The Spare: Prince Osten's Selection

Chapter 8

I took a deep breath as I followed one of the guards to a door across the hall. I could do this. I could do this. I just needed to be here long enough to get the money to save up to go to university. This was completely temporary. This was for my family. 

I became so focused on my thoughts that I did not see a rug in front of me as I walked into the room. I heard scrambling feet as the guard came to help me up. When I stood up, I saw Prince Osten, standing up as though he had been about to help me himself and wearing an expression that was somewhere between a look of amusement and a look of concern. I noticed he looked a little disheveled, but instead of making him look sloppy, it actually made him look more attractive. His red hair was slightly messy, and his tie was knotted a bit off-center. I didn't realize I had been staring at him until his eyebrows rose at me questioningly, so I turned quickly to the guard who had helped me up.

"Thank you very much," I said. "I'm so sorry, I must have gotten lost in my thoughts."

"It is alright, Lady Zara, just be sure to watch where you are going. There are many places to trip in this building," the guard said with a chuckle before he gestured for me to go over to Prince Osten and left the room. 

Prince Osten had sat back down now on a plush-looking velvet armchair. There was another just like it positioned across from him so I assumed that was where I was to sit. I walked over slowly and sat down on the chair, smoothing at my dress as I adjusted my position in the seat. He was looking at me again with his same amused expression. Most of the concern seemed to be gone now that I was in my seat.

"We meet again, Lady Zara," he said, giving me a smile. "I hope your trip here was pleasant."

"It was, thank you, Your Highness," I said formally. He laughed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Your Highness sounds so stuffy from a girl who I have already met and discussed favorite books with, please call me Osten," he said, grinning and leaning back in his chair. I noticed for the first time that he seemed to not really care about having good posture. 

"If you wish, Osten," I said. Saying his name so casually felt really strange.

"Come on, Lady Zara, I have been waiting to meet you again all day, and all you can give me are these short answers. I made sure you were last so that I would have something to look forward to. Most of the girls so far have been, well, rather boring," he said with an expression that suggested someone has asked him to watch paint dry and not meet 35 girls brought specifically for him to pick a wife from.

"Why are you interested in meeting me?" I asked quickly, my stiff polite tone waning for the first time. "I promise you I am really not that interesting."

"On the contrary, I find you incredibly fascinating," he said leaning forward a bit in a way that made me a bit nervous. "You see, my sister and my parents think I am a bit aimless at the moment, and they told me I had to do this or go be an Ambassador. Don't get me wrong, I love to travel, but not if it is going to require me to work all day and not be able to explore. So, I decided this was preferable. However, I really started to regret my decision when I started looking through the selected entry forms. Every girl sounded exactly the same and put things on the form they probably thought I would want to hear. Then, I saw your form."

"My form?" I said, trying to hide my shock from my face. What about me would someone like Osten Schreave find fascinating? "You have Ashlyn Blake here. I am fairly sure that a famous singer is far more interesting than I am."

"Again, I have to disagree with you. Someone like Ashlyn Blake does not list their favorite hobbies as reading books and trying to learn. Ashlyn Blake, and none of the girls for that matter, have dreams of going to a university or becoming anything besides a princess, which is what most girls put for where they hoped to see themselves in five years," he said, his blue eyes staring me in a way that made me feel so strangely inside. "Besides, Ashlyn Blake doesn't have gorgeous green eyes. Hers are a boring brown, nothing unique there."

It took me a moment to realize when he was talking about these things, he was talking about me. I had no idea what to say. I had not known what to expect, but this certainly was not it.

"Um thank you," I said trying to avert my gaze. I didn't like the effect he had on me. I was not one of those girls who swooned over a prince. "So I guess you checked on us all too, just to see what you were getting into?

"All of you? No, definitely not. I wouldn't have had the patience to do that, and frankly, some of these girls are incredibly boring. There would be no point," he said with a laugh. I didn't find it very nice or funny, but I was so confused and shocked I just sort of sat there as he continued. "However, as I said, you fascinated me, so I decided to tag along to see if I might accidentally catch a glimpse of you when Judith the Dragon Lady went to check on you. I had never expected to bump into you, it must've been my lucky day."

"Look, I don't know what this is or if you are saying this to all the girls, but I promise you I have no intention of sneaking off or ..." I was cut off by his sudden laughter.

"Lady Zara, you pay far too much attention to the tabloids if you think I want to go off with you for a rendez-vous. One of the other girls, we shall see, but you, well, you're not the girl I would see as a one and done," he said.

At that, I stood up, smoothed out my dress, and looked right at him.

"Look, Your Highness, Osten, whoever you are. I do not know what I have done to pique your interest, but if this is the way you are going to talk about me or any of the other girls here, you really should find someone else to be interested in. Thank you for your time," I said as I stalked off toward the exit.

"Wait," he said as he caught my wrist. I yanked it away and crossed my arms across my chest.

"I can't say that I am here for all the right reasons either, but I am not here to mess around or listen to you talk about the other girls here that way. I thought that maybe you were different from how I thought you would be after our brief encounter, but you're the playboy everywhere makes you out to be. This is all just a game to you. I at least not here for a selfish reason," I snapped, slightly regretting the last words. 

"What is your reason?" he asked, looking into my eyes in that same way that had already made me feel like there were butterflies in my stomach. I was surprised that he wasn't angry with me for my words. I took in a breath and sighed, relaxing a bit. 

"You saw on my application that I want to go to university. Well, my family is poor. We get by okay, but we are not rich by any means and cannot afford to send me. There are no scholarships or ways right now to get there, and when I saw participants in The Selection would be compensated...." I allowed my voice to trail off. 

I expected him to look angry or irritated, but instead, he was grinning at me. 

"That is quite enterprising, Lady Zara. I admire that," he said, laughing at the confused expression on my face. "I can see you thought that might turn me off or send you home for being here for the wrong reason, but that actually just makes me all the more interested in you. It makes me wonder if you're maybe not as different from me as someone might think."

I snorted. 

"What could we possibly have in common?"

He looked deeply into my eyes as he reached for my hand and pressed lips to it.

"You want to make a life for yourself that overcomes the circumstances you were born into," he said, an actually somewhat serious expression on his face. "I look forward to getting to know you."

With that, he walked past me to the doors and opened them. The guard outside the door jumped in surprise. 

"Lady Zara and I are done, Officer Thompson," he said. "Please escort her to the Women's Room with the other ladies."

"Yes Your Highness," the guard said, and he began to walk down the opposite direction from where Prince Osten seemed to be going.

"Until next time, Zara," he said with a wink before turning on his heel and walking away down the hall. 

"