CHAPTER 29

With Sam leaving last night, Luke was left with five girls. That was a really, really, really small number. It hadn't occurred to him how low that number seemed till right now, Somehow, the thought of having six was much more comforting than five, even if it was only a one person difference.

Too late for those thoughts now.

What was done, was done. Sam had boarded her flight back to Clermont since the spring term at Harvard had finished, and was now probably lounging poolside in her family mansion. How Luke envied her. He had always wanted a pool, but the palace just didn't have one. He knew in the past monarchs didn't want the public to see them shirtless, but now Luke wasn't sure what the excuse was. Probably just that there was no funding for building an olympic sized pool. Well, there was, but no one wanted to have the public see that they shelled out the money for said pool.

Still, he should probably cool off on the eliminations for a little while, he didn't want to be at his final three by the end of the week. The palace needed time to prepare for the ceremony.

Sighing, Luke got to his feet and threw open the doors to his room. He set off for the women's room. Strictly speaking, he was supposed to ask permission before going in there, but it was a ridiculously outdated notion. Of course no one listened to it anymore. Besides, he's the prince. Shouldn't he just have unlimited access to the room?

While Luke had never personally seen the appeal of having a sort of common room for a sole gender, his mother and sister never spent much time in it, most of the girls did. Speaking of the girls, they had clearly divided themselves into two different factions. Quinn and Faye were engaged in some sort of discussion - he was too far away to make out any precise words- and Esme seemed to be working on a craft project with Sydney.

The girls hadn't looked up when the door opened, probably used to the maids coming in and out during the day, but Quinn must have seen him from over Faye's shoulder because she called out "Hi Luke!" All of the women had dropped the use of his title now that he had actually gotten to know them better, and to be quite honest, Luke preferred his name to come out of Quinn's mouth rather than some title that countless other people shared.

Esme turned around from her craft, "Hey!" She said.

Sydney greeted him as well and Faye did an odd sort of wave.

"Hi everyone." Luke said, looking at them. "How's the...weather?" He asked awkwardly. The atmosphere in the room was colder than Whites during winter (and he had been many times to visit his mother's family), he had to do something to bridge the tension.

Quinn glanced towards the windows. "Unless it's changed in the last few seconds, sunny."

"It's supposed to storm later in the evening." Sydney pointed out, though Luke assumed it was just solely to contradict Quinn.

"He asked what the weather is now." Quinn kept a smile on her face as she talked, though it was clear that she was annoyed. Luke had to give her credit for that. Whereas Sydney had pursed her lips, Quinn's facial expression was almost pleasant.

"If it's warm out now, that's good. Even if it rains later." Luke pitied Esme as she said those words. She clearly wasn't comfortable in the tense situation, her leg was bouncing up and down from nerves. Sydney forced a smile on her face, though she didn't look particularly happy at Esme's words.

God the jealousy in this room was ridiculous.

Flattering, but ridiculous.

"Yeah. I didn't check the weather today. Maybe it's supposed to storm." Luke's eyes quickly scanned the room. "Hey, where's Sable?" He asked, her lack of presence suddenly occurring to him.

"I don't know." Sydney admitted. "Probably her room. She's been spending most of her time there since Ophelia left."

"Except for when she comes to beat us at cards." Quinn added.

Luke studied Sydney's face carefully. She seemed to have no clue for the true reason behind Ophelia's departure. That was good. He hadn't seen anything in the papers about her, other than the standard photos of her leaving the airport. His sister's forged documents, however she managed to get them, seemed to be holding up under the public scrutiny.

"You guys still play cards?" Luke asked. He had seen them do it on a few occasions, but he hadn't realized that they played every day.

"Play? Yes. Win? No." Esme joked. "Seriously, the closest any of us have ever come to beating Sable was when she knocked over her tea cup and Faye saw her cards when she went to dry her dress. Somehow Sable still won in the end. And the sand castle competition, I suppose." She added as an afterthought.

"Don't remind me of that." Sydney's cheeks flushed pink.

