The Small Ballroom, The Palace, Angeles, July 7th, 11:19am
Elijah
Eli had somehow become even more tired over the course of the morning, even though he hadn't thought that was possible. But somehow, it was, and he still had eleven girls to go.
The next girl on the list was Lady Kelsey, who talked about her job in detail so boring Eli thought that she ought to start recording herself talking as a sleep aid. Eli barely managed to not yawn while talking with her, and was relieved when time was up and he could call the next name. "Lady Helena?" A slender brunette with a pixie cut and a dancer's body stepped out of the crowd. She wasn't wearing heels, but she was still taller than Eli, by at least two inches.
Once they were in the side room, he asked, "How have you been finding your stay at the palace so far, Lady Helena?"
"It's Lena, please." She smiled at him, and he got the distinct feeling that she wasn't looking at a person, just another rung on a ladder. Eli had been lying since the age of five, he knew exactly what he was looking at. "It's so beautiful here. I have such a wonderful view of the gardens from my rooms." Her smile widened slightly, the picture of sweetness and innocence.
She took a step closer, and Eli thought she was going to try to touch his arm, but she didn't. Eli was no idiot, and he knew the type. He had encountered dozens of them over the years. She couldn't hide from him with her sweet smile. It was kind of a shame, she had cool hair. "That's good. I'm glad you've been enjoying your stay so far." He was tempted to fidget with his own hair, but didn't. Even when there weren't any cameras, he was still acting. "What do you enjoy doing? Other than dancing?"
"Dancing is my life. I'm very dedicated. I have worked very hard to rise through the ranks." She did reach out to touch his arm on those words, making it very clear that while she might have been hardworking, that wasn't the only thing she had been doing to reach her position.
Eli nodded. He got the idea. "I'm sure you have. However, time is up, Lady Helena." He purposefully didn't use her nickname. She would get the message. He knew what she was offering, and he wasn't interested. For the moment, at least. She wasn't immediately out just because she was trying to sleep her way to the top. She could be a good candidate if it turned out that he needed a marriage of simple convenience. She was already a favorite of the press, and she was a liar just like Eli. She could be just what he needed.
He walked her back to the group and called out the next name. "Lady Lydie?"
Lydie stepped out of the crowd. Her hair had been cut during the makeovers, down to a length similar to the length of Eli's hair. It was a great look on her, Eli liked it better than he had the longer hair.
He led her back to the side room, and asked, "You're a pilot, right? That's so cool."
She nodded. "I am. I love to fly, it's so free. The whole sky is in front of you, and you can see everything below you. Nothing can touch you. Except maybe a bird." She laughed. "But that doesn't happen very often, and it's never happened to me." She had a bit of an accent. Eli couldn't quite place it, but it was cool sounding.
Painfully, it reminded him of Isabelle's accent. Hers had been stronger, a much more obvious southern Midston accent. Or at least it had been when he had met her. After four years in Sonage and two more in Angeles, it had faded somewhat.
Eli pushed away the memory and laughed too. "Well, that's good. It would suck if a bird knocked you out of the sky. What else do you like to do, other than flying? I'm afraid I'm not allowed to do anything fun, so that doesn't give me much in the way of date ideas."
"Well, I like to hike and kayak, and I like to ski. But really I'm down for any kind of adventure," Lydie said with a smile.
"We'll go kayaking sometime then. I like kayaking. But we are absolutely not getting into a two person kayak. Ever. I made the mistake of doing that with my sister once, and we couldn't paddle in sync to save our lives. It did not go well, and I don't want to repeat that experience any time soon." He smiled at her. It was slightly forced, as every other smile that morning had been, but nobody would be able to tell.
She nodded. "Sounds like a plan, then."
"Alright, sweet. We'll have more time to talk then. Unfortunately, time's up for today."
"Okay. See you later, Eli." She turned as if to leave the room.
Eli couldn't help but smile, the first one hundred percent genuine smile of the day. He was pretty sure she was the first of the Selected to use his name rather than his title. "Hang on a second, I'm supposed to walk you back."
Once Lydie was back to the group, Eli took a peek at Lindsey's clipboard to see the names of the last nine girls. He spotted a name that was all too familiar, and realized that her turn was coming soon. It had been more than five years since he had seen Willa, and he wasn't particularly interested in seeing her again. Admittedly, he was just as much at fault for what had happened as Willa and Ernest were, since he had known about the planned marriage too, although he had been off at college then and had believed that the plans had been abandoned.
