Standing on the dais next to her mother always made her heart thunder in her chest, but after the day she’d had, and in light of the announcement she was about to make, Kit could hardly breathe her heart was racing so quickly. Not to mention, the last of her forty-two men was waiting out in the hallway somewhere to meet her. It seemed like the Choosing would truly begin at that moment, when he made his entrance, and she was no longer waiting for anyone or anything. The fact that she’d already made connections with some of the other men, particularly Cassius who was standing almost directly in front of her now, looking as appealing as ever in his province’s colors of white and red, didn’t seem to make too much of a difference since she still had six more men to select. Her eyes glanced through the crowd, and certain faces caught her attention, men she wanted to know better, those who may as well go home now, and a few she couldn’t quite put her finger on.