Page 34 of The Kings Game

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His brother doesn’t seem to care what Essos is saying. He walks right past him and into the room with us.

“Hello, ladies.” He whistles before turning back to Essos. “What a fine group you have this time; much better than the nuns in 1706. How many did you start with—and you’re down to what, 12 now? You are fast, big brother. If it were me who had the Calling, I would take my sweet, sweet time with them.” He winks at a few of the girls. He stops at Madison and wraps one of her curls around his finger.

“Everyone, this is my brother, Galen,” Esosso says. “Galen, these are the participants of the Calling.

He walks around the room, looking at each of us in our pajamas, not yet ready for the day. When he reaches me, he stops, a big shit-eating grin on his face. Essos doesn’t move, I don’t think he even breathes the entire time Galen is looking at me.

He turns to Essos again. “Secrets, secrets brother. You’re supposed to be playing by the rules.”

“Galen, might we have a word in the hall?” Essos’s voice is hard, only getting more rigid by the time he reaches the end of his sentence. He’s giving the impression of some internal tether ready to snap.

Sybil walks into the room and stops short at the sight of Galen. They try to catch Essos’s eye, but he doesn’t look away from his younger brother.

Essos doesn’t give Galen a chance to respond; instead, he drags his brother from the room by his arm, Sybil following closely behind. His grip on Galen’s arm looks bruising, but Galen only chuckles in response.

Although we all strain to hear what’s happening, none of us can make out what they’re saying. The only thing I hear is Essos warning Galen not to interfere. Galen’s laughter at this gives the impression that he will not heed this warning.Galen says something low that I miss, followed by pure silence.

A moment later, the three of them return. Essos looks pale, a grim set to his mouth as he watches his younger brother. When Galen settles in the empty seat beside Zara, there is a slight easing of tension in Essos’s shoulders.

“Please, explain to me, big brother, why you literally get your pick of the ladies, and I have to fight like a dog to get one to look at me.” He flashes his dazzling smile again.

“Maybe because you fail to leave anything to the imagination,” I say, buttering my toast, not sparing him a glance. Cat giggles, hiding behind her mug.

“Well, maybe this time around, my big brother will learn to share,” Galen says, and I look up just as he grabs a slice of bacon off his brother's plate.

Essos sits back down, and I think I see actual steam coming out of his ears.“Not likely,” he mutters and returns to the paperwork before him. Whatever happened in the hallway has Essos much more subdued toward his brother.

Ever the diplomat, Cat tries to diffuse the situation. “So, you’re Essos’s baby brother? Will you be staying here long?”

“No,” Essos replies as Galen offers his own answer.

“Till the ball.” Essos looks up sharply as Galen continues. “I think today, we play hooky from the classes that I know Sybil is putting you through and just hang out by the pool and beach. Big brother clearly has so much work to do that he can’t even enjoy a nice breakfast with you all, so I figure I will entertain you.”

Essos looks at Sybil. Before either of them can say anything, some of the other girls start pleading for a beach day.

“I suppose all work and no play makes me a dull boy,” Essos says begrudgingly, scooping up his papers. I can tell it physically pains him to put his work aside. “Fine, just for today, I think we all can take a beach day. Sybil, will you please arrange meals, et cetera? Ladies, please go ready yourselves. We will go down to the beach in an hour. I have to catch up with my brother first.”

It’s a race up the stairs as everyone chatters about getting out of the house. While we haven’t been under house arrest, it feels like we have, with the mountains of memorization Sybil has had us doing.As discussed, when we first started our classes, they haven’t offered any information about Essos’s family—just that Essos has brothers and sisters—and now here we are, faced with one of them.

I pop into Cat’s room first to look over her bathing suit options.

“Well, this is certainly a change of pace,” Cat calls from the closet as she changes, excitement raising the pitch of her voice. My shadow, Dave, sits at my feet, tickling my toes as he licks them. “Still, I think we could use some livening up. I’m enjoying the balls and dancing, but I think this will get Essos to open up more to us. Is it just me, or is he shut tight as a clam?” She steps out in a fire-engine-red suit. I whistle at her, and Dave perks his head up, before lowering it, realizing nothing is going to happen.I scratch behind his ears, giving Cat a chance to finish putting herself together.

“I think Essos has been through this before, and it’s made him cautious about getting attached. I can hardly fault him for playing things close to the chest. Tiffany was telling me that Anna told Madison, who told Tiffany, that Essos was the one who dismissed Anna, saying they weren’t a good fit.”

When we go back to my room, Dave follows us, eager to play his part in picking my bathing suit.

I pull out a few options and ultimately don a yellow string bikini with polka dots, the only one that caught Dave’s attention. Cat is amused that I let Dave pick my outfits, but he’s never wrong.

“I’ve got to admit, the dog has good taste,” Cat says as I pull on a pair of shorts and some wedges. Dave licks her hand in agreement, and I grab a white sun hat from my closet. At times it feels like the closet is sentient, knowing my needs before I do. The only exception was the blue dress Sybil found for me. I could explore the idea more, that maybe the closet is tied to Sybil’s or Essos’s magic, since they know what we’ll need on any given day. I could see Essos being uncertain that I would give him my trust in such a display. It makes me want to protect his little cinnamon bun heart.

As we walk down the stairs, Cat stops and grabs my arm. “Do you think they miss me?”

For a moment, I’m confused, but then I realize she must mean her family.After the first week, we never really talked about our families again. No matter how often I left the option open to Cat, she never seized it, quick to change the subject instead. Pushing her wouldn’t have done either of us any good, so I did my best to follow her lead.

“Of course, they do. They love you so much.” I take her hand and give it a squeeze. The time I spent with her family is among my happiest memories, including mornings when her mom would trick her brothers with blueberry pancakes, telling them she made chocolate chip. She was always ready with a smile or platitude to make a day brighter. Her dad was often busy with work, but breakfast and dinner with the family were sacred, and he always made me feel like part of his brood.

“It just feels wrong, living this life, as if I should be sadder that they’re gone.” Cat’s voice dips low.


Tags: Nicole Sanchez Fantasy