This world belongs to Kendare Blake, but the characters are original.
To Caitlyn, Charles Luy seemed self-centered and obnoxious, but it might've just been her. It didn't help that she wasn't feeling well, though Charles talked a lot about his homeland, and how there, he was a prince. He told her that his brothers were to focused on other things to bother coming to Fennbirn. Yet Charles himself didn't bother learning the names of all the Milones and their familiars, just waved them aside until Tae, the matriarch, gave him a stern talking to.
His parents hadn't come, but three of his five brothers had come, so clearly they weren't all focused on other stuff to come to Fennbirn. Victor and Thomas, the brothers that were older than him but younger than the others, had come, as well as the third oldest, Henry, though his betrothed had not.
All of them had the same pale straw hair, light skin tone, and dark brown eyes, and all of them were rude despite Wolf Spring offering its best accommodations.
Caitlyn sighed and looked out the window, where the sea was glittering in the mid-afternoon light. She was startled by someone knocking at the door.
"Yes?" Caitlyn asked, and crossed the room. She opened to door to see Lyr, just as pain arched through her. Caitlyn pressed a hand against her abdomen as it roiled. Then, her world went black.
...
As soon as Ash had retired to his quarters, Calista rushed up to Isa's study, where Isa was reading papers and grinning from ear to ear.
"What is it?" Calista asked.
Isa looked up at her. "Your poisons are working. Even on Leia, though we had doubts about that one."
Calista stared at her.
"Really?" She gasped.
"Really," Isa confirmed. Calista let a smile spread across her face as Isa crossed the room and hugged her tightly.
Althea burst in and said, "I heard the news. Congratulations Cal!"
Calista let Althea throw herself into her arms and kissed the top of her ice-blonde head.
"I believe poisoners will rule this time around," she murmured.
...
Ash tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. He kept wondering what the other queens were like, and if they'd choose him over Charles. After all, Charles seemed like a slimeball, but he also had a higher title.
Ash didn't want to go back. His father was always telling him to 'man-up' and 'get out there' while his mother was trying to arrange a suitable marriage for him to settle down. At the same time, two of his sisters, Kristen and Ella, were avoiding him because he was a disgrace, going to that island. The only reason he wanted to go back was for Helen, his other sister.
He and Helen had always been the closest, and Helen had begged him to stay. They confided in each other their deepest secrets, like that Helen always wanted to be a man, and some of Ash's happiest memories were with Helen.
"C'mon," Helen said, laughing, and pulling him through the woods. "We're almost there." Her dark red curls bounced as she hopped from rock to rock, cumbersome skirt gone. Mother and Father were away for the week, leaving Kristen and Ella in charge. Even before they knew he would go to Fennbirn, Kristen, Ella, and him were never close. Not like him and Helen.
Since Mother and Father weren't there, Helen had ransacked his closet and changed into his tunics and pants, abandoning her corset and skirt on the floor of her room.
This was one of his happiest memories, running through the woods with Helen, laughing and playing and telling jokes. The two of them eventually wound up in a clearing, where the sun shone down, bright and warm. They lay there, in the sweet-smelling grass and flowers, heads pressed up against each other, until the sun started to set, and they had to get home before Kristen and Ella decided to tell Mother and Father when they got back.
So, they raced back, laughter echoing through the woods, both of them wild and free for those couple of hours.
The days like that were why Ash wanted to return to Helen. Why he was determined to see her again, if it meant losing and going back to her, or winning and trying to bring her to the island.
...
Cadence, Leia, and Caitlyn couldn't be woken. Their pulses were faint, and their eyes were fluttering under their eyelids, but other than that, the three of them could've been dead.
Everyone told them it was poison. That Calista had somehow found a way to poison a poisoner, and had been able to do it at the beginning of the Ascension Year. No one dared say what they thought: Calista had cheated and poisoned them before it even started. For accusing the person, who would soon be their queen, of cheating, was not a good idea.