A New Competition

I went to bed with a smile on my face. Thanks to the champagne and the long, long day, I slept better than I had in months.

It really felt like a new beginning. A new start. I woke up with plans on how to accommodate the new Magi and what I could do to help them settle back into their lives. The first job would be to round up my advisors and make a plan. I pulled on some trousers and a sweater and fixed my hair into a plain ponytail. Today was not a day to be a pretty princess, it was a day to be a ruthless queen!

In the breakfast room, the table had been set out for the five of us as usual. Mother, Elise, Leo, Luca, and I.

In the middle were the day’s newspapers waiting for me to read them as I always did. I was surprised to find myself alone until I saw the time on the ornate carriage clock on the mantelpiece. It was 6.00am. I’d slept so well, I’d woken up way earlier than usual. No wonder no one else was down yet. I seated myself in the usual place and poured myself a glass of juice that had been left out in a crystal jug. After taking a sip, I picked up the first paper.

I never made it to my second sip of juice. I couldn’t. I was too busy trying to comprehend what I was seeing on the front page. I picked up the next paper. It said the same as did all of them.

I read through, hoping I’d somehow mistaken the headline but no. I’d read it correctly. The people on the news report had said as much the night before, but it had not really registered. I’d just been so happy to have the Magi coming back.

Someone came into the room and kissed my cheek from behind, by bending over my shoulder.

“Luca, have you seen this?”

I didn’t ask him why he was up so early. In light of the news, it didn’t matter. Luca took the paper from my hands and sat next to me. I watched his face, fearful as to what he might think as he read the article through, but his expression didn’t change.

“The people think you are choosing again. They want another chance for you to pick your husband.”

“I know,” I replied, “I read it.”

The gist of the articles was that the Magi had come back with the understanding I would be marrying Cynder. As yesterday’s newspapers had reported I was embroiled in a torrid love affair with him, it was an easy assumption for them to make. The Magi expected me to marry Cynder, the non-Magi expected me to carry on with my wedding plans and marry Luca, and the media wanted me to choose again. They wanted to put me in the same position I was in last year where I spent the summer being filmed eliminating the men one by one.

“The papers are doing this to sell more copies,” I said. “I’m not choosing Cynder. I meant what I said last night.”

Luca shook his head thoughtfully. “The Magi will leave if you don’t.”

“They can’t leave. Why does it matter to them who I marry? I’ve stated time and time again that I’m on their side.”

“But it obviously does matter. Perhaps they think that if they had a Magi prince, things would be better for them.”

“Are you suggesting we break off our engagement and I marry Cynder?”

“What’s happening? Why would you even say that?” I turned to find Jenny bustling in, a look of shock on her face as she caught my last words.

“Why are you up so early?” I asked wearily, not wanting to have to repeat the situation to her.

“I’m always up at this time to make sure everything is ready for your breakfast. What’s going on?”

I handed her one of the papers and rubbed my temples.

“I’m not suggesting you marry Cynder, of course not,” said Luca “I believed you when you spoke to me last night. I trust you.”

“So what then?”

“Just because you aren’t going to marry him doesn’t mean they have to know that. Why not do as the media asks and hold another competition? Him versus me. It will be great publicity for the cause, and while everyone is fixated on who you will marry, we can be working on getting the kingdom in a fit state for the Magi. It would be a great opportunity for us to work on bringing the people together.”

“Or kill each other!” I replied incredulously.

“Think of a football match,” continued Luca. “Both sides jeer at each other, but the game is the common cause. While they might not want the other side to win, anything is better than the match being canceled.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“It makes sense.”

“No, it doesn’t. It makes no sense at all. Why would Cynder even want to come back here? He has a job at your parents’ palace. You promised me that you’ll call the king and queen and get them to let him keep his job.”

