Emmaline and I would constantly write letters to each other back and forth. We couldn't always meet on Fridays, but the letters were great. Emmaline said she hated writing them because she was better at expressing herself through music, but she loved reading the ones I wrote because, according to her, I always said things perfectly.
Weeks passed. I bound stacks of Emmaline's letters with ribbon and set them in my closet, hidden from my siblings. We planned out every detail of the Selection, scheduling about when my eliminations would be due depending on the situations and such. My father explained everything he had done during his Selection and I took careful notes. The forms rolled in, and then it was time.
I was set in a room with blank envelopes in large baskets. My father smiled and gestured for me to go ahead. "Choose."
I did. It was a slow, painstaking process that made me hope I chose the right people, ones that wouldn't try hurting me or only wanting to be around me for the crown. I hoped I chose Emmaline, but I knew that was a stretch--the odds were not in the favor of that. Once I was finished, I handed the envelopes to Officer Leger, who would carefully do every background check with my father. The press had pictures of me choosing, and then I was free.
The time flew past until the Report in which it would all be revealed, and my hands and voice were steady as I looked at the pictures and read off the names. Emmaline wasn't chosen. I tried not to be disappointed, but it was hard.
My sister and my mother figured out the basics of decorating the rooms for the girls while Osten laughed manically and scribbled things down in his notebook. He got a wide-eyed and innocent look on his face whenever someone looked at him, and when I asked him not to prank anyone unless asked, he swore he wouldn't and said he'd focus on Eadlyn to cut me some slack.
"She needs to loosen up a bit, anyway." He'd said. Then a devilish grin took over his innocent features. "What do you think of green slime in her hair?"
I chuckled, ruffling his reddish-blonde hair--the red courtesy of Mom, the blondish color from Dad--and shook my head. "Whatever you think is best, little brother. Just don't do it too much, or she might have you executed."
"Yeah, right." He snorted. "I'm Mom and Dad's baby. She can't do shit."
"Osten!" My mother's head whipped around. "No swearing!"
"But Kaden swears!" He whined.
"Kaden's also an adult!" My mother snapped. "No swearing, or I'll have Eadlyn hang you."
Osten gaped at her. "Mom! I thought I was your favorite!"
"Actually," she said, "I think Ahren is my favorite now, since he's not around to misbehave." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Don't think we don't know that you've been sneaking out, young man. The guards aren't stupid, and Aspen was more than happy to let me know that you've snuck out more than once, and one time you weren't even dressed like a normal teenager. Care to explain?"
Eadlyn turned, curious, and shooed the maids out. Then she turned back to us and raised her eyebrows.
"I was meeting a friend." I picked up a folder and started flipping through it. It was Eadlyn's sketches, obviously, various layouts for the rooms for the Selected with different colored walls and curtains and sheets.
"Was this friend a girl?" Osten teased, and I turned to glare at him. He grinned evilly and started laughing loudly.
"Was it?" Eadlyn asked.
"Yes," I said, still examining the layouts. Eadlyn let out a loud huff and snatched it from my hands, grumbling about how she knew I didn't care about what their rooms would look like. "Does it really matter that she's a girl?"
"Yes." My mother smiled. "Is she pretty?"
"Mother!"
Eadlyn laughed. "Oh, then she must be beautiful. Did she enter the Selection?"
"Yes," I sighed. "I didn't draw her name."
"What is her name?" Eadlyn asked.
"I'm not--"
"Emmaline Cadence Levitt." Osten said from the floor, still writing in his notebook. "I read some of your letters."
"Osten!" I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. "I didn't want to tell them for a reason!"
He grinned wickedly. "Oops."
I turned back to my mother and older sister. "Do not do a background check." I looked pointedly at Eadlyn. "And don't tell Dad."
"Oh, I'm telling your father." Mom said. "Kaden, you can't sneak out like that. You have responsibilities, and your safety is important."
"Once more," I begged. "There's something I need to go to. Please?"
She sighed loudly. "Give me a time, date, and location, and I'll see about it."
"Can we get back to the planning?" Eadlyn pleaded. "As much as I love hearing about Kaden's suitors and girls that make him feel like a normal teenager for once in his life and all of that, we do need to have this planned out in two weeks."
"Of course." My mom said. She gave me a pointed look. "We'll finish this conversation later."
♚
And finish it we did.
"So you're seeing a girl that won't be in your Selection?" It was the fifth time my father asked it.
"Dad, I'm not seeing her. She's my friend. You didn't run a background check, did you?"
"Of course not," he sighed. "I wanted to, but Aspen and Carter restrained me."
"Aspen and Carter?" Mom laughed. "You mean Aspen and Carter were going to help, but when Marlee threatened them, they grudgingly did what we said so that you would be placing some trust in your nineteen-year-old son and giving him some space."
Note to self: thank Miss Marlee later. She was always the more aggressive out of her and Miss Lucy, and much more willing to restrain Officer Leger and Mr. Carter from, you know, invading our privacy and placing no trust in us and whatnot.
"Really, Dad?" I groaned.
"I'm just trying to protect you." He said. "This girl isn't in the Selection, right?"
"Nope." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I'm starting to wish I had rigged it to draw her."
My father laughed. "Maybe I should've given you the option to have one pick that you knew about." He looked over at my mother fondly. Right. For my father's Selection, his father chose all of the girls except one. My mother.
"That would've been nice." I said. "But we're well beyond that now, and it's pointless to think about what we could've done."
Dad gave me a surprised look. "When did you get so wise, Kaden?"
I laughed. "When Eadlyn was crowned queen and I realized that it would probably go downhill so I started working on my maturity because a wise ruler is a good ruler?"
My mom laughed. "You all have so much faith in each other."
I shrugged. "She could barely handle a group of boys. What would make me think she's capable of handling a country?" I was joking. I knew Eadlyn was more than capable of ruling the country and doing it well, and I had a ton of faith in my older sister. But how could I resist an opportunity to make fun of my siblings?
"Just wait until you're in a room with thirty-five girls that want one of three things from you." My father said. "Eadlyn thought those boys were bad? She didn't have to deal with girls."
I tilted my head to the side. "Three?" The crown and the heart. I knew they would want that, and I said as much to my parents.
My mother just laughed. "Kaden, did I really raise you to be so innocent? There are three things the young women in that room could possibly want--your crown, your heart, or you in your bed."
"Oh." My face felt hot.
My father chuckled at my obvious discomfort. "It's not that bad..." He said, though I knew it was wrong. "Some of them aren't...so obvious about it. They pretend they're going for the crown or the heart, but that's not what they want. Be careful and protect your heart. You might end up getting hurt."
"Nice to know." I ran a hand through my hair. "Got it. Crown, heart, bed. Protect the second, try to avoid the third because it would just be wrong, and if she wants the first, get rid of her. And let me guess--have fun while I'm at it?"