Author's Note: Big chapter this week, lots of stuff goes down haha. There's going to be quite a lot of stuff happening in the chapter next week as well but in a very different manner ;) Hope you enjoy!

We were lined up, preparing to enter into carriages which had been set up so that there was one for each team coded with the corresponding color.

"Woah..." I heard Munny whisper next to me. "I never realized how many of us have been sent home. But look..." some of the carriages contained only one or two boys. The yellow carriage was absent entirely. We were one of the only teams to still have almost all of it's members. I looked over to the green one, there was only one boy in there. He was small with short mousy hair and large glasses, I had seen him before but his name escaped me.

"Who's that?" I found myself asking. Gani answered almost immediately, he somehow seemed to know everyone.

"His name is Alexander I believe. He's nice, extremely studious and hardworking. I like him." Right...Alexander, his name was usually always one or two spots above or behind mine on the ranking list. I noted that he was the last remaining boy in Emery's room. Emery himself was missing in the carriage. We had been informed he would be meeting us at the ball itself and would be coming straight from the castle directly. I climbed into the carriage sitting myself next to Gani and across from Gerner and Munny who recently had seemed to have become an inseparable duo as of late. In a few moments the carriage jerked to a start.

"Are we there yeeeeet?" Munny whined for about the 15th time in the last hour.

"I swear to God if you ask that again I am going to throw you out of the fucking carriage myself."

At that Munny stuck out his tongue at Gerner making a face.

Gani sighed softly before glancing over to me. "You've been pretty quiet most of the ride? Is everything alright?" I nodded, still staring out the carriage window as we bobbed up and down over the bumpy road.

"Yeah, I grew up in the city and didn't get to go out much. I'm just enjoying the view, I've never been in the country. It's...it's really something." Gani chuckled at that.

"Haha, I was raised in the country so maybe that's why it doesn't have the same effects for me. I absolutely loathed every minute I was forced to be here." I just gave him a small nod, still watching the green hills rising and falling in the distance against the backdrop of the fading light that stained the sky in a gentle pink and yellow sunset. The peaceful tranquility of the moment was soon interrupted by a loud whine from the young boy across from me.

"Hoooow long have we been in here? I think I'm going insane."

"I Think I'M going insane from being stuck in here with you for so long."

"How will I even know when we get there?" Munny mumbled sinking down against the red cushion of his seat.

"You'll know we're there when you see the manor," Gerner said with a snort.

"You won't be able to miss it. It will be the only actual quality building amidst this little village."

"Oh you mean like that one?" Munny asked pointing out the window to a large looming mansion resting at the top of a hill overlooking the town.

"Yes, exactly like that...Oh THAT'S IT!" Gerner boomed.

"Oh thank God!" Both boys practically climbed over each other to look out the window as we approached our destination.

I entered into the crowded ballroom along with the other members of my team. We had been dressed by the manor staff almost immediately upon entering being told that the carriages had come about a half hour behind schedule. Our team was dressed in purple robes made of silk with elegant designs in gold sewn up the collar. Gerner's beard had been trimmed, Munny's hair had been cut and mine had been slicked back. There was one noticeable thing that had grabbed almost everyone's attention upon entering the ballroom. Gerner said it first, a slow whisper as though he was a man seeing water for the first time in days.

"Women."

The ballroom was filled with women in colorful gowns in the rural style, I guessed was native to Shereen, with big skirts and lace on their sleeves. Gerner pushed his way through and soon was entering the crowd approaching a girl. When she noticed him he bowed lowly. I could hear him introducing himself and the girl letting out a little gasp when she had heard he was a Lord. He offered her his hand which she accepted and in a few minutes he had swept her onto the floor. Munny stood beside me, arms crossed.

"I hope he remembers we are getting assessed tonight-"

"Yeah," I said with a grin. "And not ASSessed, am I right?" At that comment I was just met with a little glare by the boy.

"Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted...this is just another challenge not something he can just fuck up. If he sleeps with one of them lord or not they're still going to send him home." I chuckled looking down at him.

"No need to get jealous. He's still your best friend, some girl isn't going to replace you." Munny's eyes widened,

"What I...no...I'm not.." he gave me another little glare. "You suck Nicky." I snickered.

