Kit was the first to arrive. Based on what I had been told so far about him I was surprised he arrived on time, let alone ahead of Julius. Dorian pointed out a group of three figures making their way towards the drawbridge.

“There he is. And he’s not alone. Grrreeeeeeat. Leave it to Kit to take this seriously.”

He was walking towards the castle drawbridge with his arms around the shoulders of two fairly attractive grown women. Despite the early hour, the ladies’ faces were flush, each holding a nearly empty wine bottle. Kit’s hands were empty, but only because he was taking any opportunity to hold them close and casually grope them through their loose-fitting blouses. All three were swaying back and forth across the street, laughing and bantering to each other as they made their way. Each time one of the ladies would nearly fall, Kit would offer a helping hand with a lecherous undertone to prevent disaster. I was starting to understand Chad and Dorian’s warnings about him from before and was glad I now no longer possessed the handfuls of flesh on my body that he was greedily eyeing on these women.

Despite his behavior, Kit himself was not terrible to look at. He was about the same size as Dorian and Chad, with his shoulders spread a bit wider, but his skin was very tanned. He had light brown hair, worn long and shaggy around his head, covering his ears and almost touching his shoulders. He had bright red eyes, a shade I was all too familiar with for applying for intimidation factors, and a scar across the bridge of his nose from some sort of blade.

He was shirtless and only sported a sleeveless dark brown leather vest, which had a fur lining, a similar shade in color to his hair, for the neck and shoulder area. It was worn open, bearing his extremely muscular arms and chest for all to see.

I gulped loudly.

And what muscles! The dude was ripped! I had already seen Chad and Dorian shirtless and only Duncan stood toe to toe with Kit in this regard. I didn’t know what rigorous training he put himself through to stay in shape, but he looked like he could wrestle a grizzly bear and win. The only flaws in his physique were additional numerous scars on his arms and chest.

Maybe he did wrestle grizzly bears.

He wore gloved gauntlets on his wrists, with throwing knives stashed in them for easy access. He also had tight fitting leather pants equipped with dual daggers strapped to his thighs and a belt with pouches lining it. Adding in my knowledge that he was a son of the kingdom’s military house, and it wasn’t hard to imagine how dangerous he probably was.

And yet his mannerisms seemed the exact opposite of the heavily armed killer now stumbling down the street. Before making it quite to the drawbridge, he slowly and sadly disentangled his limbs from the females he was keeping company with and told them they had to part company. They turned to leave, but not before Kit gave them hearty slaps on both of their bottoms. They playfully giggled at the swats, and he watched them weave away before turning back to face us at the castle gate.

And then walked straight towards us, in a straight line, with no stumbling or any semblance of loss of coordination at all.

What a bastard! He was only acting drunk so as to take advantage of them!

I shook my head and was again grateful that I was plainer in appearance. It would be easier to avoid him now if I truly wished to.

Of course, it would be easy to break a wandering hand too, had I still been Amelia…

“‘ello, my brothers!” He heartily greeted. “Ain’t it a fine and beautiful mornin’ to see you all here at Castle Snobbery! I didn’t expect such a greetin’ for my little ‘ol summons, otherwise I woulda brought more ladies!”

Ash had moved in front of me, probably to hide me from the lecherous man’s sight. Ash was taller than me now, which I hadn’t really noticed yesterday, and I was able to position myself behind the drawbridge frame and his robes while still getting a clear view of Kit’s interaction with the rest of our group.

Kit ignored the men standing to greet him and immediately bowed and took Ash’s hand. “Though with a face like this, I may not be missin’ my previous company long!” He winked as he looked Ash over.

Ash turned a shade of pink and Dorian, with a mischievous grin, decided to play along. “This is Ashley, a descendant of the Goddess.” Kit kissed Ash’s hand, “Good morning, milady. I hope it will be you I thank if I get any bumps or bruises in the coming days.”

Ash was blushing furiously as he struggled to pull free, but Kit held him fast.

Dorian’s amusement at the situation was short lived and had already been replaced with exhaustion, his hands on his hips and eyes pinched shut in frustration. Chad and Duncan still had expressionless faces.

“Just get inside, you idiot.” Dorian muttered. “Before you end up owing the wrong person money or pissing off the wrong girl’s daddy.”

Kit merely smiled and released Ash’s hand. “Always a pleasure, Dorian.” He looked over to Chad, “Still have that wonderful stick up your royal ass, I see?”

Chad said nothing.

Kit nodded, “Very well then. Looking forward to the boring road trip ahead with you two bundles o’ fun at the helm.”

Duncan finally interjected, “I will also be accompanying you on this reconnaissance mission. And you will be on your best behavior, Kit.”

Kit gave a mocking salute, then exaggeratingly marched past us and into the courtyard beyond.

