The next morning we got word that Dad wanted to speak to all of us before breakfast, which unfortunately meant that we had to get up early. Neither Connor or I minded, we were just used to it. However my brother would be a different story. He was probably still processing the events of yesterday.

Esme did my hair in a simple braided updo and placed one of my mother's ruby combs in my hair. My makeup was kept to my usual style, but my trademark pinky-nude lip gloss was replaced by one that was tinted red. The cocktail-style day dress was the same as the stones in my headpiece and had a strapless neckline and an A-Line skirt that reached down to mid-calf. A skinny black leather belt, diamond dangles set in gold framework and black suede pumps acted as accents to break up the red.

"You look like a cherry." Connor snickered as Céline's fat fingers reached for me.

"And you look like a blueberry so we match." I pointed at his navy blue suit.

"You want Mama?" He asked as she continued to squirm.

"Ma." She babbled.

"You're on baby watch then." I took his arm. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"My father's office, why?"

"I was just thinking about why all of us needed to be present. This seems more like something he would like to discuss with just your mother and Maxon."

"Whatever he says goes." I shrugged. "It's always been that way. He just wants to keep me in the loop."

Connor rolled his eyes and we continued walking. By this point, Céline had buried her head into the crook of my neck and was using her fingers as a way to entertain herself. I had seen Connor tuck one of her rattles into his pocket in order to be used at breakfast.

Our paths intersected with Maxon, who was a little ways down the hall from us. He stopped once he saw us and let us catch up.

"I got your note." He whispered into my ear.

"And?" My brow raised.

"I'll tell you everything after breakfast."

When did he become so secretive? We continued walking down the various stairways and halls until we arrived at our destination. Much to my surprise, our father was actually waiting outside of his office for us. He immediately acknowledged our presence and nodded. Mom wasn't there yet, probably still getting ready.

"You wanted to see us, Sir?" I asked.

"I must have misinformed you, Jackie. Your mother and I will be speaking to only Maxon at this moment. You and Connor are free to go ahead to breakfast." Connor and I nodded and continued down the hallway.

"We woke up early for nothing." He grumbled.

"It's almost breakfast time anyway."

The Dining Room was already almost at full-capacity, with no more than four ladies missing. They stood in a big cluster near the door, beside the table. Quick learners, I liked that. I managed to squish in beside them, my arm brushing up against Lady Elise's.

"They're talking with Prince Maxon." My husband cleared up the confusion in some of their eyes.

"They should be here shortly, but if not we can start eating."

You have the authority to do that? Connor mouthed. I nodded. Dad had given me more privileges than he had given to Maxon, and starting a meal without him or my mother's presence was one of them. Fortunately, I didn't have to utilize it often.

A few more minutes passed and my parents walked through the door, Maxon trailing behind them. Dad nodded at us and we began to take our places at the large table.

"You're on baby breakfast duty today." I handed Céline back to her father. "You've got the rattle." He nodded and walked around the other side of the table.

I began to nibble on my pancakes, though I had to admit that I wasn't really hungry at the moment. My eyes darted to the ladies, who were surprisingly quiet today. I thought that they would pounce on Lady America the moment they had the opportunity.

Mom and I met eyes. "All of us pounced on Madeline the moment she returned from her date." She whispered back. "They're probably just trying to be friendly." I nodded and sipped at my orange juice.

We continued to eat in silence until Lady Kriss' voice pierced through it with a simple three-word sentence.

"How was it?" By now, everyone's ears and eyes had turned to Lady America.

"Indescribable." She said nonchalantly.

"How did he act?" Tiny asked, practically begging for more.

"Umm… Not at all how I expected he would." Damn it, Lady America, give us more details! I don't want to hear it third hand!

Lady Zoe, clearly growing impatient with Lady America's lack of details piped up saying, "Are you being like that on purpose? If you are, it's awfully mean."

The redhead sighed. "No, it's just that—"

Something loud was heard from the hallway and various guards began shouting. The harmonic clacking of the soles of their shoes began as they ran. Forks landed on plates with a gentle clamor and the girls' faces went pale. Already? I huffed.

"To the back of the room, ladies!" Dad yelled.