"I know." Munny stormed off to the refreshment table or something and I found myself subconsciously looking around for the blond head I hadn't seen in almost a week. Emery's missing presence had definitely had it's effect on the boys. I hadn't minded it but without Emery his entire posse had found themselves without a leader and due to that had no idea what to do with themselves, the entire balance had been thrown off. I finally caught a glimpse of him now, surrounded by his usual crowd. Ah...it seemed order had been restored. That's good...he was distracted. I needed to enter the first phase of my plan now. I needed to find inevitable proof that Emery had been behind both sabotages and I knew exactly who could help me. I saw the boy from across the ballroom and made my way across to casually stand next to him. He stood in the corner away from the others. Well...this one was certainly socially awkward, quite the contrast to his rooming counterpart.

"Hello there," I said extending a hand. "You're Alexander right?" The boy nodded. His palm felt clammy when our hands met and I did my best to not wipe my hand immediately after. "It's nice to meet you I'm-"

"Nicolai. I uh...I know."

"Oh, hey, yeah I always see your name by mine on the ranking list and stuff. We've never talked before though so I thought maybe we could...like...now?" Okay, I had not planned out my dialogue for this well. The boy nodded.

"Oh yes, of course. I've actually wanted to talk with you for a while too. Emery talks about you all the time-...shit! Sorry! Forget I said anything." He put a hand to his mouth realizing his mistake.

"He...what?"

"Yeah, I uh...I don't think he likes you very much. Actually I think he kinda hates your guts...dangit." His hands flew to his mouth again. "Sorry...I'm saying too much." I wasn't even shocked. Did I want to punch Emery in the face again more than usual...yes. BUT I was a calm and collected adult who was just casually trying to get enough information to sneak in and ransack his room. I couldn't let any of the pissyness show. I forced a laugh.

"Yeah. That's like...a little inside joke we have. Me and him...yeah...we're pretty tight actually. It's funny like...I pretend to hate him....he pretends to hate me...yeah." This was the shittiest cover I had ever done in my life, even worse was the fact that little Alexander actually seemed to be buying it. "So actually, since we're such good friends and all...haha...he was letting me borrow something of his and I was going to give it back some time tonight. I might just slip away during the ball to leave it in his room so I don't disturb you two when you're getting ready to sleep. So uh....like...what room is yours?" Alexander blinked and I was hit with the sudden fear that maybe, just maybe I had actually taken this bullshit too far and he wasn't buying any of it. Then after a moment he nodded.

"We're the 3rd room from the end of the hall. They brought his bags in before mine when he was coming back from the castle." I beamed at him, yes this was perfect.

"Oh, one more thing. Just like...uh out of curiosity. Does he ever leave or walk around at night. Just wondering. I heard a rumor he has a really bad toe fungus he need to air out sometimes." I almost snickered to myself, good job Nicky, investigating and making Emery look bad, two birds with one stone. Alexander shrugged.

"I don't think he had a toe fungus. I've seen his feet before. His feet are perfect like the rest of him." The boy sighed softly. "They're really pretty feet." Okay that was way too much information. "But uh...yeah he does tend to leave at night. I never ask where he goes, no one wants to question him about it but yeah it uh...consistently happens." I knew it. I FUCKING knew it. The pride welled in my chest, I was about to bring Emery down once and for all. Fuck Emery...fuck him right in his pretty little- as I turned around I slammed straight into someone's chest.

"In a hurry to be somewhere?" Shit. It was Emery. He stood there before me as radiant and God like as ever dressed in deep green robes, gold threading snaking it's way up his collar. Alexander opened his mouth so speak.