"I didn't mean to see her cards." Faye protested. "I was helping her clean up." Luke personally saw nothing wrong with Faye seeing Sable's cards, he wasn't even sure it was considered cheating, but it seemed important to the wispy girl that everyone knew she hadn't intended to win by any means other than her skills.

Somehow though, she hadn't won. So the whole moral argument was pointless anyway.

"Have you kept a tally?" Luke questioned.

"No point in that." Quinn said. "It's a waste of a notebook, and it would just be filled with Sable's name anyway."

"I'm sure someone here could beat her." Luke mused. He would love to be the one to dethrone Sable from her card-playing regime. How he was going to do that was still up in the air. Maybe he could bribe one of the staff members into stacking the deck and telling him what her cards were.

Actually, that's cheating. He couldn't win by cheating, as alluring as the possibility was. It just wasn't right, no matter how easy a way out it seemed.

"I doubt that." Quinn said. "The day I win against Sable is the day Illéa becomes a communist country." Luke was fairly sure she was joking, but after her rant about the way Illéa was run on their date, he couldn't have complete confidence in that assumption.

"Alright then. Why don't we play a game that doesn't involve cards?" Luke suggested. It was time for some good old-fashioned team bonding. If that meant him organizing a game day and offering prizes, so be it.

"Ooh, can we play tic-tac-toe?" Faye asked excitedly.

"Uh, I had something else in mind, but maybe later." Luke said, stuffing his hands in his pocket. Faye frowned slightly. He didn't mean to shoot down her suggestion, but he did actually have an idea that everyone can play.

"What were you thinking?" Sydney asked.

"Hangman." Luke stated proudly, "Faye, you can go first if you want." he offered. She seemed to brighten at that idea, nodding along with the rest of them.

"I used to love hangman." Esme said excitedly. "We used to play it all the time in camp, did you guys…" Luke could guess what the end of her sentence was, and made a slashing movement across his throat before she could finish. Somehow, he didn't think it was in her best interest for her to remind a few women who were already aggravated with her how much more she had growing up then they did. They didn't need another thing to further separate the girls.

Luke had heard stories of young women meeting their best friends for life in the selection. With the obvious exception of Faye and Quinn, somehow, Luke thought that no one in his selection had created lifelong friendships. It seemed like the women barely tolerated each other on a good day.

"Was camp nice?" Sydney asked wistfully. "I always wanted to go."

Esme glanced at Luke, begging him to intervene, before she answered. "Yeah. It was fun." She muttered, the other girl's jealousy causing her uncomfort. Watching this was like watching someone kick a puppy. Luke had to do something

Quickly, he jumped in, "I'm going to go get Sable from her room." he said, heading towards the door. It was the first thing that came to his mind, but he needed to go get her anyway.

"I'll come!" Esme volunteered quickly, raising her other girls seemed stunned for a moment at her brashness. Luke himself was surprised, but he didn't particularly care. Esme's confidence was one of the things he liked about her. She probably was one of the few kids who ordered their own food at restaurants. Luke didn't do that till he was nearly fourteen. As she stood up to meet him, she sent the beads she had been working with tumbling to the floor as she stood, causing Sydney to groan. "Oops."

As much as Luke admired her for her confidence, the rest of the women didn't seem to share his view point. In fact, it just seemed to make them even more envious. "Yeah, I'll go too." Quinn announced, walking up to join the pair.

"Cool." Luke agreed, nodding. "Anyone else want to come?" He offered. No one else said anything, so he opened the door and out the threesome went to start the trek up to Sable's room on the second floor.

"How was the movie?" Quinn hummed. Luke mentally face-palmed. She knew about that? God, was that what were they all gossiping about in the women's room? What they did with Luke? How many points did Sydney get for her story about them kissing yesterday….

No! Focus, Luke, Focus.

With a side-glance at Esme, Luke answered, "It was okay. I've seen better." He had tried to avoid telling Esme that since she had loved it so much, but he didn't want to lie to Quinn. Somehow, he felt she wouldn't take too kindly to that.

