Prince Killian

It was time. All the girls were Selected. Fifteen potential brides. Potential Queens. I was never one to be nervous around the opposite sex, but it was different this time. I had been with quite a few girls (I was probably downplaying the amount) but it had never been more than a fling. Now, one of the girls coming to the Palace would become my wife, the mother of my children. Such a commitment made me freak out to be honest. I liked being free, no strings attached, just flirting and charming whoever sparked my interest. But this time, I had to pick one girl to charm for the rest of my life. The prospect was quite daunting. I didn't think I would be able to truly fall in love.

The doors to my office slammed open and Yasmin barged in. She carried a heavy pile of files in her arms. Tristan, who was standing guard next to my desk, just a few steps behind me, immediately piped up. ''Do you need help with that?''

Yasmin just dismissed his question with a simple wave, barely making eye contact with him. She slammed the files down on my desk, making a few papers about rebel attacks fly off.

Yasmin had practically locked herself in her studio since we heard the bad news. While mom and I distracted ourselves with planning my Selection, Yasmin had been keeping herself busy with her art. I tried to think of dad's predicament as little as possible. I pushed it away each time a small feeling of sadness even came to surface. I didn't want to deal with it, I couldn't. Not yet at least. Thankfully, dad was still doing well, which meant I wasn't confronted with his illness. It might be cowardly, but for now I was content with burying my head in the sand. I knew that down the line, I wouldn't have a choice but face the facts and deal with it, but that wasn't the case yet so I tried to keep myself as distracted and 'oblivious' as I could. The start of the Selection helped me with that, and I could see that it was helping Yasmin too.

She was practically jumping up and down in excitement at the prospect of meeting her future sister in law. ''Can you believe it, Ian? Your future wife is in one of these files. She's now boarding a plane, on her way to the palace, and in a few months she will be the Princess! And shortly after that the Qu-'' Yasmin swallowed her words and nervously looked at Tristan.

''He knows.'' I simply said. Of course Tristan knew. How could I not tell my best friend that my father was dying? I trusted him with my life, he would never blab about this.

Tristan gave Yasmin a sympathetic smile and she quickly averted her eyes. ''Anyway, aren't you excited?''

I paused and looked between Tristan and Yasmin for a moment. They had always been good friends, but Yasmin had been kind of.. cold with Tristan lately. Maybe he had done something to piss her off. I reminded myself to ask Tristan about it when we were alone.

''Sure, what's not to like about being surrounded by a bunch of girls? But I have to be serious with them this time around, so that makes my excitement less,'' I answered as I picked up a file from the pile and flipped it open. A girl with fair skin that was dotted with a lot of freckles looked up at me with her hazel eyes. Arizona Dawson. She had worn her golden blonde hair in a ponytail for the photo. I smiled at her picture. She had a lot of freckles, especially around her nose and under her eyes. There was something about freckles that I found very attractive. They were like skin stars.

My eyes were drawn to a note that was scribbled in red in the margins. In a wheelchair. I frowned at this. What difference did it make that she was in a wheelchair? I was curious now as to why, but also irritated that someone felt the need to emphasize this fact.

Yasmin sighed, ''My dear brother, you have to stop with your playboy mentality and be serious. Dad would want you to find the best possible wife.''

She knew how to strike a nerve with me. Bringing up dad had become her and mom's way of forcing me to take this Selection seriously. They knew that I wanted nothing more than to make him proud of me, especially in his last moments. His wish was for me to find a good wife before he passed, and I would do anything to grant his last wish. But that didn't mean that I would change myself. Wasn't a good wife someone who would love me despite all my flaws? These girls needed to see the real me, and I wasn't going to hide myself. Yes, I had my playboy tendencies and yes, I had some issues in the past with partying and getting out of control, but that was part of me. As long as I held those bad parts in check, I would be fine.

I cleared my throat and straightened my back, clearly showing my irritation with her bringing this up again. ''Don't worry about me, Yas. Let me do this my way. After all, I am the one looking for a wife, not you.''

