“If you were mine, you would not be in here.” He walked over to me and spoke softly as he continued to gaze at me, his eyes caressing me as I sat on the couch. I looked away and shifted uncomfortably as my stomach flipped. I felt confused and on edge as I realized that I was attracted to him. Like, really attracted to him. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me. I was in love with Xavier, yet, I was physically attracted to Stephan. In fact, a part of me wondered what he was like in bed. A part of me wondered if he was as intense under the sheets as he was in person and I hated that I felt that way. It made me wonder if I was as in love with Xavier as I thought I was.

***

“This is scary,” the girl next to me said and made a face as we sat there waiting to see what was going to happen next. “I don’t know if I want to do this.”

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, wondering why she was going ahead after what had happened to her sister.

“I love Johan.” She sighed. “I have since we were kids.” She shifted on the seat. “He’s my soul mate and, well, his father said this was the only way we could be together.”

“That’s awful,” I said, my voice sad and upset for her.

“Well, you’re here too,” she said accusingly. “Prince Xavier doesn’t exactly have you on a pedestal.”

“Well, it’s not that he...” I started, but my voice trailed off as the lights went off. I was glad that the first test was about to start. I wasn’t really sure what to say. What could I say about all of this?

“Let us start,” Charles said and Stephan gave me one last look and winked before making his way to the bed. Suddenly some music started playing. I didn’t recognize it, but it sounded soothing. I stared into the room ahead of me and watched as he grabbed a feather from a box to the right of him and walked over to the bed. He ran the feather up and down Violeta’s body slowly and delicately and I could see her squirming on the bed. I felt like a voyeur as I sat there watching them and before I knew it, he was done. He walked out of the room without looking at me again and then I saw another man walking into the room. The girl I was sitting with looked down and I had a feeling that this was her Johan. He was a younger-looking man, early twenties with jet-black hair and bright blue eyes. He looked uncomfortable in his own skin and I watched as he grabbed a toothbrush from his pocket. I frowned as he walked towards the bed. What was he doing?

“Wait,” I said to the girl next to me. “Why isn’t Casper here?” I frowned.

“It’s a test,” the girl said and pouted. “If Violeta can guess that neither of the guys was hers, then Casper has a better chance of making a position in the inner circle. Most couples don’t go for the double test, but I guess they are confident.”

“Wow,” I said and watched as Johan ran the toothbrush along Violeta’s lips. I had no idea why he thought that was sexy or pleasurable and I wondered what he was thinking.

“He loves that toothbrush,” the girl said softly as she peeked up at him.

“Really?” I gave her a quick glance. I wanted to ask her what she meant and if that was his personal toothbrush. Did he have a toothbrush fetish? I wanted to giggle as I thought about him cuddling his toothbrush and telling it that he loved it. I was picturing Johan kissing the toothbrush when I heard my name and I jumped up nervously. I watched as Violeta was guided off of the bed and out of a door. I swallowed hard and walked towards the bed. I guessed I was next. My heart felt like it was going to pop out of my body. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I got onto the bed and Charles leaned down to tie the blindfold around my eyes. I folded my arms across my chest so that he couldn’t accidentally graze my breasts. I lay back and rested my head on the pillows. They felt soft and luxurious underneath my head. I stretched out on the bed and waited, all my nerves on edge. I felt like I was lying there for hours when I finally heard the sounds of classical music playing. I waited for something to happen next. It was killing me, being in the dark. Then I felt the bed move slightly and I tensed. I felt hot breath on my neck and my body stiffened. I tried to take a deep breath and smell, but I could smell nothing but roses. The breath moved to my neck and it made me clammy all over as I lay there, waiting to see what was going to happen next. I felt the breath across my lips and then move to my ear. Then he blew into my ear gently and I felt my skin tingling. It was Xavier. I was almost positive of it as he continued blowing gently. I moaned slightly as he continued blowing and I squirmed on the bed, wanting to feel more of him on me. And then it was done. And I was there waiting again. I lay there waiting in the darkness for the next man and that was when I started panicking. What if it hadn’t been Xavier? What if the next guy was Xavier? What if I chose wrong? I almost collapsed in relief as I felt the bristles of a toothbrush against my lips. It was Johan again. It had to be. I knew with all certainty that there was no way that Xavier would think that a toothbrush against the lips was sexy. I smiled to myself as I lay there, feeling confident in my answer. The bristles rubbed against my lips and it took everything in me to not turn over or push the toothbrush away from my face. This was not sexy. In fact, if every round was like this, then I had nothing to worry about. Before I knew it, my blindfold was off and I was being taken to another room. There was a thin-looking woman with a dour face sitting at a table and she asked me which of the men was Xavier. I answered without hesitation that it was number one. She nodded and asked me if I was willing to go to round two. She pointed towards another door and I got up and walked there, feeling pleased with myself.