When Kile finally pulled away, he kept his fingers teasingly close to my hair, rubbing the skin absentmindedly.
“You are so spoiled, and you are so obnoxious . . . but I’m here.” With a final kiss, he opened the door and left.
I gazed around my room, dizzy with confusion. Why was he trying to get me to open up when he clearly couldn’t stand me? And I didn’t like him either! Sometimes he could be just as bratty as Josie.
I went toward my closet to get ready for bed and saw his ugly tie on the floor. I’d be doing everyone a favor if I threw it away now.
Maybe I would set it on fire the next time I was having a particularly wretched day. For now I tucked it into a drawer.
My thoughts the next morning were a mess. I kept wondering what Kile’s goal was last night. And I couldn’t shake off how it made me feel similar to when Hale asked too many questions. They were such different people with vastly different understandings of me, yet they’d both quickly figured out how to make me back away. Would all the boys be like that? Was that something they all knew how to do?
“Neena?” I pulled the brush through my hair, trying to tame it as my maid walked behind me in the steam-filled bathroom, picking up the pajamas I’d left on the floor.
“Yes, Your Highness?” She caught my eyes in the mirror as we spoke.
“I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve talked about your boyfriend. What’s his name again?”
A smile crept up on her face. “Mark. Why do you ask?”
“I’m surrounded by a million boys. Just wondering how it is when you only have to deal with one.”
She shook her head at me. “One boy on a string is a wonderful thing,” she said, her happiness forcing me to smile along with her. “He’s doing great. He finally got into a university, and he’s studying all the time. I get a call from him maybe once or twice a week. It’s not much, but we both have pretty full schedules.”
“I do need constant supervision,” I said with a wink.
“Amen.”
“Does he mind much? That you’re far away and busy?”
She straightened the clothes looped over her arm. “No. His program is very demanding, so for now it’s actually helpful.”
I leaned my head to one side, continuing to brush. “That’s interesting. What’s he studying?”
“Mark is a chemist. He’s studying biochemistry, specifically.”
My eyes widened. “Really? Such a range in your professions.”
She frowned. “There’s no caste system anymore, Your Highness. People can date and marry anyone they want to.”
I turned away from the mirror to look at her directly. “That’s not what I mean. It’s simply intriguing to me the dynamic you must have. You have my laundry in your arms, and he might cure a disease. Those are two incredibly different roles in the world.”
Neena swallowed and dropped everything on the ground. “I won’t be doing your laundry forever. I made a choice to come here, and I can leave whenever I like.”
“Neena!”
“I don’t feel well,” she said abruptly. “I’ll send someone else up to help you.”
She didn’t even curtsy.
“Neena, I was simply talking!”
The door slammed, and I looked after her, shocked that she so shamelessly left without permission. I hadn’t meant to offend her. I was merely curious, and that one observation didn’t even begin to touch on the things I truly wanted to ask about.
I finished my hair and makeup on my own. When the substitute maid showed up, I sent her away. Just because Neena was in a bad mood didn’t mean she could get out of her work. I could take care of myself, and she could clean tomorrow.
I picked up the applications for the remaining boys in the Selection. Whether I liked it or not, I knew what was expected of me. All I needed was to find situations that kept things as close to the surface as possible.
Ean was certainly captivating, but his charisma was almost too overwhelming. I wasn’t sure I was prepared to spend time alone with him. Edwin was harmless enough. I pulled out Apsel’s sheet and looked it over. Nothing extraordinary there. I was tempted to send him home for being so bland, but after the reaction over the first elimination, I didn’t think I could get away with that. Kile’s form came up next, but he was a no at the moment. Winslow was, I hated to say it, considerably unattractive. The more and more I looked at him, the easier it was to see. I didn’t think I had a type, but he made me wonder if I had an anti-type. Ivan . . . was this the guy who smelled vaguely of chlorine?
Near the bottom of the pile, Jack Ranger’s picture jumped out at me. I had caught him staring at me a few times at the party, but we hadn’t spoken. I took that to mean he might still be intimidated enough for me to get through an evening together without him leaving me feeling as unpleasant as some of the others had.
I wrote a note out on my stationery inviting him to watch a movie with me tonight. That was an easy enough date. No unnecessary talking. I’d have a butler deliver it to him once Jack had joined the others. I was planning always to announce dates by sending a letter into or drawing the boys out of the room. That should make things interesting.
I sped through breakfast, ready to work. Looking at these endless requests and bills and budgets and proposals wasn’t exactly my favorite thing, but it kept me busy, and I liked having my mind occupied all day. My nights and weekends for the next three months would belong to those boys, but the rest of the time I had a different job to do.
“Eadlyn, dear,” Dad said, taking a break for some tea. “I didn’t get to tell you, but I thought the garden party was a success. I saw some of the stories in the papers this morning, and it was very well covered.”
“I glanced at a few myself. And I caught a little of the special they did, and it all looked nicely done.” I stretched in my chair, achy from sitting still.
He smiled. “Indeed. I think you should try to do another event like that soon—something with the group that people can see.”
“Something that might have an elimination afterward?”
“If you think that would help.”
I walked over to his desk, pouring myself some of his tea. “I think it adds something. Like people might be more interested if their favorite might be on the line.”
He considered that. “Interesting. Any thoughts on how it would be structured?”
“No, but I thought, since we’re supposed to be looking for a prince here, it might be good to test them on the things they would need to know as a prince. History or policy. I think there’s a way to make it playful, kind of like a game show maybe?”