Too soon, the night has come.

I rolled over in my way too big to be in alone bed, and I stared over at his side wishing that he was here with me. I could use a little boost of Calvin for some added confidence before going into this, but I know he has been busy all day making the arrangements to take down the rebels.

After my less than exciting talk with Lexton yesterday, I was even more apprehensive about the competition starting. I worried that she would out us, and let the news of Rose go to everyone and refuse to participate in the whole charade. I feared being stuck here forever or being killed by the council and Rose being forced to grow up here, but I was glad a note had arrived from Calvin just before I went to sleep telling me that he had spoken to her and that she had agreed not to blow our secret, but that she wants to be a part of anything else that will involve her from here on out.

The knock on the door meant that my peaceful moment was over.

"Hello." Patrick said, sticking his head in the door.

"Come on in." I called, sitting up in the bed and stretching my arms over my head.

Patrick nodded to me and brought my tray of food over to me in the bed and placed it on my legs. I smelled the sharp cheddar cheese on the omelet before I had even uncovered it. "This looks fantastic, Patrick." I praised him.

He lingered by the bed and looked a little uncomfortable. "Have you had a chance to..."

"Oh, Patrick." I sighed. "I totally forgot, but I am supposed to see Calvin later tonight and I promise I will see what I can do about getting you a call to Pedro." I promised. "Plus, there is good news."

He raised his brows. "Oh, really?" He asked happily.

I grinned over at him. "Calvin thinks he's found the rebels in Britain and they're going to be moving in on them within the next couple of days, so if they are successful, it would be safe to talk to talk to Rose and Pedro any time we wanted to." I explained.

"That's fantastic news." He sighed with a smile, bringing his hand up to his chest. "Where did they find them? Are they sure it's the right people?"

I shrugged. "I didn't get a whole lot of the details, but he said that they were pretty certain." I told him. "They'd gotten a lot of tips that make them believe it's the right guys."

"I pray it is."

I jumped a little when the door swung open and Octavia came sauntering in, a crew of other girls coming in with her. "Good evening!" She cheered.

I laughed at her enthusiasm as she hung up my dress bag and directed the other girls on where to place my things that they'd need to get me ready. "You're way too happy for this." I pointed out and she shrugged, continuing to grin.

"Hello, Patrick." She smiled to him.

He returned the gesture and nodded once to me before walking over to her. "How are you, Octavia?" He asked her. "I haven't been able to see you much lately."

She made a pouty face, sticking her bottom lip out. "I know." She sighed. "We will need to schedule a wine night soon." She told him.

"That sounds great." He told her, then brought his hand up to his chin. "Octavia, remind me where your family is from? I want to order some more of those wonderful spices you brought me last year."

"Oh, I'm so glad you still think of those." She grinned. "It's a tiny island off of the coast of Mexico." She said. "I'll come by later and I can give you my Papa's information."

"I look forward to it." He told her, then looked back to me. "You should join us for a wine night soon, Rachel. They are quite fun."

The thought of wine made me happy, so I nodded. I needed to be making friends and plans so that it would keep me from fretting over Rose or Calvin and Lexton. "I'd love that." I told him and he waved once before leaving.

Octavia skipped across the room and plopped down on the bed beside me, reaching over to take my fork and stealing a bite of my omelet. "Woah, that's good." She laughed with her mouth full. "Patrick is a great cook." She said shaking her head then handed my fork back. "You definitely should come hang out with us if you want to."

"I do." I assured her. "Particularly on a night that Calvin is with Lexton."

"Good point." She nodded, then went over to arrange the things on my vanity. "I can't believe she built up the nerve to actually say something to you." She said with her back to me.

I finished eating and let one of the girls take my tray. "Yeah, she used to be pretty quiet." I agreed. "It really wasn't so bad though."

I caught Octavia watching me in the mirror as I got out of the bed and walked over towards her. "Ladies, can you give us a minute?" She said to the girls around the room and they all exited out into the hall. "How are you dealing with everything?" She asked carefully, turning back to me. "Calvin says you're being very strong, but I wonder how much of that is for him and how much is you really being ok with everything."

