Chapter 26: New Queen
Rose's POV
The day after we'd come back to the Academy, we were being sent back to Court. Not just us, of course, but the entire Academy. In light of the Queen's death, we needed to vote a new monarch, and since that was so rare—literally once in a lifetime—the Academy figured we could learn from the experience. And also be entertained by all the voting and festivities. There sure was a lot of celebration when a Queen died. And luckily for me, I didn't have to endure the annoyance of the educational part of this field trip. Lissa and Jill were carted off to the courtroom, and Eddie and I were allowed to follow according to what Hans said. He said that he and the royals "took notice" of the fact that Eddie and I appeared to want to be Lissa and Jill's guardians. The reason Lissa and Jill were carted off in the first place had something to do with needing a Dragomir in the courtroom—Lissa—and announcing Jill's lineage officially. I guess the Queen had spread the word to her fellow council members.
"Vasilissa." Ariana Szelsky greeted.
"Please, just call me Lissa." Lissa said.
"Lissa, we've decided today that we're going to need your help. We really need to have all twelve families in the council when we vote the new Queen in, and your the princess of your line. You may only barely be eighteen, but we all agree that you have a great head on your shoulders and have the ability to understand and choose for yourself when it comes to voting. Do we agree correctly, or would you prefer to be left out of the voting process?" Ariana asked.
Lissa looked shocked at the sudden respect, but she answered quickly. "I'd be happy to help with the elections."
"Great. And we also need to announce that this girl," Ariana grabbed Jill. "is another heir to the Dragomir line. Jill Mastrano-Dragomir."
The council members all nodded their heads in agreement. They were obviously shocked about Jill, but they were taking it admirably well and knew they should happily accept the fact that Lissa was no longer the last Dragomir.
"Alright, later tonight we're going to elect someone from each family—obviously excepting the Ivashkov's—to be the new Monarch. They'll have to go through a series of three unknown trials once they're elected, spanned over an unknown amount of time. Each person needs at least two other royals to motion for their election, and the council will simply be confirming it. See you tonight, Lissa." Ariana said.
That was apparently our cue to leave, and we walked out of the courtroom.
"I wonder who will be the new monarch." I said.
"Hopefully, Ariana. She's a really good person, and she could handle ruling us with the way she practically studies all the laws." Lissa said.
"That's true." Eddie nodded. "But if you have to have two other royals to motion for your vote, it seems like the elections are more of a popularity contest."
"It would suck if we got a horrible monarch just because they're popular." Jill said.
"Good thing Adrian's not eligible to run." I teased.
We all laughed at that, but I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. What if someone worse than Tatiana was elected? Tatiana may have been a bitch, but she was at least a good ruler who could be nice at times. What if we got a complete jackass? Or someone who was practically a dictator? Or-
"What are you thinking about?" Dimitri snuck up behind me and gave me a kiss.
"The monarch elections." I said.
"I wonder who the monarch will be. Maybe Ariana?" Dimitri pondered.
"We're all kind of hoping for her right now." Lissa admitted.
But what if the elections really were just a popularity contest? What if Ariana lost? Or didn't even run? We needed better odds, more good people running. But there weren't many of those in general, let alone the kind that were eligible. I'd actually rather have Adrian be our monarch than some tyrant, but he was ineligible, and he probably wouldn't want to run. I pondered that throughout the day. Who was a good person and eligible to run? Who would protect us and make sure there was no tyranny? I could think of only one person I'd rather have run than Ariana, and it was crazy. Lissa was the only other person I could see doing it. I'd have made the excuse that she was ineligible herself, but she had Jill, and having at least one family member counted as having a quorum. I'd make the excuse that she couldn't handle it, but as long as her Spirit darkness was kept under control... Lissa could do anything. I thought about that particularly as we sat in the courtroom, starting the monarch elections.
"Ariana Szelsky." Someone in the Szelsky family voted.
"I second that motion." Ariana's brother said.
Ariana was in the running. That was good.
"Natasha Ozera." Someone in the Ozera family said.
Most people gaped and stared in shock—including me—as Tasha stood up. I thought it would end there, given the fact that most of the Ozeras didn't like Christian or Tasha, but it didn't.
"I second that motion." Some other Ozera said.
The other Ozeras might not particularly like Christian and Tasha, but they couldn't miss the chance to get their good name back by having a monarch in the family. Christian frowned. God, I'd rather have him in the running than Tasha. I'd actually get convicted of murdering a Queen if she made it into the monarchy. The election went on and on.
"Christian." I whispered. "Vote for Lissa."
"What?" Christian looked startled.
"Vote for Lissa. She's eligible, and she's the only chance we have besides Ariana." I said.
Christian looked hesitant, unsure of what to say. Then he spoke. "I vote Vasilissa Dragomir."
Everyone in the room—including Lissa—gaped at him in shock.
"She's not eligible." Nathan Ivashkov scoffed.
"She's eighteen, royal, and has a quorum." I pointed to Jill.
"I second the motion for Vasilissa's vote." Jill said timidly.
"I third it." Adrian said.
"Adrian!" His mother scolded.
"Mom, I'm not eligible." Adrian joked.
The council looked indecisive.
"Vasilissa Dragomir is now in the running for monarch." Ariana announced.
Then the room burst into chaos.