I DO NOT OWN THE SELECTION SERIES. SHOUTOUT TO LOGANPERDUE AND ABIZEAU FOR CREATING THESE CHARACTERS.
Schreave Palace. Sacramento. Province of Angeles. 4 weeks into the selection.
Savannah Burdne was pondering her next move as she looked over the checkers board. The remaining twenty two women were having a games day. Luckily for them, the Baron of Yonkers announced that there would be no eliminations based on who won or who lost. As a result, the women were more relaxed and at ease with each other since their chance at marrying the King was not on the line. However, there was still tension to be found if you knew where to look for it.
Sav was playing checkers with Eloise Bryant, the Disney fanatic from Clermont. It was not a good pairing. While Miss Burdne was very realistic and grown up, Miss Bryant had the emotional stability of a pre teen girl.
"So, have you been following the Prime Minister and all of the reforms he's been pushing through the King's Congress?" Sav asked, trying to make small talk.
"No way, politics are boring." Eloise replied as she made a move. "When I'm Queen, I'll get Peter do just do whatever we want." This comment caught the girl from Fennley by surprise.
"Excuse me, you mean if you're Queen?" Sav clarified as she made a move of her own
"No, I mean when." Eloise insisted. "Peter is going to marry me and we're going to have lots of babies and be in love forever!"
"Look Eloise, I'm trying to help you." Sav replied, wanting to laugh and scream at the girl. "Sometimes...men can be morons and break your heart. Life isn't always a fairy tale." This got Eloise very upset.
"No, you're lying!" She declared as she stood up from her seat. "You're nothing but a dirty lying liar!"
"Are you deaf?" Sav asked as she too stood up in frustration. "Did you not just hear what I said?"
"Someday my prince will come...and the birds will sing and wedding bells will ring..." Eloise sang to herself as she covered her ears. Finally, Sav threw her hands up.
"Then it's your heart that's going to break, don't say I didn't warn you!" She declared as she made her way out of the games room and way from the delusional Disney princess.
Royal Garden. Later That Day.
As Sav walked out to the royal garden, she was thankful that the games day was over. In addition, the herd had been thinned a bit. The ladies from Paloma, Panama, Sonage, and Sota had been eliminated after a vicious car fight broke out when one of them was caught cheating at Monopoly. While she was trying to put Eloise Bryant out of her mind, she saw the king himself out of the corner of her eye. He was sitting on a bench, smoking some weed, and looking tired. Nervously, Sav decided to approach her sovereign.
"Rough day?" She asked as he turned to see her.
"Yeah...joint?" He asked in return as he offered her a hit.
"I don't smoke." Sav insisted as she sat next to him. "What's going on?"
"It's all of these liberal measures that Bush is pressuring me to sign into law." Peter replied wistfully. "Some of them needed to be signed, like legalizing marijuana and all of those pro-LGBTQ bills...but now he wants me to go farther!"
"How much farther?" Sav inquired.
"These new bills would raise land taxes for farmers and start taxing religious places of worship." King Peter explained. "He says that these are for the betterment of Illèa, but honestly...I think he's trying to punish the right because they were Maxon II's power base for most of his reign."
"I know how that feels, my father was hardline supporter of Maxon II." Sav admitted.
"If I sign these bills...it'll infuriate the conservatives." Peter complained. "Things are still tense between both sides of the aisle. This is the time to be uniting the country, not tearing it further apart."
"You don't have to sign every bill that Quince Bush puts in front of you." Sav pointed out.
"He's the prime minister!" The King griped. "He has sway over the King's Congress and the privy council. He put me on the Illèan throne and he could take me off it if he wanted to."
"Has he made such a threat?" Sav asked nervously.
"With much subtly." Peter admitted as Sav held his hand tightly.
"I'm sorry..." she muttered as He squeezed her hand, willing to accept any comfort she had to give.
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