I sat in the chair and she looked down at me. "There you go being perceptive again." I pointed out, but then I did have to slump forward a little as I sighed. "Don't tell him, but the very thought of him being married to her tears me up inside." I admitted. "She mentioned something about sharing his life and his bed and...Ugh." I groaned. "I don't know. It freaking sucks, but it has to be done."

She ran the brush through my hair and nodded while I spoke, listening quietly. "I understand." She told me when I stopped. "You know as well as Lexton does though that he will never succumb to her. She has tried, trust me, and nothing has ever worked on him. He is only yours, no matter what the people here may think. It's only a title, not like what the two of you have with each other."

"I know your right, it just sucks." I repeated.

"I heard about the mission." She said. "We will just be excited about the good things we've got to be thankful for, and the negatives we will leave by the wayside."

"You remind me so much of Pedro." I told her and it made her laugh. "I mean it, he is much more pushy and sassy, but you do."

"I will take it as a compliment since I know the two of you were very close."

"Yes, it was one." I told her. "I miss him." I sighed. "He was the one who used to come get me mentally prepped for these things. I miss his blue suits." I frowned.

She threw her head back and giggled. "My god, that man lives in those damn things." She laughed, holding her stomach. Her laugh was infectious, but when she stopped, there was a little something in her eyes. I turned my head and looked up at her and really looked at her pretty face and noticed the slight puffiness underneath her eyes that she had nearly expertly covered.

"Have you been crying?" I asked and she turned her face from mine.

"No, of course not." She said softly. "I have...allergies."

I gave her a look and tilted my head to one side. "A vampire with allergies?" I called her bad bluff. "You can talk to me."

"I don't think it would be a good idea." She whispered.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her around to the front of my chair. She looked down to my expectant expression and she sighed, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned against the vanity. "Come on, Octavia." I said gently. "We're friends, if something is bothering you, you can tell me the truth."

"The fact that we are friends is why I have been crying." She said quickly.

I was confused for only a second before I remembered seeing her and Logan at the ball together the other night. With everything going on in the room, Logan had his eyes glued to her face, never straying. "Logan?" I asked and she nodded. "Look, I know it is weird...but, like, I don't expect him to never move on." I told her awkwardly. "He's a great guy and he deserves to be happy."

She pursed her pink lips and looked down at the ground. "I feel like it is wrong." She said. "I told you I didn't want to take your love, I wanted one of my own."

"You're not taking him though." I told her. "He and I are never going to be together again, and I honestly do want him to find someone."

"Even if that is true-."

"It is."

She sighed and straightened up. "Ok, well, even with knowing you're ok with it, I am afraid to be his rebound or something." She admitted. "He loves you, and I know that he knows you want Calvin, but he does still care. I mean it isn't like he could just turn it off the next day after you broke up. He does seem to genuinely like me, but I don't know. I don't want to be like Lexton. Pining for a guy who will only ever love you."

Her admission was a little more than I had expected and I couldn't deny the slight sting to my chest. It seems lately that I am the center of everyone's problems. Like I am the reason everyone else is unhappy. I know Logan though, and he isn't the type of guy to use someone. "Octavia, I know it is scary to give your heart to someone, but I promise you, Logan is a good one to give it to." I told her. "He would never get involved with you unless he knew he was ready and that he actually cared. He is one of the last truly good men left out there. He would never hurt you intentionally, and I honestly think he is capable to move on from me. He told me himself that he never felt like I had even given him all of myself, like I had always been holding back." I explained. "Don't hold back from him. If you care about him, tell him, and trust him."

Her eyes were full of tears, but she fanned her eyes to keep them from falling over and messing up her eyeliner. She choked it back and leaned down to hug me. "Thank you." She whispered into my hair.

"Of course." I sighed.

She stood back up, straightening her back and putting her smile back in place with a quick sniffle. "I think we have a competition to get you ready for." She reminded me and it was my turn to feel like crying.

She went out into the hall to fetch the girls and they swarmed back in, taking on the task of getting me camera ready.

After an hour of primping, it was finally time to get into my dress.

Octavia was giving me a sneaky smile as she went over to get the dress bag and brought it over to me. "Funny that you mentioned dear Pedro, because I found this in his room." She explained. "Apparently he had had it made for you before you left, but you never got the chance to wear it."

"Oh lord." I laughed as I waited for her to unzip the bag.

