by Shelby Hild
It took just a few moments, but soon at least twenty-three of the women and Prince Aiden were in the midst of a mudball battle. The prince dove into the mud behind Vivilyn and Darissa to avoid a poorly packed ball, completely covering his front half in mud.
“What is going on out here?” Queen Boudica’s voice sounded calmly over the squeals and peals of laughter. Everyone stood and curtseyed as the queen and king made their way into the middle of the still clean group. Prince Aiden hopped up out of the mud and tried to wipe his suit clean. It didn’t do anything except drop a handful of slick mud onto the ground with a loud splat.
“It appears we’ve gotten into a bit of a muddy situation,” Vivilyn said under her breath, causing Darissa and Prince Aiden to laugh. The queen glared in their direction, which just caused them to laugh harder. Cameras all around focused on the royals and Darissa and Vivilyn.
“Well, I heard that mud was good for your skin,” Prince Aiden said with a shrug and wiped his hands over his face, giving him a mask of mud. “We thought to test it out.”
Everyone involved in the mud fight laughed.
“It’s time for your ceremony, son,” King Warrick said as he gestured to Adontus. The host stood far enough away from the group so that no mud would get on his impeccable white suit, but close enough to be in the camera shots.
“Oh,” Prince Aiden said as he helped pull Darissa out of the mud pit. There was mud everywhere now, not just the pit of daffodils and marigolds. “Well, let me go wash my fa—”
“That will put us too far behind,” his father said. “The ceremony will start as soon as everyone is lined up.”
“No,” Brayleigh said under her breath, followed by groans from most of the other mud-covered women. “Not like this.” She kicked her right foot forcefully into the air in front of her and mud flung off her foot.
“All actions have consequences,” the queen said, “and for whichever one of you winds up with the crown, everything you do will have some form of response. Take this as a lesson. Think before you act. Always think before you act.”
“Alright, then,” Adontus said, waving briefly to everyone, gesturing them toward him. “Let’s all line up. It’s time to get this ceremony started.”
The women who weren’t muddy lined up first. Unlike the last ceremony, they weren’t told to stand anywhere specific.
Darissa snagged a spot for Vivilyn next to her. Jolene, Marisol, Louise, and Irene all stood a hip bump away. Somehow, all twenty-three mud covered women were on the left side of the stands still dripping. As Adontus greeted those who were watching on their screens at home, the women giggled and continued to rub the excess mud they had onto each other.
Everyone except for Brayleigh, who cringed every time someone tried to get more mud on her. In the end, she was the only one who hadn’t willingly participated in the mud fight.
“… Choose 125 women.” Everyone froze at the reiteration of the number Prince Aiden would have to narrow the group down to.
Prince Aiden stepped forward next to Adontus, absolutely covered in mud. The prince winked to the camera and then to the group of muddy women.
At least we are all muddied together, Vivilyn thought as she tried to wipe her hands clean. As it dried against her skin, it grew stiff and she didn’t like how it felt.
“Thank you for that, Adontus,” Prince Aiden said as he lightly wrapped his arm around the host and patted Adontus on the back. She heard the squelch of mud on Adontus’ jacket from where she stood.
Adontus wrinkled his nose and carefully moved himself away from the prince’s arm.
“You’re welcome, my prince,” he said straightening his back again. “And now, let the Ceremony begin.”
He stepped away from the center, leaving Prince Aiden there alone.
“Thank you all,” Prince Aiden said. “I have appreciated every moment with each of you. And I have loved getting to know all of you wonderful women.” He took a step to the side and stood with his arms crossed behind his back. “Unfortunately, I have to send some of you home as I continue my journey to find my queen. She’s here.” His eyes locked on Vivilyn for a split second causing her breath to catch in her lungs. “With each passing day, I am more and more certain of that.
“So now, sadly, I must say goodbye to many good women solely because I feel more connected with the other women here. If we had more time available to us, it would be possible that my decisions might have been slightly different, but we don’t. So without any more delay,” Prince Ethan walked out with a silver tray of little charms and set it down on a table next to his brother.
