Life is a spin of Lady Lucky's erratic wheel, or at least that's how my mother describes it. And some times it was unbelievably true. When I was thirteen my father's company was sued for hundreds of millions, we lost everything and went into massive debt. We were fortunate, or at least we thought we were at the time because instead of my parent's going to jail a wealthy man in Angeles paid off their debt. In turn, we had to move from Waverly to Angeles and work for him until the debt was paid off. The correct term would be indentured servitude but Mr. Van Dorn wasn't fond of us referring to it as such. We weren't the only family indentured to Mr. Van Dorn but most were able to pay off their debts in seven or eight years, with the interest we were trapped forever.
Only a year into working for Mr. Van Dorn the shame of what my father had done to his family became too much and he took his own life. He left my mother and I trapped because of his choices. But Lady Lucky's wheel may have just ticked back in our favor. Last night on the Report Prince Kalix's Selection was announced. Prince Kalix came from the wealthiest family in the world if I married him my parent's debt would be just a drop in the bucket for them. Prince Kalix was also handsome, college-educated, and never had a bad story ever written about him so being married to him probably wouldn't be absolutely terrible either.
I had purposefully chosen to scrub the floors of the grand entryway waiting for the mailman to arrive for the day. But I felt like I was being taunted, my fingers numb from scrubbing and knees sore, the mailman was running late on today of all days.
"Persephone, dear, you'll dig a hole into the marble if you keep scrubbing." Mother says coming down the stairs carrying a vacuum
"Sounds like a challenge," I say getting off my knees and rushing up the stairs to carry the vacuum the rest of the way down for her.
She takes a moment to look at me when we reach the bottom of the stairs. I wondered if she sees her younger self in me. Or if she's trying to picture the life she's thought I was going to have when I was born. She shakes whatever she thinking off and brushes away a stray hair that had fallen out of my bun before resting her hand on my cheek.
"Dear, I don't want you to disappoint you but thousands of girls are going to enter the Selection in Angeles alone. The odds of being Selected will be very slims." She says
I take her hand from my cheek and hold it "I know but the for first time in a long time we have a glimmer of hope. It hurts no one to at least try." I tell her and as if on cue the doorbell rings.
"Better go get that then." Mother says shooing me along
I rush over to the large doors, the doors are made from a heavy wood so it takes me a moment to open them. But when I do, our regular mailman Gary is waiting there with four silver envelopes in his hands.
"Persie, somehow I knew it'd be you." Gary says with a smile "Official mail from the Royal Family, I can entrust each letter will make it to the person it's been addressed too." he says handing the four envelopes over.
"They will, thank you," I say holding onto the thick envelopes for dear life as I shut the door.
I flip through the letters until I find the one addressed to me. Mother quickly takes the others from my hand as I almost drop them in the excitement. Persephone Kalt was printed in large black cursive letters on the front and on the back was the wax symbol of the Royal family. I carefully open the envelope not want to tear it. It was dumb but if I wasn't Selected, I wanted to keep this envelope as a memento to remember the one time I had a letter addressed to me from the Royal Family. I gently pull out the letter and I quickly skim over what it says.
"What does it say?" Mother asks
"To the House of Van Dorn," I read out loud "The recent census has confirmed that four single women between the ages of nineteen and twenty-three currently resides in your home. We would like to make you aware of an upcoming opportunity to honor the great nation of Illéa. Our beloved Prince, Kalix McAlister, is venturing into a new part of his life, and he is hoping to move forward with a partner, to marry a true Daughter of Illéa." I read it so quickly that I have to pause to catch my breath "If your eligible daughter, sister, or charge is interested in possibly becoming the bride of Prince Kalix and the adored princess of Illéa, please fill out the enclosed form and return it to your local Province Services Office. One woman from each province will be drawn at random to meet the prince." I take another breath before continuing "Participants will be housed at the lovely Illéa Palace in Angeles for the duration of their stay. The families of each participant will be generously compensated for their service to the royal family."
I finish reading and look at mother, who seems unsure of the whole thing.
