The Selection; a tradition my country held its pride on for over 100 years...

What a fucking joke.

When I think back to every single story father used to tell me and my brothers about it, all I can remember is staring out the window in sheer boredom. 35 eligible women, he said. 35 women and only one will win over your heart. He sounded like a bad romantic comedy movie staring a single hot actress with losers to fight over along with a pushy parent. Maybe the selection was just a remake of twilight.

My brothers didn't seem so repulsed by the thought. They sat at his knee, wide eyed, thinking of the 35 girls, all pretty, all submissive, all complete idiots. To them it was all fun and games and a chance to actually talk to a woman who wasn't just a maid. Being the oldest took the fun out of it for me.

Three. Three younger brothers. Kent, Kine, and Harry. 18, 17, and 16 all a single year apart. Expect for me. No I was a real handful and apparently my parents thought it better to wait till my third birthday to have another child. You see, my brothers were born with beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, perfect little faces of angels and temperaments matching all the same.

My hair was red. Not like a ginger, soft and orange in the sun. Mine was assaulting, red like blood and fire, eyes brown and dull like god had decided to make me look like the devil. He also decided I wasn't to be particularly smart like Kent or charming like Kine or innocent like Harry. No the three of them had their place in my father's heart, the three boys that our whole kingdom looked to. God let me take a back seat to it all, with one final curse.

Although I couldn't blame father for having higher expectations for his first born, the king had always been rather kind to me as well. But everything always had to be perfect. I had to smile, but not stay too quite. I had to answer the questions concisely and precisely. I had to be the heir that he would one day present as the king of his country.

I admired him. I truly did. I admired his generosity and care for the world around him but there was never any connection between us. I didn't even look like him or act like him. I wasn't even sure if I was his heir at all sometimes.

But mother was different. I still remember her soft hands caressing my hair, the mess that it was, singing her lovely little hims to me as my head rested on her lap.

"Isn't it lovely, all alone, heart of glass and mind of stone," she'd sing her angelic voice resonating in my ears as we sat in the forests together, her hand still caressing the locks of hair so peacefully, the sun shifting in the sky above us. The winds whispered to one another, carrying my mother's voice with them into the mountains.

All alone, we sat against the forest, no guards surrounding us, no watchful eyes asking for news of the queen and her prince. Our only company was the rustling leaves above, the slight whistle of air through the tree bark, and my mother's songs. I hold onto that memory every night of my life as I cannot fall asleep. I hold onto it when I can't convince myself that the world will every understand who I am. I hold onto my mother in my dreams still, because she is the only one who can ever know...

The selection may be what the country needs, what tradition calls for. And my brothers and I will go through it as we must for better or worse. And even if I refuse to let anyone in the world know me like my mother once did, I'll go through it, and I'll do it. I'll do it for my mother and the love she had for her country.

Today's the day, the day all 35 girls get drawn, the most wonderful and stupendous opportunity of our lives and a day of rejoice for the kingdom!

"Yeah, no, today wasn't a good day and this was only going to make it worse. For starters, I woke up an hour too late because the fucking sun decided not to be bright enough to wake me. Then I had to proceed to the breakfast table (which I usually tend to avoid because that would require talking to the asshats in my family) only to be cornered by noble shit heads who wouldn't stop asking me about the selection which hasn't. even. begun. yet. They also ate all the toast which I don't even know how its possible that the kitchen ran out of fucking bread.

"It's bread.

"Come on.

"I knew I should've refused to do this stupid charade. My brothers are excited as hell because for some reason I got to convince my dad to let the three idiots take a shot at the the 35 girls too. Sure it makes things a little complicated with eliminations and shit, but at least it takes some of the attention away from me being awkward in front of the entire kingdom.

"The rest of the day was spent with my dad trying to convince me to cut my hair and dye it a little lighter so it wouldn't "assault the eyes so much" what a great guy, I mean really.

"Keeping my hair the same as always, I mustered the courage to get up in front of the cameras.