“Lady Darissa Elaine of Crysteal,” Prince Aiden said. Darissa squeezed Vivilyn’s hand as she made her way forward to the prince. Carefully, he took the necklace off Darissa and added the new charm. As he put it back around Darissa’s neck, he said something quietly that made Darissa giggle. Then she returned to the rest of the women.
Prince Aiden did the same thing for Lady Sarah and Lady Irene before saying, “Lady Vivilyn Minette of Treelyn.” Vivilyn took the few slow steps forward. The mud was drying so each movement felt even more stiff and uncomfortable.
“Fancy seeing you here,” he said as Vivilyn approached. She smiled at him.
As Vivilyn turned just like the other women had, Prince Aiden pulled at her hair. It was muddy and stuck to the back of her neck. The mud caused her necklace to stick as well. It took him a few moments longer to get the necklace off. Carefully he slid the charm on, past a small clump of mud, and set it back around Vivilyn’s neck.
“Until next time,” he said as his hand lingered on Vivilyn’s shoulder.
“Until next time, Prince Aiden,” she whispered back. Then she walked back to her spot in the stands.
Chapter 18
Vivilyn stood patiently for the rest of the Ceremony. Her fingers slid across the new cloud-shaped charm.
Could it have been one of the dates that it rained on? Perhaps it was the balloon ride in the sky?
Vivilyn was slightly upset that it didn’t have anything to do with her date with him, but the jasmine charm still hung as the first charm. Their charm. There was no doubt over whom that charm indicated.
She looked around. Everyone who had participated in the mud fight got a charm. Serinta, Freya, and the sisters from Frinta also got one. Somehow, she hadn’t met any of the women who’d been eliminated so far.
Vivilyn knew that wouldn’t be the case soon, especially with how quickly people were being sent home.
“The last charm of the night,” Adontus’ voice echoed from somewhere.
“Lady Reanna Grace of Clarit,” Prince Aiden said. A petite woman with almond hair pulled back in a sophisticated twist stepped forward. Vivilyn didn’t recognize her at all, but that wasn’t a surprise since she hadn’t met everyone.
As soon as Lady Reanna stepped back into her spot, King Warrick and Queen Boudica joined Prince Aiden in front of everyone.
“Sadly, we must say goodbye to many of you fine women,” King Warrick said. “Now is the time to say your goodbyes.”
Several of the women started hugging each other as they rapidly tried to say goodbye. In the distance, Vivilyn saw dozens of carriages pulling up. Each woman ended up in front of the royals and curtseyed. They said something that Vivilyn couldn’t hear, some laughed. A couple cried. One even gave Prince Aiden a hug.
Queen Boudica turned back to the women who remained and said, “To those of you who get to continue this journey with our son, we have a fun surprise for you.”
The King put one of his hands on Prince Aiden’s shoulder and the other around Queen Boudica before he spoke. “In just a few hours, we will all be relocating. The province of Crysteal was chosen to be one of the places traveled to during these Trials, and the Lord and Lady of Crysteal Manor have kindly invited us all to stay with them over the course of a few weeks while we prepare to travel to many different parts of the kingdom.”
Darissa barely contained a sound of delight. T
he woman positively vibrated with excitement.
Queen Boudica spoke again. “Your managers should all be collecting your belongings for departure, but if there is anything you don’t want left here, please verify that they’ve grabbed everything. We will all meet in the Hall of Mirrors at sunset.”
“We will probably return here,” the king added. “But it won’t be until much closer to the end of the trials. So, anything you think you might need, please take with you. You are dismissed.”
The royals walked together back towards the palace. Prince Aiden glanced back a couple of times at the women as they began to move out of the stands and back towards the palace as well.
“I can’t wait to take a shower and get all of this mud off me,” Marisol said as she wrapped her arms around Darissa and Vivilyn.
