Chapter 19 – Strategy

King Silas never slept well from Wednesdays to Thursdays. Every week, on that specific night, he'd toss and turn and finally abandon trying to fall asleep. If he kept moving like that and trying to find a good position to sleep, he'd wake his wife, and he'd rather she had a good night's sleep than him not getting any.

So he got up, not even bothering to check the time, but it was definitely before dawn. Silas tiptoed to the door and headed to their family living room where he wouldn't bother anyone. He walked around the room, pacing. He was exhausted, and it had been days since he'd had a real night's sleep. With all this mess going on in Europe and their small – but big enough – part in it, he was anxious. Bingo, his big Bernese dog, had followed him into the room. He rubbed his nose against his leg, and Silas smiled before sitting on a couch and inviting the dog on it, too.

Bingo rested its head on his lap as Silas slowly stroked the animal's fur.

"I don't know what to do, Bingo," he whispered, and the dog raised his head, recognizing his name. "We're trapped in some big mess," he continued. "I shouldn't have listened to Willow and should have replied with the negative to King Magnus." He sighed. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do, now." He paused, letting the night sounds fill the air around him.

He must have fallen asleep at some point with Bingo next to him because when Ximena touched his cheek, he woke up with a start.

"Wha–"

"Hey," she said softly, sitting on the couch with him. "Bad night again?"

Silas nodded and rubbed his face, realizing he wasn't wearing his glasses. Ximena handed them to him, smiling. "Thanks," he mumbled. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven," she said. "Is there anything I can do to help?" But Silas shook his head. "Have you tried the sleeping pills the doctor gave you a couple of weeks ago?"

"No." Silas sighed and wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders. "I haven't. I don't want to be dependent on those things."

"Understandable," Xi replied, "But it could help you sleep. Honey, you look exhausted."

"That bad?" Silas snorted. "I'll try natural remedies first. Herbal tea or something– I really don't want to start medication."

Ximena nodded, knowing full well that her husband was one stubborn mule and that he'd only do something if he decided it himself. "What do you say we wear red, today?"

Silas shrugged and followed his wife back to their room. She had already set out matching red outfits on the bed for them. He hopped into the shower before slipping on the grey suit with the red shirt and the black tie, while Ximena wore a red pencil dress that made her curves stand out perfectly well. Unfortunately, they were already late for breakfast, so Silas pushed away any thought of his wife for later…

Silas and Ximena didn't always join their kids and the Selected for breakfast, and this time was no different. They took their breakfast in the King's office, where he went over the papers with his wife, preparing the council meeting. They discussed some of the topics, but Ximena wasn't a huge fan of foreign affairs, so she could only help that much. When they were done, and after downing two strong coffees each, they headed to the conference room to wait for the others.

Felix Trevino, Silas' Chief of Staff and Prince Domenico's father-in-law stepped in first, a huge file of papers under his arm.

"Good morning, Your Majesties," clicking his heels together and bowing briefly before settling down on a chair around the table.

"Morning, Trevino," Silas replied. "Anything new to add to the agenda?"

"Besides what I sent everyone yesterday?" Felix said. "No, not on my side." He paused, going through his papers. "But I do think Watanabe has something."

Silas nodded. Speaking of the devil, Ezra Watanabe, his best friend and Foreign Affairs advisor walked in, a slight frown on his face. Which meant that whatever he was about to drop on the King was bad. Ezra always had a smile to offer, a joke to crack, or a kind word to give. But when he frowned, they knew it would be bad.

"Morning," he said, bowing briefly before taking his seat. A minute later, all the other advisors filed in, one after the others, followed by Zeke. Now, only Willow was left, and they waited for her to arrive. It was past 9 o'clock and she was late.

Five minutes later, the Princess showed up and Silas sent her a small disapproving look.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she said, not giving any explanation and sitting down next to her father. Zeke sent her a wicked look as well, but she ignored him. Silas sighed: this was not the time to start them on a fight.