Standing in front of a podium with millions of people watching either on TV or in front of the castle, all I can think about is the morning and how fucking miserable it was and how I couldn't eat any bread.

"Kado," Harry whispered, standing next to me as he elbowed my side. Caught off guard, I looked down at him in question.

"I think this is the part where you come in," He whispered, his light blue hair smoked with silver dangled over his even bluer eyes. He really was a cute little boy, always so gentle voiced like our mother. Girls saw him more like a puppy than a man, although at 16 he could stand to eat a bit more and maybe spend some time working out or something.

"Right," I said, thinning my lips into a straight line before continuing.

"And now the candidates for the selection."

Being the oldest was fun don't get me wrong. I got to boss basically everyone around since I was the heir. I was also the biggest which came in handy when I wanted something one of my brothers had "accidentally" taken from my room. But sometimes it sucked. I had to do all the public speaking, be first in the interviews, work with dad in his office, and be aware of everything at all times.

Oh ya and I had to read the stupid names.

"Kasia Lionheart," Suddenly the image of a thin, tall girl with a perfect face appeared in my mind, and I couldn't have been more bored with it. At least my hopes that the names would be at least a little bit original were not disappointed. But after a few, the names all started to blend together and suddenly I found myself reciting, pausing, reciting, pausing, forgetting what I was doing in the first place.

"Beatrix Hunting," It was only at the eleventh name that I realized the pictures of all the girls were appearing on the screen above me.

"Wow," I heard Harry whisper as he looked back at one of the younger girls. She was quite beautiful he wasn't wrong, but something in her eyes told me she was looking for more than someone to love in a prince.

"Fawn Triber,"

"Ter Roivena," Oh great a Russian.

31 down. Four to go

"Yuiani Caliber,"

"three,

"Verinici Wales,"

two,

"Katheryn June,"

one.

"Pena," The last girl did not have a last name, ironically. I shifted on my feet slightly at the name, a familiarity ringing in its midst.

Pena, like the name of a temptress in a play I was sure I'd read before.

"Thank you to all the women and girls who participated in the drawing and welcome to the lucky 35. I think I can speak for my brothers, when I say we are all very pleased to have you here," Putting the papers down, I glanced down at Harry his large smile and waves at the crowd hiding the excitement in him. I couldn't help but crook a corner of my mouth as I watched him struggle to keep himself under control. He would've been jumping around in private.

Kent and Kine stood much more composed, smiling only the slightest bit and waving at the crowd gone mad with applause.

Yes. They were happy too. It seemed the entire world was happy in that moment.

The selected, newly thrilled at the prospect of husbands and princes and castles.

My brothers, looking forward to new faces, new experiences they longed for.

The country, simply happy to finally have a distraction from the wars that plagued our kingdom.

Me. I think I could be happy. Just for the sake of it, I look up at the sky for a moment without tilting my head. Silently I ask mother, hoping her answers will be carried back in the forest's winds.

"What!? That's not fair!" I literally never thought I could get so annoyed by a single person in my life until the selection began.

Father had laid out all 35 profiles on the common room table before us, urging us to know as much as possible about possible candidates. Kent, Kine, Harry, and I were all sorting through, going through the applications, health records, school records, resumes, etc. With every app I felt less and less like these girls were people, and more and more like business proposals to choose from. Granted it was hard to focus when Kine kept whining.

"How come we all pick from the same pool?" He asked, seeming spoiled as ever.

"He's right father, it would be more logical if we restricted each girl to us by age," the smart ass agreed with the brat. That was a rare occasion.

"If you would have me take every seventeen year old and match it up with you, Kine, every eighteen year old and match them up with you Kent, which by the way is the majority of the women, there would be less ten girls left for Kado and Harry," Harry's eyes peaked up from behind one of the applications as he heard his name. I let out a humored breath at his childish nature.

"Dad, I'm just saying that if we get the same shot at every girl, they're all gonna go after Kado." Taking my glasses off, I threw down the app I had been pretending to read and rocked by chair back on two of its four legs.

"Hm?" I questioned, perhaps a tad pretentiously. Kine rolled his eyes and began pacing like he did.

