Prince Killian

I glanced at the clock. It was almost time for my group date. I had asked April, Alondra, Jia, Rania, Maria and Alicia to meet me at the entrance of the Palace forest after dinner. I sighed as I ran my hand through my hair. I sure hoped I picked a good group of girls and they could all get along.

I looked up from my paperwork, eyeing the guard who was stationed at my door. I had to admit, I missed my best friend. While Tristan's bruises were fading, he still couldn't put too much pressure on his leg and had to use crutches, so he was taken off his guard duties until he could walk without them, which according to the doctor, would be within a week.

I knew I had to apologize eventually, and while I really wanted to, I couldn't face him just yet. I was ashamed of my behavior, but now I also couldn't look him in the face without imagining him and my little sister together. It being weird was an understatement. I believed Yasmin when she told me that he treated her well, and I knew what a good guy Tristan was. Better than I could ever be. But it was still something I had to adjust to, and I needed time.

When the letters on the financial reports started to mix together, it seemed like a good time to take a break and stretch my legs. I had to skip my morning swim, and my skin was itching to be immersed in the water.

I was on my way to my room to fetch the stuff I would need to swim when I heard someone calling out my name.

''Killian!''

I turned around, finding Viollca jogging towards me, her dress swishing around her knees and her low heels clicking on the floor. She had a folder tucked underneath her arms, and for some reason, she was beaming.

''Hey,'' I greeted, not bothering to use any formalities, just like she wasn't either.

She came to a halt, slightly panting. ''I should really work out more. Or no, never mind, maybe not. That's too much work. How do people even do that? Sport, or work out? I have never understood the appeal. Never mind, I'm trailing of again. I wanted to show you something.''

I couldn't help but grin at her ever so present enthusiasm, and the way she tended to ramble a lot when she spoke. It was so refreshing from the usual demure ladies I often found myself surrounded with. ''Show me.''

She sat down on a padded couch that was pushed against the wall of the hallway, and I followed suit. ''I have finished the first few chapters of my new comic, based off of our awesome idea. I thought you might like to read it.''

I smiled. ''I've been waiting to finally read some of your new work.'' I took the comic book-in-progress from her, opening it to find her freshly drawn pages carefully tucked in plastic folders. I immersed myself in the world she had created, my smile never leaving my lips; in fact, it only grew when I saw that her male character was modeled after me, appearance-wise.

Viollca kept her brown eyes on my face, studying it to read my reaction. ''And? What do you think?'' She asked, her voice sounding anxious.

I handed the pages back to her, but not before giving her hand a squeeze. ''I loved it.''

Viollca visibly relaxed, and she pumped her closed fist in the air. ''Victory!''

I chuckled. ''Your main female character reminds me an awful lot of Yasmin.''

She jumped to her feet, brushing strands of her black hair out of her face. ''That's because she's based off of her. Your sister is pretty amazing. She actually reminds me of my own sister.''

''Oh?'' I asked. ''Tell me more about her.''

''Well, she's a violinist, very talented, sweet as sugar and a hopeless romantic. Though she's shy, something your sister definitely isn't.'' She bounced on her toes, looking about ready to take off. ''Well, thank you for your feedback, but I have to get back to work now, as a million more ideas popped up in my head. Good day!'' She whirled around, bounding out of the hallway before I could say something.

Lady April

Dinner was over, and I and five other girls were asked on a group date by the Prince. We had met him by the forest, and after five minutes of walking, were greeted by the cackling sound of fire and pleasant warmth.

We found ourselves on an open field, a dirt patch in the middle covered with logs that were set on fire, creating a small bonfire. The fire was surrounded by logs for us to sit on, and I could see thin sticks and a huge bag of marshmallows for us to roast. I smiled, already liking this date.

While still very pleasant, the Angeles nights could be quite chilly, and the Prince had told our maids to dress us in something warm. Most of us were wearing tights underneath or dresses, and had brought along a shawl or a vest, but not Alondra. The girl was dressed in a short ensemble, leaving her legs and arms bare. She was going to regret that, I was sure of it. The fire couldn't warm her up when she was dressed like that.

Killian walked over to the fire, picking up the bag. ''I hope you girls don't fear fire. And that you're willing to feast on these marshmallows with me.''

