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"No way!" I manage to choke out as I laughed.

"Yes! She ate the whole thing before anyone could stop her!" Emily giggled and shook her head.

I smirked at her once we arrived at her door. "Thank you for the lovely evening, Emily, and for the hilarious story. It's been a long time since I've laughed that hard."

"Thank you for spending time with me." she smiled as she opened her door and stepped over the threshold.

I began to walk away but Emily gently tugged on my arm. I turned back to ask what she needed but wasn't able to say anything because her lips were pressed gently against my own.

She pulled away before I could react, whispered a soft "good night" and closed the door.

I gaped at the door for a minute before composing myself and walking away.

My mind reeled as I thought of the kiss. She was the second girl that I had ever kissed and I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about it.

Emily was a beautiful young woman but I didn't know her as well as I would like to. She was funny and easy to talk to but I didn't know any of the important detail about her or about her family.

Resolved, I decided to invite the girl's families to the palace so that I could meet them. Hopefully I would be able to learn more about all of the girls by meeting their parents and siblings.

It had officially been a month since my mother's past had been revealed and I had talked to both of my parents to clarify a few things. We had all been frustrated at first and screamed at each other, them about my unfair judgment of my mom's past and me about the enormous omission of truth. Eventually, we had all calmed down and exchanged genuine "I love you's" and cleared the air of any misconceptions we had.

My mom actually had believed that I hated her for her past. I quickly told her that it wasn't her past which upset me, just that they had kept it a secret for so long.

We both ended up apologizing and we all hugged by the end of the conversation.

I'd confessed my thoughts about love to my parents and they both said that they were proud that I was taking the competition seriously enough to realize that my feelings for Grace weren't what I once thought they were.

I still had to talk to Grace; I had been avoiding her for too long. Resolved, I started walking toward Grace's room to ask her on a date so that we could talk.

"What do you mean your feelings have changed? People don't just stop being in love over night! Have you been lying to me this whole time?" Grace screamed as tears ran down her face.

"You aren't listening to what I'm saying, Grace. Now please quite down, I don't need my personal relationship with you to be gossiped about tomorrow because the whole castle can hear you screaming." I said quietly but firmly, hoping that she would calm down slightly.

"My feelings haven't necessarily changed," I explained, "but I have changed as a person and what I want in a wife has changed, Grace. I thought I was in love with you, but I now realize that we don't really know each other that well, I don't even know anything about your family, much less what your likes and dislikes are. I know that we have good chemistry but at the same time I just don't know you like I thought I did. I want more out of our relationship than just physical attraction. I feel like if we took a few steps back and got to really know each other that we could work, that I could learn to truly love you like you deserve."

"So you're throwing away all the years we spent together, like they were nothing?" she seethed in a still too-loud voice.

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed in frustration. "No, Grace. I'm not saying that those years mean nothing; I'm saying that they don't mean enough for it to be called love. We were young, Grace, and we were exploring new feelings and sensations with each other but we really never sat down and just talked once you got out of the hospital. We were always kissing and touching and finding quiet corners to avoid the guards and my parents. I want to try building a relationship with you without all of the physical aspects so that we can learn more about each other."

"What," she asked quietly, "is it exactly that you don't know about me, Damon? I know everything about you and we've talked countless times. Sure, we got carried away sometimes but that doesn't mean that we never learned about each other."

I gritted my teeth. "What do I do in my free time?"

"Excuse me?"

"What," I said slowly, "do I do in my free time? What are my hobbies? Who is the person I talk to and confide in the most outside of my family?"

"Umm, you run the kingdom with your father in your free time. You like painting and I'm the person you're closest to, silly." she said confidently.

I shook my head, "Wrong. I do run the kingdom with my father but I also train with Justice – my closest friend who I consider family but who isn't related to me by blood at all – and I despise painting, I cannot draw a straight line without a ruler. I like to train with the soldiers and I like to take pictures, I love playing the piano while my mother sings and I love spending time with my siblings. I love messing around with my mom in the kitchen and taking a walk around the grounds with my dad. But most of all I love simply spending time with my family, even if that mean just sitting together for a quiet dinner.

"Do you see what I mean now? We don't really know each other; we know only the most generic things. I know that you like chocolate because the one time I brought you some you practically shoved the whole bar into your mouth after the first taste. But I don't know much else beyond that. I really do want to get to know you better, but you'll have to accept that you won't necessarily be a priority anymore. We will have to date according to the expectations of the Selection and I will go on dates with you, but I will also be dating the other women in this competition and I may grow fond of some of them. I may not choose you either but I really want to try to make things work between us, Grace."

She sniffled and eventually she broke down in sobs. I pulled her to me but she fought me off and I let her go. I simply stood and waited for her to say something while ignoring my desire to comfort her.

"I-I can't do this, D-Damon. The thought of you with other girls is j-just going to k-k-kill me." She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I don't want to be eliminated yet, but I really don't know if I can accept the fact that you no longer want me. I need time to think about this. Those years we spent together might not hold much significance to you any longer, Damon, but they meant a great deal to me. I'm not sure if I want to try being with you because you're acting as though our time together meant so little when it was the best years of my life. I don't know if I can be the girl that you want and I'm not sure if you're the man I need." She bit her lip and looked at the floor.

I nodded although my heart was breaking. I might not be in love with Grace, but I had been with her for a long time and I had really hoped that she would be willing to work on our relationship. "I can accept that, but time is running out Grace. I cannot allow this competition to drag on while you decide what you want. I need to know if you're willing to try again or not soon. I will give you a week to decide, and if you choose to not pursue a relationship with me then I will eliminate you and hopefully we can be friends.