"He's the heir, he's the oldest, and he's the tallest which means if they marry him they become the queen." Kent said, side eyeing me judgmentally.

"What does height have to do with it?" Harry questioned, allowing me to laugh once more.

"Kado," Father warned, his hands resting on the table as he put his weight on his shoulders.

"Get your feet off the table and if you don't put your chair down properly I will knock you right out of it," Putting my hands up in defeat, I obeyed, winking at Harry as I hyper arched my back to seem all the more kingly in a mocking sort of way. Harry had to try and keep himself from giggling.

"Kent, my boy," father began, a signal of a long speech coming down over the horizon.

"If these girls are worth marrying, they will show interest in whoever shows them kindness," I swear to god it was like he was reading from a teenage girl's romance novel.

"As long as you respect them, give them the attention they deserve, and treat them as ladies, I am sure they will treat all of you as the eligible bachelors that you are,"

"I don't think attention is what they're after," I said without thinking, flipping a coin to exercise my point.

"What do you mean?" Kine asked, looking at one of the brunnetes' pictures.

"Well dear brother," I said, flipping the coin again.

"Kado please don't start," father said, rather pleading with me.

"You see women are very intelligent creatures," for the most part

"Kado," my father sighed, his hand rubbing his temples.

"and they are geared to want two things, husbands to show off to their friends and money to have more things to buy than their friends," The look on Kine's face looked disgusted, fearful, but in a hysterical sort of way.

"that point of view is appallingly sexist." Kent argued, the app in his hands folding as he turned to face me.

"Kado, if there was a woman in the room I'd make you get your knees to apologize to her," Father agreed.

"Well that's ironic. I thought the getting on the knees was the woman's part," I'm sorry but he was just asking for it phrasing his sentence like that.

"One more word out of you and you won't come out of your room till your next birthday," I smirked, picking up another application randomly from the pile to try and keep my mouth shut.

"Are you kidding? He hates all this. That would be a gift," Perhaps Kent knew me better than I gave him credit for.

"Read. Analyze. I don't want the four of you out of this room till you can recite every girl's name and favorite piece of music by heart." Okay now he was just being ridiculous.

"I have some matters to tend to." the almost fully grey haired king looked back at me, nodding his head because we both knew of the "matters" he had to deal with.

The wars were getting worse and worse, father spending more and more time in his office and on the phone with generals and politicians. I tried not to think about it too much, but nonetheless I kept getting reminded that those would be my wars at some point.

"Hey Kado, look at this one. She has hair like you," Kine handed me an app, pointing to a girl with orange hair and a cute smile.

"Beatrix" I said aloud, placing my glasses down on my nose to read her file.

"No, no, she's a ginger. Kado isn't a ginger," Kent wagged his finger at his younger counterpart.

"He is too! Look at that mess on his head!" Kine pointed with both his hands in exclamation.

"No no no, his hair is red, red!" he said, putting emphasis as he tugged a pull fist of my hair to show him.

"You know as much as I'm enjoying this debate of yours, I'd rather you had it not within ear shot and not within grabbing distance," I said, grabbing Kent's hand off my head as they chuckled.

"It's just as well, she's too young for me anyway," I said, throwing the papers up at Kine's head as he caught it in front of his face.

"Here," Harry said, lightly, handing me an app I hadn't seen yet.

"She should be old enough for you," Harry was like mom more than with his softness. My mouth drew up, this time in a real, thankful smile.

"Thank you Harry,"

Pena. The temptress from the play.

"She's an orphan," Kent said over my shoulder, looking at her lack of last name.

"She's... really pretty" Kine said, staring at the picture.

"Eh, I mean they all are,"

"No they aren't!" In the background, Kent and Kine went back to arguing as I searched the girl for a moment.

19, blue eyed, tall like me. She was smiling, but barely, not like the other girls who were smiling so wide it gave up how fake most of them were. Yet in the same time, there was a hidden emotion lurking in the way her face tilted slightly away from the camera. She was eye-catching yes, refined in a european sense of beauty.

