Updated Author's note: From now on I'm including some 'draw the squad' memes I've done for this story at the top of the chapter unless there's not already art or fanart at the top. By the way, if you have any fanart feel free to send it to me through my IG or Tumblr which are linked in my bio and I'll add it to the top of the new chapter. Enjoy the chapter :)

We were woken up early in the morning with a loud knock. Gani was the first one up, quickly making it to the door. Outside our room was a basket with five parcels in it and a letter on the top. Gani scanned it before turning back to us.

"This says these are our clothes." He said in a matter of fact way. "Each morning we will put our dirty garments in the basket and place it outside the door and in the morning they will replace it with a clean pair. It also says that starting today there is a bath hall for the trainees that is accessible between 9PM and 10PM." He lowered the letter before continuing. "Now that we've gotten their long list of...hygiene practices out of the way... we have been instructed to head down to the breakfast hall promptly."
"Haha, well then let's stop talking about this massive list of things to do, get dressed and get us some FOOD," Gerner said as he pushed his way next to Gani. Gerner was definitely more strongly built than the others. He was tall and muscular, his dark hair trimmed short to his head. He had a bit of scruff for a beard and his piercing blue eyes were clear and alert. I assumed that perhaps he had some kind of military background and was used to getting up at this hour. Munny on the other hand...clearly wasn't. I glanced over at the boy who still looked practically half asleep. We got dressed quickly for no one wanted us to be the last group down to the banquet hall.