The danger of his attention momentarily past, I finally exhaled.

And Julius was supposed to be worse than that? How had I managed to already meet the two best of the four houses in Chad and Dorian?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then we waited for Julius. I had a rough idea what to expect, based off Dorian’s explanation of him on the way up here. Probably bookish. Not nearly as physically impressive as the other three sons. He was also supposed to be older. Hopefully, other than his arrogance, he would be boring. We already had plenty of character for the journey ahead.

I was partially right.

Julius arrived on horseback not long after Kit had sauntered through. He had short, blue hair that was combed over in a professional style. He had thin glasses perched on his sharp nose that called attention to his hard violet eyes.

He was wearing some dark purple robes, a shade or so darker than my hair used to be. He also had a lavender cape draped over his shoulders, held in place with a gold chain and that fell to the small of his back. He wore pristine white gloves on his hands that gripped the reins of his horse tightly.

I could tell he was taller than the other boys, but I didn’t realize how tall until he dismounted once he reached the gates. He easily stood head and shoulders above them and made a show of looking down his nose as he addressed each of them in turn.

“Prince Chadwick, Dorian. I didn’t realize you also were to be summoned for this task. It must be something serious if the three of us were called for this.”

Then a light bulb clicked on, and from the disgusted look on his face, it shattered shortly after.

“Kit is here too… isn’t he?”

Despite how annoyed Dorian was with this fact, he hid it well behind a broad grin. “You just missed him! He thumbed over his shoulder, “He’s already inside. Why don’t the two of you catch up?”

As if on cue, Kit appeared from thin air and greeted Julius himself. He had obviously expected Julius to not be far behind and had correctly guessed he would serve as an annoyance by sticking around.

“Julius! If it isn’t the favorite of all my brothers? How goes? It’s been far too long since we were grouped together!”

Julius’ face twisted into a scowl that could have darkened the sun and looked past all of us to the castle beyond. “I was hoping to be able to report back to Father that the importance of this mission was greatly exaggerated so that I may return to my lab and my studies. I assumed that a drunken monkey could probably accomplish what ever task was required.”

He then got a smug look on his face and took the boys in once more, “Of course with each of you on the roster, that projection isn’t far off from the truth. And with Kit in tow, we already have the drunken monkey.”

The grin plastered on Kit’s face just widened more at the attention.

“Julius, where are your manners? We have a lady present!” He gestured to Ash and myself, but I was already certain he was treating my plain appearance as if I were invisible.

At this prompting, Julius turned to Ash and went to repeat Kit’s earlier gesture of a kiss of the hand in greeting. “Of course. Where are my manners, indeed?”

Ash jerked his hand away in response, “Okay, okay, that’s not necessary.” he said, in as deep a voice as he could muster.

Julius looked at Ash in disbelief as Kit started howling to himself, grabbing his sides as he doubled over in laughter.

“Oh, oh that was beautiful! Are ya always going to be such an easy mark, Magic Man?”

I was confused. Had Kit realized Ash was a male all along and had just kept up appearances for the sake of a prank?

Julius made to cough into his hand and then pushed up his glasses, as if to imply he knew Ash’s true gender all along and was merely being polite.

“Yes, well, please forgive my presumptuousness,” he eyed Kit, who was now leaning against Duncan to keep from falling over.

He continued, “I had not expected to come across a male descendant of the Goddess in our company. Very curious.” He wrapped his lower face with his hand in a thoughtful pose, “Very curious, indeed. Maybe this task won’t be the useless waste of time I initially thought.”

He then spun to me, his cape flapping behind him, “And who or what is this… dirty whimpering stray cowering amongst us?”

It was the first time either of them had acknowledged my presence and I was taken aback by the sudden attention. I scowled, but before I could answer, Chad said something for the first time all morning.

“This is Amy, and she is my burden to bear on our upcoming mission. You do not have to interact with her if you so choose, as she has nothing of use to add to our group.”

“Then why is she accompanying us at all?” Julius asked, bewildered.

At this, Chad got in the taller man’s face, which was a considerable effort on his part, and growled, “She is my burden. That is all you need know.”

Kit had finally composed himself enough that he could breathe again and leaned on Chad’s shoulder, “Julius, ain’tcha smart enough ta do simple math! Prince-y here just needs an available source of company in the long nights ahead. I, for one, am impressed with his ingenuity!”

Kit turned to eye me, “Although I can’t say much for his choice of partners… so which is it, Chadwick? Does she scream just right, or have all the pretty ones finally turned you down?”

The question was barely past his lips when Duncan’s thick gloved fingers wrapped around his neck and twisted Kit to look him dead in the eyes.

“I believe that I ordered you to be on your best behavior. What self-respecting gentlemen asks a question like that of a lady?”

