A/N: Another date! I apologize in advance for the amount of cursing that will happen in the next two chapters, but as that is part of Lady Rose's character, I felt like it was necessary to add. Thank you everyone for your love and support! This story would be nothing without its loyal readers. I'm trying to push to the end now - as well as develop the last and biggest plot point - so hopefully things will start moving fast once more. Hope you all enjoy!


Chapter 49

"Favorite color?"

"Yellow. And yours?"

"Hmmmm...I'd have to go with blue. But not a light blue, more like a dark navy."

"Solid choice," Lady Rose appraised, reaching over to grab a few graham crackers out from the picnic basket to complete her s'more.

They had been asking questions like this back and forth for nearly an hour, and while Kaden had been worried about how the date would go initially, they were actually having a lot of fun. He almost didn't make it out in time to pick up Lady Rose, his meeting running later than expected due to a missing council member. And then there was the problem of the weather; it was the coldest night of the season yet, and Kaden worried that they wouldn't be warm enough despite the fact that he packed an extra basket full of the thickest blankets the maids could find. But by the time they had settled on the garden grass and curled up like burritos, they were plenty warm, and when they added the bonfire on top of it, they were actually pretty toasty. As promised, there were marshmallows as well as other fixings for s'mores. The stars were out in full force, the perfect backdrop for a romantic night. Lady Rose already seemed to be having a better time than she did during the whole riding fiasco, and Kaden wanted to keep it that way.

"Favorite pastime?" he asked, keeping their game of twenty questions rolling.

"Other than stargazing with you?" she teased, and Kaden felt his cheeks flush. "I like to write, I like to argue, and I can play a mean guitar solo."

"Those are three very different things," Kaden chuckled, pulling his own marshmallow out of the fire before it got too charred.

"What can I say? I'm a girl of many talents," she boasted, pushing out her shoulders and puffing out her chest before taking a messy bite of her s'more. It went all over her face, and Kaden fought the urge to laugh at her. She handled the situation with grace, covering her mouth while she asked, "What about you? Have any secret passions burning away in there?"

"I wouldn't call them passions, but you know I like to ride, I like to fence, and believe it or not I actually like to learn," Kaden said, enjoying the look of sheer horror that ran across Lady Rose's face, shivering as she no doubt recalled her own school experiences. "I know, I know, I'm a freak. But growing up with tutors, I only learned about certain things related to language and policy when I always wanted to learn more about science and mathematics. That, and my classmates were Osten and Ahren - Eadlyn got her own classes - so I didn't get to socialize much. I'd always wondered what it would be like to be like everyone else; you know, taking a bus to an actual school everyday, getting to sit in a desk with different teachers in different rooms with different people. Not that I had a bad education, but I felt kinda...I don't know...cheated?"

"You're crazy!" Lady Rose exclaimed, shaking her head at Kaden like she couldn't believe her ears. "I just graduated and let me tell you, never again will I step foot inside a school. You couldn't pay me to."

"That bad huh?"

"Where do I start? The waking up early so you're a zombie the whole day, the petty bitches in the hallway who talk shit about you, the stupid routine of cycling through classes that aren't even useful...it's a hot mess," she griped, shaking her head as if to cast out the bad memories. "Don't get me wrong, I made some of my best friends through high school, but we all agree that we would never want to do it again."

"I suppose that ruins that dream," Kaden replied, pretending to be hurt while Lady Rose just rolled her eyes and laughed under her breath. "What's your family like? I mean I know you told me about them before, but I'd like to know more."

"Is this what you do with the Elite, sit them down and go through their family tree?" Lady Rose asked, licking some of the melted marshmallow off her finger.

"What makes you say that?" Kaden asked, frowning.

"Lea said that's what you did with her, had her talk about her siblings. Now you're asking me about mine."

"Well family is fairly important to me. We might end up sharing one one day, and I'd like to know what I'm in for."

"I suppose," she shrugged, pulling her blanket further around her shoulders.

Kaden didn't know why she had such a deep dislike of talking about her family, but he needed her to move past it so that they could really get to knowing each other. So far all he really knew was that she had a killer sense of humor and generally cheered him up. That combined with the itch to know about her brother was enough to make her mark and get her this far in the competition, but now he really needed to make a connection.

"So, you have two brothers," Kaden prompted, pushing her to take the lead.

