"Well, how about it, Ashton?" Dad asked, frowning a bit into his coffee cup as I took in the question. The room was hushed, silently awaiting my answer to the unexpected turn of events. I was completely caught off guard. In an instant, my kid sister's joke had turned into something very, very real.

"I-I-" I stammered. What should I say? I didn't know if I was ready for this big of a commitment. But, all the same, I couldn't help but feel inclined to say yes, especially with Caroline's wide, hopeful eyes boring into me from across the table.

Caroline was seven, too little to really understand the enormity of what was going on. She was obsessed with her princess ball gowns, sparkly tiaras, and most importantly, Mom and Dad's love story. It certainly was one for the books: soon-to-be-Queen Eadlyn falls in love with the one boy not competing for her hand, Eikko. Even though Dad hadn't really been one of the Selected, Caroline dreamed that one day she'd have a Selection of her own where thirty-five boys would compete over her. Boys were still icky at her age, but imaginary boys? Well, Caroline couldn't help herself.

That's why, only a few seconds earlier, she'd been gushing about the Selection for the thousandth time, tugging on Lucy's arm and asking her why she hadn't had one to find a husband yet. Lucy was nineteen, the right age to have one, but she had a suitor from Swendway asking for her hand, and she wasn't about to turn him down. She was ready to ascend to the throne of Illea's constitutional monarchy, taking Mom's place as Queen sometime in her twenties, and the suitor from Swendway was a catch. She hadn't told me all the details- why would she tell her brother, after all? I'd only tease her. But I got the feeling that he was more than just 'a suitor,' and that Alexander and her might have been secretly seeing each other for longer than my parents were aware.

Lucy had gracefully shrugged Caroline's pestering off, reminding her that she wasn't exactly single, and quickly turned the attention to me to stop Caroline from sulking at the breakfast table- or, worse, throwing one of her tantrums that she hadn't quite grown out of yet, to the dismay of my parents.

"Ashton could have one, couldn't you Ash?" Lucy had laughed, winking at me. She took a bite of her pancakes delicately, ignoring my exasperated glance in her direction.

"Yeah, Ash!" Caroline shrieked, leaping off her seat to come tug on my arm, pulling me away from my own appealing stack of steaming, fresh off the griddle chocolate chip pancakes. "You have to have a Selection! That way I can meet your girlfriend before you do!" She collapsed in giggles, but my attention was torn away by a soft "Hmm." My head whipped around to see my mother, at one end of the table, thoughtfully suppressing a smile.

"That's not a bad idea," she mused, looking at me, and Caroline on my arm. "Ash, you're eighteen, and you've been moping about the palace long enough."

"Well, how about it Ash?" Dad asked, sipping from his coffee cup. I was flabbergasted. Wasn't all of this supposed to be a joke, us indulging Caroline's fantasies? But one look at Lucy's face showed me how serious the topic had suddenly become. She had a dreamy look on her face, like she was imagining my wedding already. I shook my head. My marriage wasn't an uncommon topic, being a prince, but I hadn't expected it to come so suddenly.

Caroline was waiting expectantly, like a puppy about to go on a walk. I could almost see her tail wagging in excitement. I pictured her meeting my future girlfriend. She'd probably force her to play with her dolls, and she'd practically- no, she'd all out beg to be the flower girl in the wedding. Of course, she would be. I'd do anything for Caroline. If I was to be married, she would be part of it.

Even without the drive to give Caroline what she wanted, I was taken aback by the silence of my brother Zaire. He was a couple years younger than me, fourteen, so I was expecting him to have some sarcastic comment about me dating, especially since he was just old enough to appreciate women himself, but he said nothing. He had his head down, munching quietly on a strip of bacon, smiling a little.

I looked around at my family. Most of us looked just like Mom, with brown hair, hazel eyes and almost olive skin tone, but Caroline had the look of the sun on her. With her bright blonde hair and sugary brown eyes, she stood out from the rest of us easily. Both of my parents were brunettes, but Mom once told me that Grandpa's hair was blonde before he went gray.

"I suppose," I said slowly, "that a Selection wouldn't be a bad idea."