Still, he didn't particularly want to see Willa. He had known vaguely that she had gotten Illéan citizenship and was living in one of the northern provinces, but he wondered what had possessed her to enter the Selection. And what had possessed Dad to choose her.
There was, fortunately, one more name before he had to speak to her. "Lady Thea?" He called out.
She stepped forward, wearing a floor length red dress with lace half sleeves. Eli led her off into the side room, and asked, "How are you, Lady Thea?"
"I'm great. I've been making loads of friends since I've been here and it's been awesome."
"That's good. I'm glad you've been having a good time. Why don't you tell me a little about your family? I've heard you have nine siblings."
She nodded. "I do. I have three older brothers, two younger brothers, and four younger sisters. And my older brother's girlfriend, who's practically another sister."
"I bet they're a handful. I only have a third as many siblings, and I only had two when I was a kid, and they drove me insane." He didn't mention Willa, who had been basically another annoying little sister during the years she had lived at the palace.
"Oh they're a handful alright," she agreed. "But I love them anyway. There's a lot of us, but we're all pretty close, and even though my brothers and I don't live at home anymore, we still all spend time together pretty often."
Eli nodded. "I mostly like mine too. Mel is a sweetie, she'll probably come by the Women's Room to hang out sometime this week. Jenn probably will too. I don't know when any of you will get a chance to meet Charles." Hopefully Charles would stay away from the Selected. Eli wanted to keep up the facade that they were all happy for as long as possible. "Time's up for right now, though."
He led Thea back to the group, and took a deep breath before calling the next name. "Lady Wilhelmina?"
She stepped out of the crowd, looking pretty much the same as she had at seventeen. A little bit older, since she was now twenty-three, but still the same.
Once they were together in the side room, Eli wasn't quite sure what to say. "So. Willa."
She nodded. "It's nice to see you again, Eli." She smoothed her skirt down. "The long hair is a good look for you, I like it."
He decided to just cut right to the chase. "What the fuck are you doing signing up for the Selection?"
She seemed a little bit taken aback by his words, and he was reminded that she hadn't really known him since he had been twelve. "My aunt suggested that I sign up."
And by suggested she meant picked and criticized and manipulated until Wilhelmina finally agreed to sign up. Eli had met her aunt, she wasn't exactly a pleasant woman.
"Are you going to eliminate me?" She tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.
He shook his head. "We're in the same boat here." She knew his father, she would know what he meant. "Come on. Times up." He headed for the door, Wilhelmina following behind him. He walked her back to the group, then checked Lindsey's clipboard for the next name. "Lady Elaine?"
She was the third girl with New Asian heritage, and was very pretty, with shoulder length black hair. Eli led her into the side room, and, once they were there, asked, "So, why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"I'm a preschool teacher." She paused for a moment to consider what to say next. "I dance, but that's just a hobby. What about you?"
"I'm afraid I'm too busy with work to have very many hobbies." He changed the wording a little so it wouldn't sound like he had come up with a canned answer in case the Selected compared notes later on. "What's your favorite color?"
"It's yellow. What about yours?"
She didn't seem like the type to appreciate his standard joke about his favorite color being black like his soul, but he made it anyway, just to say something to fill the time.
She was not amused, but she tried to hide it with a smile. He felt as if he was getting the smile she reserved for preschoolers, and he was kind of offended, but not particularly. It was a stupid joke, and not even really funny. "That's nice," she said politely.
Damn it. He hadn't made a very good impression. "Well, unfortunately, time is up." It wasn't for another minute, but this was awkward now and needed to be over. He led Elaine back to the group, and called the next name.
Lady Paige had an interesting tidbit about Elaine having been summoned to see Melissa the night before that Eli made a mental note to talk to Melissa about at some point. He had a major problem with her interfering with the Selected, especially so soon.
Four more to go. "Lady Angelique?" He called. When she stepped out of the crowd, he noted with relief that she had gone back to her natural red hair color during her makeover.
Once they were together in the side room, she said, "Everybody calls me Jade, it's my middle name. Nobody uses my first name."
Eli nodded. "Jade, then. That's an easy switch. You can call me Eli, forget about the titles. Why don't you tell me about yourself? What's your favorite food? What do you enjoy doing?"