Esme gasped. "How could you say that?"

Luke shrugged. "Superhero movies really aren't my thing. Come on Quinn, back me up here." He coaxed the pastel-haired girl next to him.

"They're not bad. I like the ones that are about the villain. The whole good-guy thing gets a little repetitive after a while." She said.

"You two are ridiculous. You will never understand how good those movies are." Esme crossed her arms in front of her chest as she spoke, feigning anger. Luke laughed at that. He never would understand the appeal of superhero movies, but seeing Esme like this was endearing.

"I think I'd be better off not knowing." Quinn deadpanned.

"Exactly." Luke supplied, wrapping an arm around Quinn's shoulders. He squeezed her for a second before remembering that Esme was there. Esme had turned to look at a painting, obviously pretending like she didn't see what Luke just did. Crap. He really screwed that one up. Quickly he dropped his arm. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What, was he heartless? Incapable of thinking about other people's feelings?

Sometimes, in situations like these, he actually thought he was. Why else would he do the non-metaphorical version of stomping on somebody's heart?

Pressing her lips together, Esme said, "Well, then I guess I'll just have to show you. We'll have a movie marathon of the greatest superhero movies of all time." She finished excitedly. She seemed to be talking to the group as a whole, but Luke got a feeling that Quinn wasn't invited to these plans.

"Sounds great. I'll bring a pillow for when I get bored." Luke told her.

"It's disrespectful to the movie!" Esme insisted. "How would you feel if someone fell asleep during the Report?"

"Honestly? Jealous." Luke joked, earning giggles from Esme and Quinn. "I cannot tell you how many times I've wanted to fall asleep backstage or even on set."

"You're not in it that much anymore." Quinn noted.

"Yeah. When my sister was crowned, I got delegated to once a month. It'll probably be even less once the newlywed craze dies down. Unless I have to make an announcement or something." Luke confided in them. No one had told him that, but it made sense in his head. Besides, he wanted to get out of the spotlight.

If only he could have the money and connections with none of the responsibilities. That would be the dream. Being the spare was as close as he was going to get to his fantasy life.

"What are you going to do once you're married anyway?" Quinn asked.

"My family wants me to do something with foriegn affairs."

"Do you want to do that?" Esme asked.

Luke shrugged, "I don't know. I'll see." He got the feeling that Esme and Quinn weren't done with their interrogation, but luckily they had arrived at Sable's room. Dully, Luke realized that Esme must have been guiding them because he had no idea where he was going and Quinn's room was on the completely other side of the floor.

Esme pushed in front of them (Well, Quinn. Who didn't seem to take Esme's light shove well) and knocked on Sable's door.

"Come in." Came her voice. Luke opened the door, being the gentleman that he was "You can put the tea down there." Sable said, glancing up from her book.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have any tea." Luke told her.

"Oh! I thought you were someone else!" Sable exclaimed, setting the novel down on the glass-topped end table next to her. Her eyes traveled suspiciously over Quinn and Esme, trying to put together the puzzle pieces of what caused them to all come to her room. Luke wouldn't ask her out on a date with two other girls present, and he was far past group dates, so he wasn't exactly sure what conclusion she came to.

"Clearly." Luke rolled his eyes. "We're all playing a game in the women's room if you want to join." He told her.

Sable's eyes gleamed. "Poker?" She said hopefully.

"No." Quinn provided. "We're all tired enough of you beating us in that."

"Eighty-seven times to be exact." Sable told her. "I kept a tally." Luke couldn't keep himself from laughing, earning an odd glance from Sable. What a coincidence. Quinn had literally just said that no one had bothered to keep a tally. Well, obviously, someone had bothered.

"We're playing hangman!" Esme piped up.

"Hangman?" Sable questioned, a slight frown marring her face. "That game that children play?"

"The one and only!" Luke told her.