"Alright," he said. "We can start." He paused. "Following the agenda, Felix Trevino has sent us yesterday, we have several topics to go over. The first one will be the Selection." He turned towards his daughter. "How is it going?" he asked. "Have you already started the one-on-one dates?"

"Yes, two days ago," she said. "And everything's going fine."

Silas nodded. "How many are you planning to eliminate tomorrow on the Report?"

"Two or three," she replied.

"Good." The King went through the agenda on the paper in front of him. "Thank you Willow, we'll talk more about the Selection when the numbers have dwindled down more. For now, we have more urgent matters to discuss." He looked at his friend. "Ezra?"

Ezra nodded. "All right, so I've been in contact with Swendway's and France's diplomats over the past week, and it's not looking good." He paused and stood, going to the big map of Europe on the wall. "The Fifth Reich has publicly sided with Russia and both the Reich and the Russian Empire have started marching towards Swendway, cornering King Magnus from both sides." He made large movements with his arms over the map to show how they were moving.

"What about what's on the other side of the Polish Coalition?" someone asked. "They're also pretty much trapped in the middle…"

"Yes, they are," Ezra said. "But for now, the two most dangerous players are Germany and Russia." He paused. "The Southern Alliance leaders are meeting very soon – today or tomorrow – to decide what to do. They're going to contact me as soon as they know."

"So what exactly do we do?" Willow asked. "Is there anything we can do?"

Ezra shook his head. "For now, all we can do is wait. Depending on what the Southern Alliance and New England decided to do, we might need to send reinforcements. They're our allies, and if they ask for help, we won't have much choice than to comply."

There was silence around the table for a minute or two as everyone let those words sink in. Sending troupes and military equipment to Europe hadn't been done in decades, and Illéa hadn't been at war with anyone for as long, too. But if they decided to help, that would put two of the biggest powers in the world in the mix: Illéa and Russia. And since New Asia had ties on both sides, they might stay out of it altogether.

"Alright," Silas finally said. "We'll wait to see what they decide." He guided his advisors to the end of the agenda – internal affairs, budgets, Provinces, etc. – and it brought them all the way to lunchtime. Then he dismissed everyone except his daughter, who stayed behind.

"I'm sorry, I was late," she said, guessing what her father was going to tell her. "I was having a really interesting conversation with–"

"Willow," Silas said, stopping her. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about." He paused. "Your mother told me you were anxious about this whole situation including Prince Fredrik and him being in the Selection. Is that correct?"

Willow took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah… I shouldn't have suggested that, it was dumb."

"No, it was a good idea," Silas said. "Maybe just not the right time." He pushed his glasses on his head and rubbed his face sighing. "At any other peaceful time, yes. But no one could have guessed Swendway was trying to work something out with Russia. We did the best we could with the information we had. And sometimes, it's all we can do."

Willow nodded. "And then we have to clean up the mess, right?"

Silas snorted. "Something like that." He paused. "It's like playing chess: you and I used to do it all the time, remember? But sometimes you don't know what the other is doing and he may have several moves planned in his mind. You just have to take a wild guess, or you have to change your strategy during the game."

Again, Willow nodded. "Thanks, dad."

"Come here," he said, looping his arm around her shoulders and placing a kiss on the top of her head, and she wrapped her arm around his waist. She was so much shorter than him that her head barely reached his shoulder. "Let me worry about the 'mess', as you said, okay? Focus on your Selection for now." He paused as they started to head out of the conference room. "Any favorites, yet?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Dad! It's only been three weeks! And I've already sent home my least favorites."

"Eh, that's a good start," he said, chuckling.

/ / /

After the meeting, Willow went to the boy's etiquette and protocol lesson with the two boxes, hoping to catch them all before the end of the lesson. They were just packing their stuff and putting the 'classroom' back in order when she walked in.

