Chapter 1

Alexander's pov

Alexander awoke from his slumber in different room in the palace than he had fallen asleep to in. Lately Alex had been sleepwalking places when he found sleep. This time, he woke up in the library on the second floor.

Alexander stood up from the arm chair he was in, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He knew it was going to be another long day, another day of being the crown prince.

Alexander walked into the hallway and saw many staff members hurrying to and from places. He wondered why the second floor was so busy at six in the morning. When realization hit Alex, he wished he could crawl back into the library and get some more sleep.

Today was the day that Alexander's selection would be announced live to all of Illea on the capital Report. Maids and butlers ran from room to room assembling furniture, beds, setting up decor, and painting walls. The official count down until the thirty five girls came started now.

All his life, Alex had been preparing for the day his selection would come. When his father, King Tiberius, suggested Alexander have a selection he was ecstatic. Now though, things are different. Ever since fifteen days ago when the rebels invaded the palace once again, things had been different.

It was a regular Thursday in the palace. The Royal family had just finished breakfast and we're getting started on the tasks they had planned. Queen Genevieve headed to the women's room with Princess Lillian to discuss the matters of Alex's selection and Lillian's soon to be baby's nursery. King Tiberius and his two eldest sons, Prince Adam and Alexander, were on their way to a war council meeting dealing with trade issues between Swendway and Italy. Prince Justin and Prince Max were headed out to the stables where Justin was teaching Max to ride a horse.

All was well in the castle until the blaring alarm went off. "Rebels!" The King had spit at no one in particular. "We need to get to the safe room." The King was usually a calm and collected person, that was, unless someone was threatening the safety of his family.

Alexander, Adam, and the King all took off in sprints towards the nearest secret passage to the safe room. Guards trailed in front and behind them to ensure the safety of the monarchy. They reached the entry door and the King stepped inside to the descent of stairs. Adam and Alexander were about to follow when one of the guards called, "your highness wait," the guard was panting and out of breath. "It's prince Max. He's outside, he'll never make it in time before the rebels get him."

At the mention of Adam's six year old son, he started to sprint outside towards the stables with the heavily breathing guard behind. Alexander went down into the safe room to inform his family of his brother and nephews whereabouts, but when Alex reached the safe room, he saw Max curled up and afraid on his mothers lap.

"Where's Adam?" Lily asked in hushed tones and she smoothed Max's black curls down. Alexander has no hesitation as he spoke. "He went out towards the stables looking for Max."

Lily's eyes grew wide as she realized it was a trick. "The rebels must have stolen a guards uniform and lied to my husband. We have to send someone to help him." Lily was on the verge of tears and she cradled Max in her lap.

"No." Tiberius shouted. "We can't risk losing anyone else in this family. We have all of the guards that are on duty outside this room protecting us, I'm sure Adam's fine." The King had the guards lock the safe room and that was the last time they all saw Adam.

After the rebel attack, Alexander went looking for his brother. Alex hadn't expected to find him so easily, and he hadn't expected to find him not breathing either. Written in blood was a message that would haunt Alex for a long time. 'The monarchies shall die one by one until none are left. Alexander is next.'

Alexander's selection had been moved up after that, as he was now the crown prince. Alex tried to argue with his father claiming that Max should be the next king since he was Adam's son. The King, however, stated that since Adam was never King, Max couldn't be the Royal heir.

Alexander was thrown into a new job, and then found out that he couldn't just choose a wife, he had to choose a queen to rule by his side also.

Just thinking about Adam's death made Alexander furious. He walked back up to the third floor, back to his room, where he took off the suit and tie he had been wearing from yesterday. Alex had fallen asleep trying to get work done and hadn't had time to change into pajamas.

He put on a black shirt and tie, with black pants, and matching shoes. He decided not to put a jacket on over the suit shirt since it was long sleeved anyways.

Alex trudged down to the dining hall where his family sat, matching in black apparel, eating their breakfasts. Tiberius read the morning paper about the provinces and rebellion in the castes, nothing new to him since he was King after all. Tiberius was a good King, but had to rule at a bad time. Italy and Swendway were constantly feuding and were leaning towards a war. New Asia's Alliances laid with Swendway and they were fully prepared to back them up in war. The German Federation took Italy's side as Swendway was an enemy of theirs. Illea so far was neutral and stayed out of the matter, but it was only an amount of time before they would get dragged down into it.

Tiberius's father had also contributed to Tiberius's bad time of rule. His father was a foolish man who had dragged Illea into a debt that Tiberius had finally paid off, but the lower castes were rebelling. To appease them, Tiberius had made Adam keep six lower caste girls in his elite. One of them happened to be Lily, and she and Adam actually fell in love. This satisfied the lower castes for a time, but now they've been coming back even stronger.

As Alex walked into the room and took his seat across from his brother, Justin, he saw that the only person who looked like they actually wanted to live in the palace was Max. He didn't quite understand that his father had died, even though his mom had tried to explain it to him many different times. He just thought his father was away in another country for a while. Sometimes Max would ask when Adam was coming back, and Alex could see the heartbreak on Lily's face as she answered him, "he isn't, baby. I thought I explained it to you already, daddy can't come back. He's in a better place now, he's with God, honey."

After breakfast came a long day of meetings and talk of the long awaited selection. The highlight of Alex's day was getting to go to his room before the report to freshen up.

He was finally alone. No one to compare him to Adam or remind him of the girls that were coming in a week. No one to talk to him and give him migraines, at least, that was until Alex had to go downstairs to the studio and announce his worst nightmare on live television.

Simon Walker bounded out from backstage when the light turned red to let Alex know the cameras were rolling. Simon oozed energy from his voice and tried to put his heart into announcing the dire situation the country was in.

Alexander tuned out the report. He knew everything that would be said on it anyways, and he didn't feel like listening to his father give an update about the almost war that was happening.

Alex sat and stared at the wall in the back. His stomach felt better when he didn't focus on the millions of people who were watching, or the lights that were blinding him. He stared at the wall until one sentence in particular caught his attention.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," Simon announced as if it was a surprise for Illea to guess at. "Prince Alexander has an important announcement he'd like to make."The cameras were focused on him, all of Illea was watching with bated breath.

Alex exhaled to calm himself and began to say the speech he'd prepared earlier in the budget meeting. "As some of you may know, my nineteenth birthday has come an gone. I am eligible to have a selection if I so choose. I know it's what my brother would've wanted and I know it's you want Illea, so next week thirty five girls will be coming to live here and be guests in my home until I can find the right girl to become my wife and the future queen of Illea. The letters have been have sent out and many girls should have already received them."

The crowd erupted into cheers and all Alex could hope was that he'd really be able to find his wife in a group of thirty five strangers.

Hey, so first of all, thanks for reading my story. Please leave a review and follow and favorite this story. Yes this is going to be an SYOC, but I'll only be accepting twenty girls. I have to do an elimination so that's why I only want twenty girls because then then won't get eliminated first. The form will be on my profile. I suggest you look at it and please, please, please send me a character, I would really appreciate it.

-Jess