Author's note: Hey guys! Look at this lovely fan art of Nicky and Emery done by @Smollri on IG. As always if you want to make/send fan art feel free to send it to me through here, my tumblr or Ig (all linked in my profile) and they'll be featured at the top of the next chapter.  Thanks so much for reading, as always comments are GREATLY appreciated! Speaking of comments, tell me your favorite character in the comment section ;) I need to see who people want to have larger story arcs for. 

Last thing: In other news, this story is finally getting an actual posting schedule. From now Saturdays are HSHS days! Get LIT! 

The incident wasn't spoken of until the next day. Orla had stood before us and although there was no visible emotion in her expression the repressed anger seeped from her voice as she addressed us.

"Trainee number 49, Samuel Wallis was attacked yesterday," she said slowly. "He will recover but to do so he will be missing a valuable amount of training which means he will unfortunately be dropping out of the competition. I can assure you whoever was responsible for this heinous act will be discovered and when they are they will be properly punished and thrown out." I glanced over to where Emery stood. He was watching Orla just like everyone else, his expression emotionless, bored even. Why the hell had he done it? I could feel the anger swelling in my chest and I let out a slow breath to try and control it. I heard Orla's voice again. "Moving on," she began to unroll the scroll. "This is the ranking list for the day." Soon there was a crowd around the list. Not much had changed. I had dropped down to number nine, most likely because of Emery's bullshit rating during the Pleasure Training. Emery's name remained at the top of the list but Samuel was no longer second. His name was gone entirely. Instead Munny's name now rested below the curl of the E of Emery's.

"Congratulations number two." I heard Gerner say softly to him from behind me." Orla's voice now cut through the boys chatter.

"I have one more announcement. Something that has never occurred in the history of this tournament before." This brought an automatic silence. "An advisor of the crown will be joining us for a few days to evaluate your progress. It has been decided that one week from today one of you will be selected and sent to meet with the Prince himself for a few days before returning and resuming your normal training once more." This sent an outburst of talking. My mouth hung open in disbelief and I could see Gani's eyes widened in even more shock than mine. What would this mean...a guaranteed spot with the Kingsmen? A chance to meet with Prince Mikhos himself! It was insane, and by God I wanted it desperately just like every other boy surrounding me.

With the promise of this new prize everyone's performance increased more than ever and the week actually passed with surprisingly little conflict. We all performed under the watchful eye of the advisor. For some reason I caught him staring at me more than the others. Perhaps it was because of the bright hair...but maybe...woah, what if maybe I actually had a shot at this? Things were going smoothly until about the day before the announcement. Gani and I had been coming back from the baths when we heard shouting in our room before we entered. The door was unlocked and Gani swung it open to reveal the site of Gerner and Kahlil on the floor punching each other. Gerner was the much larger man and was clearly the one winning but Kahlil was still managing to hold his own somehow.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" I don't think I had ever heard Gani so angry before. He ran into the room throwing himself between the two. They finally separated, both breathing heavily. Gani's voice shook when he talked and I could see the quiet rage burning in his eyes.

"Who started this?"

They both tried to talk at the same time and finally Gerner went silent leaving Kahlil to explain.

"The aristocratic pig insulted me honor," he practically spat.

"Can't insult something that doesn't exist," Gerner retorted with a snort.

"Quite!" The tone of Gani's voice revealed that there would be little room for patience. "Gerner? What did you say to him?" The larger man stepped forward with a small shrug. "Nothing much, just that he might as well give up now. He's at the bottom of the class, his manners are shit, he didn't even make an effort to become friends with us. He's a sorry little slum rat who probably only made it here because he was the best of the pile of vermin he crawled out from."

"Stop it." Gani wasn't even looking at him. I could see the usually calm boy struggling to keep control of himself. "You're both my friends."

"Friends?" Gerner said rolling his eyes. "Gani you've hardly talked to him."

"I don't care. You were roomed with him, I told you all our first night together we needed to put aside all differences and work as a team. This is what they want, they want us to fight amongst ourselves. By fighting you both have weakened this team, you have weakened this bond. We are losing one of the few advantages we have, the fact that we have people to look out for one another." He took in a deep breath. "I will not reprimand you, I don't have the power to do that. All I can say is I'm disappointed in both of you. This...this hurts me greatly." The pain in Gani's voice was enough to visibly sting both boys and they grew silent. "I..." Gani's hands were trembling. "....I am going to get some fresh air."