Lady Nottingale was the first one to notice her and she dropped into a perfect curtsy in front of the Princess. Inside, Willow beamed: having her old etiquette teacher curtsy to her was odd, but made her feel powerful in a sense. Some of the Selected noticed the teacher curtsying and turned around. They bowed too, followed by the rest of them.

"Hello again, Gentlemen, Jaylen," she said to the Selected. "Lady Nottingale," she added to her teacher. "I was hoping to catch you all before lunch to draw the next name for today's date," she said. "Blue or Black box?"

"Black!" some replied.

"Blue!" others said.

"Black," Willow said. "There are more names there." She shook the box and put it on a table before taking off the lid and picking a small piece of paper without looking. She then unfolded it and tried to keep her best poker face, even though she wanted to smile and laugh. "Mikey."

"Pfff, that's too easy," Ricardo said. "Can't you pick someone else? He's your best friend."

"You know, Ricardo," Willow said. "Easy is probably just what I need after this morning. So, no, I will not pick another name." She crumbled the paper and slipped it into her pocket. "Mikey, whenever you want, you let me know." She picked up the two boxes to put them in her office– no use having the Selected mess with them and add more of their name in them. At least, in her office, they would be safe. Willow walked away with her boxes and when she came back, Mikey was waiting for her near the classroom while everyone was gone outside for lunch.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey, yourself."

"What do you want to do for our date?" he asked.

"Hey, I picked you from the black box, so you figure that out." She elbowed him playfully in the arm and Mikey chuckled.

"I'm serious," he said. "You said you had a tough morning. So do you want something familiar we always do? Or something new we've never done together?"

"Hmm," she said, thinking. "I think I'd rather do something completely new to get my mind off of… stuff."

Her best friend nodded. "You wanna talk about it?"

"You know I can't, Mikey," she said, looping her arm in his as they walked outside. "And I was serious, too: I need to not think about all that, so we're not gonna bring it up. Okay?"

The silver-haired young man nodded. "As you wish, Milady." He paused. "Would this afternoon be good for you?"

"Yes, perfect!"

They sat with the others around the table and chatted with the ones around them. Willow liked these moments with everyone because she could see who took the lead in a group, who stayed in the shadow, and who just followed around on whatever they were talking about. At least she already had the couple of guys she was going to eliminate the next day. Two more down, twenty-five more to go.

Twenty-five after tomorrow? Willow thought. That's already ten down!

After lunch, Willow followed the others to the terrace to continue the two tournaments. Some headed to the pool, asking that they call them if they needed to play, and Willow just waited: she didn't know when Mikey would get their date ready, and she had no idea what he had in mind when he suggested something new that they had never done before… She was curious to know, though.

"Are you okay?" Lysander asked, coming over. She was standing not too far from the ping-pong table, watching Archer beat Comoe hollow, 9 to 1. Only two more points and he would win, eliminating Comoe from the tournament. But to be honest, she wasn't really watching the game. "You seem to be far away," he said.

Willow looked at the blond and blue-eyed writer. It was weird: she had been reading his books for so long, fell in love with his characters and his worldbuilding, but somehow, he was not was she had expected. His mind might be full of an imaginary world– or of multiple imaginary worlds, but he was just like any other guy. "Yeah, I guess I am, a little," she admitted. "I have a lot of stuff on my mind, and it doesn't seem to go away. It's like a haunting presence shadowing over me…"

"You weren't kidding when you mentioned a difficult morning…"

She shook her head. "How's your new story coming along?" she asked, changing the subject.

Lysander seemed to brighten up at that, smiling. "Well, as a matter of fact, I've already started drafting an outline. After the hike," he said, "I wrote down all the ideas you guys had given me – because this is a new genre for me – and then started thinking about a story with as much of those as I could."

"Ooh, nice!" Willow said. "So you're going to stay in his 'new genre'? Romance?"

Lysander nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to write it, but that doesn't mean my publisher and my editor will like it. They don't really like when I experiment." He rolled his eyes.

"Hmm, I'm sure if you tell them that the Princess supports your idea, they'll let you do it."