Pena.

Her name held a place on my tongue even without being spoken, I felt as though I'd said it before, long ago, in another life it seems.

Taking off my glasses, I look into her eyes once more, hoping to find something that leads me to the truth about her.

In them I cannot see a thing.

Perhaps father was right and it is right for us to get to know these women by heart. Already I can tell so much about Pena from just her picture.

The temptress from my play, the blue-eyed girl who could hide everything behind that barely perceptible smile.

The sun lights the sky so kindly, softly passing from cloud to cloud, reminding us of his presence in that subtle way. Every now and then I felt the need to look to the windows at the constantly changing light, taking it all in, fearful of what to come next.

I may have joked about the selection constantly, poking fun at the women and avoiding every opportunity to talk seriously of my interests in them. I left those opportunities for Harry and Kine, even Kent who showed slight hope that he might meet the love of his life, or at least a girl to make him happy. Those boys were in for a rude awakening.

All four of us stood by one another in the throne room, my father sitting in his crown behind us as we awaited the arrival of all thirty-five girls. The floors were always clean, but today the marble looked polished, new even, the smell acrid with bleach and perfumes that blinded the senses.

Matching the stringently grey and gold room, Kent stood beside me, his suit newly pressed, giving him a put together look for once. He chose not to wear his usual bluish, youthful colors. Perhaps threatened by being the second oldest, he tried to over compensate by dressing to old for his age.

On my other side, Kine wore simple black colors like me. The middle child had always been quite humble, a bit defensive, but humble nonetheless. Sometimes that betrayed him, people thinking him uncultured and unrefined like Kent.

"Relax, okay?" I urged Kine, watching him fidget with his hands as his eyes drifted to every corner of the room. I don't think I'd ever seen him even talk to a girl.

"Hm? I'm fine," he lied, exhaling so loudly Kent furrowed his brows competitively.

"Remind me what the age range is." Father asked us. I peaked back at him over my shoulder. He was reading some papers, themany short lines and code conversions telling me the codes from the dispatched armies had finally come in. I was eager to get at them, take some of the load off his back.

"15 to 20 years," Kent recited, a living textbook at times.
"Hm and the regions?"

"All except the Barren and the far Eastern," jesus, shut up.

"Thirty seconds to live!" the media manager reminded us, directing the cameras, my brothers and I straightening at the sound.

"Deep breath boys," my father reminded, patting Kent on the back before disappearing into the crowd of camera operatives, directors, media managers, and everyone else in charge of making us presentable.

Harry smiled coyly, Kine's hands still fumbled, and Kent let his face become strictly monotone.
Oh yeah, this was going to work alright.

Some announcements came onto the screen, reality news anchors showing beguiled joy in the coming moments. If father thought my hair was obnoxious he should've seen the silver rat's nest on that woman's head.

"And now," suddenly caught off guard, the name of a girl was spoken and the cameras spun to face us. I heard Kine's finally loud exhale and had to sigh myself.
From whatever region she came, the doors opened to a single girl standing in the midst of an empty hall, a puffy dress of vibrant colors wrapping around her.

"Kasia Lionheart," the presenter's voice said with such grandeur, as if she was already a royal.
The young girl's face had a nervous smile. Her darker skin gleamed in the light, bright brown eyes looking up at Harry as she curtsied before him.
"Welcome Miss Lionheart," Harry said almost inaudibly and her smile widened at the sound of his voice.

"Welcome," Kine said, taking her hand and kissing her knuckle as she blushed.

"Thank you my prince," she squeaked, moving along to Kent who simply gave her a kind smile and a welcome to the palace my lady.

Then she got to me, looking up. She couldn't have been more than 5,4 or 5, at the very least a foot shorter than I was.
"My prince," she curtsied to me.
"It's an honor to meet you all," still she looked up at me, awaiting words to escape my lips. In her eyes, I didn't see anything malicious, but I could see right through her mousey exterior. Men find vulnerability and innocence appealing. That girl had been raised to find a husband. I remembered reading her file. It was impeccable, but seeing her in person I could see everything she wished to hide. She was manipulative and it showed in the way she moved. Already Harry seemed to be her target, her eyes tactfully meeting with his at every opportunity. At 16, it's hard not to be smitten with the first girl you meet who has the possibility to become yours.
First husband hunter in my sights and I made a mental note to remember her.

