran her hand through the long locks. We held hands as we walked, and I pointed out different types of trees and flowers to her while she mocked me by making stupid jokes and faces. As the time passed, the sun above us got hotter. We took a seat under a dogwood tree and leaned against the trunk, happy for the shade.

She held my hand in her lap and ran her fingertips over my skin. "I wish it could always be like this." She said. She leaned her head against my shoulder.

"It can be," I said. "There will be a life beyond this competition."

"It doesn't feel like it." She sighed. "Kaden?"

"Yeah?"

"Are there any other girls?"

"Of course," I snorted. "There are twelve other girls in this competition, Emmaline."

"You know what I mean, stupid."

I shook my head, a smile tugging at my lips. Of course I knew what she meant. I just couldn't believe she would ask such a stupid question. "Of course there aren't any other girls. For me, there's only you."

"Do you think there's a chance--"

"Not at all." I leaned my head against hers. "Only you, Emmaline. I want you."

Her fingers paused. "What are you going to do next?"

I exhaled slowly. "Well, first I'm going to narrow it down to the Elite sometime this week."

"You're only going to eliminate two girls?"

"A few more than that, I think. Maybe four." I said. "Then you're going to be put into a group of four, and you're all going to have to plan out these parties for whatever royals we decide to invite to Illéa. From that, I'll eliminate two girls. Then you all would normally have to do a project that will help change Illéa and you'll work on throughout your reign, but since Eadlyn is queen and it'll probably be her heir that takes the crown if she has one. If she doesn't, I'll get skipped and it'll be my child that takes the crown. Because of that, I cut it out. After that, we have the Convicting."

"What's that?"

"Basically you publicly charge someone with theft, give them a sentence, and that's that. After that, I'll eliminate two more girls, and then I'll propose."

"How long will all of this take?"

"Well, let's see." I said. "On Wednesday, I'll eliminate the girls. Friday you'll get the countries assigned and do the Report. From Friday, you'll have two weeks. The first group will have theirs on Thursday, and the second will be on Friday. The eliminations will be on Saturday following that, and then the Convicting will be...I don't know, a week after that? Two? Then I have to propose on the Report. So, it'll all take about four weeks."

"Great," she sighed. "Another week of Hell."

I chuckled. "Life as a One is worse. You know...I can send you home if you don't think you can handle it."

She rolled her eyes. "I've survived this long. A few more weeks won't kill me. Besides, how bad can it be?"