"I do," she agreed, offering him little to work with.

"So do I, what a coincidence. Want to tell me more about them?"

"Okay," she finally agreed, heaving a sigh like he was inconveniencing her. "I'm really close with Dylan. He's like my best friend. Patched up my scraped knees, got me out of trouble with Dad even when I didn't deserve it, always took my side even when I was wrong, and just generally supported me through my rough patch. He's the best, most embarrassing, stereotypical older brother who ever lived. He even threatened all my boyfriends that he'd kill them if they ever hurt me."

"All your boyfriends?" Kaden asked, skeptical.

"I've had three, but they were nothing serious," she clarified, smirking at the disapproving expression growing on Kaden's face. "Oh come on, don't be like that. You've got twenty girlfriends at once."

"Fair point," he sighed, the idea of someone else being intimate with a girl he could potentially marry still nagging at him. "What about Jerich?"

Immediately her face fell and she pursed her lips. "You're not gonna give up on that one are you?"

"Not really, no," Kaden admitted, though he wasn't ashamed of it. He wanted to know more about her, and if she wanted to be his wife, they had to know the best and worst about each other, family skeletons and all.

"You're going to be awfully disappointed then."

"What if I dared you to tell me?" Kaden said playfully, disappointed when she did not smile that cheeky half smile like she usually did when she was given a dare.

"Then for the first time in my life, I'd have to reject."

Kaden frowned. She never gave up a dare. Never. Not even the really risqué ones that he'd only heard about through hushed whispers and a lot of bribery of the maids.

"Would it help if I told you about Ahren?"

She shrugged her shoulders, giving neither confirmation nor denial. Kaden decided to go ahead and tell her anyway, hopeful that by opening up she will be encouraged to do the same. He knew that stuff like this wasn't easy, but it was necessary. After all, the first step in building a relationship was letting people in.

"I haven't spoken to my brother since the night of my coronation ball, but even then it wasn't of my own volition. The last time I really spoke to him because I wanted to was the day we lost our parents," Kaden said, the memories coming back to him. "Osten and I were stuck in this tiny underground bunker with twenty armed guards. We weren't allowed out for days. No one knew if we were dead or alive, and when we finally surfaced there were nearly a hundred missed calls from Ahren and just as many from nearly every councilman and woman in the Parisian Court. He sounded so worried, like he was crying...he was so happy to hear my voice. And I was just as happy to hear his. I stayed on the line for hours just listening to him breathe."

It was nearly too much for Kaden to vocalize. Putting words to some of the most horrible moments in his life was overwhelming. He needed a moment to collect himself, swiping at the corners of his eyes before Lady Rose saw the telltale sign of tears. She didn't say anything if she did see, patiently sitting by his side, staring intently.

"What happened?" she asked.

"A week later we went to hold the funeral and Ahren just didn't show up," Kaden shook his head, swallowing thickly. "He was supposed to give the eulogy, but he just wasn't there. No note or nothing. The next day there was an apology notice from the Parisian Court and a headline reading that Camille had collapsed on the tarmac and they had to go to the hospital instead. And I would've understood if he had just said something, if he had just let me know what was going on instead of making me think for an entire day that somehow his plane had been shot out of the sky and someone else that I love had died. Now Camille is pregnant and everything is sunshine and roses for him. It's like he's just forgotten about us and everything he's lost because he has a French wife and a French title and a French baby on the way so damn everything and everyone grieving back in Illéa. And it makes me so angry, how he can just replace us and move on, like we're nothing to him. It makes me so angry..."

Kaden let his voice die out, the sound swallowed up by silence.

"Wow, that was...a lot..." Lady Rose said after a while, searching for words to say and coming up short.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Kaden apologized, scrubbing his hands over his face to try and wipe the negativity away.

"No, it's fine. I just wish I was better at the whole advice giving thing. Sensitivity isn't really my strong suit."

Kaden smirked. That wasn't hard to believe, not at all.

"You don't have to be sensitive. It is what it is."

"Yeah but still, that sucks."

Sucks didn't even start to cover it, but yeah. It sucked. The longer he dwelled on in, the more negative the world around him appeared. On his bad days, everything sucked. But things didn't suck now, and he didn't want them to. It was time to move on from his sob story and focus on her.