So I said nothing.

Pleasing the cameras in the least, I gave her a single smile. When she extended her hand for me to kiss, I stared down at it and replied, "It's an honor indeed Miss Lionheart. Now we have other ladies to attend to,"

With that, she seemed offended, but soon played it off with a little laugh.
"Right of course. It was a pleasure my princes. I hope to get to know all of you better," her eyes darted to Harry and I growled internally.

There's 34 others. He's bound to like one that isn't as transparent as her.

As the next girl walked down to us I couldn't help but think how much more efficiently this could be run. We could each meet 6 or 7 girls and be done with it. Or meet 4 at a time or something.

"Beatrix Hunting," The red or not red haired girl. Kine and Kent flicked each other behind my back annoyingly. Out of reflex, I reached back at both their wrists and pulled them down to their side, giving them each an authoritative frown.

And those idiots made me do it in front of the whole country after only two minutes of being on air.

"He started it-

"Shut up!" I whispered through gritted teeth.

"Hello my princes, it's an honor, truly. I am Beatrix, but most people call my Trixxy, but you can call me what you'd like of course," Oh great a chatty one. She curtsied.

"Hello Beatrix, I am Kent the second eldest, this Kine, Harry, and the eldest Kado." Trixxy batted her eyelashes so hard she could've blown out the candles. She smiled breathlessly, licking her lips to continue.
"You don't look very much alike, but you're all very handsome- oh did I say that out loud I'm sorry, I can be so silly sometimes," It was a physical struggle not to roll my eyes.

"Haha, welcome Trixxy. Please make yourself at home we'll see you shortly." Kine took to this one, her charm lighting up his face.

As Trixxy shimmied her way to the women's parlor, I looked to Kent exasperated.

"How many more?"

"We've only seen two," he whispered, making me want to tear my hair out.

"I may kill myself tonight. Whoever finds my body please tell dad its his fault,"

"Don't joke like that when we're on tv please." Kent gently reminded me, knowing there was no microphones within ear shot. Although to think of it, my face probably gave away the disgust.
"I'm not cut out for girls," I said, rubbing the back of my head.
"Would 35 boys be more to liking?" Kent smirked.

"You'll pay for that comment little brother," He hated when I called him that.

"Shush all of you! You're ruining this!" Harry interjected, quieting us all. You know for the littlest brother he always seemed to be the one who was able to make us do things.

After thirty three girls had come and gone, I was sure my head would explode if i heard the phrase, "It's an honor to meet you" one more bloody time.

"Katherine June," A girl with olive skin and bright green eyes walked through the room, her hair a light brown matching her skin perfectly. Her face held a certain elegance, the bridge of her nose thin, her cheek bones lined with a v jaw.

"Good evening my princes," It's an honor to meet you all.

"You're much taller than you appear in the newscasts." hmm. Perhaps these girls weren't all determined to give me a migraine.

"We get that a lot," Kent chuckled. The girl's smile wasn't all be it annoying, actually seeming genuine. My only hope was that she wouldn't ruin it in the next thirty seconds.
"I'm sorry i didn't mean to offend. You're all very handsome too if that helps," and there it was.

"Thank you Miss June," Harry voiced himself, feeling unnoticed.

"It's my pleasure. Thank you for inviting me into your home."

"It's a pleasure to have you here," Kine chimed in.

"Well, I like to think I can think I can give these girls some real competition. Let's hope I prove myself right," she winked, not even curtsying as she left the room.

"Finally," I sighed. Finally done.

"Hold your horses Kado,"

"Hm?"

"Well if you'd learned how to count," Kent grabbed my arm to pull me back up the step and into line.

"Pena of the Barren Isles," The announcer called.