She lowered the zipper dramatically and revealed the cream colored off the shoulder ball gown with a full tulle skirt that was crisscrossed with tiny green jewels that made it look like small vines were running down the dress. "Pedro mentioned how much you loved the garden, so I am thinking that was his inspiration with this one." Octavia smiled at me.

Even with all of the little beads the dress felt light as a feather on my skin. It swayed back and forth with all of my movements, and it was beautiful. I'd expect no less from Pedro.

I checked the mirror once before rushing down to the ball room. They had pulled my straightened hair up on top of my head and twirled it into a bun with a green ribbon wrapped loosely around it, the extra ribbon hanging down my bare back.

My nerves built inside of me as I waited outside of the big ballroom doors. Octavia told me that Calvin was already inside, and the Lexton and I would be going in together. The fact that she was running late was not making me very excited. I worried that she may have changed her mind, but I finally heard the clicking of her shoes as she came around the corner.

She had on a long sleeved blood red silk gown and her hair was down and curled loosely.

"Ready?" The guards asked and I nodded to them.

Before they opened the doors, I looked back to Lexton. "Thank you, Lexton." I whispered. "I know you don't have to be doing this for us."

She looked down into my eyes evenly. "Actually I do have to, or I'll be killed." She said flatly. "Regardless though, I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for him. Like you said, I care and I don't want him to be hurt." She told me quickly. "But you should know," She said as the doors began to open. "I have every intention of using my position as queen to finally have Calvin. He can't deny me forever. Which is what we will have together. Forever once I'm turned. He won't be able to push me away when I'm queen."

The doors were open and my jaw was practically on the floor.

I was supposed to be walking out first, but Lexton cut her shoulder over on me and walked out to the cheering crowd. I heard my name a lot more than hers, but there were definitely some in the crowd who were supporting her. She played the game like I'd never seen before. She had clearly learned some things in her time here. She smiled warmly to everyone as she descended the stairs, waving cordially.

I followed behind her in an almost daze, the chill from her words still cooling me to the bone. I tried my best to wave too as I walked, but I was so nervous of everything now that I was more concerned with losing my footing in my shoes because of my wobbly knees and falling down the stairs than I was with being a good contestant.

The room was set up for us. The stairs leading down to the long aisle that went between the two side of the room that were filled with people. More people than there were chairs. The room was hot, overflowing with people everywhere I turned. I tried to make my way up the path that would end up on the small stage set up in the back of the room, but a man stepped out into my path.

"So sorry, Majesty." He said, but something about the look on his face...He was shorter, with sandy hair and a pretty ordinary face. He looked at me so strangely as he stepped back into the line of people, then he looked down at his jacket were there was a red rose pinned to his suit. "Everything ok?" He asked, pulling together his brows and it accrued to me that I haven't moved. I've just been standing here staring at this man.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, then quickly picked up my pace, noticing Lexton already on stage sitting in the throne on Calvin's right side. The spot I was supposed to sit in as the current queen.

I hurried on stage, taking a seat on his left and avoiding eye contact with anyone else. The man from the crowd had given me the creeps for no reason at all, but it made me nervous to look around too much, afraid I might see him again.

Marco was in Pedro's spot behind the podium and he cleared his throat into the mic before starting his intro, not nearly as appealingly as Pedro could do it.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" He called out. "Welcome back to Castrum de Petra as we get ready to commence the competition between these two beautiful ladies. Let's hear it for them." He paused for the claps and hollering. "One of these girls will be the new, or still be, the queen in just three short weeks. We have much to get to tonight, but first, let's reacquaint ourselves with these two." He said happily and two screens dropped down behind us and one came up from the stage so that we could see what everyone else was seeing.

The broadcast showed terrifying images of a bunch of petrified girls in sweaters with large red painted numbers on their shirts standing in front of a fountain with a screaming hoard of people calling out numbers in front of them. I picked myself out from the far right of the line, and then I skimmed down to see a tall thin girl crying into her hands on the opposite end from me. Lexton. The night we arrived. Then the feed cut to the first time we entered the ball room, both of us looking so much younger, and dreadfully nervous as our big eyes tried to take in everything around us. We watched as Lexton introduced herself to Calvin and King Gordo, and then we saw me and Calvin sharing our first dance. The videos continued, going through little clips of Lexton and me from all the different little speeches we had to make, they made sure to highlight the one of me saying I didn't want to be queen and leaving out the one where I corrected my statements. My heart was beating so fast I could hardly separate the beats as the videos rolled, and I could feel the tension growing.