"Do you have any stories to add?"

Lady Rose said nothing, only prolonging the silence with her firmly shut lips. He didn't know why he was surprised. However, it was hurtful that she couldn't meet him half way, and he was growing tired of it.

"Okay, I offer an exchange."

"I'm listening."

"I will grant you one kiss, and in exchange, you tell me what's so bad about your brother. Deal?"

Kaden held out his hand, waiting for her to shake it. It seemed blasé to exchange something so personal that simply, especially when his emotions were not the most stable, but he could really think of no other way to get her to open up. Even now she seemed pensive, like she was seriously thinking through the pros and cons of this exchange. Was her brother really that bad? Was he some sort of convicted criminal? Someone of great importance? Was he really worth this much deliberation? Surely she had to know he would never judge her based on something that her brother did, good, bad, or indifferent.

"Deal," she finally agreed. But instead of taking his hand, she sealed the deal with the kiss.

It was yet the second time that day that Kaden had been ambushed by one of his Elite. This kiss, however, was quite different than kisses from Lady Azalea. Lady Rose was not aggressive, but she knew what she wanted and was not afraid to take it. She was not afraid to make a mile out of her inch, to push past boundaries and stake her claim. 't was clear that she was in control, and all Kaden could do was bury his hands in golden curls and hang on for dear life. That being said, it wasn't a bad experience. Different, definitely, but not bad. It was nice to give up control for once, to let someone else call the shots. But it did not feel like a first kiss at all; it held none of the sweetness or excitement he'd grown to look forward to.

Eventually Kaden could not stand the burning sensation in his lungs - dear God how was she still able to keep going? - and had to break the kiss. It was an abrupt break, one that made Lady Rose gasp and lurch forward as she was not expecting to be wrenched away so quickly. Nearly a moment later she was leaning forward to go back in, and Kaden had to place a hand gently but firmly against her shoulder to keep her where she was.

"So, your brother Jerich...?" Kaden remind her, and she visibly deflated. There was no getting out of it this time, and she pulled away, sullen in her defeat. She fiddled her thumbs together and took a deep breath, tipping her head up to the sky as she mulled over her words. Her answer, however, was very anticlimactic.

"He's um...he's...gay."

"Okay, and...?" Kaden asked, waiting for her to get to what was so terrible. But as the silence grew longer, Kaden realized that there wasn't going to be anything else.

"And that's it."

Kaden was dumbstruck. This couldn't possibly be the terrible secret. This couldn't possibly be what she was so adamant not to share. But the way her shoulders were hunched over and the furrow between her brow gave Kaden the impression that this meant more to her than it did to him.

"What's so bad about about him being gay?"

"It's just...I feel so cheated," she started, staring into the fire. "We grew up twelve years apart so we were never really that close, but he was the perfect older brother: captain of two sports teams, perfect grades, went to a good college, got a great job. I was the 'problem child' - sneaking out to go to parties, breaking rules for the hell of it, and getting into fights with my dad. My entire life my parents told me to be more like Jerich. But when it was time for him to get married and have kids, he pulled a total one-eighty. Dad said he dated girls his whole life, but he went and left his job and moved to Ireland with some guy. Then they got married and adopted some kid... It's all so fucked up."

"How is it messed up?" Kaden asked, still not getting it.

"Because that's not how things are supposed to be!" Lady Rose shouted, her expression twisted in anger. "It's disgusting, unnatural, wrong, and I hate him for what he's done! My family was perfect before he went and fucked everything up. I come from a long line of Twos, and I know that doesn't matter now because the caste system is gone but people still care. My family is held to a certain standard and now we're considered dirty. My parents can't show their faces in the Hansport Country Club without getting nasty looks. Dylan's old friends all ditched him when their parents found out; it took him years to find new ones. People whisper about the Prewetts in their little gossip circles. They talk shit about us behind our backs because Jerich decided that he liked fucking guys. You have no idea what that's like."

"You'd be surprised," Kaden replied, prickling at her sudden attack. He knew better than anyone how the pressures of society could be, but he doubted that pointing that out would do him any good. She was getting heated; if her cursing wasn't enough, then the fact that she was kneading the fabric of her dress so tightly he was afraid she was going to tear it was a definite sign. He wanted her to see the positive in the situation. He didn't want her to be caught up in a hatred she'd misplaced into his sexuality when he could tell it stemmed from something else. "I do know this: at least you have your brother. At least he's living and breathing and not buried in a plot in your own back yard. You feel like you've lost him, that he's dead to you, well try having a sibling who's really gone. Trust me, you'll regret holding onto those prejudices."

