About an hour later I met Mom and Dad in the office to discuss what’d happened.
“Sir Fox looks pretty bad,” a guard relayed. “Sir Henri tried to pull him away, but Sir Burke was practically unstoppable. Both Sir Henri and Sir Kile got some marks simply from trying to separate them.”
“How bad?” I asked.
“Sir Henri has a bruise on his chest and a cut just above his eye. Sir Kile’s lip was busted open, and there aren’t any big scars besides that, but he feels sore from trying to contain Sir Burke.”
“You can stop calling him ‘Sir’!” Dad insisted. “Burke is leaving right now! The same for Fox!”
“Maxon, reconsider. Fox didn’t do anything,” Mom urged. “I agree it was inappropriate, but don’t make that choice on Eadlyn’s behalf.”
“I will!” he yelled. “We did this to bring our people joy, to give our daughter a chance at the same happiness we have. And since it began, she’s been assaulted twice! I will NOT have monsters like that under my roof!” He finished his speech, slamming his fist into a side table, knocking his tea onto the floor.
I stiffened, gripping the arms of my chair. “Daddy, stop,” I pleaded, my words hushed with fear I might somehow make it worse.
He looked over his shoulder at me, as if he only now realized Mom and I were still in the room. His eyes instantly softened, and he turned away, shaking his head.
After a deep breath he straightened his suit and spoke to the guard. “Before anything continues, I expect thorough background checks on each of the Selected. Do it secretively and use whatever means possible. If anyone has so much as gotten into a squabble in grade school, I want them gone.”
Calm again, he sat beside Mom. “I unconditionally insist that Burke leaves. That’s not up for debate.”
“But what about Fox?” Mom asked. “It sounds like he didn’t really instigate anything.”
Dad shook his head. “I don’t know. The idea of letting anyone involved stay seems like very poor judgment.”
Mom leaned her head on Dad’s shoulder. “Once upon a time I was involved in a fight during the Selection, and you let me stay. Imagine how things would have been if you hadn’t.”
“Mom, you got into a fight?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“It’s true,” Dad confirmed, sighing.
Mom smiled. “I actually still think about the other girl often. She turned out to be quite lovely.”
Dad huffed, his tone begrudging. “Fine. Fox can stay, but only if Eadlyn thinks he might be someone she’d have a chance at happiness with.”
Their eyes settled on me, and I was confused about so many things at once, I felt positive it read on my face. I turned to the guard. “Thank you for your update. Have Burke escorted from the premises and tell Fox I’ll speak with him shortly. You can go now.”
Once he left the room, I rose from my chair, trying to compose my thoughts.
“I’m not going to ask about that fight, though, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why you two have withheld so much about your Selection from me and have only decided to share some of the bigger bits and pieces now. And after I’ve faced something you’ve already experienced.”
They sat there guiltily.
“Mom met you before she was supposed to,” I accused, pointing to Dad. “Your candidates were all planted by your father. . . . Maybe you could have given me a heads-up about how to deal with a fight two weeks ago.”
I crossed my arms, exhausted.
“I promised you three months, and I’m going to give you that,” I said, taking in their worried expressions. “I’ll go on dates and let people take pictures so we have something to print in the papers and to talk about on the Report. But you two seem to think that if I stick this out, I’m magically going to fall in love.”
I stood there, shaking my head. “That’s not going to happen. Not for me.”
“It could,” Mom whispered tenderly.
“I know I’m disappointing you, but it’s not what I want. And these boys are fine, but . . . some of them make me uncomfortable, and I don’t think they can handle the pressure of this position. I’m not going to handcuff myself to a weight for the sake of a distracting headline.”
Dad stood. “Eadlyn, that’s not what we want either.”
“Then please”—I raised my hands in front of me, guarding myself—“stop pressuring me to fall for people I never wanted here in the first place.”
I clasped my hands together. “This whole situation has been awful. I’ve had people throw food at me in public; others have judged me over a kiss. One boy touched me against my will, and another flung me to the ground. For all the effort I put in to make things right, the papers have had a field day with the constant shame.”
They exchanged a concerned glance.
“When I said I’d help distract people, I didn’t think it would be this degrading.”
“Sweetheart, we were never trying to hurt you.” Mom looked heartbroken, close to tears.
“I know, and I’m not mad. I just want my freedom. If this is what I have to do in order to get that, then I will. If you want your distraction, I’ll deliver. But please don’t place all those expectations on me. I don’t want to let you down any more than I have already.”
CHAPTER 25
I KNOCKED ON FOX’S DOOR, kind of hoping he wouldn’t answer. It had been a draining night, and I wanted to go hide under my blankets.
Of course, his butler opened the door and pulled it so far back that Fox saw me before I could be announced.
He looked as bad as I’d been told. One eye was swollen and surrounded by varying shades of purple, and the opposite side of his head was covered in a bandage, as well as the knuckles across his right hand.
“Eadlyn!” he said, hopping up off his bed, then wincing and grabbing his ribs. “Sorry. I meant Your Highness.”
“You can go,” I said hurriedly to the butler as I rushed over to Fox.
“Sit,” I urged. “Shouldn’t you still be in the hospital wing?”
He shook his head as he settled down again. “I’ve been medicated, and they thought I’d rest better in my own room.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked, though I could tell he was in pain.
“Besides the bruises?” he asked. “Humiliated.”
“Can I join you?” I asked, pointing to the spot beside him on the edge of bed.
“Of course.”
I sat, not sure where to start. I didn’t want to send him home now, partly out of charity. I peeked at Burke’s and Fox’s applications before going to see Dad, and Fox had actually hinted at a lot about his home life on his form. Typically, I was looking for mutual interests or things we could talk about, so I’d missed some important details about him.
Living in Clermont, he worked as a lifeguard at the beach, which explained the sun-kissed skin and overly blond hair. I got the feeling that it wasn’t paying enough to support the rest of his family, though that situation was a little unclear on paper. His mother wasn’t living at home, but I didn’t know if that meant she had passed or not. I also could see his father was terminally ill, so I doubted he was contributing to the finances.
Furthermore, if I’d paid attention at all, I would have noticed how much fuller his cheeks looked compared to the picture on his form now that he was getting fed properly.
I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to keep his stipend. I wanted him to steal some of the things from his room when he left and sell them when he got home.
But asking him to stay meant giving him hope.
“Listen,” he started, “I understand if you have to send me home. I do. I don’t want to leave, but I know the rules. I just . . . I don’t want to leave with you thinking I’m like Burke or Jack. Try not to think poorly of me when I go, okay?”
“I won’t. I don’t.”
Fox looked over and gave me a sad grin. “I never got to tell you so many things. Like how I wish I could command a room like you. It’s so impressive.
Or how your eyes sparkle when you make a joke. It’s really pretty.”
“Do they do that? Wait, do I make jokes?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I mean, they’re mostly subtle, but you give it away with your eyes. And I can see how pleased you are when you’re teasing us. Like at the quiz the other day.”
I smiled. “That was fun. Tonight was fun, too, up until the end.”
“I’ll never forget your face when you bit into that asparagus.”
I pressed my lips together, pretty sure that his expression and mine had been similar. What made it better was that I knew how hard he’d tried, and he still wasn’t upset over it. The only thing hurting him now was this worry that I’d remember him as something less than a gentleman.
“Fox, I’m going to ask you some questions, and I need you to be completely honest with me. If I think you’re lying at all, that’s it. You’ll be gone within the hour.”
He swallowed, the silliness of the last few moments fading from his face. “You have my word.”
I nodded, believing him. “All right. Would you tell me about your dad?”