"Yeah, maybe," he chuckled.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw prince Fredrik read something on his phone and frown, before sitting down on a chair, seeming to be quite dumbfounded. "Uh, Ly, please excuse me?"

"Of course…"

"Thank you!" She hurried to the prince. "Hey, are you okay?"

Fredrik looked up at the princess– and he had become a little pale. "Is it true?" he asked softly. He handed her his phone and she read a message from his brother Mads in Swedish.

"I can't read that…" Willow said.

"Oh, right." He took a shaky breath. "That Germany and Russia know that I'm here?"

Willow nodded. "Come on, let's go talk inside," she said, and Fredrik followed her. They didn't go into the Men's Parlor in case someone heard them, so they went to her office. She sat next to him on the couch and told him everything that had happened in Europe– or at least everything she could tell him and that she understood.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" he asked. "My country is in danger…"

"I know," Willow said. "Your father and mine thought it would be better if you didn't know so you could enjoy your time here." She paused and slouched against the backrest. "This is all a whole mess," she said, "and all we have to do now is wait."

"Can't I go back home?" he asked.

"No!" Willow said. "It's too dangerous. Besides," she added, putting a hand on his knee just to show him that she cared, "your father asked that we keep you here as long as it wasn't safe to go back."

Fredrik's shoulders sagged. "What about my mother?" he asked. "She's not a soldier."

"No, but she's the Queen," Willow replied. "And the Queen stays with her country as long as possible. Unless the King says otherwise."

Fredrik nodded. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"Hey, if you need to talk, I'm here, okay? We're the only two people who can talk about this anyway. Apart from my dad and the other advisors." She paused. "Oh, and there's Zeke, too, if you want to –"

"No," he quickly said. "Your brother terrifies me a little," he admitted sheepishly.

Willow chuckled. "Yeah, he sometimes has that effect on people. Lolly?"

Fredrik shrugged. "I don't know. I mean– I know I'm supposed to see if anything can work out with either you or Lolly, but I don't feel like there's anything– I don't know…"

"Hey," Willow said softly. "Let's not put too much pressure on our shoulders, okay? If nothing happens, then it's okay too. But it's only been three weeks, and Lolly is still a little shy. Give it time, okay?"

Fredrik nodded. "You're going to be late to your date with Mikhail," he said. "You should go."

"I don't even know when he wants to go," she said. "But yeah, maybe he's looking for me right as we speak. Come on." She headed to the door and Fred followed her. When they were in the hall, he excused himself to go to his room: he needed some time alone, which Willow understood perfectly well. She wished she could do that sometimes: hide and forget about the world around her.

/ / /

"Ah, there you are!" Mikhail Parker said. "I've been looking all over the place for you!"

"Sorry," she replied. "I needed to deal with something urgent." And no, she couldn't tell him what it was, even if he knew Fred was a Prince. If she told him what it was all about, then she wouldn't be keeping a state secret. Not that she didn't trust Mikey, far from that! But she just couldn't tell him that sort of thing, and he knew it.

"No need to apologize," he said. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, eager to put distance between her and the Palace for a few hours. "Where are we going?"

"That's a surprise," he smirked. "Milady?" He offered her his hand and she took it without a second thought, following him outside. Only there was no car outside, waiting to take them to wherever they were going. "I got the clearance from Charlie and Salima to take you myself with the Cadillac," he said when he saw the confusion on her face. "Salima will be following, though."

"I see," she said. "I'm glad. I really need to forget I'm the princess for just a few hours, and not being in a Limo is going to be perfect."

Mikey smiled and they headed to where his Cadillac was parked, in its usual place with the other staff's cars. They climbed in – Willow in the front, next to Mikey – and they drove out of the Palace grounds with Salima Aziz on their tail. Mikey put on some loud music, and both sang along, laughing and giggling, and just being silly.