Mom and I stood up in unison, nearly tripping over each other. I followed her towards a window, where we pulled down the metal shade. I secured it and then turned back to the chaos. The girls, who were still in shock, slowly began moving towards us.

I looked at Maxon, who had just secured the other shade in place. He began to move towards Lady America, who had tripped during the height of the moment. They whispered to each other.

"To the back of the room. Now!" He shouted.

I turned back to the girls, who had huddled together for support. Unsurprisingly, a good majority of them had gone pale. Some were crying quietly while others were still processing everything that had just happened. A lot of them were still moving to follow Maxon's orders. All tried to hide their fear, but were failing.

"Are you two okay?" Maxon came over to where Mom and I were standing. Mom whispered something into his ear and he nodded.

A hoard of thirty-or-so guards flooded into the room. Most remained outside while some trickled in and stood at the front, and the remaining six rushed to our sides. The room's door was closed, locked and bolted. Once the steel bar had been put into place, Mom sighed and pulled me into an embrace. I leaned my chin on the crown of her head and took in the comforting smell of her perfume.

I walked over to where Dad was standing and listened to what the guard was saying.

"They're inside the walls, Majesty, but we're holding them back. The ladies should leave, but we're so close to the door —"

"Understood, Markson."

"How many of them are out there?" I asked quietly. Dad turned to me.

"We estimate no more than two-hundred, Your Highness."

"That's only a tenth of the estimated two-thousand that are in close proximity to us." My eyes darted back and forth. "It should be no hassle in holding them off, but do send in extra protection just in case they do." Markson nodded.

I turned to my father, who beamed with pride. He had always turned to me to make decisions like these. In his eyes, Maxon took too long to think about things, meanwhile I could make decisions on the spot. Decisions like the one I had just made were easy, but the ones dependent on life and death were harder. I forced myself to smile at his look of approval.

"They're handling it better than I'd initially thought." I whispered.

"Some are still wrecks though." He huffed.

Markson tapped on my father's shoulder and pulled him into a corner far away, while I continued to survey the scene. Lady Celeste and Lady Bariel were making quiet conversation amongst themselves, and Lady Camille and Lady Tallulah were doing the same. Compared to most, those four seemed to be faring quite well. I made mental note of that. Most of the girls were stoic, their expressions blank. They were just waiting for this to pass. A few of the girls were on the other end of the spectrum, crying and praying.

My father walked back over to me, and squeezed my wrist. He and I looked at each other, and then turned back to the girls. I subtly pointed to the four Twos in the room, to which he nodded. Mom walked over and joined our sides. Dad took her into his arms and began gently rubbing her back. She let out a near-inaudible shaky sigh and turned to me.

"Go to Connor and Céline, Jackie. He needs you, Sweetheart." I nodded. Dad kissed my cheek and pushed me towards my own family.

When I arrived, my husband wrapped his arm around my waist and I pressed the side of my head into his bicep. I reached my hand up and stroked my daughter's face. She grabbed my fingers and began playing with them.

Connor and I looked at each other. Even though she was distracted by the shine of the fresh polish on my nails now, it wouldn't be like that forever. One day, she would know about the rebels and be fearful that they could possibly take her father or me away from her. We didn't want that to happen, but no one can control fate.

"Northern or Southern?" He asked.

"It seems like the Northerners, but we can never be too sure."

Our gaze drifted to my parents, who were still huddled together and talking to a guard. At this moment, they looked like any other middle-aged couple with children. To the girls who were watching, they still looked so in love even though they had been married for twenty-plus years. That was what my father wanted them to believe.

"It's astonishing to see them act this way, especially in front of all of the girls." Connor whispered.

"I know. But you know that even though he hasn't kept his vows to her, my mother is still such an important element in his life."

"She's his center of gravity."

"His moon and his stars."

"The calm in the center of his storm."

"Her forever and his always."