“I think I have mud in my undies,” Darissa said with a laugh as she pulled at the fabric around her stomach.
“I can’t even recall what color my dress was when I put it on,” Vivilyn said with a laugh.
“What if we make footprints all the way down the hall?” Jolene asked with a giggle.
“They’re redoing the palace,” Brayleigh said stiffly as she slipped through the group. “That’s why we are leaving sooner. They’ll be able to fix what has been damaged and do an extreme search without worrying about us being underfoot. The footprints we leave here won’t matter.”
She rushed ahead, the first to enter the palace.
As they stood outside the Chosen Wing, Lance came out in his full guard gear.
“What are you waiting for out here?” He asked, eyebrows lowered.
“Just taking in this last moment,” Darissa said, her smile larger than it had been all day. “Who knows when we will return.”
“Yeah,” Jolene added. “Who knows when we will be back to see some hunky guards like yourself?” She winked at Lance.
“Well, good news for you ladies then,” Lance said, standing to flex his arms in his uniform. “A few of my buddies and I are all going along with you on your new adventure.” Lance’s smile wasn’t as lit up as Vivilyn had seen it before when Fiona was the recipient of it.
Most of the other women laughed and moved past him to go into their rooms until it was Vivilyn, Darissa, and Lance standing outside the Chosen Wing.
Lance’s smile completely faltered and he looked over at Vivilyn. “Do you know if Fiona will be going?”
“What do you mean?”
“All Malcolm would tell me was that it wasn’t his to say if she would be going or not. I don’t even know what that means.”
“I’ll see what I can find out for you,” Vivilyn said with a nod. “But I think right now, I’m going to clean off.”
When Vivilyn got back to her room, her whole team stood.
“What happened to you?” Malcolm said, his eyes wide with concern. Vivilyn opened her mouth to explain, but Malcolm waved his hand as though it didn’t matter. “We are leaving,” he said. “The Manor in Crysteal isn’t as large as this palace. Which means every Lady is being limited to three people on their team rather than the full five to eight members. Of course I will be going.” Malcolm waved his hand towards Andrea, Fiona, Nell, and Tia. “But I am leaving it up to you to choose the other two.”
“Me?” Vivilyn asked. “I’m supposed to decide? Why me?”
“Because these are your Trials, so your input is important.” Malcolm went back to filling a suitcase with some of Vivilyn’s bags.
“Well,” Vivilyn said slowly, “I can’t go without Fiona. I’m pretty sure if Lance finds out I had a choice to bring her with us and didn’t, he would be very upset.”
“Lance is going too?” Fiona said, her eyes quickly filling with tears.
The first choice was easy. The second made Vivilyn hesitate.
“Do I really have to choose?” Vivilyn asked. “How can I choose between you three?”
“It isn’t permanent. Just a couple weeks at most,” Malcolm added. “Just until we start actually traveling.”
“So just for a few weeks,” Vivilyn lightly bit the left side of her bottom lip. She closed her eyes. “Can you three move around some? Shift about? Shuffle yourselves?”
Tia laughed as the three moved around. When they stopped, Vivilyn pointed to her right.
As she opened her eyes, she saw she was pointing directly at Tia.
“Want to come with Fiona, Malcolm and me?” Vivilyn asked.
“Eh, sure,” Tia said before sticking her tongue out at Nell.
“Just don’t get into any trouble. No more fights with doors,” Vivilyn said, looking at the black eye Tia still sported.
With that settled, Vivilyn was sent into the bathroom to wash all the mud off. The rest of the group packed everything they could while Andrea picked out Vivilyn’s traveling outfit.
Soft black leggings and a loose pink shirt were supposed to keep Vivilyn comfortable, but wouldn’t noticeably wrinkle.
Her freshly washed hair was pulled back out of her face and a light layer of makeup was applied.
They met with everyone else in the Hall of Mirrors and were assigned seats for the carriages they would be taking to the Manor of Crysteal.