Sable took a deep breath, almost forcing a smile on her face. It looked incredibly realistic, Luke had to give her that. Even he, who had been trained in this stuff, might have mistaken it for a real one. "Sounds great!" She exclaimed.

Chuckling, Luke nodded his head to the door. "Are you ready to go?" He asked.

Sable looked down at her outfit, a pair of tan high-waisted pants and a white blouse, a strand of diamonds (costume jewelry) circling her neck. "Sure, why not." She said, brushing her dark brown waves into place with her hand.

"Faye and Sydney are waiting for us in the women's room." He told her, waiting for all the ladies to exit the room before he did. He didn't add the fact that he hoped they hadn't gotten into some massive fight while he was gone. If it was any girl other than Faye he might have worried, but Faye wouldn't harm a fly, despite her daddy's cult.

"Cool." Sable said, leading the way down to the women's room. None of the girls in the group seemed to like each other very much, and as they walked they all distanced themselves from one another. The only conversation was one that Luke started or when a girl (read: Sable) had pointedly asked him a question. Sheesh. Was this how the rest of the selection was going to be? They had all gotten along so well merely a few months ago. Talk about the competition getting to them. Whatever happened to the sense of camaraderie that came with competitive spirit? These girls seemed to have thrown that out the window.

When the guard opened the door to the women's room, it was completely silent. Faye was doodling what looked like nine tic-tac-toe boards in a row. She must really like that game. Sydney was silently sliding beads onto a pink thread.

"Oh, you're back." Faye observed, looking at the group.

"Yup." Luke answered. "Everyone ready to play?" He asked the group. They all nodded eagerly.

"Here." Faye said, ripping a page out of her notebook. "I have plenty of paper for the game." She offered, gesturing to her thick notebook.

"Great. Any chance I can borrow a pen too?"

"Sure. What color do you want?" Faye rifled through her mess of pens and pencils.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. Does anyone care?"

"We'll use a black pen." Sable spoke for the group as a whole. This seemed to put off Sydney and Quinn who nudged each other. Now that was funny. Bonding over a mutual dislike. Of course, a lot of the girls seemed to dislike Sable. As much as Luke had tried to push Laena's parting words out of his head, he couldn't just forget about them. It had bothered him for a few days, even as he tried to tell himself she was just jealous or upset. As much as he hated the fact, he saw the glimmer of truth in her words. Sable seemed to always be at the root of the fights between the girls, even if she was never the one people got upset at. And there was the fact that she had essentially broken the law to save her friend. Was it sweet? Yes. Was it legal? No.

Wordlessly, Faye handed Luke a thick black pen. "Anyone want to go first?" He asked them all. "Faye?" he had promised that she could start the game.

"I'll go." Faye volunteered before anyone else could open their mouths.

As Faye sketched out the blank spots for the letters and the gallows (Wow, this was a gruesome game. How did they let children play this?) Sable asked, "So is there a prize if we win like last time?"

That's right. Last time they had all played a game Luke had offered a date with him as a prize. "Why not?" Luke complied. "The winner will get a date with me."

"Maybe we should save everyone the effort and you and Sable can just go on a date now." Quinn commented lightly. Luke laughed at her joke, along with the rest of the girls, except for Sable of course. She didn't seem to find it all that funny.

"You know, Quincy." Sable used Quinn's full name for effect. "If you were actually good at these games, maybe you wouldn't be so bitter."

Quinn scoffed. "I'm not bitter. I'm just pointing out the obvious. I'm sorry you can't take a joke."

Luke didn't know if he should intervene or not. He really didn't like getting in the middle of these catfights, but Quinn did have a point. Sable would probably win, no matter what happened. God, why was he always put in these horrible positions.

Luckily, Faye chimed in. "Okay! Is everyone ready?" She said, her voice far louder than usual in an effort to distract the squabbling women.

"Of course." Sable said, turning to her.

"It's a six letter word." Faye told them, tapping the pen against the paper.

"Is there an S?" Esme guessed.