Apart from the fact that they were heading into Los Angeles, Willow didn't know where they were going, but she trusted him. She always had, and that was not going to change now. After a few moments, they pulled into a big parking lot and–

"The Ice Cream Museum?" Willow squealed. "I've wanted to go there forever!"

"I know," Mikey said, grinning. He maneuvered the car into a parking spot and turned off the engine. "You got your phone? I hear there are some pretty cool places to take pictures and selfies in there."

"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes and patting her pocket.

"Okay, then. Shall we?"

Willow nodded and they stepped out of the car before heading to the entrance and buying two tickets. The Museum had been emptied just a few hours ago to give them full access to the whole place, so they were completely alone, bar Salima following them from afar so as not to intrude on their privacy.

They followed the path of the visit and each room was better than the last: banana swings, selfie walls, banana art, smashed ice cream art, ice cream swings, mini trampolines, and so on. But the best of the best was without a doubt the Sprinkle Pool! It was a huge pool filled with cake or ice cream sprinkles and they could actually go in and swim in it!

They laughed and giggled so much, took pictures, and just forgot about everything else in the world and in their lives. It was just them, two best friends enjoying a silly afternoon together and making memories.

After the visit, they just had to stop at the museum store and they bought 10 pounds of candy and chocolate and left with eight inches of ice cream piled into a cone that they had to eat quickly or it would melt.

When they were done with her ginormous ice creams, they drove to the Schreave beach and spent the rest of the afternoon there, not wanting to go back to the Palace.

"Race you to the water!" Willow said, kicking off her shoes and running the water's edge.

"Hey! that's cheating!" he called after her, trying to take off his lace-up boots. Willow got there first and she was already standing in the water, the waves lapping at her shins– good thing she was wearing shorts for the day. "You wanna walk a little?" Mikey asked. "I need to digest that ice cream."

Willow nodded. "Good idea." So off they went walking side by side. "Hey, thanks for taking me out like that. I really needed a change of scenery."

Instead of replying something, though, Mikey slipped his hand in hers, which made Willow's heart jump in her chest. It was weird, but it was a good weird. She trusted him with her life. So why not? Willow squeezed his fingers lightly just to tell him that she wasn't going to push his hand away, and she heard him let out a sigh of relief. "You know I'd do anything for you, right?"

Willow nodded. "I know. Just– don't do anything stupid, okay?"

He snorted. "Why would I do anything stupid? I'm a very sensible person."

"HA!" she burst out laughing. "You're definitely not!"

"Hey!" He splashed her with some water and Willow ran away giggling, trying to avoid the water. But Mikey ran after her, intent on getting her into the water. She ran away laughing, but Mikey was gaining on her, so she squealed and darted in another direction just as Mikey tried to grab her. It was a real cat and mouse chase until Willow was out of breath – she wasn't that used to running around, okay? – and Mikey tackled her to the sandy ground, blocking her escape with his body.

Both laughed and gasp for air, catching their breath.

"Mina! You still have sprinkles in your hair!" he said, laughing. He took out the colorful sprinkles one by one, laughing, and Willow had a very close view of his face where she could count all his freckles on his cheeks and nose.

Then Mikey looked down at her, not laughing anymore but still smiling. "I really want to kiss you, right now," he whispered. He locked his eyes on hers though she noticed they were going down to her lips.

"Why don't you?" she asked just as softly.

Mikey didn't reply right away. "Because I–" he cut himself short, trying to find the right words. "I don't want to ruin our relationship," he admitted, looking at her eyes again. His blue eyes harbored such a storm of emotions, Willow didn't know how to interpret that when she usually could read him like a book.

"Who says it'll ruin it?" she asked, still pinned to the ground. Mikey didn't have his full weight on her since he was resting on his elbows, but Willow was still a little breathless. From the run? The laugh? The emotions?

Mikey shrugged in response. Who said that, anyway, right?