When we entered the large hall it was completely crowded with hardly any spaces left.
We were the last to get there. Large tables had been brought out and placed where we had been standing only last night. There were large vases containing white magnolias and Lilies at the center of the table and every last bit of table space surrounding them was taken up by food. Fruit over flowed from silver bowls, piles of smoking meat were being grabbed at by many hands, silver spoons scooped soup into dishes, wine was being refilled again and again into held up cups. We were dressed in the same way the others were with the exception of the color. The tunics were of a dark purple with gold sewn into the edges and at the collar. Though each article of clothing was the same the way each man in our group seemed to wear it almost appeared to reflect his personality. Gani's hung from him comfortably while Gerner's was completely untucked, the laces around his collar loosened so you could clearly see the silken white undershirt underneath.
"How did we get here so late?" I heard Gani say quietly.
"Well maybe if the kid hadn't taken five hours to tie up his goddamn-" Gerner began to mutter, Gani stopped him before he could finish.
"What did I say about fighting? If we are going to beat them we have to beat them at everything..." He began to trail off as his gaze drifted across the room. "What's going on over there?" A group of the boys were crowded around something. We subconsciously found ourselves moving over there as well. It turned out the thing everyone was crowded around was a person. A young man sat at the center of the table. His hands were placed in his lap and he was staring blankly ahead as if all the people speaking with him were simply an annoyance. I could only see his for a second before all 6'4 feet of Gerner stepped in front of me.
"Who's that?" I heard Munny whisper to one of the boys in the crowd.
"One of the trainees. His name is Emery. Y'see, there's going to be 50 of us boys and no women for the next four months right? I thought we would all make it at least a month before someone would lose it and do something stupid but nope, it seems one guy in Emery's room tried to make a move on him this morning when they went into the hall. He leaned in for a kiss or something and..."
"And..." I heard Munny whisper back in heated anticipation.
"In one move Emery grabbed this huge guy by the arm and slammed him down onto the ground. Orla (she's that lady that had that long ass speech when we came in) she rushed in and pretty much kicked him out. One day in and we're already down to 49."
"Woah..." Munny whispered. "It's that easy to get kicked out? Why would he do something so stupid?"
"You're probably too short to see him aren't you?" I heard Munny make some sort of pouting sound behind me but he didn't protest. "He's the prettiest boy here! Actually...he's far more pretty than any girl I've ever laid eyes on." The boy he was speaking with continued. "I guess this guy tried to get a head start on taking a polk in the best box here before the 4 month dry spell starts to really sit in. Emery might look like a porcelain doll but I guess he's got the strength of a lion. This either means no one is going to lay a hand on him again or this is going to turn into some competition to be the first to woo him. Either way the guys already insanely popular, he's got a natural air about him y'know?" I found myself trying once more to catch a glimpse of this boy and finally Gerner moved so I could see his face. He was beautiful...breathtakingly so. Yet to me it felt more like I was staring at a fine painting instead of at a person. It didn't really make me feel any kind of physical attraction like-
Gani brushed past me to get a look as well. I could feel his body tense for a second and although I had known Gani for only half a day it was still odd for me to feel the usually laid back boy suddenly on edge. Finally his body seemed to relax a bit.
"He seems uncomfortable..." was all he whispered. I glanced over the boy's features again. The description of 'china doll like' was spot on. He was dressed in green and his collar was laced all the way up hiding most of his throat. The only expression I could pick up on him was annoyance. Brown eyes stared blankly straight ahead. His features weren't friendly or inviting in the least. My thoughts were cut off when those dark brown eyes suddenly met mine. Emery was staring right at me. I swallowed hard, maybe I was imagining it- suddenly he was standing up and the posse of boys that had come to already worship him turned silent. His movements weren't graceful as I would have expected from his looks, they were sharp and almost spider like.
"You, what are you staring at?" His voice came, it was sharp, shrill and demanding. Suddenly everyone was staring at me and at that moment I realized he was talking to me. I tried to wipe the look of surprise off my face. Everyone had been staring at him...why was he picking me out- "Are you stupid? I asked you a question." I desperately tried to gather my thoughts.
"I uh...everyone was..."
"My the beast is articulate," he said with a sneer. This brought a wrought of laughter from the posse of boys and I could feel the heat of anger slowly beginning to swell in my chest.
"I'm not...why are you..."
"Do you know what he reminds me of boys?" He turned with a twisted grin to face the others. "With those features he reminds me of one of those trained dogs. With that red hair I mean...he could pass as a little corgi. Tell me little pup do you do tricks? Will you roll over for his prince at the promise of a treat?" The room erupted into laughter. While this was all going on out of the corner of my eye I caught Emery picking up a small piece of food with two fingers and flinging it at me. Without thinking I caught it from the air before it hit me and as I did I heard the room grow silent. Emery was staring at me, a slight look of shock on his face now...he obviously hadn't thought I would catch it. God, I was done with this. I just wanted to get out of here. As I went to turn I noticed another object being flung at my head and I was luckily able to turn around quickly enough to catch it before it struck me. A silver spoon lay in my hand. I looked up to meet Emery's dark gaze, the malice still clear in his eyes.
"You...what's your name?" He said slowly.
"Nicolai."
"Well let me tell you something Nicolai. I don't take a fancy to little dogs that try to make a show." He said this all with an unreadable expression on his face before he turned back to his posse of boys and began talking to them as if none of this had occurred. I was left there, alone and ignore with only the feeling of a cold fuming anger in my gut. How dare he, who the hell did he think he was? I hadn't done anything wrong, I hadn't stepped out of line. Why had he picked me out from the others? I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and I didn't realize how tense I had become until I relaxed a bit at the touch.
"Don't mind him," came a soft voice from behind me. I glanced over to the speaker, it was Gani. "C'mon," he said taking my arm. "Let's find a nice place to sit." We wandered the crowded hall for a moment before he finally found us a seat near the back. He managed to make up a plate to give to me before I could even sit down.
"It was the hair you know." He said quietly after a moment, glancing down at his own plate. "I know people like him. He was probably uncomfortable with all the attention on him and you were the first person he noticed in the crowd because well..." he chuckled. "With your features you stand out. He most likely just wanted people to stop being so focused on him. It's not easy looking like that in a training area with 50 other boys-"
"49." I corrected him. "It's 49 men since he had a boy already kicked out."
Gani sighed heavily. "I'm not saying how he treated you wasn't terrible. What I mean is...sometimes people get nervous when they're not used to being the center of attention or they...have something bad going on in their own lives which causes them to need to push people down to feel better about themselves. I just..." He shook his head gently. "I'm sorry. Perhaps I'm wrong to try and defend him. I just believe...this competition is to try and turn us against each other. People should become Kingsmen due to their hard work and actual ability to protect the Prince, not because the others were kicked out due to a petty fight." I swallowed my pride and met his gaze.
"Alright, I'll try my best to get along with him, I promise." Gani nodded and grinned at me.
"Thanks Nicky, God I'm so lucky to have such a nice person roomed with me." I could feel my stomach sink. I didn't deserve to be looked at by him like that. I felt like a fox staring at a deer...a pure sweet innocent deer who simply wanted to do what was best for his Prince. And there I was, the fox, the predator, here to snatch that one thing he truly cared about protecting away.