"Don't be so self-righteous," she sneered, his words only inciting more anger. "This is coming from the guy who shuts down his own brother every time he tries to extend an olive branch. You want to talk about me hanging onto things? You should look at yourself."

"You may be right, but at least I still love Ahren. Yes, he has made some terrible mistakes that I cannot forgive him for, not yet, but he's my brother and I still love him."

"Good for you," she replied shortly, sniffing her nose to stop it from running. Whether it was from the cold or the hot, angry tears building in the corner of her eyes, Kaden did not know. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her arms on top, perching her head on top. It looked like she was curling in on herself, pulling away from him. "See, this is why I don't talk about him."

"I'm sorry I pushed."

"Me too," she grumbled, casting Kaden a sideways glance. "You have no right to judge me, so stop looking at me like I'm some kind of horrible person. I'm didn't judge you for how you treat Ahren."

"I'm not judging you."

"Yeah, right," she huffed, burying her chin deeper in the space between her folded arms.

Out of all the falling outs he'd had with the ladies, this one stung the most. Perhaps it was because he wasn't expecting to see things so differently. Perhaps it was because he truly liked Lady Rose a lot and it was breaking his heart to watch the chances of them sharing a future together self-destruct. More than likely it was a combination of both, and the awkwardness that replaced any and all familiarity between them was just the icing on the cake.

"I'm o-for-two today," she joked dryly, not even bothering to laugh. Kaden didn't reply either, creating more silence. They sat that way, tensely side by side, for a while longer until Lady Rose heaved a sigh and said, "This isn't gonna work, is it?"

"No," Kaden replied bluntly, his mouth speaking before his brain could filter it.

The longer the single word hung in the air, the heavier it got, but the weight didn't change the fact that it was true. This was one small aspect of her character, but it was one that he could not ignore. It wasn't a simple fix; this was changing someone's entire outlook on what was a growing portion of Illéa's population. And while Kaden knew that those prejudices existed long before Illéa, they were not suited for a place like the palace. A queen needs to be fair. A queen needs to be kind. A queen needs to be open to change and accepting of all persons. A queen would not Lady Rose make.

"Huh. And here I thought this was fate," she mused, cynicism lacing her tone.

"Rose, despite what you may think I think, you are not a horrible person," Kaden said. If this was his last chance to speak freely with her, and his only chance to let her know why, then he was going to try his hardest to get her to listen. "You're smart and witty and beautiful. You know how to make me laugh when I want to cry. You have challenged me to be a stronger person and a better leader. And while all of that might make you the right fit for me, you're not the right fit for Illéa. I need to put someone on the throne with an open mind, someone who can accept any and all types of people as equal citizens. Illéa needs someone who can see past the stigmas of the former castes and work to help dissolve them, not someone who is ruled by them. Illéa needs someone -"

"Someone who's not me. I got it," she cut Kaden off.

The silence that surrounded them was thick with tension, the implications of what had to happen next hanging in the air. Kaden didn't think he would be eliminating one of his Elite so soon. It made his stomach turn, doubts starting to creep into his decisions. He didn't regret getting to know her, but had he made the right choice in keeping Lady Rose on for so long? Did he send someone else home who could've made it further in the competition, someone else who could have been a better fit for queen? Kaden let his thoughts stew, falling deeper and deeper into the hole of "what ifs" and could've beens.

"I think I'm going to head in," Kaden heard her say, her hallow voice cutting through his raging thoughts. He looked up to see her rise and brush the grass off her clothes, pulling her blanket closer around her shoulders to stop her shivering.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your room?" Kaden offered half-heartedly. It was the least he could do given the circumstance.

"No, I know the way."

And while she did not say it forcefully, Kaden could tell that him joining her was the last thing she wanted right now. Kaden nodded but said nothing, only looking on as she pulled her shoes back on and walked out the garden gate. The wrought iron clanged shut, producing an awful noise that lingered far too long in Kaden's ears for his liking.

How fitting, he thought, that that was the sound of rejection.