Jia smirked, walking over to Killian and taking a seat next to him. ''I put fires out for a living, this is nothing compared to what I've seen.''

Alondra quickly scurried over to the logs, taking the other seat beside Killian. She gave the rest of us a triumphant look, and I rolled my eyes. This girl was becoming too much.

We all gathered around the Prince, and started skewering marshmallows on our sticks, as we held them above the fire.

Killian cleared his throat, ''So, I know most of the relevant facts about you all from your forms already, like your occupation and interests, so how about you all tell me an interesting or surprising fact about yourself. When you're done, I will tell you one as well. Who would like to start?''

Alondra's hand shot up in the air, always the one to take the spotlight. Killian looked slightly surprised at her enthusiasm, but he flashed her a charming smile regardless. If only he knew how horrible she was.

''As I'm a famous singer, most of my private life has already been in the tabloids, so I know how stressful that must be,'' she briefly put her hand on his knee as she said this, ''but, one thing not a lot of people know about me, is that I have a huge fear of bugs.''

Of course she fears bugs. How stereotypical could you be.

Rania spoke up, and the shy girl was barely able to focus on Killian. ''I'm scared of dogs, and I can't go a day without coffee.''

The Prince grinned. ''Another coffee addict. My father can't mutter a word if he hasn't had his morning coffee.'' Rania tentatively smiled back at Killian, and the initial fear disappeared from her deep set, brown eyes.

Maria was a mystery to all of us, and she kept her honey brown eyes on the fire, the flames making her mocha skin glow. We all kept our eyes on her, curious about what was going to come out of her mouth. ''I was born into an upper middle class family from Caste Two, and now I'm a Six. I have trouble recalling what the reason was, but we were flagged and demoted, so it must have been pretty bad.'' This was the first time I had heard her speak in complete sentences, instead of squeaking out mere answers and hardly coherent replies. It was refreshing.

''That must have been hard on your family,'' Killian said, a sympathetic look in his face.

Maria merely shrugged, and I felt the awkwardness starting to rise.

''I guess I'll go next,'' I spoke up. ''I can play the piano, and I'm pretty good if I say so myself. Oh, and I severely dislike pink flowers or any type of roses, they're unoriginal. So don't even think about getting me that type of flower.'' I joked, holding up my finger at Killian.

He barked out a laugh, and nodded. ''Good to know.''

Alicia was next. She folded her hands in her laps, her hazel-green eyes looking at her audience. The girl hadn't been very social up until now, so were all very eager to get to know her more. ''I genuinely believe I was born in the wrong caste. My passion is science and I have always excelled at my studies, but as a Four, I've never been able to pursue this passion of mine. Which is frustrating, to say the least.''

This was surprising to me. I hadn't been able to find a fellow science-lover in the Selected, and all the while, she was here. I leaned over to Alicia, and put a reassuring hand atop of her folded ones. ''You'll get there. And if you ever need something, you can call me, as your fellow scientist.'' I was determined to get closer to this girl, and help her.

Alicia flashed me a grateful smile. ''Thank you. That's very kind.''

Killian watched us with warm eyes, ''I'm glad all of you get along. It's a relief.''

''Oh, yes,'' Alondra exclaimed, ''we are all great friends. We have so much fun together. We – ''

Jia cut her off, not having any of her lies. ''My turn. I tend to forget this, but I can't sing to save my life. I apologize in advance if some of you have had the misfortune of having to listen to my voice, but to myself, I sound amazing.''

Killian chuckled at this, and he reached behind him to grab a guitar case he had hidden. ''Then I won't ask you to sing with me.'' He clicked open the case, taking out an acoustic guitar. ''This is something I rarely show to others. While my sister is the artist, I am quite the musician, and among other instruments, I can play the guitar. But like you, Jia, I can't sing.''

''Well, thank God for me then, because I can.'' Alondra tied her long, silky brown hair back in a ponytail, and she gave the Prince a flirtatious smile. ''Shall we provide them with some entertainment?''

Killian glanced at the rest of us, and while we were very eager to hear him play, we didn't need to hear Alondra sing. Regardless, our curiosity as to how the Prince played guitar was stronger, and we nodded.

