"Stupid. Idiotic. Dumb. Rude. Idiotic -," Elora raged as she walked into the royal chambers, ten maids and a doctor hurrying behind her.
Her husband, King Edward looked up from the virtual documents he was signing.
"You mentioned 'idiotic' twice," he said wryly.
Elora stopped, glaring at her husband. The doctor took this as his opportunity, and unwrapped her makeshift bandage and examined the cut on her hand.
"What happened?" her husband asked immediately standing up as he saw the bleeding cut.
"An accident," Elora said, waving her hand dismissively.
"I thought you were just supposed to fall and act like you had sprained your leg," Edward said, walking towards her, and looking at the wound himself.
"Don't even ask," Elora grumbled, once again muttering curse words under her breath.
The doctor looked appalled as he heard his words. Elora glared at him, and he looked back at her palm, applied a salve and wrapped the wound once again in a fresh, white muslin cloth.
"You need to take your medications more regularly, Your Majesty. Your hemophilia-," he began.
"I know!" Elora snapped, pulling her hand from the doctor's.
Edward sighed, and dismissed the doctor and all the maids.
Elora, walked into an adjoining room filled with her dresses, and began changing her clothes.
"What?" she asked her staring husband. "The Report starts in twenty minutes".
"Are you pregnant?" he asked.
"WHAT?".
"The last time you were so angry was when you were hormonal and emotional when you were carrying the twins," Edward said, rubbing the back of his neck like a young boy.
"Which ones?" Elora asked dully, wriggling her way into a blue dress that matched her eyes.
There was a short pause.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Zip?".
Her husband walked towards her and carefully zipped her dress.
"I take it that your test didn't go well?" he asked.
"They're all dolls, Edward. I'm sure their mentors gave them the whole 'be careful of what you do in the palace' speech, but I never imagined that they would think helping an injured woman would ruin their chances of staying in the competition," Elora said, turning to face her husband.
"So no one helped you?" he asked, very surprised.
"Only one girl. I didn't ask her name, but she kept calm, despite those horrendous names those other girls called her," Elora said.
"Names?".
"They called her a Nine. And called me a Nine too," the Queen said.
"The did what?" the King thundered, looking ready to walk to those girls and give them a nice, tight slap.
"They did. But the girl... She tore her shirt off, and was so careful as she wrapped my hand in the cloth," the Queen said, softening.
"She tore her clothes for a person she thought was a maid? You think she knew your true identity?" Edward asked, walking with his wife to sit on a low couch outside.
"No. Definitely not. She didn't know," Elora said, shaking her head.
Her hair stylist entered, and began curling her hair.
"She's being abused, Edward," Elora continued, talking passionately. "Her entire body seems bruised and hurt. It pains for her to even move. No one noticed, but I did. And I don't know why it affects me so much".
"You didn't ask her name, you said?" Edward asked.
Elora shook her head. Her husband clapped thrice, and a holographic screen opened in front of them. He swiped a few times, and the screen enlarged, showing thirty five pictures of girls arranged in a row.
Elora looked at all of them and stopped as she saw the twentieth picture.
"This is the girl," she said.
"Aurora Clarkson," the King read. "Age 18, loves to paint and play the violin".
"She looks happy in this picture, though," Elora said, frowning. "She seemed to me as a very sad person".
"People aren't always those who they seem to be, Elora," Edward said sadly.
But his wife shook her head stubbornly, much to the chagrin of her hair dresser. "I know her, Edward. And you know me. I'm never wrong about people".
Edward sighed, as he peered into the screen, and looked at the girl's photo again.
"The one next to her - Adelaide Summers. She's a bad one, Ed. The sooner she's eliminated, the better," Elora said, the anger in her voice evident.
"Can't do that. She's the most famous amongst the thirty five Selected. The people's favorite. She's the TV star, Elora," he said, and suddenly frowned. "She's the one who called you a Nine, right?".
Elora nodded.
"The only two decent girls in the crowd seems like Aurora, and the other girl, No. 19. Katherine Harris. She wasn't there when I fell, but I did see her defend Aurora from the other girls," she said.
"They're allies?" Edward asked in disbelief, as he squinted at the screen to see their mentors' names. "Oh, Andrea and Julia. No wonder".
"We know them, Ed. They were Elanor and Elodie's governess' for a few years. They're good people. And we can assume the same of their wards," Elora said.
"So you think only Katherine and Aurora are fit for Eric?" he asked.
"Katherine, yes. But Aurora... For some reason I can't see her as a couple with Eric," she said.
"Your Majesties," a Guard said, popping his head in. "We're going live in ten minutes. You're needed downstairs".
Edward nodded at him, and looked at his wife. "Shall we?"
Elora smiled at him, and accepted his stretched hand as they walked out of the room to endure ten hours of talking to frivolous girls.
***
"Welcome to your home for the next six months," Julia announced, pushing open an ornate wooden door.
Aurora gasped.
Her room was larger than her house, and from the peek she took at the bathroom, well, let's just say that it was easily the most luxurious thing she had ever seen in her life.
A small door connected her room to the next.
