Chapter Three

Kitra was not unaccustomed to change. Ever since she was a child, born in Paloma when the province once belonged to the kingdom, she had moved from place to place. Escaping the siege of war as it claimed land and lives. It was true when they said that no one had not lost someone close to war, and Kitra was no exception. She had lost her father to the very same people her family once ruled over.

Despite her own mother's distaste for all things common and lowlife, Kitra relished in the escape. Something about the simplicity yet danger of war-torn, crime-ridden towns and cities enthralled her to no ends. She felt cruel in some ways. For she got to visit and taste the thrill of danger, then leave without a trace of trauma on her soul. But Kitra, like many in her family that came before her, could never get enough of danger. It was an unfortunate trait in their family line.

Only Katriel, too distant to care, and Cain, who was always detached and desperate for normality, didn't share her love for risks. While her little sisters, in their time, were willing to play her games—especially Lirita. She was feisty, small, and fast. Like Kitra, the girl had a tongue on her that she wasn't afraid to use. Of course, Cain only saw Lirita as a little angel, but Kitra saw the little devil in her. Azelie, on the other hand, was too young to develop her own distinct personality. She spent her days tagging along with her older sisters or attempting to get Cain to smile a little more. If only Kitra could've seen what she would've been like had she been given the time to grow up.

Kitra was constantly changing. She could never stay attached. It was like her mind was a melting pot of all the people she had pretended to be and all the pain she had felt from leaving. She flirted and played pretend with the servants that flurried around her like a gust of wind before she'd abandon them to her mother's methods. Katriel didn't trust the servants; in fact, she didn't trust anyone, including her own children. The older woman was paranoid about her own safety. Like her daughter, Katriel played the servants a sweet tune before sending them off to the war front and to their inevitable deaths once she was done with them. It was clear—Katriel wasn't a leader, she was a paranoid woman with a scarlet soul.

That was why Kitra, when she watched the servant boy Benjamin succumb to her sweet words, felt sick in her head. He was still just a boy, not even eighteen. He was of average height and a slightly scrawny figure, which Kitra knew wouldn't last a day in war. He had a brother, too. A guard, part of a group which Katriel hated most of all. In many senses, Kitra should've listened to her mother more. To never trust those who claim they are protecting you. But, like her brother, the two of them trusted too easily. She and he were similar in many ways, not that she'd easily admit so. Although, the true difference between Kitra and Cain was that the former saw the painful truth in the darkest matters while the latter refused to see anything at all. A curse for the both of them.

"Princess Kitra, you can put this on."

Kitra looked up from the wall she was staring at and stood up from the stone bench she was perched upon. The servant boy, Benjamin, held out a black sweatshirt with a perpetually nervous look on his naturally-pale face. He wasn't particularly handsome, not in any way really. His pale face looked drained of blood and his clothes hung limply on his thin frame like his thin black hair. But there was something about the boy that drew sympathy for his innocence.

"Thank you," she said as she took the sweatshirt and slipped in on over her plain white shirt, with a pair of grey pants and black combat boots completing her look. Travelling often in a war-torn country meant that she was at a lack when it came to the fancy clothing and shimmering jewelry that graced the people in western geodesic cities, but her delicate, unnatural beauty made up for such absences. "You know." She made eye contact with the servant boy while pulling the sweatshirt over her chest. "You don't have to call me 'Princess' when we're not in front of my mother. Anyways, it'll sound really suspicious when we're out of here."

"You're right, sorry," the boy stammered. Kitra rolled her eyes and tugged a piece of hair that fell out of her braid behind her ear.

"Where's your brother?" she asked, trying to cut the silence between them. "Wasn't he supposed to meet us here?"

"Oh, he's right—"

"Here."

Kitra swivelled around to face the newcomer, and—damn. Oh good god, he was handsome. She easily saw how this man and Benjamin were related. They had the same trimmed black hair and dark brown eyes, only this one was older and taller, having filled out the awkward traits that the younger one possessed. Although the closest similar in the two brothers was their reaction to her.

The older brother's eyes widened and he stepped backwards. "You-you're the Princess!"

"I am." Kitra found herself grinning a little wider.

He shot his brother a look. "Benne, we can't—"

"Just a few hours," Kitra interrupted, quite used to what the servants had to say about her asks, "please. That's all I want."

The guard exchanged looks with his younger brother again and sighed. "Two hours."

So, do you often take girls out here?" Kitra asked, looking up at the guard from underneath her hood. He cracked a small smile and looked down at her. It wasn't much of a height difference, since he was on the tallish side and she was slightly above average height.