I chuckled quietly as we recited their wedding vows. We really needed a new form of entertainment as we continued to wait for this to pass.

~~~~...~~~~

"It's been less than a week since their arrival and things are already getting out of hand." Dad slammed his hand on the table and began pacing.

"Should we end things?" I asked. From the look on my mother's face, I knew that I was walking on thin ice. The advisors looked intrigued.

"It won't be too much of a hassle," I looked up at my father. "We'll send the girls home for now, and contact them again when things are a lot better politically. No need to re-select them."

"No Jacqueline. We cannot have Maxon marry at twenty-two like you did. We can't risk waiting too long." His blue eyes pierced mine.

I crossed my legs underneath the table and scanned the table. Dad's advisors were dead silent, fearing that if they even took a breath too loudly that it would set his temper bomb off. Even Mom was silent, staring up at the ceiling. Maxon squeezed my hand.

"What if we cut down the amount of cameras that are here? Only have them come every other week." Maxon suggested.

"No, we need to distract the people from what is going on with the Rebels and the war with New Asia. We only proposed the Selection in order to do that."

"Well what are we supposed to do then?" I asked. "No matter if we give them more or give them less, they'll still be unhappy." I turned to the security advisor. "When do the recruits become official guards?"

"Some will be ready within the next couple of weeks, while the next group will be ready by the beginning of October. The newest group won't be ready until the end of December." He said.

I muttered curses underneath my breath and put my hands in my head. I let out a huff, which was audible enough for practically everyone to hear.

"Would you excuse us?" Mom asked quietly.

Their advisors nodded. They stood up and bowed or curtsied before they left. Once we were alone, I strolled over to the door and locked it.

"How can they not know how to do their jobs after all this time?" I began pacing. "Not a single one of them came up with a solution! The attacks are ramping up and our safety is compromised." My father opened his mouth to speak, but Maxon cut him off.

"I have to agree with Jackie, but it's not just our safety anymore. We have the girls to think about as well." Yes, yes I know Maxon. I sucked on the inside of my cheek. But they're more of your responsibility, not mine. I've already found love.

Dad and I began pacing on the opposite sides of the table. As Maxon and I have gotten older, we have unfortunately begun to discover the parts of our personalities that our father has passed down onto us, the big one being our tempers. Mine was more similar to his, while Maxon calmed down faster than he did. No matter how much we tried to be like our angel of a mother, his temper would stick with us. It would always be part of his legacy.

"We need to figure out a way to eradicate this war. Then, we could put all of our time and energy into stopping the rebels." I said quietly.

"Jackie, your father is doing his best."

"I understand that." I stopped for a moment to collect my swirling thoughts. "What we need is a distraction, something to throw the rebels off. Even if it's just for a second."

"What if we put in some new regulations for the lower castes?" Maxon suggested. "It might make them feel more at ease, therefore lessen the number of attacks."

Judging by the look in my father's eyes, he was seriously considering it. Did someone slip cyanide into his morning coffee? This was such a rare, yet welcome occurrence! Mom smiled proudly and squeezed his hand. The effort, or lack thereof, that we needed to put in for her approval. It was like going for the low-hanging fruit.

"Wonderful idea, Son." He said, patting my brother on the shoulder.

Maxon turned to me and we shared our secret smile. Our parents looked at each other, clearly proud of him. Dad offered Mom his arm and they exited the room together. Mom looked over her shoulder and winked at me. It was time.

"So…" I tried to sound casual. "How was my baby brother's first date?" He rolled his eyes, but he knew that it was coming.

"It was nice, we talked while we admired the flowers in the garden."

"What did you talk about?"

"I started off by apologizing, which she took sarcastically. Then we talked about her family. Did you know that she has four siblings?"

"Oh yes; she's the middle of five children." I recalled that from her file.

"Then she asked about our family."

My muscles tensed. "What did you tell her?"

"Nothing." I sighed with relief.

"Thankfully she dropped it and we talked about random things. She thought that I was confusing." Maxon then looked around, as if he were searching for someone. There was no one here except for me.

