Thank you for your wonderful reviews Nameless, Miss Kaydence, suicideblonde99, Cbear88, Sora Kalopsia, XOStarbrightXO, canifindtheone, delovlies, and new reviewer alexiaroosenhaan! They seriously were some of my favorites I've ever received :) :) :)

Anyway, I think I got this done a week exactly from the last one, so I'll try to beat that next time, fingers crossed. Of course, Pinterest always distracts me so much, I made a bunch of new boards for inspiration, along with the original one, which will serve as a chapter-by-chapter guide. Feel free to make boards for your characters if you want and I'll follow them!

Regarding characters, the deadline is tonight, but if you need more time, please let me know and just send me what you have (in any order at all) because I'll need them to start writing the next chapter, where they'll have an introduction of sorts!

-Shades

…

For a moment, neither of them said anything else, with only her name hanging in the tension-filled air between them.

Lissa couldn't even breathe properly, much less speak. The moment she'd heard his voice, everything felt like it shattered. It had all been going okay, despite a horrible first day as the governess for the little princesses, Evangeline and Sophie, and all she had wanted to do was go home and cry.

Now she really was really about to cry, she was so surprised.

So many unspoken words were between them, and literally bumping into each other after her disaster of a day was not the time to say them.

"Y-you're not supposed to be here," she stammered out, more her thoughts than her intent to speak. Her hand automatically went to the necklace—the one he had given her almost six years ago, before everything had happened, when they were young and stupid and in love. "You're supposed to be in the military, they said-"

"But the war's over…" Wesley said, offhandedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the new governess-for Evangeline and Sophie."

"You? You're the new governess?" His eyes widened as they roamed over her face.

It felt so odd, meeting this way again. Wesley looked older now, though the light brown hair was exactly the same, sticking up strangely just like it always did.

It was so awkward, and she hated it. Everything felt exactly the same, but there were new emotions there—jealousy, anger, distrust, pain…

"Uh, yeah. Actually, today was my first day," Lissa ran a self-conscious hand over her skirt. She was supposed to go to a dinner in like, thirty minutes, and she didn't even know where her room and her things were.

Meeting Wesley was the last thing that she had imagined would have happened, and she definitely didn't have a plan.

"Oh. Well, how did it go?" he asked, and then visibly swallowed.

Terrible, in fact I want to cry. Sophie doesn't like me, and they told me they don't need a governess and— "Great," she said, putting on a bright smile. "It went well."

They stood in silence, avoiding eye contact, and then both spoke at the same time.

"I should go-" she began,

"It was good to see-" Wesley started.

They stopped again, and then Lissa quickly curtsied. "If you'll excuse me," she murmured, and brushed past him, as fast as her heels would allow.

Queen Christine had told her this morning—was it really this morning?—that her room was on the fourth floor, and someone would take her there later. To be honest, Lissa hadn't even known there was a fourth floor, but then again, she had never even been to the third floor during her time in Ethan's Selection.

She was hoping there would be signs or name tags or someone to help her, but she could always go ask Nicole in a few minutes, she just wanted to get away from Wesley. At the end of the main hall that constituted the third floor, there was a small staircase leading up again. It was far less grand than the first two flights, from the first to second to third floors, and much smaller, but still furnished with impossibly beautiful dark iron scrollwork, gleaming pale marble floors, and of course, a chandelier.

Lissa hurried up the stairs, painfully aware of the time until she was supposed to be in the dining room, and of all the things preventing her from doing so. At the top of the stairs was another hallway, a bit narrower, and lacking the gilded crown molding of the lower floors, but still beautiful. Perhaps she was on the wrong floor.

She bit her lip nervously, noticing the group of people seated in the sitting area at the top of the stairs on the landing. They were dressed in the black and whites of the regular staff, but she noticed they were different.

One of the girls, a slim redhead dressed in a fitted black pencil dress and black heels with her hair in a perfect chignon, stood up as Lissa gave her friendliest wave.

"You must be Miss Dove?" the girl said with a cool smile. She extended a hand sporting shiny, immaculate red nails.

