“Nope. But it will soon,” a guy with a mop of dark curly hair says.

“Robbie, I thought you were hun—”

A commotion in the crowd cuts me off, and like everyone else at the table, I turn in the direction of the noise. The throng of people parts to make room for the dozen guys dressed up as knights. Half of them carry flags with different insignias, and the other half have a sword in one of their hands and a toy horse between their legs.

“What the hell?” I say.

“Behold, fair people of DuBose Kingdom,” says a tall blond guy as he walks to the middle of the circle that has quickly formed. “We’re the brave knights of the six glittering courts, and today we’ll duel in the name of the House Cup.”

A loud noise erupts all around us as students begin shouting and banging their food trays against the tables. The blond guy waits until the noise level goes down to speak again. “But before we begin, each of us needs a blessing and a token from a fair maiden.”

I roll my eyes when I hear the loud, high-pitched screams of some girls. Come on, people.

“I guess since I’m already talking, I’ll start.”

The guy makes a show of looking at the crowd surrounding him as he rubs his chin. When his eyes land on me, he pauses.

Oh hell to the no.

He strides in my direction until he drops in front of me like an idiot. “What’s your name, oh fair maiden?”

Instead of answering him, I narrow my eyes and say, “You haven’t earned the right to know my name.”

A collective gasp echoes in the vast room, followed by laughter.

“Ouch, we got a fierce one here, folks. I sure know how to pick them,” he says.

“Pick them? What are we, flowers ready for the plucking? I don’t think so, buddy.” I glare at him for real.

Sensing I’m serious, he brings his body to the same level as mine and whispers in my ear, “I don’t mean anything by it. This is just for show.”

I feel bad now. Maybe I was projecting my frustration with Alistair on this guy. This seems to be just harmless fun after all.

“All right. Carry on. I won’t bite your head off.”

Relief crosses his face, and he smiles. He returns to his position kneeling at my feet and grabs my hand. “If you allow me, fair maiden, I’ll win this tournament and earn the honor to know thy name.”

“I’ll give you my permission, oh brave golden knight.”

He raises an eyebrow and whispers, “Golden knight?”

I shrug and his smile widens, revealing perfect straight teeth. He’s kind of cute, actually.

“May I ask for a token to bring me luck?” he asks out loud.

“Sure.” I give him the hairband I had around my wrist. “Here. Good luck.”

He brings it to his lips, kissing it before putting it on his own wrist. The crowd cheers as he stands and returns to his place in line. The same theatrics follow with the other knights until they all find their maidens and get their tokens.

Then the silly tournament begins. They look like children, dueling with their fake swords and wooden horses. But the crowd is into it, cheering and screaming as if they were watching a real live duel.

“Are those guys all in the drama program?” I ask Robbie.

“Some, yeah, but not all of them.”

The tournament comes to the final duel, and I’m not surprised that my knight is one of the last guys standing there. He looks in my direction and winks. To my surprise, I laugh because this situation just became too ridiculous for me to take it seriously. Besides, it’s okay to let myself have some fun.

He charges his opponent with a loud roar, hitting him on his shoulder. The guy trips and ends up falling on his ass. The crowd cheers once, the noise much louder than before. Robbie jumps from his seat, dragging me with him.

“He won! Your knight won.”

“Okay, okay,” I say, not understanding his enthusiasm.

My knight walks over to collect his prize.

“My lady. May I now have your name, please?”

“It’s Chiara.”

He puts his hand over his chest. “The brightest of them all. I knew you were special, my lady.”

Apparently we’re not putting on enough of a show because the crowd begins to chant, “Kiss, kiss, kiss.”

Shit. I didn’t sign up for this.

Robbie is the only one not chanting, and he seems a little annoyed about the situation.

“We don’t need to kiss, you know?” the golden knight says, but his eyes are hopeful.

In that precise moment, the image of Alistair pops into my head and how much I’m still hurting because of him. A reckless idea takes root, and before I can overthink it, I go for it. I stand up, stepping closer to my knight. I have to look up since he’s so much taller than me.

“What the hell? We can’t disappoint them. Just one kiss.”

His lips curl into a crooked grin. He grabs my face between his hands and brings his mouth to mine. It’s innocent, just a brush of lips, but the crowd goes wild.

I thought kissing another guy would make me feel better, but it has the opposite effect. It just makes my chest tighter. There’s no extracting Alistair from my heart anytime soon.

25

Chiara

I could have never foreseen that my chaste kiss with the golden knight—Phillip—would be such a big deal. Since I didn’t go out last weekend again, preferring to watch sappy movies on Netflix rather than partying with Robbie, I only get the full effect of my actions Monday morning while I walk to Alistair’s class. Whispers calling me “fair maiden” follow me, and people are staring a lot.

When I enter the classroom, the few students there turn to me and start to clap.

“Ugh, what the hell is going on?” I ask.

The guy nearest to me answers, “You broke the curse.”