"My favorite food is steak." Great, she had expensive taste. Wonderful. Exactly what he needed. They weren't going to get along very well then. "I play golf, piano, and violin."
Eli despised golf, but he didn't say that. At least she liked music. "Oh really? I've never had time to learn how to play piano. I played guitar for a while in college though." He didn't say anything about why he had stopped. That was none of her business.
She nodded. "That's nice. What else do you enjoy doing?"
Eli gave the same canned answer he had given everyone else, just with a few words changed, then told her they were out of time to spare them the coming awkward silence.
"Lady Marlee?" She stepped out of the crowd. Her dress ended just above her black high heeled boots, which were tall enough to put her even with Eli, maybe even a little bit taller.
He had been especially excited to meet her, since she was a songwriter. He had attempted to write songs a few times, back when he had still played. As far as he knew, the notebooks were still in a box in Mom's basement.
Eli didn't think he was actually up to getting back to playing, but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in what Marlee did.
"So, Lady Marlee. You're a songwriter, right? What instruments do you play?"
She nodded. "I play guitar mostly. I'm a pretty decent singer too, if I do say so myself."
"And what kind of music do you write?"
"Mostly pop stuff, since that's what sells. I write some other stuff on my own time, but mostly I have to write things I can sell."
He nodded. "That makes total sense. What else do you enjoy doing? Other than playing music?"
"I like to stargaze. And I like to go out and have a few drinks, have a good time. I like rock climbing, too."
"Me too. Nothing wrong with having a good time." That was basically a lie. There was nothing wrong with a few drinks, but it didn't top his list of favorite hobbies. He had to keep up the playboy persona somehow, though.
She nodded enthusiastically. "I just wish my fucking stepmother thought that."
Eli could see the exact moment that she realized she had sworn in front of the Crown Prince of Illéa, during their very first meeting, on her face, and he just laughed. "Don't worry about it, I've got a stepmother I like to swear at behind her back too." Eli was still rather annoyed with Melissa about speaking to Elaine before he had even gotten the chance to meet her, so he was perfectly happy to trash her to make Marlee feel better. Eli glanced up at the clock. "Time's up, Lady Marlee. We'll have to commiserate over shitty stepmothers some other time."
Only two girls to go. "Lady Cassandra?" He called out. She was another redhead, and a very pretty one at that. Even looking at her face in real life, he didn't recognize her, but since Micah said they had met, they probably had.
Eli led her into the side room, and stood facing her. Her green eyes were just as eye catching in real life as they had been in her picture. He ignored the painful reminder of Isabelle's green eyes, and said, "How are you today, Lady Cassandra?"
"I'm well, thank you. What about you?"
"I'm fine. Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
"Well, my father is an ambassador. Joshua White? Maybe you know him?" Eli nodded. He did know Joshua White. He was very involved in any diplomacy with the German Federation. Cassandra continued. "I like to paint, I do a lot of painting. My favorite color is red. I speak fluent German and French."
"Oh, that's neat. My German is decent, and my French is better." Most of his knowledge of German consisted of things he needed to know for diplomacy, swear words, and insults, but she didn't need to know that. "I've done some painting too, when I have the time."
She smiled at him, playing with a strand of her hair. "Maybe we can paint together sometime."
Huh. That was bold. He hadn't expect one of the Selected to suggest that they do something together sometime. "We'll see. Time's up for today, though, Lady Cassandra."
Eli called the final name, and led her off into the side room. He was very glad that Lady Erin was the last girl, since her perfume gave him a headache. He ended up cutting their time together a little bit short, eager to be done. It was well past noon already when he finished, and Eli was thoroughly worn out and very hungry. He stepped out of the ballroom to find Micah waiting for him, leaning up against the wall. "Hey. How'd it go?"
"I dunno." He shrugged. He wasn't really sure how he felt about all the girls he had met yet. There were so many of them, and they had all been so different. And so many of them had been painful reminders of the past in one way or another. "Let's get out of here. Find something to eat. Something for my headache."
Just then, a servant appeared. "Your Highness? Your father requests your presence in his quarters for lunch."
Ugh. Lunch with Dad was the last thing Eli wanted to deal with while he tried to figure out just what he thought of all the Selected he had met that day. But he didn't have much of a choice. "Scratch that, I guess," he told Micah with a shrug. "See you later." He turned, and headed up towards Dad's private sitting room.
