Royal Chase by Sariah Wilson Page A

of a knight. It must have been a terrible burden to bear.”
    Dante laughed, patting Prince on the side of his neck. “I got in big trouble when I was eight and I stole a set of armor from the great hall. And then it didn’t even fit and I could barely move or see. But my mother read us fairy tales from countries all around the world, and I loved the idea of finishing quests and tasks like the knights-errant.”
    He had that intense look in his eyes again. “A true knight-errant must always finish a series of tasks to prove his chivalry and love.”
    I remembered the party the night before, when he’d accepted my “challenge” and said he wouldn’t drink. “Was that what you meant when you said you accepted my task?”
    “Something like that.” I could hear the disappointment in his voice. A disappointment that I wanted to soothe and make better, but I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. I wouldn’t.
    At some point I really would figure out how to be in control of my feelings and my reactions to him.
    “I can’t believe you liked fairy tales.”
    “You didn’t?”
    “Not so much.” Now I was the one who sounded disappointed. “They’re totally unrealistic. I mean, except for that one time my best friend fell in love with an actual prince and is living a real Cinderella story. But other than that, no.”
    His face looked like he was struggling with something, and then he gave me one of those smiles that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Have you had a chance to speak with any of the other women so far?”
    “I like Genesis. She seems sweet. Sincere. Normal.”
    “She does,” he agreed thoughtfully.
    Jealous, stabby pangs.
    Voices came up over the ridge behind us, and the high-pitched, excited sounds that followed when the girls caught sight of Dante caused a small frenzy among the horses. It was all the handlers could do to calm the animals down.
    I was annoyed that we’d been interrupted.
    “You could probably talk to them easier if you weren’t glowering at everyone.”
    “I am not glowering. I do not glower.”
    “You’re not going to be much of an inside woman if you keep ignoring everybody. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were jealous.”
    He very smartly rode off before I had the chance to smack him with my reins.
    Before the party started, I would see if I could call Kat. And Sterling. And I would remember why I was here and what I needed to accomplish.
    I hoped that getting back in touch with reality would put me in the right headspace.
    But I wouldn’t have bet on it.

    There would be a nightly cocktail party before each elimination, giving everyone another chance to talk to Dante and make an impression. It would also give everyone another opportunity to get embarrassingly drunk and make a fool of themselves on national television.
    Win-win either way for the producers.
    Just like I’d thought, several of the girls were complaining about saddle burn, and some medics were brought in to clean their wounds, leaving the women to walk around bowlegged.
    It would have been really wrong for me to laugh, right?
    But pain didn’t stop anyone from getting ready for the party, which reminded me of my beauty pageant days. There was boob tape, Vaseline, flat irons, makeup, and enough fake eyelashes to outfit a millipede with a whole set of prosthetic legs.
    I had just finished putting on a knee-length, dark blue cocktail dress with matching beads that made me shimmer, and applying my dark red lipstick, when Genesis came back into our room.
    I gasped.
    She had on neon green eye shadow, coral lipstick, and a hot pink shade of blush. Not to mention bronzer that made her face and neck different colors, and mascara tinged with purple that was layered onto false lashes so long and so thick I wasn’t sure how she could see.
    “Who did this to you, sugar?” I really, really hoped she hadn’t done it herself. She looked like a cross between a televangelist’s wife and an unskilled drag