There was a balcony that connected to our room and that's exactly where Gani stormed out to. I was left alone with Gerner and Kahlil in complete and utter silence and after a moment I decided to go out there to join him. As I stepped out into the warm night air I saw him. He was standing there, gazing up at the stars, a light summer wind ruffling through his brown hair.

"Hey," I said softly, going to stand beside him. "I understand if you wanted to be alone right now. If you do just say the words and I-"

"No," he said. "I....I don't want to be alone. I just..ah..." He leaned his elbows on the balcony railing and buried his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. Did I over react in there? I just..." He sighed heavily. "God, I hate getting emotional about this."

"No. I understand." I leaned up against the balcony.

"I guess the tension is just amped up because of the new pressure of meeting the Prince."

"Yeah."

"Hey Gani, can I ask you something? You worked at the palace. Did you ever meet him?" Gani turned to me now and nodded slowly.

"Yes, I knew him...extremely well. We were childhood friends actually." My eyes widened and he gave a soft chuckle, starting to sound more like himself again. "Yeah, it's insane, I know. He was actually quite sickly as a boy and he didn't have many playmates. I would read to him when he was too sick to get out of bed. I think he was...he was really lonely so I tried to be there for him. Did you know...when he was little they thought he was dying? He wasn't supposed to live past eight. His Grandfather the current King at the time loved him, everyone did even though they had never even seen him. You know, everyone in the Kingdom was searching for a way to save him and one day... well...something bad happened. They found a cure but uh...it changed him. He would get mood swings, do impulsive things, have fits. They saw to it that it wasn't safe for him to have close servants anymore so they sent me away. See, Nicky. I don't think I ever told you all the real reason I came here." Gani took in a deep breathe, "It's to get back to him. All I want to do is to get back to my Prince again. I...." he sighed as he turned out again to gaze at the stars. "I am madly in love with him and I always have been, ever since I was a child. Ever since the day they sent me away all that has mattered to me is being by his side once more." This was...not what I had been expecting. I stared at him a moment trying to not let my own personal emotions be seen by him. Gani...Gani was in love with him. He was in love with the man I was going to kill. My grip tightened on the railing. Gani had turned to me now. His anger from before had faded and a dreamy expression seemed to now rest on his face.

"How about you Nicky? You mentioned a sister. What was your life like before coming here?" My eyes shut for a moment. I wanted to lie, I wanted to make up some kind of backstory or other life but...I couldn't, not with Gani.

"Yeah, I have a sister name Mira. She's uh...my twin. I mean she's a few minutes younger than me so I call her my little sister but...she acts like she's much older."

"You two look alike?"

"Almost identical." It was hard for me to talk about Mira. I almost never did but...with Gani it felt so natural and then the words started coming out and I couldn't stop it. "She left me. I don't know where she went. Two years ago she just...disappeared. I was just left with a note that she had gone to the capital. I've been looking for her the entire time. I just want to find her. We had always wanted to get off the streets and have a better life and...I just never thought she would go off to find it without me. She was all I had and she just left me like it was nothing. I keep thinking she'll come back...that she's looking for me like I'm looking for her but..."

"You're beginning to lose hope?"

"Yes."

We stood there for a moment in a quite understanding silence. The fox and the deer against the backdrop of a banner of a white serpent. I hoped Gani was the one picked to meet the prince tomorrow.

We were filed down into a large chamber room were Orla and the advisor stood. The ranking list for the week was already hanging behind them but today no one rushed forward to see it. Orla cleared her throat.

"Soon one of you will be packing your bags and be staying at the castle with the prince for the following week." The anticipation in the room was at an all time high. You could practically feel everyone waiting in heated anticipation for the announcement. "The selected trainee is..." I shut my eyes. It should be Gani, I wanted it to be Gani. Gani was doing everything in his power just to see the prince again, he deserved this. Yet still...there was some part of me that remembered the advisors eyes on me during training. I knew I shouldn't want it, I shouldn't want to see the man I was going to kill but...I couldn't help it. Then Orla spoke the name.

"Emery."