"I'll escort you to your room now." I offered her my arm and she took it silently.

When we reached her door, she opened it and whispered, "Thank you for giving me time to think, Damon."

I nodded and gave her a small smile. "Of course, Grace. I will see you in a week."

She gave me a weak smile and shut the door.

I huffed out a breath and started walking toward the training gym to work out some of the tension in my body.

I froze at what I saw when I opened the door.

"Move it, my grandmother could run faster than the lot of you! If you fall behind then you will be punished severely and trust me when I say that I will not go easy on any of you just because you've been allowed to slack off while Justice recovered!" Mom shouted as a group of men ran faster in a desperate attempt to stay ahead of her.

I leaned against the wall in shock and stared in stunned silence while they finished running circles around the gym. Three men fell behind my mom and she called them all forward while the rest of the group was hunched over with their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath.

"You three are a major disappointment. You will complete five hundred push-ups within three hours, then you will run until sunset and I will assign someone to watch you to ensure that you are running. If you faint or if you slow down while running then you will have to do twice as many push-ups tomorrow and then you will train with me personally for five hours. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Captain!" the three shouted before they began doing the push-ups in a frantic attempt to complete all of them within the time they were given.

Mom's eyes scanned the room and eventually settled on me. She smiled gently and waved before turning back to the soldiers and shouting her orders.

I ran into the locker room and changed into my workout clothes before joining the group of soldiers.

Mom noticed and raised her brow in my direction.

I just smiled and shrugged, I wanted to see how much tougher she was than Justice. I doubted that it could be too much worse, I had trained with Justice for years and she had trained him so it was likely that I would be able to keep up with whatever she had planned.

I panted with my hands on my knees as they trembled. Air just wouldn't come fast enough; it was like I could only get in a small gasp before I had to exhale. My whole body was sore and I was trying desperately just to stay on my feet. Training with Justice had never been this difficult or this intense.

Sweat had soaked through my shirt and I had discarded it thirty minutes ago. I was even tempted to take off my shorts in an effort to cool down, but that would be extremely inappropriate. Sweat was pouring off of me and my hair was slicked to my head due to amount of liquid that was coming out of my body.

"Move it, boys! We aren't even half way done!" the demon-woman known as my mother shouted.

I took in a few more gasps before running to the next workout station with my group.

I collapsed on the floor and panted as I desperately tried to catch my breath. I didn't have enough energy to even groan as my body struggled to function. I had been completely wrong in my assumption that I would be able to keep up easily.

My mom's "warm-up" was hard; I thought we had finished for the day when she announced that we would start the "actual" workout. My mom was insane when it came to her workout, if one person tried to slack off then she would add an extra thirty minutes to the workout for everyone.

Mom kneeled down and rubbed my back while she chuckled. "You okay, son?"

"No, dying." I groaned as my heart continued to beat rapidly in my chest.

She simply laughed. "You didn't expect the workout to be easy, did you? I need our men to be in top shape in order to protect everyone in the castle. Soldiers here are less likely to die but they also have intense training to keep them in top form. I'm actually pretty pissed off that none of our trainers have been keeping up my routine; I'll have to discuss that with them. It's important that our men be at their best so that the rebels can't get through to us or our personnel.

"Now, listen to me and slow your breathing. It will feel uncomfortable and wrong, but it will slow your heartrate and allow your body to recover properly. Match your breathing to mine." she demanded.

I did as she said and slowed my breathing. My lungs ached for more oxygen but eventually my heartrate did slow and I was able to breathe normally once more. "I would hate to be under your command, Mom. That was the most intense workout of my life. Everything hurts right now."

She smirked. "That means I'm doing my job right, sweetheart."

I paused for a moment and then asked, "Will you train me?"

"What?" she asked, shock clearly lacing her tone.

"I want to be able to fight as well as you do, Mom. I need to know how to protect myself, and also protect my future wife and family. I want to be able to continue working with the soldiers once I'm king and I feel like you're the only one who can allow me to accomplish that successfully." I quietly begged her as I stood up so that we could both be more comfortable and so that I could look her in the eye.

She frowned as she stood with me. "Damon, it isn't just training. You'll have to kill people in order to be good at this, you'll have to learn to shut down your emotions at times so that you can do things that most would consider unthinkable. You will have to kill men as they beg for mercy because they may have a bomb strapped to their chest, you will have to kill men and women who may be younger than you or who may seem frail. You will not be allowed to show mercy or kindness if I train you, you will not be allowed to be yourself. When you act as a soldier, you will have to become a whole other person in order to do what needs to be done.

"I will not show favoritism toward you either; I will only excuse your absences if you are with your father on urgent business and even then I will be hard on you and require that you make up the work. Do you really think you can handle that right now?" she asked without any discernable emotion in her voice.

I sighed as I thought about all my current commitments. "Maybe not right now, not with the Selection in progress. I don't have the time to fully commit to your training yet, at least not with how much training I know you do with your soldiers. I would like to train with you after I get settled with my position as king, though, if you are agreeable."

She grinned. "Very well. Thank you for actually considering the time constraints you currently have, Damon. That is an excellent quality to have, especially for a future king. Though I do suggest that you don't delay getting settled, I'm only getting older after all and eventually I won't be able to train you."

"Thank you, Mom." I ran a hand through my soaked hair and grimaced at how much sweat dripped off of my hand afterward.

"I should let you shower." Mom said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, I probably stink." I chuckled as turned toward the locker room. "I'll see you at dinner?"

"Of course. We can discuss your training more after the Selection is over."

I nodded and went to shower.