He knocked on the door, and waited for approval to enter. Once he had it, he headed in and sat down in the empty chair. Dad was already seated, reviewing one of the Selected's forms with a glass of wine in hand. When Eli sat down, he lowered the form to look at him. "How did it go, son?"
"It went alright."
Dad nodded, and gestured for a servant to step forward with a bottle of wine. "Wine?"
Eli shook his head. "No thanks." He needed to stay sober to figure his shit out.
Dad raised his eyebrows, and gestured for the servant to step back again. Eli wondered if he should have accepted and pretended to drink for the sake of appearances, but it was too late now. "Did you decide who you're going to eliminate on Friday?"
Eli had, in fact, decided. "Georgina, Alessandra, Mina, Jodie, and Paige." Georgina and Mina for being annoying, Alessandra for being all over him, Jodie to please his father, and Paige because she was a snitch.
Dad nodded approvingly. There were no twos in that bunch, so Eli had expected that. "And who will you be taking on dates this week?"
Eli hadn't thought about that, so he just spat out the first two names that came to mind. "I'll take Brielle and Isla." He half regretted that choice as soon as he had said it. He could have taken Liath, or Lydie, or Marlee, or Adelynn. Oh well. He had liked Isla pretty well, and he had to know if Brielle was serious when she said she was willing to play any part she needed. So, really, those were good choices.
"Excellent. They'll both do. Let's talk about the girls for a moment. Discuss strategy."
Strategy. That word made Eli feel kind of gross. They were people, not pawns to be used in some giant game. Except that's what it was. Even Eli himself was a pawn. "Alright."
A servant brought in two bowls of soup, and another one following behind him brought in a basket of rolls. They set the food down on the table, and left the room.
"Let's see." He reviewed a list briefly. "We have Adelynn and Lennox, both Sixes. Obviously neither of them will do, but it would probably do to keep them in for a month or so, for the looks of things."
Eli nodded. He had expected that too. And that meant if he really wanted to keep one of them a little bit longer, he could say something about the media to excuse keeping them.
"Violet and Zenya are both Fives, and neither of them are cut out to be Queen. I know you've got a soft spot for artists, but you've got to acknowledge that." He shook his head. "Zenya was a random choice, but still she never should have gotten in."
Eli hesitated for a moment. Dad was kind of right about Zenya and Violet. He thought back to his meetings with both of them, and realized that, even though he was being a dick, Dad was more than right. Still, he'd give them both a chance. "Maybe they'll surprise us," he said noncommittally as he reached for a roll.
"We have quite a few Fours. Dahlia, Pauline, Malia, Kelsey, Erin, Lydie, and Thea. What did you think of them?"
"I kind of liked Lydie. Thea too. It certainly won't hurt anything media-wise to leave them in for a bit." We? This wasn't Dad's Selection, it wasn't his damn choice. But Eli kept his mouth shut. He knew better than to point that out.
"And for Threes we have Elaine, Marlee, Ixchel and her sister, Calista, Nefertiti, Riley, Saige, and Kendall. Elaine's stepmother is quite friendly with Melissa, did you know that? Melissa asked for Elaine to be included specifically."
Eli had not known that. That explained a lot. No wonder Melissa had wanted to see her the night before. "I didn't." He guessed that meant he had to give Elaine a fair chance, despite the slight awkwardness of their first meeting.
"You'll have to watch what you say to Nefertiti. You know she's a journalist, and you can't trust her not to spill everything she knows when she gets out of here. She works for one of our stations right now, but that can always change."
"I'll keep that in mind." Eli wasn't particularly planning to trust any of the girls with family secrets, so it didn't really matter.
"Marlee is rather… problematic, really. She likes to drink, just like you. While she might appear to be an appealing choice because of that, be wary. Being with her does not spin a good story, and I suspect she's rather rough around the edges."
Eli hid a smile, remembering his meeting with her. Rough around the edges was about right. Isabelle had been like that. His smile faded at the memory.
"Of course you know Ixchel and Yunuen's father. Either of them would do. Calista would be a lovely choice as well. And so would Elaine." He glanced back down at his list. "We have quite a few Twos. Gabriella, Cassandra, Isla, Helena, Brielle, Wilhelmina, Gemma, Florida, Liath, and Angelique. What did you think of them?"
"I obviously liked Isla and Brielle, since I'll be taking them out later this week." He didn't say anything about how he had liked Liath and Gemma too. The less information his father had the better.