Yasmin threw her hands up in frustration. ''I know, I know. I just want you to keep your heart open to the possibility of falling in love. I know you don't believe in that 'nonsense', as you like to call it, but I do. I believe that you will find true love with one of these girls,'' she said sweetly, and then added with a giggle, ''and that she will make a great addition to the family as my sister.''

I had a reason not to believe in true love, but nobody knew of that reason. And I wasn't going to tell Yasmin and shatter her dreams. She was content and happy with the way she viewed love, and who was I to tell her that it was shit? Besides, I had promised her not to tell anyone, and I wasn't one to break promises. I wasn't even supposed to find out.

I picked up the next file, and Yasmin squealed a bit when I open it. I looked at her with an appalled look on my face. ''Please, don't ever make that sound again.''

I looked down at the file to see what Yasmin was so excited about. Alondra Diablos. Ah, the sexy and very famous singer that Yasmin was such a fan of. I had caught Yasmin dancing to Alondra's music in her room multiple times. I could see why she was so excited. I smirked to myself, I had nothing to complain about either. Alondra was a very attractive girl and it wasn't a bad prospect to have her coming to the Palace.

I looked through all the files with Yasmin like this, having her give remarks about each and every single girl. Occasionally, Tristan would also chime in, like calling Monroe Waters ''his type of girl''. This earned him a look full of daggers from Yasmin, to which Tristan responded with a teasing wink.

Of course, we had already seen all these girls come by during the Report in which the Selected were announced, but then we only saw their pictures. In these files were also their forms, filled in with details. It was nice to know a bit more about the girls who would be storming the palace soon.

Arabella

I walked through the large and spacious room with my checklist in hand. All along the wall, fifteen makeover stalls were lined up. Racks full of dresses were set up along the opposite wall, and scattered through the room were several chaise lounges. We were ready for the fifteen Selected who were going to walk through these doors in a matter of a few minutes.

I braced myself, tucking away a few strands of caramel blonde hair that had escaped my braid. The King had promised me that I would finally have a chance at becoming an astronaut once I finished teaching the Selected. I had lived in the Palace since I was young because my father was a trusted advisor and very good friend of the King. He always pressured me to become an advisor too, but I had always refused. My dream was being an astronaut, and I just had to get through these months of teaching etiquette and other requirements for a Princess and I could finally realize this dream. All I had to do was guide these girls.

I was nervous yet excited. After all, I was only nineteen years old and no doubt some of these girls would be my age or even older than me. Luckily, growing up in the Palace had taught me to be hard when I had to and strive for perfection. I wouldn't accept anything less than perfect from these girls.

I heard chatter approaching, and I realized that the girls had arrived. I faced the high, double doors and gave the guards stationed by them a nod, signaling to open them.

And so it began.

So, yeah.. I didn't keep my promise in my last chapter that I would update the day after, so sorry! I have this tendency to not realise how much school work I actually have and think that I have all the time in the world. But here's the update! I hoped you guys enjoyed it. Next chapter will be from some of the Selected's POVs.

I know I said last time that I liked using Polyvore better, but I changed my mind since making sets with Polyvore costs so much freakin' time. So I switched to Pinterest. I have a board for the faceclaims of the Selected, a board for Yasmin and a board for Killian and Tristan. My username on there is the same as on here: wolfofstark. I probably won't do individual outfits for each girl in this stage of the Selection because again, that costs a lot of time, but feel free to create your own board for your girl. I might post date outfits but I'll have to see, I will let you guys know after each chapter if I added something to my Pinterest boards. The possibility is very high for me to do individual outfits when I get to the Elite though (top five).

And to end this very long Author's Note (I'm sorry, I always have so much to ramble on about), my age has been guessed correctly! I am 20 years old. A lot of you estimated me as a lot younger, I know I come across immature haha. But I'm a 20 year old third year law student. This means that I am quite busy with my studies. So, Deeptha13 guessed correctly, and as she doesn't have a girl in the Selection (Arabella is her character) she picked the girl who will have the first date! You will find out who she is soon enough. :)

As always, thanks for reading and keep reviewing!

~wolfofstark