After Breakfast our first day of training officially began. We were sorted into groups containing of our color team and a team of another color. The Purples were paired with the Blues. We were informed continuously that today was to just get us used to the schedule, that today wasn't going to be nearly as rigorous or as long as the following weeks and was more of an evaluation day. Still the training took out almost everything from us. To gage our natural abilities we practiced hand to hand combat for hours against the other team. They were good but I was still able to beat most of them. My fighting style was different than theirs. I had been trained as an assassin, not as a knight, they couldn't predict my attacks. After that we practiced etiquette for about two hours with Orla, here was where most of the boys fell short. I managed to do alright through our first few tests. She would ask us questions, speak to us, and we would have to respond correctly. Gerner was noble born and Gani had worked at the palace for years so they made it past the test fairly easily. Munny and Khalil on the other hand...they could hardly get through a sentence before Orla would give them a harsh whack to the knuckles with her fan. We had a short break for lunch before training resumed. We had to run obstacle courses, ride horses, practice both performance and defensensive sword fighting. All the while Orla and a small group of what I assumed must be Lords at the palace would weave in and out of the training watching on as they scribbled notes on each boy's performance. Finally we retired for dinner. Everyone appeared so hungry and tired that hardly anyone talked through the entire meal. Our group sat down at a table and within moments we were all stuffing our faces with food.
"God I'm famished." Munny mumbled between mouthfuls of chicken. "If this was just the evaluation day can you imagine what tomorrow is going to be like?"
"Shit...I don't want to." Gerner said grabbing for a loaf of bread. Khalil sat silently at the end of the table, the boy had even been more quiet than usual ever since the etiquette training earlier today. Gerner scootched over to Munny to whisper just loud enough for us all to hear, "God, what's wrong with him?" Munny shrugged grabbing for another piece of chicken.
"He's probably upset he got yelled at by Madame Orla for most of training. No one wants to get sent home just because you can't learn any goddamn manners." He snickered and Gerner gave him a little pat on the back.
"Ha! You're not one to talk. She didn't quite take a liking to you either."
"Yeah but at least I don't talk like a fucking slum rat..." I could hear his voice fade when Gani gave him a warning glance from across the table. When Munny had clearly stopped I saw Gani move closer to Khalil and whisper something to the dark haired boy. I noticed Khalil say something back and Gani present him with a kindly smile. I caught a few wisps of their quiet conversation. He was telling him something along the lines of 'don't worry about the way you talk right now' reassuring him and telling him that he had grown up in the slums too and could teach him how to speak properly if he wanted to. I stopped trying to listen after a few moments...it just felt rude to do so. Munny changed the conversation topic.
"Remember Emery? Well I heard from the people on his team and the group with them that he beat everyone at every fighting portion. One of the guys said he had never seen that kind of skill in a swordsmen before."
"No way? Really"
I looked back to my food. I really didn't want to hear about bitch faced Emery while I ate.

