A series of raps jolt from sleep. I sit up only to realise I was in the same position I had sprawled in once Nyx left.

Nyx... shit.

Was he back?

“Nyx.”

I look around as the persistent knocks sound again.

Before I can get to the door, it swings open and my jaw drops.

she was gorgeous, I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that about everyone here.

“you look like kelpie shit warmed up. Figures they’ll give me the worst one.”

I didn’t need to know what kelpie shit looked like, especially warmed up to recognize the well-cultivated insult. She suddenly didn’t look so gorgeous.

“Nice to meet you too, everyone in this place has such a sunny disposition, must be the clean air.”

She brushes past, ignoring me, dragging a covered cart behind her, and the scent of jasmine smacks me following her inside.

“I am Eislyn of Atlari and I am supposed to prepare you for the mate trials, I am going to be your... lady-in-waiting for lack of a better word.”

“I...”

“Get this through your head, I am not and will not be your maid.”

Feisty, I liked it, we stan women with back-bones but she was barking up the wrong tree.

Atlari, according to Enid’s lessons, that’s the underwater city, aquatic creatures from the Merfolk to kelpies and sirens you name them, lived there.

“Are you merfolk?”

“No, I am a nymph.” She answers, sounding a tad bit offended.

Well, there’s no winning with her is there?

“Well look here Eislyn of Atlari, I don’t want to be here anymore than you do, I don’t know what crawled up your a... I don’t know why you seem prickly but I’m positive we’ve never met, I’d remember you so how about you shelve it and speak to me like a descent being hmm?”

Her shoulders fall, her haughty posture easing, “you are different.”

“no shit.”

“I thought they saddled me with one of the spoiled bitches who think they shit unicorns just because they get to compete for a chance to be the queen of the light mages.”

“oh wow... unicorns!”

“I mean”... she was pacing now hands on her hips cart long-forgotten... “don’t they see how stupid it is to fight and possibly die all for a chance to ride the royal...”

“Woah! Don’t finish that I get the picture, your vocabulary is quite colourful.”

She turns back to me, a scowl still on her face, “you get it? Then why are you competing?”

“first of all, please explain because I have no fucking idea what competition you are talking about, I was kidnapped.”

“oh, you are the tiny Elven woman who was seen with the Bright assholes.”

I choked on a laugh, “Bright assholes... nice.”

“you really do not know about the mate trials?”

“The what?”

“let me shorten it for you, so the king has been getting a lot of heat about getting a new wife since his wife... the mother to his kids died.”

“Normally it only happens once in a king’s lifetime but... circumstances, so we are having the mate trials for King Darian again and every mature female with a working vagina in this place has been in a tizzy, too bad they can’t all qualify.”

“there’s usually some weird secret nomination period then the finalists are brought to the Academy for the last rounds, which are just a bloodbath, and I mean that in every sense of the word... females are evil,” she adds with a shudder.

“ok, can I like, opt out, I didn’t really wanna be here in the first place.”

“no one ever is,” she says with a laugh, arranging an assortment of bottles and cases on the dressing table.

“What do you mean?” I ask my mind running.

“Well, I told you the initial selection is usually private, they literally evaluate eligible ladies from all over Bright then collect them.”

I’m pretty sure my jaw was on the floor.

“only difference is, most of them have been living for the moment, trained and polished for it.”

“wow.”

“Alright,” she exclaims clapping her hands and then sticking them on her hips, “strip let me see what I’m working with, I heard the king singled you out, he likes you already, even sent the princes to collect you.”

More like kidnap, but semantics, right?

Before I could protest out loud, a whoosh engulfs me and my clothes disappear, leaving me feeling like I just took a dip in a cool creek.

“We don’t have time for you to take a proper shower, took me an hour to wake you up.”

“So, you just cleaned me magically? Neat trick, how do I do it?”

An hour later, I don’t think her skill is that impressive, being tagged, poked and bent from all ends is not fun, especially if you don’t see whatever is doing it.

Let me not even get to my head, it’s a wonder my hair is still holding on.

Eislyn drags me into the bathroom and beelines for the floor-to-ceiling mirror on one side and my jaw drops... again.

“That thing will unhinge at this rate.” She whispers from behind me.

“So? Did I do good? Do you like it?”

She’s practically jumping buzzing with excitement, which in itself is appalling.

“Yeah, I can’t recognize myself.”

She lets out a squeal, “They won’t know what hit them.”

I couldn’t bring myself to be as excited as her though, don’t get me wrong, I looked stunning, like some sort of goddess, the aqua dress was also really helping, but.

It really wasn’t me, I literally couldn’t recognize myself.

“what’s wrong?”

She must have noticed my weird expression, not wanting her to feel awful with all the work she had done, I force a smile, “I’m trying to figure out how the hell you got the bird’s nest that is my hair to cooperate enough to do that.”

She had my hair up in a tight ponytail with the ends curled more than normal with a few strands framing my face and gems weaved onto the front, it really was stunning.

“I’m sorry you don’t want to do this, but since you can’t leave, try to make the most of it, it will be like reality TV only you’ll be part of the cast.

Yeah, that sounded easy... not.