Faye nodded, filling in the last blank on the paper.

"A?" Quinn offered up.

Sydney shook her head, drawing the head on the piece of paper. Quinn frowned playfully. Luke guessed I, which was actually in the word. Sydney went with U, also in the word.

Sable looked at the piece of paper. "Is there a C?" Faye flashed her a thumbs-up. "Can I guess what the word is?"

"Sure."

"Citrus?" She asked.

"You got it!" Faye told her, smiling. "Here, let me give you a point." Faye jotted down Sable's name, putting a line next to it. "You want to go next?" She asked her.

Sable nodded. "You bet I do. You're going to love my word." She told them, smiling broadly.

"Oh!" Sydney exclaimed. "You know who I spoke to last night?" She asked.

"No."

"Laena! She called me to see how we were all doing." Sydney said. "I told her about the beach day. She said that we were robbed by the way. Our sand castle should have beaten the sphinx." Sydney joked. Luke doubted Laena said that, but he smiled anyway.

"No, it shouldn't have." Luke said simply.

"Well...I didn't exactly tell her what our's looked like." Sydney admitted.

"That explains it." Quinn said. "I know you tried, but that was pathetic."

"Pathetically good you mean?" Sydney asked.

"No. No I don't." Quinn said. "How's Laena doing? Next time you speak to her, tell her that I found a book she must have left here. I'll ship it to her house." Quinn offered.

"Yeah, sure." Sydney paused for a second. "Why don't you just call her yourself?"

Quinn laughed. "I don't have her number. Actually, can you just make a group chat with all of us in it?" Quinn asked. "Add Lucy, Ophelia and Sam too. That way we can have all of their numbers." Luke didn't miss the fact that Amethyst wasn't included in these plans, but he assumed it was just because she hadn't made it to the elite. Those two poor girls he had eliminated on the report didn't seem to be invited either.

"One sec, let me add all of you." Sydney said, her thumbs typing something on her phone. "Luke, do you want me to put you in?" She asked.

Luke paused for a second. He really wasn't allowed to give his number out to people, and somehow, he was fairly sure a groupchat with nine of his soon-to-be ex's would be a big no-no. Even if he wanted to, he just couldn't. "I'm not allowed."

Sydney's mouth puckered for a moment. "Oh. Laena's doing good, by the way. I think she started going out with some millionaire's son. She'll be fine." Luke wasn't exactly sure if Laena was dating the boy simply for money, or if she actually liked him. He hoped, for her sake, that it was the latter.

"I'm done." Sable said, gesturing to the new sheet of paper that Faye must have given her. There were eleven letters in whatever word she had chosen. Damn it. Of course she had to go with something hard.

After a few minutes, Sable drew two x's on the man's face. "You killed him." She shook her head in despair.

"Oh." Esme frowned. "Poor Bobby."

"Bobby?" Sable asked in confusion.

"Well, if he's dead the least we could do is know his name." Esme told them all seriously. They all laughed at that, and Esme beamed in pleasure.

"What was the word anyway?" Luke asked.

"Pochemuchka." Sable state proudly.

"Excuse me?" Luke said, making sure he didn't mishear. He wasn't sure if what Sable said was an actual word or if she had sneezed.

"Pochemuchka. It's a russian term for when a person asks too many questions." Sable explained. Of course she would pull something like this. Pick an impossible word. Overlapping chatter filled the room, as each girl seemed to protest the use of her word. Luke couldn't blame them. That was completely unfair.

"Alright." Luke clapped his hands together, drawing everyone's attention to him "New rule. You have to be able to use the word in a sentence. And, it has to be in english." He added. Sable rolled her eyes, seeming put out, she was the only one though. "Also, Sable, that point doesn't count."

"That's not fair!" She protested.

"My game, my rules." Luke told her. She crossed her arms over her chest, sulking for a good few minutes, while they all decided who was going next.

In the end, Esme volunteered. "Sydney, did you hear anything from home?" Luke asked nonchalantly. "I mean, you guys speak with your parents right?" He had assumed they did, but he actually wasn't quite sure if they did.