"This is it, mom," I say "if I just get Selected, the compensation at the very least could make a dent in our debt."
"You're counting your eggs before they hatch, Persephone." Mother says taking the letter from me "But I see no harm in you filling out the form while you do the laundry."
"Laundry it is, I'm on it," I say taking the letter back from my mother and gently tuck it into the pocket of my apron.
"I'll take the other girls their letters. You clean up here and get down to the laundry room." Mother says rolling the vacuum away with her.
I quickly gather the sponge and bucket off the floor. And drop them off in the cleaning supply closet on the way to the laundry room. I make sure to dump out the dirty water in the sink before leaving. On my way to the laundry room, I realize that I didn't grab a pen from the supply closet and instead of turning around to get one, I decided to get one from Mr. Van Dorn's office which was on the way.
When I get to Mr. Van Dorn's office, I knock on the door to see if he is in. I wait and when there is no response I go in. Mr. Van Dorn's office was filled with stacks of books on every surface, and he had no problem with letting his staff borrow books from his collection. I'd want to say these books have been my primary source of education since getting here. I look over a few books to see if there are any new ones but then remember why I was here. I go over to Mr. Van Dorn's desk and borrow a pen from it. I drop it in my apron pocket and when I turn around I realize I've had an audience.
Torwin Van Dorn stands in the doorway watching me. Torwin was Mr. Van Dorn's only child, he was in his early forties and worked for the Palace. And much to Mr. Van Dorn dismay unmarried with no grandchildren for him. Torwin no longer lived here but he came home at least once a month to have dinner with his father.
"Do I need to report the maid for stealing?" He asks
"I was just borrowing a pen." I say a little panicked pulling it out of my pocket "but I can put it back."
"Persie I'm giving you a hard time," He says and I take a deep breath dropping it back in "I like the blonde, by the way." He adds moving closer to me.
"Thanks," I say touching my hair, last week one of the other maids convinced me to let her dye my hair blonde. I thought it had turned out horrible but at least one person liked it.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say your Selection letter made it to you," Torwin says picking up the top book off a stack of them.
"Yeah, I was going to fill out the form while I did the laundry," I say ready to get out of there
"Then I won't hold you up from your work." He says dismissing me and I take my chance to leave but he stops me cold in my tracks "But it is a shame your form won't even make it to Kalix's hands."
"What do you mean?" I say
"The palace is going to say the girls were randomly selected, but Kalix is personally going to be picking out each girl. And most forms will get tossed before they even make it to him. Which is a shame, if he just saw your picture I know he'd selected you." Torwin tells me and I'm crushed of course it wasn't random and of course, a maid would be cut before even being given a chance.
"Though I could help you make the cut, even talk you up, which would easily guarantee you'd be selected," Torwin says sitting down in his father's chair
"And why would you do that?" I say I'm not dumb enough to think that Torwin would do this out of the kindness of his heart.
"Well you see Father wants me to marry one of the Selected preferable an Elite, so why not lock one down now and not have to do all that work," Torwin says
"And what if I were to win?" I retort
"Then I'd have an in with the future Queen and you could easily direct me to one of the other girls." He says
"If I didn't win and I married you, would you pay off my family's debt to your father?" I ask
"I'm not a charity Persie, I'd go into debt with my father if I did that. You can do nothing and keep chipping at your family's debt for the rest of your life or you can go big and take the gamble. The choice is up to you." He tells me
"Can I think about?" I ask
"Of course but don't take to long, I won't be home for a while so if you submit your form I'll take it as you accepting our deal."
"I have to go do the laundry," I say not sure what else to say
I leave Mr. Van Dorn's office quickly and go straight to the laundry room. It's empty so I can think in quiet as I work. I think about my options as I sort Mr. Van Dorn's clothes. The easy answer was to throw away the form. I won't be able to help my mother the same way I can now if I end up married to Torwin, could I really risk it. But if I took the risk and won Prince Kalix's heart it would be life-changing. By the time I was throwing the whites into the dryer and the darks in the washer I knew my answer. I had to gamble my future, I had to go big and risk it all. I pulled my form and pen out and got to work.