He whispered the next part. "Then I got kneed in the nuts."

My jaw dropped. "You what?"

"I don't understand it either!" He smiled. "She then promised to do worse. Her tone reminded me of you a little." Me?! I tried to hide my shock but judging by my brother's expression, I failed.

"America has a very similar personality to you. You'd get along pretty well."

"I would like to get around to meeting Lady America one day. She seems really down-to-earth and you seem to really like her." My finger traced the back of one of the chairs.

He smiled back, but then his face fell. "Speaking of meeting the ladies: Jackie, have you even… I don't know… talked to any of them?"

"I was in the Women's Room while you were on your date with Lady America. They were all in their little groups and I didn't want to interrupt anything. However, Lady Tiny and Lady Kriss came over and we chatted a little bit. That's about it."

He sighed. "Not to sound like our parents or that I'm bossing you around, but you really need to socialize more. You can't always be buried in your paperwork, books, or sketchbook."

"I know that I need friends, Maxi." I sighed. "But it's hard to make them in our position. Besides, my reputation precedes me. I know what people think of me."

"What do they think of you?" He clearly didn't spend a lot of time reading the news.

"That I'm cold and distant, heartless even. That I'm just like my father." I saw a shudder run through my brother's spine.

"You are nothing like Dad, Jackie. Look, you are a lot like him, but you're also patient and understanding like Mom."

"Thanks for your confidence, bro." I replied sarcastically. "So, how do you socialize with real humans?"

"You say hello and ask questions. As you're getting to know the person, try and find a mutual connection with them, such as a hobby or being a fan of a TV show."

When he put it like that, it sounded too easy to be true. He actually used to have a friend in close proximity to his age. Plus he was naturally more like Mom, who was a social butterfly when she wasn't sick.

I nodded at him, knowing that I would try his advice tomorrow morning in the Women's Room. Maybe with it, I would finally make a friend.

The next few days passed in a blur.

I spent most of them alone with Connor and Céline and enjoyed some quality family time. Céline had begun crawling around the floor already. Where had the time gone? Didn't I just give birth to her yesterday? Has March really been for that long? My mother was right, time had flown. I yearned for more time with my daughter, but since the political world is so dicey nowadays. I didn't know whether I would be called to the war room during our time together. But when we were, I soaked up every moment.

I heard from Connor that Maxon went on a few dates, probably to get content for the first Selection-themed Report. And thanks to a little snooping on my mother's end, we found out that he had gone on dates with Lady Marlee, Lady Elise, Lady Samantha, and Lady Camille. Apparently, he had taken Lady Marlee to the movie theater, Lady Elise to the library, Lady Camille to the gardens, and Lady Samantha horseback riding. Surely he would repeat the locations of those dates with other ladies.

The thoughts of how each of those dates swarmed in my mind so much that I couldn't focus on my work. (Not like I wanted to be doing the monthly economic report anyway.) Maxon didn't tell me about any of them, which meant that they either went really well, or really terribly. From what my mother said, he only came to her for advice. No details from either side.

I recalled our conversation from the other day while I began reading the statistics.

"He'll tell us when he's ready, Jackie."

"By the time he's ready, I'll be fifty and you'll be a silver-haired grandma. We're not prying details out of him, Mom."

He really wanted to torture us, didn't he? Well, we all had to have our secrets, but not secrets that depended on the future of the country?

"So if there are more workers in the primary stage than the secondary stage, that means there's an overload of raw materials…" My brow raised. "Which means…" I scribbled something down in my notes.

I couldn't understand how people who worked in the economic field weren't either bored or confused. The stock market, exchange rate, gross domestic product, all of it was blending together in my mind. But the statistics and graphs were how you knew what was going on.

I wished that my father had let me sit in on the meeting discussing our next step in the war with New Asia, but he said: "We need to get Maxon to be more experienced. He won't always have you around." I agreed with one of those sentiments.