"Not usually," he answered with that little smile, "but when Benne told me that there was a girl that wanted to visit Ely, I had to help out. Only, I didn't realize that the girl was a Princess."

"Well, your brother had good taste," Kitra responded, making him laugh a little.

"Ioan, you brought the money, right?" Benjamin asked his older brother, popping out of a rundown storefront briefly.

"Yeah." He unlatched a small bag from his side. "Here."

The younger took the bag and went back inside the store, coming back out ten seconds later. He was holding a small brown bag and holding the little bag tightly. They hadn't run into any crime in the time they had been walking around the small town, but the brothers urged Kitra to stay alert. Fennley was a quiet province, not closely affected by war and not modernized enough to have many geodesic cites. The towns weren't poor, although few were big enough to be considered even biophilic. But there were many private residences held by the wealthy from older days that were spread across the western border. Otherwise, it was deserts and sprawling barley fields for miles to see.

"What's in there?" Kitra asked, gesturing to the bag. Benjamin grinned a little bit and handed her the bag, which she took tentatively. She peered inside and took out one of the crumbly brown squares, looking at Ioan and Benjamin questingly.

"Date bars," Ioan said proudly, taking back the money bag from his younger brother and latching it back to his belt.

Kitra bit into the square in her hand and tasted the sweet fruit mixed with brown sugar on her tongue. "How did you afford these?" She asked, unable to hide the marvel in her voice, as it had been a long time since she'd last had sugar. Even for the highest ranking families, it was slowly becoming more difficult to obtain foods like sugar and fruit. It was only eight years ago that the SDR provinces, which produced the majority of sugars, fruits, and other produce, were cut off from the rest of the kingdom, and there had been almost no trading since.

"We couldn't afford them before," Ioan answered, "but since your family employed us, we've been able to afford better things."

"Oh," remarked Kitra, the taste of the fruit in her mouth now more sour than sweet.

"Hey—look! The radio is on!" Benjamin's voice interrupted the brief period of silence.

"Radio?" Confusion was evident on Kitra's face.

Ioan chuckled, answering her question, "it's how we get all our news. Since we don't live with the people that make the news, we have to listen for it on the radio. It gives us war updates and stuff like that."

"Huh."

A large speaker on the side of the store, similar to several others sprawled around the town, started crackling as a red light on the top of the machine began to glow. It seemed like the entire town of Ely had gone silent, except for the crackling radio machine. A few voices emerged as the crackling began to subside.

"Good afternoon, kingdom citizens," a deep voice from the speaker said, "today we have an important Royal announcement."

Dread filled Kitra as the voice continued. Ioan shot her a brief concerned look but she waved him away. She knew what was happening but didn't want to be among the crowd she was in.

"Queen Katriel is ready to announce her son, Prince Cain's, Selection in a search to find a future Queen of the kingdom and leader in the gallant war against the Ivorys of the United Republic. Applicants must be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two and must be a citizen of one of the twelve provinces of our great kingdom. Those who are interested may pick up an application from their provincial post office."

"Good luck to the Prince," Ioan remarked, raising an eyebrow at the unusual traditions of royals.

"That's not all," Kitra added, albeit grumpily.

"And! For the first time in history," the voice started up again, "Queen Katriel is graciously allowing eligible citizens of Sota, a province recently rescued from the grasp of the United Republic, to enter the Selection. In addition, two diplomatic Selected shall be chosen from the Northern Commonwealth and the Southern Democratic Republic as a show of the kingdom's humility and acceptance!"

"Wait," Ioan interrupted, confused as the voice continued on. "Aren't we at war with the SDR?"

"Not publically." Kitra shrugged a little. "It's just another one of my mother's attempts to appear as the better country. It's stupid."

"What about Sota?" asked Benjamin, who appeared just as confused as his older brother and many people around them. "That's one of our provinces now?"

Kitra shook her head, narrowing her stare at the speaker, which continued to babble on about how great their country was. "We control about half of the province, but it's pretty much a trashed war zone. The front line there has the highest rate of death of all the war fronts. I've never been, but apparently, it's a death sentence just to be there."

"So why is it being treated like it's part of the kingdom?"

"We're staking a claim in the province; a last-ditch effort to keep the people on our side, probably." Kitra's head felt dizzy. "Just like with the Commonwealth and the SDR. The countries would like thinking they have a political influence in the kingdom, even if it's barely there."

God help those girls.

Hello everyone! Thank you for all the amazing support and all your kind words! Because I've gotten a lot of asks to reserve a spot and the current twelve provinces are all filled up, I've decided to open up three more spots. If anyone has any questions about plot points or the politics of the Commonwealth and the SDR, please PM me! Once again, thank you all so much!