We made our way to the southern grounds, which was bustling with activity. Towards the North, the academic building was visible while the southern part of the field ended in a tall wall. The ground was almost as massive as the one in the palace. Well-kept bright green grass rippled gently in the breeze, a glaring contrast to the grass as I remembered back in the worn-down courtyard of Stonewall. My past was a memory I never allowed myself to dwell in and immediately extricated myself from it.

The bright sun shone merrily onto the emerald, making it shimmer. A large crowd had gathered there that seemed a tad bit daunting to me.

"I guess polo is pretty popular around here?" I asked.

It was Nia who answered with a girlish giggle. "It's not the sport. It's the team."

A closer look at the grounds made me realize what she meant.

About a dozen young, well-built boys and girls were warming up on the field. Much to my dismay, Elijah was among them. There were eight horses grazing aimlessly behind them, each more majestic than the last. Two white ones. Three black ones. A chestnut and two bay ones. We watched in silence as the lot of them stood in a file. Looking at the grazing horses made me yearn. I had spent a good many afternoons playing polo with my dad and aunt Lisette at her palace. However, like all the ephemeral happy memories, it too was now a thing of the past. A flickering light so feeble that I wondered if it had ever truly been. 

I spotted Aris running towards the rest of the team, his chest heaving as he struggled to put his gear on. Elijah shot him a cold look before he started speaking to the grounds at large, "Thank you all for presenting at the trials today."

Much to my surprise, there was applause at his words."What the fuck?" I exclaimed softly, shocked at the dreamy faces of several people as they watched him, enraptured. Their eyes seemed to glaze over, a careless smile on their faces as they gazed at him.

Nia laughed and whispered, "Fucking future king of Evimeria, remember?"

"I request you all to fall into line," he continued, gesturing to the crowd as there was a flurry of movement and everyone scrambled to get into place. "The trials will be taken in three rounds. Round one will be to take the horse for a ride around the ground-"

"I would like to ride you, though," a girl whispered to her friend behind me as both of them broke into a fit of giggles. I almost turned to see who it was, but decided against it, mildly impressed and simultaneously horrified. 

"-second, would be to score a goal in the empty ground, and third-" he continued. "Would be to score a goal while some members of the team are defending. Is that clear?"

There were murmurs of assent. "If anyone has any questions, I urge you to speak right now."

A starry-eyed girl raised her hand as Elijah nodded curtly towards her.

"What's your shoe size?"

There was a ripple of laughter as even his teammates struggled to keep a straight face. I was even more horrified by the girl's forwardness. I asked from the corner of my mouth, "Is that er...appropriate?"

Nia shrugged. "It's..kind of tradition."

I stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

She laughed at my expression. "It's harmless, really. Even the previous captain, Myra had to endure that kind of talks. Although, in her case, it was cup-"

She didn't say anything further as she turned her attention back to the trials. My stomach clenched uneasily. Elijah's face had turned bright red at the girl's question.

"I merely aimed to entertain questions related to the trials and not of personal nature," he said with more dignity than I thought he had. "If that is all, we will begin now. I request you all to step here please, in groups of three."

"Five," one of the members of his teams said. "I thought we decided to go with five?" He glanced at the others for support as they all nodded and agreed with him.

Elijah rounded on him, his jaw set. "I said three. Three it is." Silence fell, but not before something flashed in the guy's eyes. Seemingly satisfied, Elijah continued, "Right. Now we begin."

We sat on the soft grass as the trials begin. Most of the groups of people failed in the first round. A handful made it to the second and no one till the third. The inexpertise of them handling the horses made me want to yell at them. However, most of the horses seemed to be holding their ground, some, too much so (such as the chestnut one); going as far as throwing his rider off and rearing loudly in distaste.