"Yeah." Sydney assured him. "I talked to my mom last night. Oh my God, my cousin, he lives in Labrador, got approached by that weird cult-thing."

Luke looked at Faye, who had blanched, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip. Oh, not this again. "Cult-thing?" Luke asked carefully.

"Yeah it starts with a D. I forgot what it's called." Sydney replied.

"Wasn't it like Deuxccodium?" Sable asked. "Is that right Faye?" Her question seemed innocent enough, but Luke had a feeling that she knew more than she was letting on. How did Sable have an uncanny ability to discern everyone's deepest, darkest secrets.

Faye stalled for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said, her eyes downcast.

Sable simply hummed in response. Sydney, however, didn't seem to pick up on the tension. "Yeah, he didn't join obviously. Apparently some man got paralyzed from like this fire ritual. I don't know, but it was all over the papers."

"That...That's horrible." Faye breathed. Her eyes seemed glassy. Luke shot her a concerned look, she didn't return it though. Poor Faye. She could never seem to escape her father's name. It suddenly occurred to Luke that maybe her having a different last name was her own choice. So people didn't immediately associate her with him. They looked so different, it would take a long time for someone to make the connection.

"Faye, are you okay?" Quinn asked, worry etched on her face.

"Yeah..I'm just...It's really hot in here. I need some air." She said, standing quickly.

"Do you want me to-" Luke started to offer, but Faye cut him off.

"No. I just need some air." She hurried out of the room quickly, the door slamming in her wake.

"That's odd." Sable commented lightly.

Odd indeed.

The rest of the game passed without incident. Faye had returned ten minutes later, seeming still on edge, but significantly calmer then when she left. Luke knew she should talk to her about it, but not right now. He needed to give her time. That, and he was enjoying the game and didn't want to leave to go comfort her and talk about a scary cult. Speaking of the game, Sable, of course, won with a score of 5.

"Well, who saw that coming?" Quinn said at the end of the game. Though she had forced a smile on her face, she seemed sad.

"Hate the game not the players." Sable reminded her. "So, Luke, what are we doing?"

He needed to think of something quick. Luke hadn't actually planned what he would do on the date with the winner of hangman. "Do you want to go up to the roof?" he offered. "Look at the skyline?"

Sable's smile was a mix of self-satisfaction and happiness. "I would love to."

"Pretty cool, isn't it." Luke said, looking over the short wall that kept people from falling over the top of the palace.

Sable's dark hair was windswept, pieces blowing every which way. She smoothed them down as she answered, "It's amazing." She breathed. "I mean, the Manhattan skyline is really cool, but I've seen that hundreds of times. School field trips to the observatory and all that. This is just so different."

"I've been to the observatory once." Luke offered. "I think it has a much better view than this." He said, shrugging. He had visited Waverly a few times, however he had only been to manhattan once, when he was twelve. The observatory had been around since before Illéa was created, and he seriously couldn't believe the view. At one time it had been the tallest building in the world, but of course that was centuries ago. With new inventions, buildings could easily be 150 stories tall. Still, he had loved the view that the floor-to-ceiling windows of the observatory provided. It was nothing compared to his three story high palace. Even if the vaulted ceilings were larger than a normal house.

"Okay, it does." Sable admitted. "But you're actually in the city. Here, you're looking at it from afar." It's just a really different experience."

Luke had never really considered that. "I guess."

"Plus." Sable added, "You actually have beaches. Manhattan is just concrete until you hit water."

"I like that analogy." Luke said, laughing. "Concrete until you hit water."

"Copyright Sable inc. No exceptions." Sable teased him lightly.

"Not even for me?" Luke asked. "I'm a prince. You should be happy that I'm using your saying." He joked.

"Sorry. We have a no-exceptions-even-for-royalty-policy. It's out of my hands. Of course, you could apply to use the phrase. I have to warn you though, there is a very long waitlist. You should have access to it in about two and a half years." Sable shrugged.