Chad didn’t respond or acknowledge the new tension in the air. He merely glared at me in frustration, as if I was still the primary source of all his recent woes, and then stomped off. Duncan held Kit for a moment more, then released him with alarming calmness and followed Chad back towards the castle.

Kit rubbed at his neck but did not appear shaken by the larger man’s threat. “That response could be read either way.” The moment then instantly forgotten, he clapped and rubbed his hands together excitedly, “I wonder if there’s enough time before we leave for me to bring a wench of my own!”

“I’m sure if you asked nicely, the prince might allow you to share.” Julius smirked.

“Maybe if you asked, Julius.” He closed his fiery eyes smugly and spread his fingers across his chest, “I have taste.” At that, he too decided it was time to move on from our conversation and followed Chad and Duncan toward the castle entrance.

Julius merely bowed his leave to Dorian, Ash, and myself, “Please excuse me, as I have other agendas to attend to.” He brushed past us before stopping and looking over his shoulder at me. “My sincerest apologies at your fate of being matched with Chadwick. I could think of no crueler outcome in life.” And with that, he too went the way of the boys and Duncan.

I gave an exasperated sigh and was looking forward to this trip even less.

Oh, this was going to be awful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julius and Kit were escorted immediately to the throne room by Duncan to get the specifics on the mission we had received the day before. Chad, again, disappeared into the depths of the castle, leaving Ash and me alone with Dorian. We loitered on the huge staircase in the entrance hall, and Ash and I attempted to come to grips with the two interesting new additions to our merry group.

“I just can’t believe it,” Ash said. “How are those two the promising prospects for anything, let alone running one of the major houses one day!?”

“Julius just seems like a pain to deal with, but also carries himself like someone who knows what he’s doing,” I added. “I can see that panning out, but Kit? What’s his deal?”

Dorian was leaning back on the railing, elbows propped up on it, with his head lolling back on his shoulders as he mindlessly stared at the ceiling. He didn’t appear to be looking forward to our new company any more than we were.

“Kit has issues. Let’s just get that out there. Everything, and yet nothing about him can be taken at face value. He’s had a rough life and was fortunate enough to be granted a second chance, but has decided to not make the best decisions about how to move on from his past.”

I quirked my head at this and frowned.

“How bad could his childhood have been as the eldest son and heir to one of the Houses?”

At this, Dorian finally brought his head down and sighed, “You really want to hear this, don’t you?”

Ash and I both nodded vigorously.

Dorian motorboated his lips thoughtfully, as if debating going through with the explanation, before finally looking around and then leaning in close.

“Okay, fine. But you didn’t hear it from me, understand?”

Our vigorous nodding continued.

“So, the heavily floated rumors about Kit are that one of his uncles owed a lot of money to the wrong person. Guy couldn’t possibly pay off his debts and was in real deep with the wrong people. So, to get himself out clean, he straight up kidnapped his nephew when he was a small kid and sold him into slavery!”

Ash and I traded looks, eyes wide as dinner plates, before turning back to Dorian.

“Debtors couldn’t make much money off the small kid, so they put him in the pits for underground, illegal fighting here in Torzoa. Figured they’d get something out of his hide before he bit the dust.” Dorian winked at us, “Only he didn’t. Kit survived. He adapted. It was years before his family found out where he had disappeared to and that he wasn’t dead. His old man got him out, but not before Kit had been irrevocably changed forever. He’s only been free of the pits a few years.”

Dorian leaned back again, “And that’s the skinny. Kit is a rogue, a cutthroat, and a scoundrel. He’s that way because it’s all he knows: survival. Lives like every day could be his last.” Dorian shrugged, “I want to hate him for it, but it’s kind of hard to, you know?”

“What about the way he is with women?” I asked.

“He lives in the moment. When he’s got coin, he can’t burn through it fast enough. He gambles. He spends it on food, drink, and women. And not always in that order.”

I felt sorry for the guy. Still didn’t trust him further than I could throw him, but what he had gone through would have broken anybody in that same situation as a small child.

But Ash was shaking his head in disbelief.

“Sorry Dorian, I just don’t believe any of that. You’re just stringing us along! Amelia’s too gullible too. Stop taking advantage of her like that!”

I gasped and slapped him playfully on the arm.

“I am not! You take that back!”

Ash and Dorian laughed a bit, but Dorian had more to add.

“Promise, that’s the whole truth of the story as I know it. He’s barely still a Zannister at this point. He’s made no efforts to clean up his act. The family has practically disowned him. They’ve tried to get him help and set him back on the straight and narrow but,” at this, Dorian spun his finger at the side of his head, “he’s too far gone.”

He leaned back on the railing again, “Besides, hard for me to feel sorry for him when he stole my money pouch when he slid by me at the gate.”

I blinked hard and shook my head at this, making sure I had heard that right.