It didn't even take a moment for the expectant look on Caroline's face to split into a wide grin and for the dining hall to be filled with her overjoyed shrieks. "Ash is getting a girlfriend!" she sang, dancing away from me and twirling around the room. Our table was at the front of the large hall, which was built for many more guests, but when it was just us, the rest of the tables were cleared away, leaving plenty of room for Caroline to run about in happiness.

Mom and Dad looked pleasantly surprised. I supposed they didn't know what sort of answer I'd give them, having sprung it on me without even planning anything in advance. But the loving look they shared as their first reaction, reminiscing in their younger days of the Eadlyn Schreave Selection, was enough to confirm I'd made the right choice. If they were happy with their Selection, then they obviously expected I'd find happiness in mine. And Grandma and Grandpa's Selection was even more legendary, but I couldn't tell my parents I knew that. Sometimes, I wondered if I knew more about how my grandparents got together than my mom. She'd always seemed so clueless when I mentioned a hint of a darker side to their romance that I'd gotten the impression they never told her.

"Of course, you know you can take your time," Mom insisted, coming to her senses. "Mine was so rushed, I wasn't at all prepared. We'll do background checks of all the entries before they're even in the baskets. That way we won't have any bad publicity for changing a name after it's been drawn…" She trailed off. I'd heard the story- not from Mom, of course. She never shared anything that wasn't about Dad from the Selection. I'd done my digging, though, and knew all about the two Selected that had created… an unsafe environment, all because they didn't do thorough background checks.

Dad was staring at Mom with a devoted smile on his face. I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered if he was there for anything but her. She was the firm parent, not him. It wasn't really surprising- without a country to rule over, being a strict parent was easy for her, and Dad was always a background kind of person. Still, I was waiting for his input.

"Sure," I told Mom. "Whatever you think is best."

"Ash is getting a girlfriend!" Caroline squealed again. "Lots of 'em!" She jumped back onto her chair, looking a little tired from her dancing around the room, and started eating again, stuffing a strawberry in her mouth along with another bite of pancake.

"I know we changed the rule about the Selected not being able to leave without permission when you were my age, but I think we should bring it back," I said, the idea springing to mind, though I'll admit I'd thought about it before, back when I'd thought Lucy might have a Selection of her own. Mom gasped. Lucy and Dad both looked up, just as surprised. For Grandpa's Selection, the girls weren't able to leave unless he explicitly dismissed them. For Mom's, anyone could leave if they wanted. They'd changed it for a multitude of reasons. I knew I would have to be careful if I changed it back. "I mean, Mom had that whole issue with Baden that could have been avoided if he had calmed down before leaving. And Grandma wouldn't have married Grandpa if he'd let her leave. She almost did, but he stopped her…" I trailed off, my cheeks heating up. It felt too weird to talk about this with my family. Sure, I'd known for years that my only chance at getting married to someone that wasn't a stuffy foreign royal was to have a Selection, and I knew it was a family tradition, but it was too awkward!

Caroline wasn't so bad, since she was too young to understand most of it. And Lucy was just like Dad- quiet and shy- so she wouldn't say much and wouldn't be nosy. But talking about your prospects at getting married with your parents? It was beyond uncomfortable. I was just waiting for Zaire to make some sort of joke, to make fun of me and embarrass me even further.

I lifted my head. Come to think of it, why was Zaire so quiet? He always had something sarcastic to say.

I cracked a smile when I realized he was only quiet because he was being sneaky. In the midst of my parents distraction, he'd slowly slid Dad's coffee cup over his seat and was taking his first few satisfied sips. He wasn't allowed to have coffee- the rule set by our parents was we had to be sixteen- but he'd had tastes now and then and knew what the caffeine would do, and ever since his first experience with a full cup, he'd tried everything to get at the bitter drink.

"We'll talk about that," Mom insisted sharply. I could tell she wanted to discuss this further, but not at breakfast.

"Hey!" Zaire cried. Dad had realized his cup was missing and snatched it back quickly. Zaire glared at him mockingly and took an aggressive bite of bacon. "I was drinking that," he joked, pretending to sulk.

Everyone at the table laughed except Caroline, who hadn't been paying attention. She was still staring at me, wide eyed and excited.

"I hope she's pretty," Caroline whispered.

I ducked my head. Though my family would never hear me admit it, secretly, I did too.