11. Chapter 11
Michaela
I t was like time had joined forces with the wind chill. Everyone froze in place, completely mortified that they’d been caught in their bad behavior by the one person they didn’t want to see how they were acting. Even Dagny let the snow tumble out of her mouth and flop on the ground.
“Your Highness.” Blair dropped her head and sank low as his presence registered. That created a chain reaction through the entire group. Ending, of course, with me. I was so late to the show that Fitz actually had time to raise his eyebrows as though to ask why I was slacking.
I almost rolled my eyes at his expectation. I mean, come on, man, it was cold. But the cameras were recording, and I didn’t need to cause an international incident, even if the prince I was bowing to was the same guy who’d once won a saltine-eating challenge against my mother.
“Please,” at least he didn’t leave us there long, “rise. I’m excited for our first challenge.” As we all straightened, Fitz motioned to the park’s features. “Winter-Sparra has long-been a Nolcovian treasure, and I can’t wait to share its magic with you. From the rinks to the slopes to the family-friendly sledding hills, it’s positively the premier winter attraction in the country.”
I glanced at Blair to see if she would offer up resistance, but unlike in the van she was eating up every word. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but see the benefits for Fitz.
Not only was he showing his watching subjects he was one of them by promoting a place they all knew and loved, he was endearing himself to the owners of Winter-Sparra because even though it was clearly shut down and heavily guarded today, tomorrow it would be swarming after the free publicity.
“We’ve set up a course for you. Working in teams, one team member to each station, you’ll navigate the ice rink course, snowshoe up the hill, sled down the hill, traverse the playground’s obstacles, execute a flawless run at the snowball firing range, and then start a fire in the pit to finish.” He waited with a faint grin in place. “The winning team will spend the evening with me at that very fire to celebrate your win. Losers will go back to the palace.”
Competition was a language I knew how to speak. But I preferred going solo. Working in a team left me nervous. Too many variables. But I didn’t have much of a choice. All I could hope was that my team was decent.
“Team captains, Lady Gwendolyn,” he spoke her name and she beamed at the attention, “and Lady Michaela,” I, in turn, almost choked on my own saliva, “will choose teams and we will begin in five minutes.”
“Okay, cut the feed.” Tom’s command echoed over the group. He put his arm around Fitz and led him away, offering direction as they departed. I glanced at Gwendolyn and she nodded. We had five minutes, not much time to waste.
“Everyone over here,” Gwendolyn directed. “Michaela, do you care if I pick first?”
Blair raised a finger as if she was about to correct the blonde noblewoman but stopped short. Likely, she’d drawn the same conclusion that I had that morning. Considering my citizenship to another country, being recognized as a lady of court wasn’t an option and no one was going to lose their heads for not calling me by the proper title in the process.
“Go ahead.” It wasn’t my intention to make bad blood between us. Fitz clearly cared about her and I needed to know why if I was going to help him make a good decision.
“Fallon,” Gwendolyn said without skipping a beat.
“Blair.” If my opponent could pick her bestie, then I could pick the one competitor who was consistently nice to me.
“Esmerey.” Her second choice shocked everyone, especially Esmerey, but she trudged through the snow toward her side anyway.
“I pick Sadie.” I noted the rumble of derision in the crowd, but I didn’t care. I knew what it was like to be picked last. Sadie was almost frozen solid, and I planned to be sure she was on the winning team next to the fire.
“Eirene.” Gwendolyn shot me a look as if she had thwarted my plans.
“Dagny,” I called out. Yes, I was picking the friendly contestants, but I didn’t see any reason to be stuck with people I couldn’t stand.
“Margaux.”
The only remaining choices were people I hadn’t met and Chantal. No way was I getting her.
“Minerva.” I didn’t know the strawberry-blonde, but she smiled when I said her name. That was worth something.
I glanced at Gwendolyn, waiting on her final choice. Astrid or Chantal. As her shoulders shook with silent laughter, I saw my mistake in letting her choose first. That meant she would pick not only the last member of her team, but my team by default.
“Astrid,” she said to the dusty-blonde, “you’re with us.”
Which meant we got Chantal. Dread churned in my stomach. She was the last person I wanted, but I had no choice and waved her over.
“Okay, we have six tasks available. Does anyone have skills that would—”
“I speed skate,” Chantal offered. “They’ll put up Gwen, and I’ve beat her every time we’ve gone head-to-head. Plus, I’m highly motivated to win.”