"Yes—I'm Lissa" she said, shaking her hand.

"I'm Joanna Kelly, Head Maid and Housekeeper. Queen Christine informed us you would be joining them for dinner, so I'll make introductions quick, and then show you to your room. Because you're a governess, you rank higher than all of us, so we'll be calling you Miss Dove."

"Oh, that's not necessary-" she began, but Joanna had already moved on.

"This is Caroline, she's Princess Nicole's ladies' maid, and Rose is Queen Christine's. Anna belongs to Queen Mother Francesca. And for the valets, we have Joseph, he's Prince Wesley's, Corey, Prince Ethan's, and Sam, King Andrew's valet. They all have rooms on this floor."

Their names went in one ear and out the other as she shook a flurry of hands and smiled until her cheeks hurt.

They all sat down again, but Joanna continued in her matter-of-fact way. "We all have our rooms on this floor instead of in the basement or in the servant's quarters because of our need to be close to the royals. You've already met the two nannies for the younger children, but they stay up here too, as do the personal guards for the royal family, and the Head Butler. We're all up here now because they've all finished preparations for dinner."

"That means I'm probably late!" Lissa squeaked out. Joanna wasn't mean, but she was obviously imperative to the running of the palace, and it was rather intimidating.

"Well, then let's go to your room, shall we?" Joanna smiled, and Lissa wondered if this girl ever even slept.

"I'll take her, Joanna. I know you're aching to make sure everything is under control downstairs," she heard a voice behind her. One of the valets was standing, and he shot a wink in her direction. "But it's just the Prime Minister and his wife and Princess Nicole's sister and her husband and few others. There's no need to panic."

Joanna rolled her eyes in the guy's direction and Lissa decided that maybe she wasn't a robot after all. "Just because Prince Wesley told you he didn't need a valet doesn't mean you should be rude, Joey," she smirked sweetly. "Nice to meet you, Miss Dove," she nodded in Lissa's direction, and then she was off down the stairs.

The rest of the upper-ranked servants went back to their chatter, but the valet approached her, grinning. Lissa tried to ignore his dark hair and eyes, and his muscular build underneath his black jacket. And his jawline. And his cheekbones. And his dimples, oh of course, he had to have dimples.

He nodded his head in the direction of the hall, "Your room's down here at the end."

"So, Lissa, right? Only Joanna will insist on calling you your formal title, but unless where in front of the royals, first-name basis is cool."

"Oh, good," she said, following. "Miss Dove makes me feel old. You're Joseph, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Prince Wesley's valet."

"What was that about, what Joanna was saying? Wesley refused to have you as a valet?" Lissa attempted to make conversation.

Joseph glanced sideways at her and cocked an eyebrow, before she realized she'd called him Wesley instead of Prince Wesley.

"You know, I know you were here before in the Selection, so you probably knew him, and I don't care that you don't call him prince, but Joanna will, and Queen Francesca and Queen Christine probably will too."

"Right, sorry." There were going to be a lot of things she'd have to get used to.

Joseph continued on. "No, he didn't refuse me as a valet…just a valet in general," he said before stopping at the last door in the hall. "This is you."

"Thanks," she said, suddenly feeling very much like she had been walked home after a date. "Um, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm expected at dinner in like, fifteen minutes and I have to find my dress and change and-"

"I could help you out with that, if you want," Joseph did that thing with his eyebrows again, and smirked at her.

Lissa opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out. She raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry, inappropriate. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around. Great to meet you, Lissa."

She gave him a smile as she opened her door. "See ya," she managed before beating a hasty retreat into her room and closing the door firmly behind her.

When she turned around, she had suspicion to believe that this was the wrong room.

Like Joseph said, things were different, and she wasn't a lady of the Selection—she was a governess.

But the room might have her believing otherwise.

It lacked the gold crown molding like the lower floors, matching the hall outside, and there wasn't a chandelier in the bathroom, but it was still gorgeous. Size-wise, it was a bit smaller, lacking a sitting area and a room-sized closet, but it was still pretty large. The walls were painted white, highlighting the red trimmed carpet and crepe curtains framing the massive windows overlooking the gardens and three floors of the palace below. The bed was made up in white, pink and green, with two white bedside tables with tiny pinkish lamps. The desk and seat for it were white as well, and several folders and stacks of paper were already neatly arrayed on it.