Luke pouted for a moment. "Well, that sucks. How do you like Angeles compared to Waverly?"

Sable thought for a moment. "Well, it's definitely warmer. And you have a lot more rainstorms. And the beaches are a lot nicer." She told him. "I've never been big on winter. Fluffy coats really just aren't my thing."

"Despite popular belief, it does get pretty cold in Angeles. I think it goes down to 30 degrees some winters."

"Oh that's nothing.' Sable said dismissively. "It gets down to 9 degrees every winter in Waverly."

"Oh wow." Luke said in surprise. "That's cold."

"Why do you think the pilgrims all died from winter?" Sable asked. She didn't wait for him to answer. "They all froze to death."

"Did they?" Luke questioned. "I really don't remember my history that well."

"Of course you don't." Sable said fondly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"No offense, but you don't really seem like the type to focus on school that much." Sable admitted. "I mean, did you even have to take any tests?"

"I took a standardized test at the end of each year. Basically, I was doing homeschooling." Luke explained.

"Oh. I didn't know that." Sable commented. And here Luke thought she knew everything about, well, everything. She always seemed to know exactly what she was talking about, she knew everything and everyone. How she had that much knowledge stored in her brian was beyond him. Some days Luke could barely remember what he had for breakfast.

"Sable." Luke started, there was something that had been bothering him for most of the afternoon. "I have a question."

Sable looked intrigued, "Go ahead." She offered, a small smile playing on her lips.

Luke took a deep breath. He wasn't good at confrontations. 'When you asked Faye if she knew what that cult was called, why did you do it?" he asked plainly. Better to get straight to the point than try to beat around the bush. Also, Luke would probably get distracted if he did that and never actually ask her the question.

Sable shrugged. "I just thought she might know. I think she mentioned it once or twice." She said innocently, her eyes wide.

"Oh. That was why?" Luke asked, relenting slightly.

Sable laughed. "Of course. What, it's not like she's part of the cult anyway. Don't be silly Luke." She said, swatting his arm. Thank God that Sable hadn't found out about Faye. Luke had the feeling that she'd be less inclined to protect her secret then she was with Ophelia.

"Alright. Forget I said anything." Luke told her.

"Already forgotten."

They spent another forty-five minutes up there, Luke ponting out various buildings to Sable. She knew more about the histories of said buildings than Luke did, but he was happy to hear her talk about it. He hated being put on the spot, it was easier to just listen to Sable. Finally, they had to go downstairs to get ready for dinner. Sable wanted to change, and Luke supposed that he should too.

"Your Highness, there's a slight problem with one of your selected." A servant told Luke, as he went to drop Sable off.

Perplexed, Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong?" He asked slowly.

"I'm not sure, one of the ladies seemed rather upset. Her Majesty wanted you to go talk to her." The servant said. Of course Farrah had to intervene, though knowing her, it was probably more due to the fact that the girl was annoying her rather than any altruistic desire to help.

"Right." Luke looked over at Sable." Uh, Sable, can you go back to your room? I think I'm needed." he told her.

Sable seemed a bit put off, but shrugged. "Sure."

Sighing, Luke followed the servant to go solve whatever problem had aroused with one of the ladies. Why was this stuff always his problem?

The next time the palace held a selection, Luke was insisting that they hire some person to handle all this stuff. His future niece or nephew would thank him.

A/N: I cannot tell you how many websites I looked through to find the most complicated word for Sable to use in hangman. Anyway, I think I'm pretty happy with that one. So, another chapter gone, we're really in the final stretch of this story. I hope everyone is having a great day off from school and work (Labor Day, fun!), till next time!

Also, side note, If your character has been eliminated, or even if they haven't and you know what you want them to do after the selection (Ex: Married, single, own a restaurant, children etc etc) shoot me a pm either here or on discord and let me know! Otherwise I'm just going to make it up for the epilogue.

Joke: What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?

Frostbite!