“Sure, and I will, but think about it. He’s going to be hounded by the press over there. My parents aren’t equipped to deal with that level of scrutiny. It would mean hiring more guards to watch over him. None of them would get a moment’s peace, let alone Cynder. If he came back here, you could make him head chef if you liked. You’ve said yourself he’s a great cook and the one you hired to replace the guy who got sent to prison is mediocre at best. We can keep an eye on him here. There are plenty of rooms for him along the servant’s wing.”

I just stared at him with an open mouth. How could he suggest such a thing? It had nearly killed me giving up Cynder, and I’d had to do it on more occasions than I’d like to remember. Now, I was being asked to live alongside him and pretend to not know who to choose, him or Luca. It made sense to someone who didn’t know that in reality, it wouldn’t be pretense at all.

“What happened to yesterday when you said you wanted him to keep away?”

“I do, obviously, but I thought about it last night and realized I have to trust you. You are going to be my wife very soon, and there will be men who find you attractive. I can’t send them all to work in my parents’ kitchen.”

My mother, Elise, and Leo chose that moment to walk into the room. Why was everyone up so early? I glanced at the clock and saw that it was now half past six. Perhaps it wasn’t so early after all. I wanted to go back to bed. The enthusiasm I’d woken up with had been torn from me, leaving me exhausted.

A couple of servants bustled in with dishes of hot food while Luca passed them the papers and let them digest the content.

I picked at a piece of bacon, remembering back to when Cynder had brought me a bacon sandwich to my bedroom last year. It had seemed so simple then. How had everything gotten so complicated?

Over breakfast, my family argued over whether to back down to the media or to fight them. I sat silently listening to their points of view while eating the little food I could get into my churning stomach. Even Jenny had pulled up a seat and was joining in the debate while tucking into great piles of eggs and bacon.

I wanted to get away and speak to someone, but who? Elise and Leo knew about my feelings for Cynder, but they were both being strangely tight-lipped about the whole thing, while Luca, my mother, and Jenny were anything but.

“I’m going out for a bit,” I said, but no one noticed. They were too busy debating what to do next.

I left the room, wondering where to go from here. Calling my advisors had seemed like such a good idea this morning, but now I couldn’t bear the thought of it. I decided I’d speak to Daniel. Now that everything was out in the open with him, he was the best person to talk to. The fact he was a Mage and knew Cynder was a bonus.

I could have gone out of the palace grounds to see him in his home, but I knew that if I showed my face outside for even a second, the paparazzi would be on me like flies. Instead, I sent one of the guards to deliver a message asking him to come.

Half an hour later he met me in a downstairs sitting room. It was a room I rarely ventured into which meant that I was confident that we’d be left alone.

“What is it?” he panted as he walked through the door. He had sawdust all over him that sweat from his brow made little rivers through. “I ran. Is everything ok?”

“Not really,” I said, handing him the nearest piece of cloth which happened to be an old-fashioned sofa protector. He ran it over his brow and came to sit beside me. I could smell the wood shavings on him. “Sorry if I pulled you away from work.”

“It’s no problem. My father can handle it by himself for a few hours.”

“Why do you not use magic?” I asked. I’d never even seen him with a wand. “In your work I mean, or do you?”

“I don’t use magic because I’m not supposed to be a Mage, remember. No one in Silverwood knows except you and Dean.”

“So you told him then?”

“I did. He didn’t care at all. I was so scared to tell him, but when I saw how brave you’ve been, I thought I could try to be as brave. I’m so glad you talked me into it.”

I smiled wistfully, glad that things had turned out well for him.

“As for why I don’t use a wand at work, it’s because I love the feel of the wood between my hands. I like making something out of nothing. I wouldn’t get the same satisfaction from waving a wand and magicking something up. Is that what you wanted to see me about?”

“No,” I sighed. “Have you seen the papers today?”

“No, I’ve been too busy. Why, what’s happened?”

I told him about everything the papers said and about how Luca seemed to think it was a good idea to bring Cynder back. He listened carefully without interrupting right up to the point where I told him that my whole family was now debating it upstairs.