Blair scoffed at the last part. “Aren’t we all?”
Chantal offered no other explanation, but I sensed there was more to what she was saying. Blair wanted the one-on-one time with Fitz, but Chantal needed it for some other reason.
“Anyone else volunteering for anything?” I couldn’t let us get derailed by infighting.
“I snowshoe with my father,” Sadie’s voice was hardly loud enough to be heard. “I can do that.”
“Great.” I looked at the only member of our team I didn’t know. “Minerva, any hidden talents?”
“Call me, Minny.” She shook her head. “I’m generally untalented, but I think I can sled down the hill.”
I liked her honesty. “Dagny, what do you want?”
She dropped the fistful of snow. “Target practice. I’m great with snowballs.”
Was there anything she didn’t put in her mouth? “How about the obstacle course? I’m afraid you’ll eat all the ammo in target practice.”
She saluted with gusto. “As you wish, ma’am.”
That left two final slots, lighting the fire and snowball target practice. “Blair, what are you thinking?”
“I want the fire,” she said with confidence. “I know I’m a good shot and everything, but I want to be the reason we win.”
I understood her motivation, but I also knew the risk. When I was little, we camped almost every weekend. My dad loved being outdoors. I hadn’t gone much since I was a kid, but I understood the difficulty of starting a fire from nothing in freezing conditions.
“You can do it? With the temperature, it’s going to be harder to get it to—”
“I can do it,” she snapped. “What would you know about it anyway? It’s not like you’re from here.”
She had a point. If we were going to have a chance, I needed everyone playing to their strengths. At least I knew how to throw a snowball.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s get into position.”
The other group had already started for their places. It didn’t bode well that we were behind before we even started. Chantal left for the ice rink without a word, but at least she allowed Sadie to walk with her. Minny turned and started to climb the towering hill behind us. She had to be at the summit by the time Sadie snowshoed up there.
I faced Blair, doubts still lingering.
Asking Blair to defend herself again felt over the line. If she thought she could do it, then she could do it. I needed to trust her in order to build her trust in me. More than winning this competition, getting to know the competitors had to be my focus.
I trudged through the snow to the edge of the children’s playground and the start of the target course. As expected, Dagny was already playing on her obstacle course, aka the playground, while her competitor, Astrid, watched with a disapproving frown. I might have yelled for her to take things more seriously, but she needed to be familiar with the equipment. Maybe it would be a benefit to have her goof off until she was needed. Astrid, with her perfectly braided crown and snow bunny outfit, didn’t exactly look the type to crawl through a tunnel in the snow, let alone traverse the monkey bars.
“Oh, splendid,” a feminine voice sounded from my left, “I have the American.”
Nothing about Esmerey’s voice conveyed excitement. In truth, I wanted to be snarky right back at her, but, for whatever reason, Fitz had kept her and I needed to understand why. Was there something I couldn’t see or was she simply manipulative enough to fool him?
“Lady Esmerey,” I gave a Dahlia-like short curtsies to placate the noble, “how lovely to be paired with you.”
Her dark eyes narrowed with suspicion, as though she knew it couldn’t possibly be true. Like Astrid, she wore an outfit that had been tailored not only to fit her to perfection but designed to accentuate her features. The white jacket with black fur framed her face and added to her stunning beauty. As a bonus, she also blended in with the environment and made me feel like she was some Nolcovian black ops sniper ready to take me out with snowballs.
“Here.” She extended a leather bag toward me. “Fill it with snowballs. It makes the course easier.”
Surprised she was willing to offer any help, I took the bag with the red stripe that cut across the strap. I slung it crossways over my chest. It was the perfect height, it seemed, for pulling and launching snowballs. “Thank you.”
“It won’t matter.” She set to work forming snowballs and setting them into her bag. “Gwen is the fastest skater in the country, and Chantal is basically rubbish in skates.”
Strange that Chantal had said the same about Gwendolyn. I held my tongue and started forming snowballs as well. In the distance, the faint sound of the producers carried on the wind. The race was about to start. For the sake of the underdogs on my team, I hoped we could pull through. Sadie and Blair deserved another shot at time with Fitz so they wouldn’t go home early. I was going to do everything in my power to make that happen.
An airhorn blasted, and my head came up to watch the race. Esmerey fell into the same spell, chanting under her breath, “Come on, Gwen. Come on.” I couldn’t see the exact pattern that they were forced to navigate, but Chantal’s black jacket pulled ahead early. She planned to make good on her promise to win. As she made it to the edge of the course, Sadie set her hand out and within seconds, Chantal passed something off and our second team member started to move.