Once dinner had been cleared away the boys were given the opportunity to visit the baths. Naturally almost everyone went after being drenched in sweat from a long day training. Though the baths were crowded luckily the room accommodated us all. The baths were located in a large building and the floor along with the large tubs were carved from marble. There were multiple baths each containing different temperatures and kinds water. There was a lilac bath, a rose bath a sea salt bath. Different kinds of lotions and faucets lined the walls and soon the room was a frenzy with boys everywhere. I got undressed and made my way to the closest tub with my other team members. As I slowly slipped in I felt the warm water slip over my aching muscles and a small sigh escaped me. Gani spoke suddenly.
"Have any of you seen Munny?" Gerner shrugged in response.
"I haven't seen him since dinner. I hope he's not one of those people who never bathe. That's freaking disgusting."
"Well," I said with a shrug. "At least maybe he would smell so bad Orla wouldn't be able to criticize his shit manners." That earned me a snort from Gerner. I found myself glancing over to Gani who had gone silent. He had leaned his head back and his eyes were shut. He had turned slightly and I could make out a scatter of freckles on his back tracing their way up his shoulders, faint against his olive skin. His hair had become damp from the steam and a few strands had fallen into his face. For some reason the site made my heart pound and I found myself instinctively reaching out to gently brush them away. Suddenly his eyes opened and I was met with that warm hazel gaze of his.
"Oh...I'm sorry." He said softly. "I almost drifted off for a moment there..." he laughed kindly. "My goodness, this has been quite the day hasn't it?"

We were one of that last groups to leave, getting out only as the others had begun filling out. We dried ourselves and got dressed before beginning to head back to our rooms. Half way down the hallway I stopped.
"Damnit."
Gani glanced back on me, a confused expression on his face. "Is everything alright." I nodded giving him a little shrug.
"Yeah, I just realized I left my belt back at the baths. I'll just run back and get it. They're probably empty anyway." Gani nodded in response to this.
"Alrighty, I'll leave the door open for you."

I hurried quickly down the hall and soon I was entering back into the room. It was quiet and slightly cold in there now that the boys had left and the constant flow of hot water was turned off. The lights were dim and for some reason it gave me an uneasy feeling. I scanned around the baths quickly looking for my belt. I didn't find it...but I was met with something far worse.
"Well, well well," a cold voice cooed from behind me echoing in the empty chamber. "Why little doggy, what are you doing here so late? Wandering around here at night is nothing a little pup should be doing, he could get in trouble." I slowly turned around to see Emery standing there, dark eyes staring right at me. My body tensed but I managed to hold his gaze letting out a deep breath. I couldn't take his bait. He wanted me to fight with him, I couldn't do what he wanted. Something hit me just then...maybe this was his strategy. He baited people until they lost it and then got them kicked out. I swallowed hard.
"You're here late too. Don't you think what you're saying is a little hypocritical?" He hadn't been expecting me to be so calm and it threw him off, I could sense it. I found myself growing a little bolder. "Tell me, Emery? Why do you hate me so much? I haven't done anything to you. Why do you insist on trying to terrorize me? Is it because you're insecure? Is it because you need to push people down to make you feel better about yourself? " I could find myself starting to lose control and the words just started tumbling out as Gani's calm voice in my head slowly faded. "Well listen, I'm not going to put up with the bullshit of some little shit that thinks he can tear me down just because he's insecure about his little prick. Or maybe this is what you want? You want me to fight with you so you can get me kicked out too. " Emery was just staring at me now, his face unreadable.
"I don't hate you because I have insecurity issues. I hate you because I know you cheated during the tournaments."
I felt my stomach drop. How did he know? He wasn't speaking just staring at me from those dark murky brown eyes. I saw his mouth open to say something and suddenly my instincts kicked in. Blame it on years of training as an assassin, the sudden fear of losing everything I had worked so hard for, I don't know what it was, but in that one second I lost all control and slammed my fist into his face. I saw him stumble back and finally look up at me, his expression now filled with disbelief as the blood dripped from his nose. The realization hit me like a rock...I had just delivered the final nail into my coffin. Emery was going to tell on me...I was going to get kicked out. If not kicked out...oh god what if he knew why I was here? What if he knew I was here to kill the prince? I would be executed for treason. I just stared into those dark eyes, and tried not to focus on the blood dripping down his porcelain skin.