"Do it," she breathed out, searching the storm in his eyes. So Mikey did it: he leaned in and placed his lips on hers, testing, then tasting them. They were unfamiliar, yet so familiar at the same time. Those lips with which he had laid down his life for her some years ago. Those lips that had comforted her in her lowest of times. Those same lips that had made her laugh so much, that smile that brought sunshine in her soul every single time. It was not weird at all– in fact, it was like finally finding home after a lifetime of wandering here and there with no purpose and no destination.

And to think that home had been within reach all this time…

After a few seconds, Mikey broke off the kiss and looked at her, searching her dark-coffee-colored eyes. He smiled. "Was that…" he trailed off.

Willow smiled, too. "Perfect," she whispered. Then: "Mikey, you're crushing me."

"Oh, sorry," he said pushing himself off of her because he had leaned in with all of his weight. Her best friend sat up and helped her up, too.

She sat next to him, both facing the ocean, and burying their toes in the warm sand. Their arms were touching, but they didn't move or talk. Willow needed to gather her thoughts. Yes, it had been perfect and had felt like home. But about for him? "Was it… weird for you?" she asked, afraid to ask the question. Maybe he was right and it would bring an end to their friendship. She hoped not because she needed Mikey in her life. If the sun was gone, then what was the point in living?

"No," he said softly. "It wasn't weird at all…"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before leaning her head on his shoulder. Mikey gently grabbed her right wrists and ran his thumb over her tiny sunflower tattoo, right next to the tiny black heart she shared with her sister. He rested his cheek on her sun-warmed hair and smiled. They stayed like that for some time.

"Hey, do you want to ditch everyone tonight and go to your place?" she asked, looking up at him.

"My beach house?"

"Yeah."

"Won't that be weird?" he asked. "People will talk."

Willow shrugged. "Let them talk." She sighed. "I just don't want to go home just yet."

"Yeah, me neither," Mikey said. "The beach house it is, then. We can order sushi if you want?

"Yes!" Willow said, grinning.

"Highness?" Salima Aziz called out as she walked towards them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but your phone has been ringing for hours, now." She handed the princess her golden and teal phone.

"Thanks," she said. She turned it on. "What the–"

"What?" Mikey asked.

Willow showed him the screen. "12 texts message, 5 vocal messages, and 17 missed calls."

"Your mom?" Mikey asked, grimacing. "I know the feeling."

"No! From Charlie!" She sighed and clicked on the CALL BACK button, put the phone to her ear, and waited.

"Thank God, Willow!" Charlie said. "I thought you had fallen into a ditch or something! Don't you have your phone with you?"

"No, it was in the car, and I'm perfectly fine. Also, good afternoon to you too, Charles." She paused. "What's going on?"

"You should have been back home hours ago! Where are you?" From the tone of his voice, he was angry. Very angry. But why, though?

"I'm at our beach with Mikey and–"

"What about the ice cream museum?" he cut her.

"…we went there."

"Pass me Parker, will you please?" he asked, though it was more of a command. She hummed her agreement with the request but before giving her phone to Mikey, she put it on speaker, showing Mikey so he would know.

"Finley? What's up?" Mikey asked as cheerful as he could.

"Parker. What the hell? You've been out with the Princess for hours. Everyone's wondering where you guys are and what happened to her." He paused to take a breath and Mikey let him, grinning. Willow and he always found it funny to infuriate Charlie for no reason. "You do realize that you've kidnapped the Princess again? And that you didn't follow the plan? When you said you wanted to take your car to go to the museum, I said 'okay, you can do it'. But you were supposed to come back RIGHT AFTER THAT!"

"Chillax, dude!" Mikey said. "Willow is perfectly safe, Salima is still with us, and no one is dead. I promise."

Charlie huffed. "Chillax is not a word."

Willow and Mikey shared a look and smoldered their giggles. "Yeah, well, it's those who need to chillax the most who don't know the word– Look, we're just twenty minutes away from the Palace. We'll be there in half an hour, okay?"

"Fine. Don't be late." With that, he ended the call and Mikey and Willow burst out laughing.