"Cool. Is that my room?" Kate asked excitedly, running to her bed and jumping on it.
"Yes," Julia said, smiling at her ward.
"Since you have connecting rooms, we decided it would be better if you had two maids each. Ladies, meet Beth, Grace, Eliza and Estelle," Andrea said, as four women entered the room.
Two of them looked as young as Aurora, but the other two looked older.
One of them chuckled. "You must be wondering why Beth and Estelle look old enough to be your Gran, Lady Aurora".
"Mostly to act as chaperones. In case the Prince decided to visit you in your rooms sometimes," the older woman, Estelle said, winking at them.
Aurora laughed, not noticing Kate flush deeply.
Andrea clapped her hand twice, and a holographic screen opened up.
"This is the live telecast of the Report," she said. "You may want to listen to the others and see how they reply, and what questions Grigori asks".
"Each Selected is given about fifteen to twenty minutes to impress the Prince, and you will mainly be conversing with him and Grigori. As you can see, the King and Queen will be seated near the Prince, and they won't really speak, but they will be listening to everything you say. Oh, and there will be a small audience as well," Julia said.
"Remember to be polite. However prodded, do not lose your patience. It is all a test," Andrea said.
"And Kate - no swearing please. The royal family will be scandalized if they hear you curse," Julia added.
"Now that we've briefed you on that, it's time to discuss your looks for the Selection," Andrea said. "As discussed, Aurora will have the normal Girl-Next-Door vibe, while you, Kate... Well, Julia and I decided to give you the image of the 'sunny' person".
"Cool. Sunny side up. Just the way I like my eggs," she called out from the bed.
"So your closets have been updated with suitable clothes, and we'll choose from them-".
"Before that," Aurora began, "I just wanted to set a few conditions".
"Conditions?" her maids asked, frowning at her.
"Yes," Aurora said. "Conditions. First of all, call me Aurora. No Lady Aurora. No 'miss'. Just Aurora, or any other nickname".
"Is Lady Aurora considered as a nickname?" Eliza asked cheekily.
"No," Aurora said. "And my next condition is that I bathe, and don myself in my clothes alone. You can do my make up and my hair, but I dress up and bathe on my own".
The four maids looked at the mentors.
"The conditions do sound reasonable," Julia said at last, shrugging and beckoning Kate to get up from the bed.
"How long will it take for us to go on stage?" Aurora asked, unmuting the telecast that played silently on the screen.
"Most likely a few hours," Julia called out from the next room, trying to pull her ward to her feet.
"You're number 20, Aurora," Andrea explained. "It'll take a while for them to finish the first twenty. They usually rush through the ones at the end, but I have a feeling you'll be just fine".
Andrea rummaged through the large closet, and pulled out a blue, flowy tunic and dark, black pants.
The look in Andrea's face confirmed Aurora's suspicions - she knew that she was abused. She had somehow figured it out in the short time they'd been together.
That was why she'd given her an outfit that covered her body completely.
"Thank you," she muttered, not waiting to see Andrea's slight nod.
She took her clothes, and walked into the large bathroom. She flinched as she took off her clothes, and stared at her naked self on the mirror.
Bruised and in shades of purple and blue in every place except her face and neck. She slowly washed her face, and put on her clothes.
The minute she walked out, Estelle and Grace hurried to her, powdering her face, applying slight make up, latching simple silver earrings to her ear.
"How do you want us to do her hair, Miss Andrea?" they asked her mentor.
Aurora took this moment to crane her neck and see Kate. She was dressed in a summery floral yellow dress, and her hair was in the process of being curled. It would most probably be bunched with a ribbon.
Kate's makeup hadn't been done yet, but she looked absolutely stunning.
Like a beautiful, yet expensive doll.
"Eyes, here, Aurora," Estelle said, forcing Aurora to look at herself in the mirror.
"Put her hair in a pony tail. Leave a few tendrils free, and curl them," Andrea said.
"Her hair is too thick, Miss Andrea," Grace said.
"Gel it?" Andrea half asked.
The maids nodded, and squeezed a bottle from with purple gel, and applied it on Aurora's scalp and hair.
"I look like a zombie," she said.
"You'll look fabulous once we're done," Estelle assured her while massaging her scalp.
Aurora smiled gratefully and turned her attention to the screen, trying to absorb what questions the host - Grigori - asked. He made a few inappropriate jokes, and the contestants did their best to answer them smoothly.
The King and Queen sat in icy silence, and Aurora resisted the urge to shudder. If they stared at her the same way they did with the others, she would definitely fumble over her words.
The Prince seemed friendly enough, his pale hair falling over his eyes as he smiled.
Nope.
Still not attracted to him.
All the other Selected ones looked different - all were dressed in elegant skirts and dresses, and their limbs glittered with jewels. Most of them were polite, they spoke well, and joked too.
But a few acted outlandishly desperate.
The only things they talked about were the Prince and the Crown.
"I bet a hundred bucks that these girls will be eliminated by tomorrow," Kate called out from the next room.
"You read my mind," Aurora said, forcing a smile, despite knowing she couldn't see it.
She forced herself to breathe evenly - would she also be the same way in front of the camera?