Esmerey hissed her disapproval through her teeth as Gwendolyn kept working through the ice course, but by the time she traded off with Eirene, Sadie was halfway up the hill. Even with good time, Eirene would be hard pressed to catch her.
“I can’t even claim it’s unfair. Our commoner should be able to keep up with yours.” She shook her head and pursed her lips. “Astrid will earn the time back.”
With the lead that was forming, Astrid needed to be a ninja warrior to beat Dagny. Adrenaline rose in my veins as I felt my pending moment moving closer. I bounced through my toes to keep my muscles warm in the chilled air. Close as I could tell, I had to sprint through the target track, throwing snowballs to knock down the red targets. With a blue stripe on her bag, Esmerey was responsible for the matching targets on her side.
Sadie reached the summit, albeit slower than her start. She hadn’t eaten anything that morning. She had to feel faint from her exertion, but as she transferred whatever she carried into Minny’s hand, I drew in a short breath. The sled flew down the hill with Minny squealing the whole way. I searched out Dagny on the playground, hopeful that she was ready to go.
Of course, she wasn’t, but she’d formed half a snowman, so… that was something.
“Get ready, Dagny!” I shouted, hoping it would put her back to her starting point. My warning snapped her back to reality, and she sprinted for the starting point as Minny hurried in the same direction. An engine revved to the left of us, startling me. I searched it out and found Fitz on the back of a snowmobile, obviously following the competitors as they worked through the course. He caught me staring and winked before gunning the engine and turning away from the target course. In the distance, the previous competitors trudged through the snow. None of them were given snowmobiles.
“Heaven forbid, he walk,” I mumbled under my breath.
“He’s the prince,” Esmerey countered, obviously with every intention of putting me in my place. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to engage in an argument. Dagny worked her way through the course, starting with the balance beam, through a tunnel, and up a ladder system that connected with the main structure.
“That being said,” Esmerey continued, “they could have given the others some help as well, I suppose.”
“You make a good point, Esmerey.” I broke off my stare with Dagny’s progress to cast a small smile her way. To my surprise, she reflected it.
“Please, everyone calls me Esme.” She returned her attention to Astrid, who’d received the baton from Margaux. I wanted to revel in the thought that I’d made progress, but it wasn’t as though she’d asked me to be her BFF, I was just on the same standing as the rest of the world.
It was progress… adjacent.
I didn’t have time to dissect our interaction. All Dagny had left was the final slide and then put the baton in my hand. With our sizable lead, I could easily get the pass off to Blair with time to spare for the difficult conditions she faced.
That is, until Dagny saw the coin.
Frozen beneath a layer of ice, the loopy noble started pawing at it like a woodland creature.
“Dagny!” I called out to her, hoping to break her from her trance. “Dagny! Hand me the baton.” She didn’t look up. Not a single crack in her focus.
Esme’s laughter turned cruel. “That’s what you get for pity. A loon distracted by every shiny thing she finds.” She nodded to the tradeoff between Margaux and Astrid. “Watch a real competitor in action.”
While Dagny rubbed at the ice with her mittens, Astrid tore up the course with speed and precision. I shouted, I called, I pleaded and begged, but Dagny refused to listen. As Astrid passed her on the course, my heart sank. I was the one who’d suggested Dagny take her position. She wanted mine, but I had overruled her. This loss would be on my shoulders.
Esme readied herself as Astrid covered the remaining distance. The baton switched hands and with one last wicked giggle, Esme started our course.
“Dagny!” I yelled again. “Come on! We’re behind now!”
“I’ve almost got it. The prince will love his gift. A coin beneath the ice is twice as nice.”
She had to be kidding. Dagny actually thought Fitz would want a coin? He was Crown Prince and could have any coin in the world. How could she be so delusional?
Thoroughly desperate, I drew a snowball from my bag and lobbed it at her head.
Direct hit.
“Ow!” She glared from where she crouched. “The snoods will steal your shoes for that. I’ll see to it!”
“I’ll take my chances,” I maintained eye contact, “but if you could put that baton in my hand, I’ll leave you to your coin.”
Grumbling, she rose to her feet, snatched the baton from the snow, and stalked the remaining steps to meet me. Eyes narrowed, she set the baton in my hand. “Curses on your crows, Michaela. And your hippos, too.”
Speechless, I stared at her, because, honestly, what could I say to that?