I felt panic stir in me. All the sudden, i felt my mouth dry up and my blood tumble through my veins. Shooting my eyes to Kent in anger I practically growled at him, "you said there was no one from the Barrens."

Kent seemed just as surprised as me.

"That's what father told me. I had no idea." He promised, not understanding my anger.

Looking to the door, a woman stepped into the room from the hall. It took me a moment to focus on her, but when I did the panic in me only enticed.

Her eyes caught me, blue in the purest sense of the word, not a river or a crystal, but as cliche as it sounds an ocean. So bright in lures you in, yet so dark in the deep it seems impossible to see. As she got closer, I saw the flecks of darkness in her irises, like shipwrecks tarnishing the perfect sea.

Her skin was blemished in certain areas, covered in what seemed like rubs or rashes perhaps scars. I couldn't really decide whether it was tan or light, rather somewhere in between like the sun who couldn't decide if it was a bright day or not.

My eyes drew up her legs covered in pants rather than a dress. I remembered her almost empty file. A girl from the Barrens couldn't possibly have money for a dress.
Her hair was a flaxen color like ripe hay, straightened and tied up in a ponytail reaching to her lower back.

What caught me the most was her face, how its familiarity seemed to bloom when she was standing right in front of me.

"Your majesties," she spoke with the slightest hint of an accent, her ts and os uneasily pronounced. She bowed like a boy uncultured in the ways of royals, her hair moving with her, two little untamed curls framing her face.
"Hello Pena, welcome to-

"Are you really from the Barrens?" I interrupted Kent, knowing his welcome wasn't going to be short. And I wanted this thing to end as quickly as possible.
Kent frowned up at me, not because I interrupted him, but because she was the first woman I even opened my mouth to.

"Yes, I grew up there." she answered, forgetting the "my prince" at the end of her sentence.

"Excuse my brother," Kent spoke for me.
"It truly doesn't matter from where in Illea you are from-

"I would hardly call the Barrens part of Illea,"

"Kado." Kine tried to scold me.

The girl looked slightly up at me, tall herself, enough to be only a few inches shorter than I was. She did that thing I hated, a small smile that only curved the edges of her lips so I couldn't tell what she was thinking. With a laughy breath she responded to me, "A hundred years ago your ancestors didn't call the Barrens part of Illea either, may I remind you." Kent smiled at her, liking her knowledge the second he heard it.

"That is until they conquered it." there was such a defiance in her stare.

I stood there for a moment, taking in what she had said with a kind of shock in me. In the back of my head, I still tried to place her, the familiarity in her face driving me mad.

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude aren't I?" she said, bowing to my brothers as they introduced themselves.

She skipped over me, shaking Kine's hand as if it was what she was supposed to do.
"It was nice to meet you Pena," Kent smiled down at her.

"I'm sorry I didn't have the proper attire as the other women," she excused herself, looking down at her clothing. Perhaps she wanted money like some of the others.

"It's alright, we'll provide whatever you need," Kent assured her.

"It was nice to meet you," she said, bowing her head one last time and placing her hands behind her back.

"Not an honor?" I asked, wanting to hear her voice again just to place her. It was going to drive me mad.

"I haven't decided yet," she smirked slightly, those hidden intentions peeking out the door before slamming them again.

"Like I said, it was nice to meet you all." she tried walking away, but I turned and called back to her, "Yes," catching her attention.

"Although I can't help but shake the feeling that we've met before," it wasn't until her ocean eyes stared into mine from over her shoulder that I clenched my fists, the panic spreading to every muscle in me.
"No I'm sorry," she smiled that smile, turning around and walking away into the woman's parlor.

"If we had, I don't think I'd forget that hair,"

My panic receded as her footsteps became out of hearing distance.

Kine laughed hysterically as the cameras got off of us and onto our father for his thoughts on the ladies.

"Maybe she should wear your crown and she should get you the dress," He chuckled, my still clenched fist punching him lightly in the gut as he walked past me.

This girl didn't want a crown. Or at least that's not what I saw in her.

That's what frightened me.

I couldn't tell what she wanted.