We head back to my room and I realize that the other girls have rooms along the same hall, though they had not moved in yet.

Ryder and Eislyn seem to have put the incident outside the ceremony behind them, probably chalking it up to my imagination running wild, but I was still stuck on it, or rather him.

Was I going crazy?

No, not even I could create such a perfect man in my head.

Eis jumps onto the bed, disrupting my wandering thoughts, she sits cross-legged, and motions for me to join her.

“I promised details, and I’m here to deliver. We are having a girls’ night. You,” she points at Ryder, “go get us food, lots of it... don’t be stingy, Ryder!” she shouts at his back as he heads out.

“Come here girl, you need to know your competition.”

“Uhmmm, not really, I don’t care, honestly, I certainly don’t want to be mated to the king.”

“not your type?”

“something like that.”

“What is your type?”

“You know what, Let’s talk about you and Ryder.”

“you know what, I’m a bit curious about the other girls.”

“thought so,” she answers with a smirk scooting over as I join her on the bed

Before she can get started as she was itching to, a scuffle outside the door heralds a tall red-haired girl who’s holding onto a huge covered tray.

Before I could even ask who she was and what she was doing here, Ryder pokes his head through the still-open door, and points at her, “she snatched the tray, there is your food, see you later.”

I turn to the girl, and she’s a little closer to the bed, setting the tray on the chabudai at the centre of the room.

“you look familiar,” I say studying her intently trying to ignore the food that was calling to me, when was the last time I ate something?

Opening the tray, she picks up a rather juicy-looking drumstick and hands it to me, “Auckland, Ryder’s bar, you basically told us to shove it, imagine my surprise when I see you in the opening ceremony.”

“you were the light mage scout? I’m sorry, but I was really out of it, and you look different.”

“had to look like a proper lady to take part, my mother’s words.”

“Besides, your delivery wasn’t nice, something along coming with you being the one good thing in my miserable life,” that had stayed in my head long after.

“Oh, and your partner called me a drowned goblin, I’m not sure how that looks but my gut says awful, you weren’t nice.”

“I wasn’t lying, you don’t look like an elven woman, and Shivanne said she couldn’t read what you were.”

“I don’t like you.”

“Good thing you don’t have to huh,” she says picking up the other drumstick and heading out.

“don’t worry about her, she likes no one, that was actually her being somewhat kind.”

“she took the other drumstick, I only eat drumsticks,” I say turning to her with a pout.

Ignoring me she continues, “that was Ciara, her father is the King’s general and an elf, and the mother is the most stuck-up dragon shifter you’ll ever meet, not exactly sure what her role here is except being up everyone’s ass.”

“So, Ciara is a half-breed?” I manage to ask around a bite of mashed potatoes.

“Yeah, but don’t let her hear you say that, as far she’s concerned, she’s an elf.”

“Next up is Davan, ash-blonde hair, and deep blue eyes that stare into your soul, she’s a half-arctic wolf shifter and half-elven courtesy of her mother.”

“Then Ereni...are you even listening? Trust me, this is going to come in handy.”

“I was listening, but it doesn’t matter, I’m getting the hell out of here.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble but short of dying or the king releasing you once you fail, you are not going anywhere.”

My jaw drops.

“don’t gape like that, you didn’t know?”

“no!” I huff.

“As I was saying,” she continues undeterred.

“wait you are just going to throw that out there and just go as I was saying? The fuck woman!”