"And the rate of inflation has gone up which means everything is more expensive, meaning that the lower castes have it even harder." I huffed. It was the only thing I understood.

Connor walked in. "Monthly economic report got you down?"

"Tell me about it. I don't know how your mother grew up in a family that does this?" I shook my head. "Even though she moved down caste-wise, Lilia was smart to marry your father. She's too lively and fun."

"I have to agree with that sentiment. You wanna swap?"

"Depends, whatcha got?"

"I've got a stack of budgets."

"I'll take it." He walked over and stood beside me. My husband leaned over my shoulder and read my notes.

"You've got it all wrong, Sweetheart."

"It's not my fault that it all looks the same and is blurring together!" I gently smacked his bicep and picked up the paperwork he brought. "This is wrong. It should be-"

"I know, Sweetheart. You've told me it a thousand times by now. Mom would not be pleased with my calculations."

"No she would not." I pulled out some scratch paper and my calculator and began writing down the formula. "I'll do this until I have to get ready for the Report, and then we'll go down together?"

"Sounds like a plan." He took my forms and notes. Connor pressed a chaste kiss to my forehead and walked out.

"I honestly don't understand why you're putting in all this effort to make me the center of attention." I turned to my maids, who were busy doing last-minute alterations on my dress for the Report tonight.

"Because Miss," Lily peaked her head out from around the corner. "You're the one who the girls are looking up to. I heard from Lady Kriss' maids that she really likes you."

"I heard similar praises from Lady Tallulah's maids." Esme came out with presumably a box of shoes. "They're trying to re-create one of your dresses for tonight."

"Which dress was it?"

"That lavender one that you wore to the state dinner in France a few years ago. Honestly, I can see why she would want to wear it."

"Her maid, Lois, asked for the final sketch that you made for it. We didn't give it to her." Beth snickered.

"That dress is still one of my favorite dresses. Excluding that little blue frock that I wore while visiting my mother's family down in Honduragua."

"That was an adorable dress, wasn't it? Too bad you had that huge growth spurt and now it's too short."

"Maybe I'll give it to Céline when she gets older." I bounced her on my knee. "Wouldn't you like one of Mommy's old dresses?" I got an incoherent babble for a response.

"I think that means yes!"

"We've got another little fashionista on our hands then!" My three ladies chuckled.

"What's this about our daughter being a little fashionista?" Connor came in, dressed in a freshly-pressed slate gray suit. His tie was jade green with gold detailing.

"I was talking about passing on some of my gowns down to Céline when she gets old enough." My fingers began massaging her stomach.

"Isn't what she's wearing already one of your baby dresses?" He looked down. "And your baby shoes?"

"Our mother is a sentimental hoarder, okay? I'll bet you two-hundred bucks that she still has both mine and Maxon's first lost tooth."

"We're not going to-"

"No. And not just no, hell no." He pretended to wipe the anxious sweat off his brow.

Esme came out of the bathroom, holding a garment bag. Lily and Beth followed her, Beth was holding what looked-to-be a shoe box and Lily held some form of jewelry box. They shared a look and then turned to Connor.

"Okay," He held his arms up in surrender. "I'm out. I'll just take this with me." He took our daughter from my lap.

"I'll meet you outside." He kissed my cheek and walked out.

Beth unzipped the garment bag, revealing a brand-new dress that coordinated perfectly with Connor's tie. She pulled it out and spun it around, revealing all of it's glory.

The dress was constructed out layers and layers of a jade-green chiffon, with the bodice being slightly less opaque than the rest of the dress. It had full-length pouf sleeves and a deep-V neckline. The sleeves, bodice and part of the skirt were embellished with beading and appliqué in the shape of various flowers and leaves.

"It's so beautiful!" I touched one of the delicately beaded flowers. "Thank you so much, Ladies."

"That's not all!" Beth exclaimed, opening the shoe box. "These were sent to the palace a few weeks ago. We were saving them for now." She pulled out pointy-toed pumps that were in the same shade as the yellow accents of the flowers of the dress.

"And then we have these." Lily opened her box, revealing the earrings I had commissioned from the jeweler a few weeks ago.

"Again, I thought that the center of attention was supposed to be the girls."

"We'll tone it down next week, we promise." Esme said. "Come on, we've got thirty-six minutes before the show starts. Let's get moving!"