The space under her seat was the perfect size for her small bag which held the book Prince Aiden had lent her, her bundle of letters from her family (with the rest of the letters from Treelyn in a suitcase that Malcolm stored somewhere), and a sketchpad. There were a few pencils in a small pouch on the front of the bag.
Vivilyn’s carriage held Ladies Entra, Irene, Macy, Clara, and Brayleigh. When everyone had arrived and been loaded into their specific carts, cameramen settled nearby, two per carriage. They were given food and a drink.
It didn’t take long before most of her carriage was asleep. The sounds of heavy breathing filled the cart. As Vivilyn looked around, she saw Brayleigh staring directly at her.
“Can I help you?” Vivilyn asked.
“I don’t understand you,” Brayleigh said, shaking her head.
“What do you mean?”
“You baffle me. You obviously don’t belong here, yet, here you are. I just…” Brayleigh shook her head, “I don’t understand you.”
“I’m just me,” Vivilyn said with a shrug.
“Why do you always run towards danger? You run towards the yelling and the risks. You ran after the man who scared Darissa.” Brayleigh pushed her hair behind her shoulder. “Why?”
“What else would I do?”
“I don’t know, maybe have some sense of self-preservation? Run, you know, away from the danger?”
“But that leaves people I care about at risk, doesn’t it?”
“Y-yes. I just…” Brayleigh twisted the ring she won from Natalie on the middle finger of her right hand. “I don’t understand you. But I admit, I may have misjudged you.”
“What?” Vivilyn shifted so she was sitting on her left ankle.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Brayleigh said as she leaned back into her chair. “I still don’t like you, and I know it’s just a matter of time before you get eliminated, but… but I do think the world could use some more people willing to run towards danger than away from it. Maybe you aren’t as bad as I thought.”
Brayleigh closed her eyes and turned her head away from Vivilyn, stopping any sort of response Vivilyn might have come up with.
With a deep breath, slightly unnerved from what Brayleigh said, she looked out her window. She was going to see Darissa’s home and meet her parents.
She couldn’t wait to see what the manor looked like.
And she couldn’t wait to see where else this process would take her.
Next Time on the Enchanted Trials:
The darkness returns.
Vivilyn knows two things about the Kingdom of Etilidus:
1. Since remnants of magic were forbidden, her visions are a death sentence if anyone were to find out about them.
2. The Enchanted Trials hold just as much danger on the move as they did remai
ning at Ettravil Palace.
As the next stage of Prince Aiden’s Enchanted Trials begins, Vivilyn finally feels confident in still remaining in the Trials. But when she discovers the people think she’s a fraud because she’s been so sheltered in her life, that hard-won confidence starts whittling away. Winter looms while Prince Aiden realizes that the kingdom might not be as idyllic as he had always believed. Rivalries heat up between the women and not everyone is as she seems.
As signs of an ancient darkness start to emerge, Vivilyn begins to fear not just for herself but for the entire kingdom.
Acknowledgement
The first person I'd like to acknowledge is you. As a reader you are the most important person in all of my writing because you are who this is for. Thank you for taking your time to chose my books and my stories.
Magen, without you, this book would not be anything close to readable. You've helped out so much and I appreciate all the time and effort you've put into helping me create Vivilyn's story.
Meri, you've been so helpful in expanding the world. Without you, there's a good chance this would still be a novella series like I initially wanted, but instead it is growing to be a much more fleshed out world and I'm so greatful.
To Mom and Dad. Thank you for listening to me tell stories my whole life and never try too hard to point me in the direction of a different career path.
To Laura and Greg, my biggest fans. I know things are very different from when I first said I'd put your names in my books.
To all of my friends and family, without all the support and encouragement you've given me through the years, I know Chosen never would have come to fruition, which means Sight wouldn't even have been on my mind.
To Sabrina over at Enchanted Ink Studios, the cover you created for me is fantastic. I'm still as obsessed with it as I was the first time I saw it.