A Wicked Game [The Crown Saga II] (Under Editing)

Cursed Confessions

A feeling of unease made my nerves spike. The longer I stared at the board, the worse it got, but I couldn't stop.

The emblems had been part of the trial as I'd anticipated. The way of the spirits was odd because without Eos' blessed intervention, I would be on my way home, and Tarkan would've won without the fight I'd promised him.

It wasn't that I no longer wanted to go home, but Art would probably kill me first.

Piper and Calla had fortunately survived too, but the curious group of suitors in front of me made it difficult to count how many emblems each suitor had collected and see who had been eliminated.

"Settle down, girls," Evie said, closing the door behind her as she entered the room. "Merely looking at the board will not provide you the answers you seek."

The chatter died instantly, every eye turning to watch Evie step closer as if she was the only flower in the field of thirsty bees.

"Good," Evie said, smiling accomplished. "Now, gather around, and let me tell you why three of your competitors are missing this morning."

None of us could hide the curiosity eating away at our souls, so the suitors eagerly moved closer to hear what unpredictable twists this trial had been meant to expose us to.

I didn't move from my seat on the couch, taking advantage of my emptied surroundings to look at the board and identify the eliminated suitors.

It didn't take long. Three rows of names had no emblems attached to their empty spaces, matching the faces of the suitors missing from our group. Elle, Azure, and Tanith.

Alia sat in her favorite chair, attentively listening to Evie's tale. She didn't appear particularly touched by Tanith's elimination, despite her being the closest thing to a confidant that Alia in this competition. Maybe Nova and Neith were enough to provide her with the unnatural amount of attention she needed.

"Would you care to join us, Miss Aldwyn?"

I stiffened when Alia turned her head, catching me staring at her.

"Yes!" I shouted in panic. "I'm sorry, Miss Evelyn."

I got up from the couch to join Piper and Calla in the pile of pillows. No words I could think of would make my embarrassing position better, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"Okay then, ladies," Evie said, folding her hands to silently show off her enormous engagement ring, matching the golden wedding ring. "As the board reveals, the vast majority of you received emblems from one or more of the houses during the trial."

Most of the suitors nodded proudly as if that observation had been a particularly difficult twist to decipher.

"Each diplomatic and royal house was granted an emblem that they were authorized to offer to the suitor they believed had the potential to become queen," Evie explained, but that vague explanation only raised more questions than it answered. There weren't even close to thirty-one emblems on that board—assuming that Eos had been carrying the emblem of the Golden House.

Quickly counting the ones that I could see, I only found twenty.

"The houses were told not to prioritize the suitor from their own realm or regional academy but to approach the task professionally. However, it wasn't required of them to pass their emblems," she said, finally giving me the answer I'd been searching for. "It was your job to convince the diplomats and the royals that you do have what it takes to inherit this responsibility. If they didn't find any of you adequate, they were allowed to withhold their vote and keep their emblem."

My head throbbed in frustration when I realized why Tarkan had brought me to that room aside from the obvious. He'd needed me away from the party and the people to reduce my chance of obtaining an emblem.