Lissa was startled out of her trance when she spied her two suitcases in the closet, as well as the garment bags already hung up. Time to get ready.

She dug through the suitcases until she found her makeup bag, curling iron, but the shoes were a lost cause, so the ones she had on would have to suffice. She fixed her makeup, but didn't bother with the curling iron, there wasn't time. She hadn't brought any of the dresses she had taken with her when Ethan had eliminated her, that might have been tacky, but she had bought a few new ones, per Gracie's advice. This one was a light peach nude color, made of simple crepe with an empire waist.

With two minutes until she was supposed to be in the dining room, she ran as fast as she could down the hall, knowing she would have to pass Joseph and the others to get to the stairs.

She heard a couple wolf-whistles, and Caroline and Rose were complementing her, so she threw a smile over her shoulder, and thanked them.

"Dang, you look good, Lissa," she heard Joseph say. There was no denying the blush that spread across her cheeks, but she ignored it. Lissa all but ran down the flights of stairs, and down the hall to the parlor adjacent to the dining room, remembering exactly where it was from her time in the Selection. She paused outside the doors, knowing her hair looked even worse than before.

"Your name, miss? So I can announce you?" One of the guards asked.

That was new, but she supposed she had always been inside during these sorts of thigs. "Miss Lissa Dove, Royal Governess."

The guard nodded, and then disappeared behind the doors for a moment, and then reappeared, opening the door for her.

Lissa took a deep breath, and then entered.

Immediately, she was greeted by a flurry of pink and a squeal. "Lissa!"

Gracie Luna threw her arms around Lissa, and squeezed her so tightly she could hardly breathe. Her best friend smelled like cake, just like she always did, and her hair was still the same blonde, and she was smiling, though things were different. Her pink dress was a far cry from the ones she had worn during the Selection, a one-shouldered silk with elegant draping. She looked older, and it wasn't just from the stunning makeup she wore. "I'm so glad you're finally here! When Christine told me you were the new governess I just about died!" Gracie hugged her again, and over her shoulder, Lissa's eyes found Wesley, seated with a drink in his hands, avoiding her gaze.

"It's wonderful to see you, Gracie," Lissa said. She hadn't seen her friend since she'd been eliminated, but it felt exactly the same.

Gracie grabbed the arm of a tall, dark haired man wearing a fitted blue gray suit. "Babe, come here," she said. "Damian, this is Lissa. Lissa, this is Damian, my boyfriend, and Colin's Head of Security."

"It's true, she screamed so loud I thought something was wrong," Damian said as they shook hands. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Lissa smiled, "You too. I hope she's good to you. Ethan did propose to her, you know," she teased.

"Speaking of which," Gracie said, leaning close to Lissa and peaking over her shoulder. "Have you talked to Wes yet?"

Of course, Gracie would bring that up. Lissa stared at her shoes for a moment, and shook her head. "No, but he doesn't need to. We were kids when we said all that stuff to each other."

Gracie gave her a funny look, but before they could continue, Nat and Nicole were there to greet them.

"Lissa!" Nicole cried, and copied Gracie with the hug. "I'm sorry I couldn't meet you when you got here, Jamie was having a meltdown, he was so tired from the trip back."

She looked every bit the princess in her light blue gown, her hair swept up and a simple tiara adorning the top of her head, catching the light.

"It's going to be like old times soon in the Woman's Room!" Nat pushed her twin aside, and crushed Lissa into a hug. "What, with me and Gracie here and now Adele and Elvira and you!"

Nat was a bit unrecognizable with her short hair, but she looked smashing in the wine red, boat neck gown she wore.

"And that means no boys allowed," Gracie said to Damian, standing on her toes to kiss him.

"I'd introduce you to the husbands, but they're all being shy," Nat cast a glance towards the men, clustered around each other.