The crowd was thinning, and Elijah seemed more and more desperate. He kept pacing around at an alarming speed, his eyes darting nervously around, his skin even paler than usual. He also looked a little restless due to some reason. On edge. It was unusual to see him so agitated. He sighed and raked a hand through his hair as the last group of people failed miserably at leading the horse. He gestured to the team as they clustered around him, lines of worry etched into each individual's faces that almost made me feel bad for them.

After a while, however, the cluster broke, and much to my horror, Elijah's eyes fell on mine. Aris bounded up to where the three of us were sitting.

"You should try out, Zeke," he said huffing. "Get till the third round, and I'll make sure you get in."

He winked at me as my heart jumped up to my throat. "No fucking way." I looked at Elijah, who, sure enough, was glaring daggers at me. "Under a team captained by him? He'll probably get too many chances to hit and break my legs or something."

Every time that I had been to the palace, I had spent a lot of time playing polo with my dad. Even though I hardly remembered the official coat colour names of the horses, I was familiar with the basics. Looking at the state of the trials, I knew I would look even better in comparison. I didn't know if my father had simply gone easy on me, but I had considered myself considerably good at the sport. Despite that, I didn't think I could compete with Elijah.

Aris shook his head. "Yes. But look at the others. Our team could use a new player."

He waved a dismissive hand towards the crowd that had just failed the trials and were now sitting on the grass in a circle.

"He's right," Nia said. "The team is desperate for a new player after the fallout last month. They'll take anyone who's even passable. You have a great chance."

"I can't play on the same team as Elijah," I said, remembering his warning. However, a second thought was forming in my mind. If I did manage to get into his team, there was no way he would ask me to leave Asteria. Then all the threats would be over.

"Elijah is a selfish, arrogant, childish, and entitled man," Aahan replied, seemingly out of nowhere. "However he is fair. If he thinks you are a good match for the team, he will be forced to take you in. It works on votes anyway, and he doesn't have a veto."

I stared at Elijah and met his eyes, my heart racing as I made my decision. I hadn't ever played directly with him, but I knew among the hundreds of classes that he trained in, polo had been a major part. "Alright. I'm a fucking dumbass, but let's do this."

"Those two are different things," Aahan said in a monotone.

Nia flashed me a bright smile. "Goodluck!"

I nodded at the pair of them and walked over to the team. Sure enough, there was jeering as I spotted one of Elijah's cronies eyeing me with what I assumed was distaste. "I don't think I can allow you to try out, Hunt," Elijah said coldly as anger surged through me. "Your structure and frame don't quite suit."

His words were civilized enough, but dripping with mirth. I clenched my fists and set my jaw. I didn't want to argue with him. However, Aris jumped in before I could.

"Ellerman," Aris spoke firmly, "you can't decide that. He has as much right as everyone else. Take your head out of your ass."

I stared at Aris, shocked at the way he had addressed him. The strange feeling was blossoming in my chest again. I had rarely had people stand up for me. And yet, it seemed to come naturally to Aris.

It appeared, however, that Elijah was either too focused on me to care, or used to Aris. Most of the other members chimed in affirmatively. Elijah sighed, looking haggard from up close. His hair wasn't as immaculate as usual, although I was inclined to blame that on the wind, his eyes seemed dull, the striking silver somehow fading in contrast to his dark hair. He nodded before finally conceding. "Alright."

He didn't look at me, instead handing me the reigns of the chestnut horse. I gazed at him, my jaw clenched in defiance. From my observation, I had seen that the chestnut beauty was the most difficult to control out of the rest of them. He was trying to make a fool out of me, but I wouldn't let him succeed.

"One round across the grounds," Elijah said as he stepped back.

"Wait-" Aris spoke, climbing on to the horse. "They're coming untied."

He made a show of fixing the reign on the perfectly pristine bridle, whispering something to the horse as he seemed to understand and almost nod. His guilelessly glittering eyes held more humanity than I had seen in several humans. 

Aris stepped back and shot me a wink. I remembered his gift with animals and realized what he had done. I felt a rising suspicion almost immediately. What if I was merely being optimistic in thinking that he was trying to help me while in reality, he was doing the opposite?