''We would love to hear you play,'' Rania's soft voice said.

Maria piped up, as if she suddenly remembered something. ''I can sing as well.''

''Oh, great! Then you and Alondra can sing together, while I provide you the music. Which song would you like to sing?''

Alondra briefly scowled, but she quickly composed herself, before Killian noticed. ''Maria and I will discuss it for a moment. After all, we'll have to impress you.'' She stood to her feet and sauntered over to Maria, taking a seat next to her and whispering something in her ear. She was probably trying to convince her to let her sing the most.

After a few moments, Alondra and Maria nodded, coming to an agreement. From what I had seen, Alondra stayed civil, but she didn't have any other choice as the Prince she was competing for was watching their every move. She was forced to act as if she was a sweetheart.

Jia and Maria switched places, and after Alondra whispered their song of choice in Killian's ear, he nodded and started the song, the string of his guitar providing the two girls with a melody.

''I don't know,
what am I doing here?
There's a shadow in my place

Maybe now
Everything will be so clear
You shed a light into this empty space

And all I am
all I have
doesn't even matter now
I can't understand why I feel this way
But I do
I do

I just wanna love you when the goings tough
I just wanna hold you when your not enough
I just wanna give you everything I got
I do
I do

I don't know
what am I saying here?
There's a hole in my heart and its begging please
Maybe now
Everything will be so clear
Cos your all I'll ever need

All I know is
I don't wanna lose control
I just wanna touch your soul
I do
I do

I just wanna hold you when the goings tough
I just wanna love you when your not enough
I just wanna give you all that I can give
I do
I do

I just wanna kiss you in the morning sun
I just wanna love you when the day is done
I just wanna hold you just because I can

I just wanna fold you up into my arms
I just wanna listen to your beating heart
I just wanna love you just because I do
I do
I do''

Even though it was hard for me to admit this, Alondra had an amazing voice. When you looked at her, her eyes closed and her passion shining through, the mean Plastic disappeared. Maria's voice was equally beautiful, and both girls alternated between their parts, some parts sung together. Their voices meshed beautifully.

Killian had a concentrated look on his face, his green eyes fixed on the fire before him, as he played the strings and tried to listen to the pretty voices besides him at the same time.

I glanced at the other girls as they were listening to the song, and the reactions were diverse. Rania had a blush on her face as she watched the Prince, practically swooning, just like Alicia was, while Jia looked indifferent. I had to agree with Rania and Alicia. There was something incredibly attractive about this already charming Prince with a guitar in his hands. It showed us that he was more than the Crown Prince. Underneath it all, there was a normal guy, who enjoyed making music.

Hope you enjoyed the group date! I had a lot of fun writing it. The song Alondra and Maria sung is I Do by Susie Suh, and I actually based it on a cover sung by two Dutch girls, so if you want to hear what it would be with two girls and the guitar, go to my pinterest or search ''Susie Suh - I Do Cover'' on youtube, it's the first one.

Speaking of pinterest, I've cleaned up my pinterest page and have created three boards for this story: one for the faceclaims, one for the royals in which I will be mostly posting Yasmin and Killian stuff, and one for dresses for the girls, date pictures and other misc. I have invited all of you who have pinterest to pin with me on that third board, anything you might see that you think fits this story or whatever. I saw other authors doing this and I quite liked the idea! There are some other Seeking Redemption boards left of some of the girls, those are the boards with all of you who have pinterest, so I think I'm gonna keep those. Can you guys still follow? Haha! Oh and the date dresses will be pinned to the main dresses board as well.

I've actually been thinking about the sequel to this story a lot, even though I'm nowhere near close. But I already know that I will have a double selection after this. Killian's first borns will be twins, a boy and a girl, so it will be a boy-girl double Selection, unlike the usual boy-boy. What do you guys think about that? Would you like a sequel with 15 boys and 15 girls, and a Prince and a Princess?

No worries, I'm gonna wrap up this A/N. My questions this time:

- What did you think of Viollca basing the main character in her comic book, a heroine princess, off of Yasmin?

- Did you like the group date and the interaction between the girls themselves and between them and Killian?

- Do you like the sequel idea?