"Well, I guess we'll have sushi some other time, then," he said, standing up and offering her his hand. She took it and he helped her up before they walked back to the car, hand in hand.

The moment Willow opened the black car's door, a whoosh of hot air hit her in the face. "Oh shoot! The candy and the chocolate!"

"Worry not, Milady," Mikey said. "I have a cooler in the trunk. They're safe." He paused. "I think." He quickly went to the back of the car with Willow, opened the trunk and the cooler, and sighed, relieved. "See? Perfectly safe."

"Thank goodness," she said. "That would have been such a waste."

He laughed and nodded and then went into the car to put the Air Conditioning on. He turned on the ignition and they were on their way, Salima following behind. Forty-five minutes later, they were walking inside the entrance hall, carrying their ten pounds of candy.

"You're late," Charlie said, coming over. "What took you so long?"

"Traffic in LA," Mikey explained.

"Here," Willow said, taking out a fancy box of chocolate from the bag and handing it to him. "Sorry for disappearing like that." She also offered him her best guilty smile, but it worked. Charlie took the box, mumbled something about being ready for dinner in twenty minutes, and was on his way.

"Wow," Mikey said. "I didn't know Charlie could be bought like that."

"Yup," she replied. "Dark chocolate with Liquor in it always does the trick."

"That's why you bought liquor-filled chocolates even though you don't like that," Mikey said, laughing. "Nice."

They walked together – not hand-in-hand this time – up to the second floor, where Willow left him to go to her own floor and room. They had divided the chocolate and the candy in two and she was carrying up her share. She opened the door to her room with her elbow and dumped all of her snacks on her bed before taking a quick shower to take off all the sand and sprinkles from her hair and creases in her clothes.

/ / /

Lolly had spent the first three weeks of the Selection staying on the sidelines, observing, taking mental notes, trying to find a moment to talk to Prince Fredrik– after her conversation with her sister, she felt it was her duty to do something about the Alliance. Maybe she could play her part in the Big Game, right?

Only… things don't usually go as planned, and strategies need to be changed mid-game. She might have wanted to get to know a prince, but it was another one who came to her, instead. The one who had put his name in the Selection, not the one who had been dragged into it. The one who had been married once already. The one who was rumored to have killed his wife.

But Lorelei wasn't afraid of him. She had even witnessed his wedding on the top of the hill. Lara Trevino had asked her to be her witness to make sure Illéa would be backing this wedding. Of course, she had never asked her father if she could and had gone behind his back. And when she had seen Domenico Montero's face on the screen when his name was called, a cold chill ran down her spine: a memory of how she was angry and lost, at that time, still.

One afternoon – maybe a week into the Selection or something? – Lorelei had been standing away from the swimming pool, watching the Selected wrestle each other, but she stayed in the shadows of the tree line. She didn't want them to know she was watching. Watching for what, she didn't even know. But watching nonetheless. Her sister had told her that she could have any guy in the Selection she wanted, but Lolly knew that she couldn't have the one her sister would favor. So she waited to see who Willow wouldn't like.

She was leaning against a tree when a deep voice made her jump.

"Lorelei Schreave," Domenico had said with a smiling lilt in his voice. "Ghosts don't have much substance. I thought you were a ghost from my past, but here you are, a feast to behold."

"Good afternoon, Domenico," she had replied, her arms automatically hugging herself. "I assure you, I'm not a ghost. Or you would be one as well."

He had chuckled, then, and crossed his arms over his chest. He hadn't come any closer but he had stayed here. "So, you've changed quite a lot since the last time we met," he had said, also keeping his eyes on the Selected in the pool. "What are you up to, these days?"

Lolly had shrugged, not wanting to go into the details of her life. "I still play the violin," she'd replied, "and I work almost every day at Moms are Strong, that's why you don't see me a lot around here."

"I see." He had paused, then. "I nice change."