"Angelique and Brielle are really just filling space. Gabriella, too. Pretty faces, nothing more," he said dismissively.
Eli personally thought that if Dad knew what Brielle had offered him, he wouldn't think of her as just a pretty face. But he said nothing, just nodded along, even though it kind of bothered him to dismiss people outright by their looks. God, he was such a hypocrite. He would eliminate Jodie solely because she was blonde and didn't make a good first impression, after all.
Dad continued. "Helena is a good option. She has a good success story too, since she used to be a five. She'll please the lower castes. It would be nice to have an in with Gemma's father, and marrying her would get us just that, so don't take her out of the running early. Wilhelmina is good too. We already have very close ties to the German Federation thanks to Aunt Andrea, but it wouldn't hurt us to get a little bit closer. Especially since the deal with Ernest and Jenn fell through. Isla will do, if you like her. Same for Liath and Florida. Cassandra is an excellent prospect. I know for a fact that she's more than prepared to be Queen after the Selection is over."
Ah. So it was Helena and Cassandra Dad was going to gun for. He should have expected that. He took a bite of his roll, and nodded. It was nice to know who Dad's favorites were.
"Of course, I would be perfectly happy for you to pick any of the fours on up. It's your Selection, after all."
Yeah, right. Eli didn't believe that bullshit for a minute.
He played nice all throughout lunch, but was very relieved when it was over and he could go back to his room, finally take something for his slowly worsening headache, and have a chance to think about things for a while.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. A servant came up to him in the hall, and said, "Your Highness, your guest is waiting downstairs."
Eli gave him a confused look. "What guest?"
"He arrived at the West Entrance while you were with the Selected this morning. You told the guards to let him through."
Oh, right. Eli mentally went through the list of his friends who he had given instructions to the guards about at some point, trying to think of who it might be. Micah was obviously there already, Zach was still in France with Adrienne, Isabelle was dead, and he couldn't think of anyone else that he had even spoken to since college.
He followed the servant down to the room his guest was apparently waiting in, even though he couldn't think of who it might be. He pushed open the door to see Jay standing in the middle of the room, hands shoved in the pockets of his ripped jeans.
That was a surprise. Eli hadn't thought that he'd ever see Jay again.
Today was really the day for ghosts from the past. First Wilhelmina, now Jay. It wouldn't be a total surprise if Isabelle came back from the grave, he thought sarcastically. "What's up?" 'What's up' seemed insufficient for the first time seeing someone who had ended a friendship by throwing punches at a funeral, but it was the only thing Eli could think of to say. "I see you got new tattoos. They look great." Jay had apparently finally scrounged together the cash for that second full sleeve, and it really did look great.
"Yeah." Jay shuffled his feet awkwardly. "So, um, how are things?"
"How do you think?" It came out snappier than intended, but Eli didn't care. Ask dumb questions, get snappy answers.
Jay pulled his hands out of his pockets and held them up in a pacifying manner. "Jeez. Look, Eli, I didn't come here to start shit all over again." He slid his hands back into his pockets.
"Then what the fuck did you come here to do?" Eli headed for the door. He wasn't interested in rehashing a year old conflict. His head hurt and he wasn't in the mood to deal with this.
"I… uh… I came to apologize."
Eli paused, one hand on the ornate door handle. "Seriously?" He hadn't expected that. He had figured Jay had come to chew him out for having a Selection, even though it had been more than a year.
"Yeah."
Eli took his hand off the door handle. "Alright. Shoot."
"I'm sorry I gave you a black eye at your girlfriend's funeral."
Eli stepped away from the door. "Thank you." He waited, giving Jay a look that made it clear that he wanted him to continue.
"Um… And I'm sorry I said those things. I wasn't thinking straight."
Eli nodded. "Maybe I wasn't thinking straight at the time either."
"Yeah, cause you were…" Eli gave Jay a look, and he winced, looking down at his shoes. "Yeah, I'm not going to finish that sentence."
"Thank you." Eli crossed the room to clap him on the shoulder. "We're good."
Jay looked up from his shoes. "What? Seriously?"
"Seriously. We're good." Eli turned and headed for the door again. "Come on. How long has it been since you've seen Micah?" They still had a long way to go towards being friends again, but they could work on it. Maybe it would be nice to have someone else around who knew about what had happened.
AN: And introductions are done! Who are you all rooting for?
Thanks to BagsyB for beta reading for me!