"Oh! Emery we were just talking about you-"

"EMERY!" I said loudly stepping in front of the shorter boy to shut him up before he could ruin my plan. "How are you? How was the castle? What was the prince like?" Emery just stared at me a moment, one eyebrow arched before finally speaking.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

I cleared my throat to respond but he held out a hand silencing me. "Shut up. I don't actually care. Going on," he turned to Alexander. "The Prince simply adored me, naturally." He waved his hand in some sort of extravagant bullshit gesture. "Honestly, he couldn't get enough of me. He said we could practically be brothers. I mean, I would be lying if I said I didn't see it. We both share the same boyish good looks." Boyish good looks? What the hell was that even supposed to mean?It was taking everything in my power not to openly scoff at him just then and there. Speaking however of...'good looks' the second Emery had come over to join Alexander and I it had become clear to me that people kept looking over here. I spotted multiple clusters of women watching him from behind brightly colored fans whispering and giggling to each other. Great, it looked like he was as popular with the ladies as he was with men.

"Excuse me sir, would you like a drink?" I heard a voice behind me.

"Yeah sure," I said grabbing the wine glass off the tray that was being held out. Thank God, I needed a drink after this. As I went to bring the cup to my lips it was suddenly snatched from my grip. I slowly turned around to face Emery who now held it in one hand, a smug expression on his face.

"What the hell you ass?" I muttered. "That's mine. Give it back."

"What if I said...no. Remember, this is supposed to show off your etiquette skills. I don't think you'll get very far tonight using that kind of language. " He was one to talk. I was just glaring at him now, doing everything in my power to keep myself from losing it. Only a couple more hours and I could completely ruin him.

"That's my drink. There's no reason to take it. Just give me the goddamn wine glass. You can get your own." He stood there for a moment and slowly moved forward. Woah...was he actually going to give it back? That's when he brought the cup to his own lips and downed the entire thing.

"EMERY WHAT THE HELL?" This earned me a few concerned looks from the girls around us. Emery just smirked at me.

"I do what I want."

"Um....excuse me." A voice suddenly said. We both looked to face a blonde young woman. "I was wondering sir...would you like to uh...dance?" She was staring Emery. In one quick extravagant movement Emery took her gloved hand up in his and kissed it gently.

"I would love to miss but I actually have some friends I left behind who are probably looking for me. Thank you for the offer." And with that he had disappeared back into the crowd leaving the girl a flustered blushing mess.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I managed to actually dance a little, just enough to make sure I passed Orla so she could note I was participating and my ranking wouldn't drop further. Finally I started making my way towards the exit of the ballroom hiding behind a group of girls that were heading in that direction as well. I could pick up a little of their conversation, they were talking about the prince.

"I heard news from the palace that the prince is still heartbroken over the death of his mistress!"

"How would you know what happens in the palace Fran? You've never been there in your life!"

"Why everyone knows! He hasn't left his room in weeks. They say he was madly in love with her you know. It's really romantic."

"Sad she died so young. They said she was very beautiful wasn't she?"

"The prince is more beautiful."

"She deserved it if you ask me."

"Fran!"

"What? I mean c'mon. I wouldn't be surprised if the king was the one that had her murdered himself, it was starting to look like Mikhos would have risked even his reputation to marry her."

"I think you're just jealous Fran!"

"Shut up." They had come to a stop in front of the great doors that led out and as they gathered together to continue gossiping I managed to slip through. I had to go up two flights of steps to arrive to the halls where we were currently being held. Alright, it was time to find Emery's room. I could still hear the music and distant chatter from the ballroom faintly as I began to make my way down the empty hall. That's when I saw it. There was a collapsed figure at the end of the hallway. They were on the floor and I had no idea if they were unconscious or not. I ran as fast as I could falling to my knees beside them.

"Hey are you okay, do you need help..." my stomach dropped when I saw who it was. Emery was staring back up at me from the floor through half closed eyes. "Shit Emery..." I whispered, I couldn't even keep the shock out of my voice. "What happened-" I was met with a hand shoving my face away.

"For Godsake Nicky would you shut up for once in your life," Emery mumbled weakly. His voice was hoarse but he still was somehow able to convey the same level of malice through it. "That wine..." he was struggling to talk.

"The one you stole from me? That's what you're talking about-"

"Yes you dumbass." His eyes didn't look normal, they were glazed and unfocused and I could tell it was taking everything he had to just hold this conversation. "Someone put something in it....or in the cup or...hell I don't know...shit...if it was poison. I...damnit... I'm way too pretty to die."

The drink...someone had put something in it meant for me...and Emery had drank it.