I didn’t have time for her antics. I ran into the forest that housed the targets. The first cropped up quickly. I tossed a snowball and immediately hit the target. A red light and a chirping siren cut the air. The second came after the first turn and my snowball knocked it flat causing the same reaction. Third, fourth, and fifth were no challenge. As I rushed around the second corner in the track, Esme’s voice echoed on the other side of the bushes.
“Come on! I don’t have time for this!” She must have thrown one and missed because an aggravated groan sounded through the woods.
If her target was the same as mine, I understood her frustration. Where the others had been at a decent level, this one was lodged high in the treetops, obscured by other branches. I threw my first ball and missed by quite a few feet. I threw again and it crashed on the branch in front of the target. A third attempt also fell flat. Apparently, I had no reason to be so cocky. I was just as stuck as Esme.
I searched out a better position, but every one seemed impossible. The branches simply blocked anything from my angle.
From my angle.
The thought jarred an idea loose. I needed a better angle. Without thinking about the repercussions, I gripped the trunk of a nearby tree and started to climb. At least my mittens helped me cling to the rough bark. If I could get to the first branch, I was pretty sure I could perch on the limb and hit the target. My footing slipped and I slid down a good eight inches, driving my heart rate even higher. Determined, I started again, locking my fingers into the nooks and crannies available in the trunk. At last, my hands locked around the branch and with great effort, I pulled myself onto the edge and wrapped my legs around it for stability.
For a second, I forgot the competition. My vantage point gave me a better view of the layout. Gwen and Chantal were almost to the edge of the trees. Dagny was still working on her coin and likely creeping toward frostbitten fingers, while Eirene and Sadie had made it to the base of the hill. Close as I could tell, target six was the final one, because on the other side of the trees, Blair waited near a firepit, eagerly watching the forest edge for any sign of me.
“Hey!” Esme’s voice called up from below. “You can’t do that!”
“Says who?” I asked, annoyed that she would call me out. Resisting a wicked laugh like the one she’d given me, I threw a snowball at the target. A larger siren went off, along with red lights flashing from every set.
“Red team wins!” A robotic voice chimed out my victory as I climbed, well no, slid haphazardly from my perch. Once I stood on solid ground, I picked up the pace. Feet sure, I sprinted the remaining distance, pulled the baton from my hand, and handed it off to Blair. The win was as good as ours.
She set the baton on the edge of the firepit. Carefully moving, she balled up paper and started building a teepee around the base. Thudding steps emerged from the target course as Esme rushed toward Fallon where she waited at her firepit. I held my breath as the tradeoff happened. Blair struck a match and lit the papers beneath the kindling.
“How long does it have to burn?” Did we only have to get the wood to ignite? Or was there a time limit?
“Four minutes,” Blair answered.
“Hey!” Esme pointed at us like a child. “No helping! She’s helping Blair.”
Tom nodded from the sidelines, motioned for the cameraman to move in to capture the drama, and gave me a wagging finger to remind me I had to back off. Frustrated, I reversed my steps, putting space between me and the imminent fire.
Why did it matter so much to me that we won? It wasn’t like I was pining for time with Fitz. I wasn’t going to marry him. Was I just obsessed with winning? Or was I trying to be sure the right people were around the bonfire?
Or was it something more?
“Come on!” Blair yelled at her smoldering fire. “Please, just stay lit.”
At least I didn’t see flames in Fallon’s ring either. Starting a fire in cold temperatures wasn’t easy. The air naturally carried more moisture, and the damp conditions made it nearly impossible. She needed to introduce more oxygen by blowing on the flames, but I couldn’t help her and stood powerless on the sidelines.
“How’s the progress, ladies?” Fitz made his entrance, hands stuffed in his coat pockets, looking effortlessly handsome as he inspected each fire. “Lots of smoke, I see. Not many flames.”
He spotted me on the sidelines and took the space next to me. Volume low, he said, “I’m surprised it’s not you in her place, Lady Michaela. If memory serves, you could get a flame going on an iceberg.”
I didn’t feel the need to throw Blair under the bus, so to speak. “Blair will get it, Your Highness. Just wait.” But as the first signs of flame sparked to life in Fallon’s pit, my heart and hopes sank.
Four minutes later, the winner was announced.
We’d lost and the team of mostly nobles had won.
Even worse than having to listen to their celebration was the look that Fitz shot me when he was sure no one was watching.
Positively overflowing with disappointment.
As if I’d failed him somehow.