“Maybe this is just the thing you need. It’s quite brilliant really. You’ve been asking people to listen to you for the past six months, and no one cared. Now you’ve got your chance to shine.”

“But it’s so unfair to Luca...and Cynder.”

“Not really. So you all pretend for a while. Luca can be the big brave guy whose fiancée can’t decide who she wants. Cynder can be the hero underdog. By the time the wedding rolls around, and you marry Luca, you’ll have all the Magi in jobs and schools. Cynder will be able to go back to Thalia a hero and everybody’s happy.”

I gazed at Daniel, trying to keep the tears in. Always perceptive, he noticed right away.

“Everybody isn’t happy, are they?” He paused for a moment before the realization hit him. “You know, last year, I could see that you were in love with someone else. Even when you proposed to me, I knew that you didn’t really want me. I could see the light shining in your eyes, and it wasn’t for me. When you announced you were marrying Luca, I thought it might have been him, but I was wrong, wasn’t I?”

I nodded slowly.

“Does Cynder know you are in love with him...please tell me the stories of you two having an affair aren’t true?”

“No. Nothing happened between us on the journey back from Thalia. I told him I was marrying Luca, and he respected that.”

“But you wanted something to happen. Oh, honey.”

He took me in his arms as I wept into his shoulder.

“You know you don’t have to do it, right? You can go out there and make a statement about how you are marrying Luca, and that’s the end of it. Cynder can stay in Thalia, and you’ll never have to see him again if you don’t want to. You’ll get over him eventually. You do want to marry Luca, right?”

“Of course, I do. I had a little crush on Cynder, that’s all.” I lied. Daniel saw through me straight away.

“I know when something’s more than a little crush. Do you want me to tell your family that it’s a bad idea?”

“How can I do that? They’ll wonder why I think it’s a bad idea. They’ll figure it out, just like you did.”

“They won’t. You are a good actress. You’ve had me fooled for quite a while. I never guessed that you were in love with Cynder.”

“But what about the Magi? They are counting on me. If I go out and say it’s not happening, they’ll all leave.”

“Not all of them will. You’ve made it illegal to show any prejudice against them. Go on TV and carry on promoting their rights. Keep on doing what you’ve been doing. People will come around eventually.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so. If anyone can do it, you can. I have every faith in you. Besides, I think you need to do this for your own sanity. I was in love with Dean for a long time before I felt brave enough to tell him. It nearly killed me.” He grabbed the other sofa protector and handed it to me. I gave him a small smile and wiped my eyes before hugging him again.

“Hey, get your hands off my fiancé,” said Luca playfully as he bounded through the door. “It’s a good thing I know you have a boyfriend, or I’d be worried.”

I pulled back from Daniel and blinked a couple of times. I didn’t want Luca to know I’d been crying.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said, turning back to me. “I’ve called my father and told him to send Cynder back straight away. Apparently, he’d managed to get back already. I guess that’s the power of magic.”

“Magi can’t teleport,” I said, remembering what Cynder had told me the year before.

“The power of trains!” said Daniel.

“Yes, well, anyway. He’s on his way back,” replied Luca. “Father said he seemed eager to come and help us out. Jenny’s calling the news stations as we speak, setting up a big announcement.”

I stared at him open-mouthed.

“I haven’t agreed to any of this. Why did you do that without asking me? I don’t want to go through the same charade as last year. I’m done.” I could feel my voice rising. How could he go behind my back? “I thought I’d put my view about the matter across this morning.”

“I know you said you didn’t want to, but I thought you were just a bit nervous. I know you hate having to wear all those dresses and give those interviews, but you’ll be fine. I’ve already asked Xavi to come up with a nice outfit for you to wear this afternoon.”

“This afternoon?” I repeated.

“Yes. When we tell the world that you are once again going to have to pick a prince. Well, in this case between a prince and a kitchen hand, but you know what I mean.”

I didn’t know what to say. There were no words. Once again, I’d become trapped in a situation I had no control over. I barged past Luca without saying another word and ran straight to my room, locking the door behind me.