The Queen's Line (Inheritance of Hunger #1) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,4

by my grandmother's reporting. "His family line are all tiger shifters, but they took special note to say he prolonged for over twenty minutes, and was ready in under that."

The men were instructed not to acknowledge me as I learned their statistics, but Prince Thao glanced up and caught my eye. He didn't smirk, as many of the other nobles did. He looked…nervous. I wondered if it was because he didn't expect to be chosen, given his double nature. Shifters had a kind of magic that resisted our Hunger and was considered a poor choice for Chosen. If the prince were a commoner he wouldn't have been allowed to attend, but exceptions were made for royalty. He probably wasn't expecting to become my Chosen, but I found his nervousness called to me, in sympathy if nothing else.

"He will stay," I said, holding his gaze.

Isolde made her notes, and we moved to the next man.

"This is our ambassador to the Mennary Isles, Wendell Pope. He's a…" Isolde cleared her throat, cheeks flushing. "He's a nine, and he…prolonged for almost an hour."

I blinked at that. Would I even want to be made love to for an hour? Perhaps…if I had the Hunger. I was tempted to dismiss Wendell Pope simply to avoid such a possibility, except that he was so handsome, and Grandmother would probably disinherit me if she learned his statistics.

"We didn't have time to test him again," Isolde whispered.

Wendell Pope's cheeks flushed, and so did Prince Thao's. Was Thao jealous of Wendell's performance? Would that be some of the good tension or the bad tension?

"He will stay," I said.

I hadn't realized how many of my own people I had plucked from the lines, but it was more than double the number of nobles. I decided that if I kept five out of twenty nobles, I would keep twelve out of fifty commoners as if that might make it fairer. Having criteria at least made it a little easier to decide.

For the most part, the commoners favored much better by the statistics, and I let myself grow picky. That one was a two, which was quite good, but he was slurping. This one had a refractory period under ten minutes but only lasted five.

My rakish look-a-like from the great hall was named Cosmo Pianetta, and he ignored the rules in favor of looking back at me.

"A two at thirty minutes and refreshed in about that much," Isolde said, and then added to me, "But they noted that he watched the others as he did it."

I opened my mouth to ask—had the other men inspired him, or was he only prone to staring—and then snapped it shut again. "He will stay," I said, deciding that I could ask him later.

We moved on to a man who winked at me as he ate a chicken drumstick, red beard shining with grease.

"A twelve," Isolde informed me.

"Dismiss him," I said quickly. Anything above a ten was sure to injure me.

I kept a small few of the others, halfway through the group when we reached the older man I'd defied Grandmother to keep.

"Aric Martin, minor magician, an eight. He refused to perform," Isolde said, plenty loud enough for him to hear.

He ignored her and cut carefully at the meat on his plate, taking a bite and then reaching for his wine. Despite being instructed to ignore me, this man somehow made it feel like a defiance. The queen's line didn't usually take Chosen with magic, either mages or shifters, their magic supposedly clashing with the Hunger. Technically, a low magician wouldn't pose much threat, and would still be expected to arrive to the ceremony, but no one would expect me to choose one.

"He will stay," I said, finding his rudeness a strange relief in this situation.

"But, princess," Isolde hissed.

"I have asked for the facts on your list, not your opinion, Isolde. I might as well read it myself," I snapped back.

I was tired. I was anxious. I was a little bit frightened of what came after this. I didn't want to know which of the men Isolde thought would be good bed partners when I wasn't prepared to sleep with any of them yet.

I held my hand out for Isolde's list, my shoulders back and spine pin-straight as I stared up at her. She handed it over with a dark flush on her cheeks and then moved quickly to stand at the wall. When I glanced back, Aric Martin was staring at me, and this time