My heart fluttered at the familiarity of the saddle, struggling to maintain my suspicion and wariness even as a childish excitement seemed to root in my heart

My efforts, however, were minimal as the horse gracefully galloped around the grounds. The aching feeling in my chest seemed to grow in a tangible void. Kindness was a stranger slowly inching towards familiarity with Aureus Greenwood. 

The horse stopped perfectly at the starting point as there was some applause, which Elijah cut off by glaring.

The first round was the easiest one. Having had prior experience, it was easy to lead the horse around the ground. Much to my amazement, he didn't seem nearly as feisty as he had earlier. After the dragon and now the horse, I was quickly grasping the fact that Aris' animal whispering was much stronger than I had initially thought.

As a child, I had always looked forward to riding the horse through the quaint capital city of Ophelia. Gazing in wonder at the wares and shops during the rare, bright summer days that my dad and I made our detour. The one good thing about being the nondescript bastard to the king was that no one had been intent on strangling me or kidnapping me for personal gains. I wasn't even sure how much of a recognisable face I was until then.

The next round was to score a goal on the net that was set some hundred meters away from where we stood.

I picked the mallet in my hand, feeling its padded tip. I mounted the horse and remembered my father's words. To leave my body lose, flexible and willing. I placed my palm on the horse's body, feeling his warm heart thumping. I felt reassured. Once again, the horse galloped fast towards the end, and I managed to hit a clean, strong shot into the net. I heard cheering and applause, and in spite of myself, my heart leapt. My mind inadvertently returned to the careless summer days that I had played and loved the sport.

I returned to my spot, smirking challengingly at Elijah. I wondered if I was pushing it, knowing that my confidence was false. However, I enjoyed the tiny twinge of satisfaction his distress gave me.

He mounted one of the bay coloured horses and gripped the reign tightly. "I'll be defending."

I stared in alarm at Aris, who was gaping open-mouthed at Elijah. I could see this was not something he expected as Elijah usually preferred sitting back and revelling.

I could feel hundreds of eyes on me as Elijah moved to the end of the ground and near the goal, taking his defensive stance. I took a deep breath. The adrenaline pumping in my blood made me feel hopeful, but at the same time, scared. I tried to focus my vision.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

We charged towards him, and I thought I had it before I felt a sharp blow to my mallet as the ball was taken from me. Elijah stopped a few meters away from me, a challenging smirk on his face, his mallet casually latched on to the ball on the grass. 

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" he drawled.

We charged around each other for a while. I hadn't had any training with polo as he had and from his effortless navigation and exceptional ball control, it was crystal clear who was the better player. 

"Take a penalty, Hunt," Elijah said, his eyes glinting. "If you score, you're in."

I took a deep breath, charging towards him again and this time, reading his body language correctly as I played the shot before he could move. I watched in utter shock as the grass rippled almost unnaturally as if forcing the ball to change its path. They suddenly seemed much firmer as they guided it neatly into the net. I stared at Aris, my heart hammering and he smirked softy, passing me a wink. I had a hard time to keep a straight face when Elijah grimaced.

It was unethical. However, my questionable morals had never been questioned. 

He cursed as the ball weaved past his horse's legs and swerved cleanly into the net. I heard distant cheers as he glared at me, chewing his bottom lip before his face broke into a cold, heartless smile.

"Welcome to the team, Ezekiel. Can't wait to have you on board."

I stared at him, my heart hammering in a multitude of emotion. I wondered silently if he had perhaps gone too easy on me in order to torture me in his team with greater ease. What about Aris? Why had he helped me? Was he in with Elijah after all? It made no sense. 

Aris, Nia, and Aahan ran up to congratulate me. I watched as Elijah dismounted the horse and started walking away from the ground without a second look at his team. And somehow, I knew that at that moment, he had vowed to make life even more difficult for me.

A sick, twisted thought, but it seemed real enough.