“He did what? Do we need to help you get it back?”

“Nah,” Dorian shrugged.

Suddenly, there was loud crashing and stomping heard up the stairs. It sounded like an elephant was chasing someone much faster than them at a full sprint. It wasn’t but a moment later that Kit jumped onto the opposite railing from us and started expertly sliding down it on his feet, a grin on his face the whole way. I could have sworn he even winked at us as he whizzed by.

“Stop! You witless, blasted cur!”

Duncan was close behind. He didn’t dare pretend to have the skill to ride the railing as Kit had but leapt down the stairs three at a time to catch up to the fleeing miscreant.

Dorian nodded at the passing “He stole Duncan’s too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duncan did eventually get both their money pouches back, but not before chasing Kit through half of the castle in the process. Once that had been accomplished, Dorian was assigned the unenviable task of babysitting the devious rascal and making sure he stayed on task while final preparations were made for our departure.

Afterwards, Duncan escorted me back to the training hall. He, again, insisted I should at least try to wear something more protective than “oversized blankets”, as he put it. He rationalized that while my modern clothes may be something I was used to wearing, it offered no protection at all. He added that it was not form fitting either, which forced terrifying flashbacks of the zombie grasping at my dress from my first day into the forefront of my mind.

In the end, I decided Duncan was probably right.

I shed the sweatpants and was provided some leathers that had belonged to Max from a couple of years ago. Since they were tailored for a prince, they were of amazing quality and fit very well. I no longer had my mesmerizing voluptuous ass and hips, and my newly returned boy like shape slid into his hand-me-downs with no issues.

The same was true for the rest of the outfit. Some quick wrap bindings to strap down what little chest I had, and his leather jerkin buckled snug into place over a loose-fitting shirt. The sleeves were a little long, but nothing I was sure Ash couldn’t adjust for me later as he had his mother’s talents for sewing. I returned to my discarded clothes and slipped my hoodie back on over it all.

Duncan frowned, “Won’t you be hot in all that? Summer is around the corner. Besides, one of the goals of getting you something new to wear was to discard things that may hold you back.” He gently tapped my forehead with two big fingers, “That means up here too…”

I smiled abashedly at him. “I know Duncan, but I’m just not ready yet. I wore this as a comfort item back home. It was more what it did for me mentally. It’s like a favorite blanket that makes you feel warm and safe inside?”

I looked down at my awkward appearance, a touch of modern over the leathers that poked out beneath. “Besides, I’ll barely notice the extra layer. I’ve worn it so long, it’s warmth wasn’t something physical.”

Duncan sighed, but still had a warm smile, “As you say, lass. We will wait until you are ready. My only condition is that it comes off while we train, understood?”

It was not a request.

“Yes sir.”

“Good.”

He then pulled something out from behind his back. It was a beautiful dagger inside an expertly carved sheath. I took it, awestruck, and slowly revealed the blade from it’s covering. The handle was carved from bone and was thick and polished. It was very cool to the touch and felt right in my hand. It had a wrapping of a fine blue leather up closer to the hilt, which was simply some well worked silver metal that flared out gently to protect a user’s grip from being exposed to the blade.

The blade had some ornate gold sheath filigree from where the blade jutted up from the hilt, and the decoration proceeded for about an inch before tapering off. The blade itself was no nonsense after that. It was about a foot long, curved, and was so sharp it felt like it could cut the air if wielded by an expert swordsman. I gazed at the blade, my stare reflected back at me. I was lost in it.

I don’t know how long I stared at the dagger, but Duncan did not interrupt, and waited for me to sheathe the dagger before addressing me again.

“It’s come to my attention that you like to name your weapons.” He nodded at the blade in my hands, “This was a dagger gifted to Maximillian from his mother, Queen Lilliana. He thankfully never had to use it in battle, but he took great care of it and cherished it nonetheless. It is called Lily”

He smiled, “And now he wishes it to be yours.”

Just like the comb.

I thrust it back to him, “I can’t accept this! I’ve done nothing to earn such gifts from the Royal family!”

Duncan had a puzzled look on his face, “What kind of life have you led that you feel you need to earn gifts?”

I was flustered and struggled to find the words.

“It’s not that— I just— Max and the queen have already shown me such kindness and have showered me with gifts since I got here! I’ve only known them a day! And I haven’t even met the queen!”

“Would you like to?”

I looked at Duncan, eyes wide. Just like that? He just makes the off handed suggestion and, BAM, audience with the queen?

I looked down at my feet and lightly kicked at the floor with my new boots. Also gifts from Max.

“Maybe I would have before. But not like this.”

Duncan nodded. “I understand. What you are going through, not even my vast experience assists me in grasping the words to explain or understand.”

He instead put a hand on my back and gently started pushing me towards the door.

“Let’s go. The boys are waiting.”