Captain Elvira Entrinken joined them, dressed in black halter gown with a leather belt to match her heeled leather boots. "You and me will be the only single ones left, Lissa," she said, giving her a one-armed hug. For all her intimidating dark make up and dresses, she was one of the nicest people Lissa had ever met, which was probably why she was so good at her job of protecting the common people.

"And don't forget me," an arm looped it's way around her neck, and the final gal pal of the dinner party joined them, Lady Adele Evans, the wife of the Prime Minister and self-titled First Lady of Illea. With one arm around Lissa and the other around Nat, the current blonde beamed, "Though seeing you again is making me feel old, Lissa. I have three kids and you're still single."

"Oh, come on, I was fifteen when Ethan's Selection began," Lissa said, giving her a side hug, "And you still look fabulous."

Out of all the girls, she had only seen Adele once, three years ago during her and Colin's trip to Tammins, where they had met up for a few hours. Even up close, she was still stunning, and she had been on the news almost as much as Nicole had. Now, her shoulder length hair was dyed a darker, more reddish but still blonde, though she had been sporting every shade under the sun. Along with her trademark red lipstick, she looked absolutely stunning in the loose ivory tulle gown she wore, with silvery accents paneling down the front.

"My littlest, Holly, just turned two, and Gideon will be four soon, so I wouldn't mind having another," Adele said, "though you're probably going to be seeing a bit more of Juliet, she's five, and she absolutely adores Evie and Sophie."

"Well, the more the merrier, in my opinion," Lissa said. "I'm not sure they like having a governess much, if I'm honest."

"They'll get used to it. They didn't like me either for a long time," Nat placed a hand on Lissa's arm.

"And they still run away from me," Elvira added, "I think it's the black, but I won't stop wearing it until they invent darker color."

Gracie, quite the contrast in all her pink glory, hugged Elvira. "And we wouldn't expect anything else."

"So, tell us, are you staying?" Nicole asked, "leaving behind the military to be on the Council?"

Elvira smirked. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"What's this about joining the Council?" Colin Evans, the first ever Prime Minster of Illea said, joining the group of women, and draping his arm over Adele. "Because yeah, Ben and I just did that."

"They do everything together, I swear," Nat muttered to Lissa, filling her in.

"You'll have to contend with Elvira, hon, because she did too," Adele said, snuggling up to her dark haired, scruffy faced husband who usually never actually looked or acted like a prime minister.

"So, I guess Connelly is the only one left, though he couldn't make it tonight," Colin said. "Get ready for us to always be around."

"If you're here, that means Damo probably is too, so I'm happy," Gracie chimed in, though her boyfriend seemed to have disappeared.

Lissa let the conversations of the older former Selection comrades and their significant others swirl around her. So much had changed for them in the last several years, yet here she was, back at the palace again. Except this time, Prince Wesley wanted nothing to do with her.

She was saved from her embarrassment by the butler announcing dinner, but as the rest of the royal family (minus the kids) and their guests went into the dining room, Nicole grabbed her arm, holding her back.
"Listen, I just wanted to tell you something, since they're going to announce it tonight to the others, and then the Report in a few days."

"Ooh, sounds serious. Spill it, Nic," Lissa said, grinning at her friend.

"Wesley's having a Selection. He decided a few days ago."

Lissa felt the breath catch in her chest, but she forced a smile anyway. "Why would you need to tell me ahead of time?"

"Well, it was pretty obvious the two of you had a thing…"

"Maybe we did six years ago, but whatever it was-" she glanced at the dining room door, but didn't see him, "—it's over now. Like I told Gracie, we were just kids then."

Nicole looked at her with sympathy or understanding, Lissa couldn't tell which, and then nodded. "If you say so."

They followed the others into the dining room, and Lissa found her seat by Gracie.

She looked across the table, finding Wesley at the other end. He met her eyes and gave a hard, terse smile as they made eye contact, before quickly looking away.

Maybe they had just been kids, but what she hadn't told Nicole and Gracie was that she'd been holding on to all his promises since then.

And this hurt more than she cared to admit.