Finally those clips ended and the crowd clapped.

"That's not all." Marco said dramatically. "We also have some very interesting, never seen before, private videos of how things went down in the last competition."

Calvin was standing suddenly as the voices came up in the video. It was dark at first, but you could hear voices.

Calvin's voice filled the room from the video. "I know I said that." He sighed. "I thought that maybe there could be something there, but I will never be enough for Rachel. She only sees one thing when she looks at me, and it isn't a potential husband."

"I see that in you when I look at you." I heard Lexton's sweet voice whisper back.

The camera slid down what looked like a door and looked under it in the small space between the floor and the door. The image was hazy, but you could see Calvin and Lexton in what looked like her room, sitting beside each other at a table.

"Do you really?" He asked her. "You don't think I am a monster?"

"Of course not." She shook her head.

"Turn this shit off!" Calvin demanded, still standing beside me where I was frozen to my seat.

"If that is what Rachel thinks of you, then she doesn't deserve you." Lexton purred. "I would never be so careless with your feelings. I know you've tried to be kind to her, but she isn't ever going to come around. Not if she thinks like that."

"I might just have to pick you then." Calvin smiled at her.

Calvin leaned forward in his seat and Lexton moved closer so that their lips met in the middle. The crowd gasped slightly, and I couldn't feel my body. It was like I wasn't really here. I wish that I wasn't. It's one thing to know that this had happened, but it is a whole other thing entirely to be forced to watch it.

The screen went black and Calvin was in Marco's face, both of them arguing back and forth, Calvin's eyes jet black and his lips pulling back into a snarl as he spoke lowly to him. I turned to look at Lexton and she looked just as mortified as I probably do.

The screens didn't go away yet. Instead a clip came up of someone running up a corridor with a camera. The footage was grainy but I recognized that it was near my old room. The camera stopped right outside of my door and you could hear voices coming from inside, but I couldn't understand what was being said. We had been whispering too quietly, but then you could hear us breathing. Breathing heavily. The sounds of our panting and me calling out his name filled the ballroom and I heard a mix of shocked gasps, and amused snickers. The camera was beginning to push beneath the door, but something must have spooked the person because they yank it back suddenly, before the camera is able to see us on the bed, and the video ends.

Calvin backed away from Marco and he kept his back to the crowd as Marco lifted his mic. "Sorry, everyone." He said smugly. "I forgot to get those clips approved." He smiled. "Now, after the decision was made, hastily, Rachel emerged as our queen." He turned towards me and looked me in the eyes. "Queen of hearts, or Queen of the bedchambers? No one knows." He turned back to the crowd. "Now, or dear Queen Rachel has been gone for so long, and we need to be sure that she is still the one that the King truly wants."

I turned my head to face forward again stoically and I looked up the stairs where I could see that man who gave me the creeps smiling from ear to ear. As I locked eyes with him he began to walk backwards out the doors, pointing to the rose pinned to his jacket before disappearing.

I knew something was wrong with him and I stood up on my shaking legs and tried to go forward, but Marco stepped in front of me, sticking a mic in my face.

"Address your people, Miss Rachel." He smiled at me.

I tried to get some kind of signal to Calvin, but he was still turned away.

The room was deadly silent and the mic crackled as I took it from his hand. "I, uh..." I had nothing to say. "I'm just happy to finally be back here." I said with a shaking voice.

"Hmm." Marco murmured, then walked over to Lexton. "How about you?"

"Oh, well, I never left Castrum de Petra actually." She smiled at him, only a hint of her nerves creeping in. "I love it here and I love Calvin, and I would love to have the chance to be your queen, so I am just giddy to be doing this again. Maybe this time we can make the right decision."

"Oh, confidence, I like it." Marco laughed. "Now, King Calvin." Marco called. "Come pick the lucky lady for the first date!"

The crowd cheered and something in me told me that Calvin wouldn't be taking me anywhere tonight.