~~~~...~~~~

Even with all of the elements my maids had for my ensemble tonight, I still managed to arrive thirteen minutes before the cameras began rolling. As I made my way to Irina's station, I could feel the various cameramen and producers staring at me.

I took my place in the makeup chair and looked at my reflection in the mirror. Lily had done my hair in an updo that looked intentionally messy, but it was still polished. She had added these little pins in my hair that had tiny diamonds on them, so my hair would sparkle under the lights. Irina came over seconds later. Her jaw dropped as she looked at my entire ensemble.

"I-I…"

"I know! I thought that the attention was supposed to be on the ladies tonight!"

"Well, it kind of is, but it also kind of isn't." She shrugged and pulled out some powder.

"Next week will be their moment, so don't do anything that's too show stopping."

"I can promise you that I won't, but I don't know about those maids of yours!" She took my chin in one of her hands and moved my head back and forth.

"I honestly don't need to do much here. Maybe a lip color change and another spritz of setting spray, but you're pretty Report ready." She murmured to herself.

Irina hastily wiped off my lipstick that my maids had applied this morning, replacing it with a light berry-tone that worked well with the dress. She pulled out a large can of setting spray, covered my eyes and sprayed my entire face.

"And we'll just let you dry…" She used a random piece of paper to speed up the process. "I think you're dry enough now."

"Thank you, Irina."

I walked onto the stage and surveyed the scene. Nearly all of the advisors were in their seats and about half of the girls had arrived. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mom talking with Maxon about something.

Not wanting to interrupt, I turned back to the girls. They were all dressed in varying shades of the rainbow, the most repeated shade being red. The amount of jewelry varied; Ladies Tuesday and Emily went heavy on the jewelry, while Ladies America and Emmica kept it simple.

"What are the announcements for tonight?" I felt my father's hand wrap around my waist.

"The attention is on the rebels. Other than that, it's all about the Selection." I nodded.

"You look beautiful, by the way." He kissed the crown of my head.

"Thank you."

With nothing else to do, I walked over and took my seat. My eyes averted to the clock, which had three minutes left before we went on the air. A minute passed and Lady Olivia rushed to the nearest trash can to her and threw up.

"Remember when that was me?" I whispered to Connor.

"You were sick with our child, not with nerves." He kissed my cheek.

"Speaking of our little nugget, where is she?"

"Mom wanted to hold her for a while."

"Not surprised." The national anthem began playing and Maxon and Mom rushed to their seats as the emblem flashed on the screens. Mom held Cèline on her lap.

The spotlight went to Dad, who gave the announcements. He started with the thankfully-unsuccessful attack on the palace, then went on to detail on the road issue in Sumner and the lack of officers in Atlin due to the St. George. Hearing all of this for the first time made me fear for the world that our daughter would grow up in.

Dad wrapped up the announcements and after being introduced, the spotlight was on Gavril.

"Good evening, everyone." The host smiled brightly. "Tonight I have a special announcement. The Selection has been going for a week now and eight ladies have already gone home, leaving twenty-seven beautiful women for Prince Maxon to choose from. Next week, by hook or by crook, the majority of the Illéa Capital Report will be dedicated to getting to know these amazing young women. Before we get to the ladies, tonight let's take a moment with the man of the hour. How are you tonight, Prince Maxon?" All eyes were on my brother.

Maxon's attention averted to one of the ladies, and he gave her a wink. Connor and I looked at each other from under Mom's gaze. Neither of us could pinpoint which lady it was.

"I'm very well, Gavril, thank you." He replied.

"Are you enjoying your company so far?"

"Yes! It's been a pleasure getting to know these ladies."

"Are they all the sweet, gentle ladies they appear to be?" I bit my lip to keep from snickering.

"Umm… Almost."

"Almost? Is someone over there being naughty?" Maxon squeezed my hand in order to keep me from laughing.

"What exactly did these girls do that wasn't so sweet?" Gavril asked.

"Oh well, let me tell you," He tried keeping it casual. "One of them had the nerve to yell at me rather forcefully the first time we met. I was given a very severe scolding."

I turned to Mom, who was looking at Dad over our heads. She squeezed my hand, gaining my attention and mouthed "Do you know anything?" I nodded and mouthed back "I'll tell you later."

"A scolding, you say? Whatever for?" Gavril was really wanting details!

"Honestly, I wasn't really sure. I think it was a bout of homesickness. Which is why I forgave her, of course."

"So she's still with us, then?" Gavril looked over at the girls.

Maxon's eyes were glued onto Gavril's face. "Oh, yes. She's still here, and I plan on keeping her here for quite a while."

AN: I know what you're thinking; "Why does Jackie not know how to interact around people?" To that I say: She does know how to interact around people, and by people I mean advisors, dignitaries and diplomats.

Thanks to her place in the social hierarchy and security concerns, Jackie was pretty much confined to the palace all of her childhood. This led her to be pretty isolated and introverted, with the exception of people who were decades older than she was. So whenever she comes in contact with people in close proximity, especially females, Jackie doesn't know how to act.