Disclaimer: I do not own anything form the Selection Trilogy.
Chapter One: The Queen's Assignment
"Lady America, it is time to get up! The Queen wishes to see all of the Elite in the Women's Room.". Anne, seeing that I had no intention of acknowledging the rest of the world any time soon, grabbed my elbows and hoisted me from my bed, despite my disapproving groans. "I am sorry Miss, but I would hate for you to stand up the Queen.", I snapped out of my daze, reminding myself that only yesterday I was supposed to leave. Glancing at my clock, I saw it was just past 7:00 in the morning. The girls slipped my into the most magnificent dress I had ever seen. "Oh my…I don't know what to say!". It was a deep blue, floor length gown with lace embroidering the bottom part of the dress, but the top had a sweetheart neckline with transparent blue sleeves that ran from my neck to my elbows. "Win or lose, you are our princess.", whispered Lucy looking at me through the mirror. Tears welled up in my eyes, after a round of hugging, and a final thank-you I headed downstairs.
Elise was the only girl in the room so we chatted until everyone else arrived. "You have four brothers and sisters?!", Elise gawked. "I am only child." she explained. We continue to brief one another about our families, then moved into the topic of what we wanted to do as queen. "I want to obviously diminish the tensions between Illea and New Asia" I nodded expecting that. " I want to do more than that though. I don't know what it could be but I want to make a difference. Do you know what I mean?" I nodded again with a new respect for Elise. "I do, if I become queen I want to bring us together as a country. I think that if we more than tolerated but understood people from different castes in the country, there would be a respect and loyalty that would allow us to fight for one another, not just for ourselves. If we work together as a nation we could beat the rebels and anyone else that tries to fight us. I used to think that it was every man for themself, but Queen Amberly was a Four, and once the people knew and understood her they made her queen, imagine if we all had a chance to be heard." I realized I had been talking for quite a few minutes and looked up sheepishly at Elise, when I met her gaze her expression, though surprising, was clear; awe.
"My goodness America, that was quite a moving speech!" my head whipped around to see Queen Amberly, Kriss, and Celeste all appearing to have been affected the same way Elise had. Kriss just smiled knowingly at me, in that moment I knew that even if she was my toughest competition, she was still pulling for me as a 2nd, as I was pulling for her. Celeste tried to hide it by acting nonchalant, but she had not masked her emotions quick enough; I could tell she was as impressed as the rest of them. Elise, who was still staring at me, remained silent. "Thank you your Majesty I hadn't realized you were there." She just smiled at me in a thoughtful way, as if she was deciding something.
We all ate breakfast together in the Women's Room, everyone talked and laughed and by noon we all had been sufficiently fed and we sat on the couches. "Ladies I am sure you are wondering why I summoned you here. Well I won't keep you in suspense, I know from your most recent presentations what you would like to do with the country," I averted my eyes from her, and when I looked up I wished I hadn't; Celeste had on a smug smile. I didn't realize why Queen Amberly stopped so abruptly, so I hesitantly took a peek at her face she was staring straight at Celeste, who still hadn't noticed. When she did, the smirk vanished instantly as did all of the blood from her face. "Celeste, you look pale. Are you feeling alright?" Queen Amberly asked all to innocently. I saw Kriss cover a smile with her hand, it took all I had to keep from giving Celeste the same look of contempt she gave me moments before. "No I'm fine your Majesty." she whispered. "As I was saying, I want you each to pick a country that Illea is striving to ally with and come up with an idea to bring us together. You have a week from tomorrow to both prepare and present your idea to Maxon, the King, and I, and the other girls. If you become the new princess, you and Maxon will travel to that country and initiate your idea. Now ladies if you excuse me, I have other business to tend to." I was the next to leave, wanting to waste no time on my project, but first I needed some help from my dear friend Princess Nicoletta.
As I walked into the hallway I was surprised to find Queen Amberly outside the door. "Oh good I was hoping you would come out first." She gave no more of an explanation, but she looked at me hesitantly. Whatever the predicament, she seemed to come to a conclusion. She gave me a warm smile then tugged her earlobe then hurried away. I was taken aback, but relieved at the idea that Maxon told her. I still didn't let my overwhelming joy faze me, I needed to focus! There was a lot to be done in eight days. The following morning I called Princess Nicoletta to let her in on my plan, she was ecstatic about the whole thing. She reiterated her and her country's support behind me, and promised to not only cooperate but contribute to my project. With Silvia's help I learned all about the Italian culture and what they valued most in their society. By the time I had finished it was just beginning to get dark. I made my way back to my room eager to inform my maids of all the exciting things I had planned, but instead I was met with a note from Queen Amberly inviting me to dinner. It said that an Officer would bring me to the location at 6:30. It was 5:00 now, and I knew what a long day it had been for my maids so I decided to get ready myself. I put on a flowing rose pink dress and played the violin until I heard the knock from the Officer. I hoped it would be Aspen, but it was the Officer who found Maxon and I in the secret room after the attacks yesterday. "Lady America, you look lovely.", I smiled and followed him down the hall. I couldn't believe it we were walking up the steps to the third floor! That was the royal family's floor.