And ever since that day, Domenico had tried to spend a few moments here and there with the Spare Princess. Sitting next to her at lunch, for example, or dancing with her during the dancing lesson. Or just smiling at her from a distance. And every time, Lolly had grown more and more relaxed around him, opened up more. She had hated that he had been Willow's first date. She would have wanted to be in her sister's place, that evening. But Domenico had spent the afternoon with Lolly, just before, promising her that there was nothing between him and Willow and that he had to play his part in the Selection.

The next day, he had made it up to her and offered her to go on a walk together, somewhere no one would see them. Lolly had suggested the Lake. But Domenico was a gentleman and he did not touch her. He had understood that she was different from her past self, and he wanted her to trust him.

And while her sister was on a date with her best friend – honestly, what could possibly go wrong with that – Lolly had looked for Dom. For some reason, she liked being around him. He was dark and mysterious, just like her, and she liked that he was a gentleman. She didn't believe for one second that he had killed his wife. How could he? He would never hurt a fly!

She had found him in the Men's Parlor, alone, nursing two fingers of Whiskey, slouched in one of the couches. There was always a minibar with plenty of drinks to go about in the Men's Parlor, and the Selected had learned to help themselves.

"That bad?" she asked, sitting next to him without taking any drinks– to be fair, she hadn't touched alcohol in a few years, and she didn't want to start now: alcohol and drugs had led her to a dark path and she didn't want to go there again.

Domenico looked up and smiled when she sat next to him. "Whiskey doesn't necessarily mean I'm having a bad day," he said. "It just helps me think."

"Whiskey…?"

Dom nodded.

"What are you thinking about, then?" she asked, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"I was thinking about a princess," he confessed.

"Which one?"

"This one." He touched her knee with his index finger before taking back his hand.

"Oh. Why?"

Dom shrugged. "I think I like her. Very much, actually."

"More than her sister?"

"Much more than her sister," Dom said, looking down at Lolly's big, dark brown eyes.

"I see…" she simply said. "Dom, I–" she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I didn't tell you everything about my past." She paused, and Dom leaned in a little just to show her she had his full attention. "You know I went down a dark path, and I…" she trailed off, searching for the right words. She never spoke about this with anyone, so it was hard. "I've done some terrible things, and terrible things have been done to me– Wild Child doesn't even cover half of it," she said with a little humorless snort.

Dom put his half-finished Whiskey on the table and focused his full attention on her, letting her speak at the rate she was comfortable with.

"Anyway, I haven't been close with a guy in a few years, and I always told myself I wasn't ready for anything, but– I don't know…" She was staring at her long sleeves, fiddling with them as she talked. She looked up at his kind brown eyes. "I like you, too, but I'm not sure I'm ready for… you know…" Why was she all flustered like that? She used to go from one boy to the next for sex, sometimes more than one in a day, and she couldn't even think about dating? True, she liked him, she really did. But…

"Lorelei," Dom said softly, yet his eyes held such an intensity it made her skin ripple in goosebumps. "I'm never going to rush you into anything. If you need time, I'll give you that. And if you need space, I'll give you that as well." He paused. "It was a little rude of me to come to you like that, especially since I was supposed to be here for you sister…"

Lolly smiled. "I don't want space," she said. "I like being around you." She leaned a little against him, too, their shoulders touching. "I just–" She looked at him. "I need to take my time, I think."

He nodded. "That's fine with me, Lorelei," he said softly. But the eagerness in his eyes said something else: don't take too long either.

"Gracias," she replied with a little smirk. The Spanish word made him grin from ear to ear, and it was all she could do not to combust right then and there. She slipped her hand in his and they stayed there all afternoon, talking, ignoring everyone else outside. Even the ping-pong and table soccer tournaments had been put on hold for the afternoon…

Heyyy! hope you enjoyed this chapter! some political drama, a one-on-date, and some side action :eyes:

Let me know what you thought about all of it! :D and see ya next week for the next chapter!

again, thanks for reading, reviewing, and putting up with me! I realize that I'm soon going to not have any more pre-written chapters and that I'll have to start writing again... oh dear! XD