It had been a long day. I went on my first date, and spoke with nearly all the girls. I even eliminated one. It wasn't a hard choice, but I still felt terrible for sending her home. If there was one thing I learned that morning it was that there was so much that I didn't know about the girls.

I spent the evening sat in the dining room with Ella to my left, Liv across from me, and a girl I didn't know to my right. A girl I didn't know but might end up marrying.

I kept to myself for most of the meal, but as we were served dessert the girl spoke up. "I take it that you don't remember me Your Highness."

I turned to her, confused. "Whatever do you mean?"

She smiled, her eyes twinkling in the light. "I'm Charise Borghese, my dad is Conte Borghese. You and I, believe it or not, have met many times before." I tried hard to remember her but when I said nothing she just laughed. "The last time I was here was two years ago, and I was talking with Sydney Carrington when you came over. Syd told you how I wanted to travel and you gave me the biggest grin and said 'if you have the chance, take it. I'd give anything to be outside of these walls.'"

Thinking back I finally remembered her. I grinned, "I thought you were just one of Sydney's friends from school. There were so many people here that night, I should've paid better attention."

She shrugged, "it's more my fault than yours. I clearly didn't make a very good impression."

I laughed, causing most of the selected to turn their attention to me. I tried very hard to ignore them, choosing instead to focus on Charise. "I remember your dad, and I knew he had kids, I just never put much thought into where they were."

Charise shrugged nonchalantly, "you had more important things to worry about. Besides, Drago and I tended to fade into the background when stood next to all the elaborate guests."

"How is your brother?" I asked, deciding to try my hand at small talk.

A soft grin spread across her face, "he's doing great. I haven't seen him in a few weeks though." Her expression wavered, "our lives are going in such different directions, sometimes I wish I could hold back time."

I nodded, looking across the table at Liv. I knew exactly how Charise felt. Trying to lighten the mood I decided to change the topic. "Seeing that we're old friends," I began jokingly. "Do you have any insight for me on the tensions in the Women's Room? No one has bothered to tell me if everyone is getting along."

She shrugged. "They're all trying their best, but it's hard when everyone is so different. I'm pretty sure they've all found at least one friend though so don't worry about any of them being lonely."

"Who are you friends with?" I felt childish asking but I already trusted Charise's taste, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to know who she'd bonded with.

"Massie is incredibly nice," Charise nodded towards the other end of the table where a brunette girl sat talk animatedly with the girls around her. "I haven't talked much with Julia," she continued, "but she had a video camera out so she's piqued my interest."

"Have you gotten to know Malia?" I asked remembering my chat with the other girl.

"We spent the afternoon in the gardens together," Charise said smiling. "I found her out there when I was wandering aimlessly and we hit it off immediately."

I could just see Malia out of the corner of my eye sitting next to Grace. Malia looked mildly subdued but Grace was practically bouncing off the walls in excitement. When Malia looked up from her dessert I quickly turned my attention back to Charise.

"I guess the better question would have been who do you not particularly get along with? Although by the sounds of it you get along with everyone."

"I don't think I've been here long enough to figure that out. I mean some of the girls come off a little cold, but I'm sure they're just nervous."

Before I could say anything in response the girl next to Charise whispered something in her ear and they both began to grin. Not sure what it was about I chose to engage the other girl.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure yet, Lady," I paused when I realized I had literally no clue who she was.

"Claire," she said, her blonde curls swaying as she moved. "Claire Darrion, and the pleasure is all mine Your Highness." For a moment she glanced away but then she swung her gaze back to me. "Can I ask you something?"

I nodded, and Charise bit her lip sitting awkwardly between us.

"Is it true that there's a movie theatre somewhere in this labyrinth?"

I couldn't help but laugh, those were quite possibly the last words I expected to come out of her mouth. "It's true Lady Claire; quite a few members of my family are film junkies so it has become a well-used room."

Claire let out a breath and then smiled. "I've never been to a movie theatre before." She looked a little self-conscious admitting that she was lacking the experience, but she soldiered on and told me the rest of the story. "Dailey," she gestured to the girl on her other side, "told me that Gwen told her that Molly swore she saw a theatre on her walk this morning, but I didn't want to get too ecstatic until I knew it was true."

"Why don't you and the girls go check it out tonight? I'd love to join you but I unfortunately have a pile of paperwork waiting for me."

Claire looked like she was going to explode with happiness. "That would be magnificent Your Highness, I'll spread the word."

As Claire started whispering with Dailey, I turned back to my plate. I'd lied about the paperwork, Ella and Liv glared at me and I could feel my cheeks turning red as I knew that meant they had been listening into my conversation.

It's not that Claire hadn't seemed nice, but I didn't think I was ready to be alone with thirty-four girls. I needed to narrow down the number, hopefully to bellow thirty in the coming week.

As dessert finally ended, the table began to empty. Charise turned to me one last time before she left. "I hope to see more of you in the coming days Prince Kit."

"I'm afraid you probably will not." Her smile faltered at my words and I smacked myself when I realized what she must have thought. "I don't mean you're going home Lady Charise. What I mean," I tried again, "is that you're going to be staying for the immediate future. Since I know that for sure, I need to spend my time with the other girls."

She nodded, her momentary frown having vanished from her face. "Then I hope to see you somewhere down the line."

As she left the room I found myself grinning from ear to ear. Ella rolled her eyes at me and after a moment she grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the dining room. Liv, Agnes, and Jules followed closely behind.

I was glad the four of them had been there at dinner, it would have been unbearable if it had just been my parents and my thirty-four "girlfriends."

Although Jules was technically my employee, she was also family and my mom had always made it clear that she had a spot at our table. Agnes and Ella on the other hand gained their spots due to their royal status instead of through familial obligation. Although the fact that our family trees could be traced together made them all the more welcome.

We arrived at the east parlour in record time, that is Ella and I did. The other three took what felt like an eternity to join us.

"That was interesting," Liv said as she took the chair closest to the fire. "I mean I was kind of expecting a bit more…"

"Conversation?" Jules offered, as she and Agnes took residence on a loveseat.

Liv shrugged, "yeah kind of. I mean ideally I wanted some drama but to achieve that they would've needed to speak."

"They'll get there eventually," Ella said, sounding confident.

"What if they don't?" I regretted my words the moment they left my mouth, simply because I didn't want to sound vulnerable in front of my family.

Instead of answering that question, Agnes chose to answer another. "You'll know Kit. Maybe not instantly, but in the coming months I swear to you that you will. She's out there waiting, you just have to make the effort to find her."

A/N

I am so sorry I haven't updated since March. I fully intended to but somehow I got stuck a few hundred words into this chapter. I reread the other chapters and I realized that there were two things that kind of need clarification. First of all, Hannah Carrington's living situation. In chapter two she said she lived in the palace but in the last chapter she left the palace to presumably go home with Sydney, Sage, and Ren. Both of these are technically true. Hannah has a room in the palace where she is welcome to stay (and where she had been staying the last few days since her dad and sister were both out of province), although her dad owns a house in the city which is where they live when he's not travelling. To complicate matters more though, Sydney has her own apartment which is where the girls were headed at the end of the last chapter. In closing, Hannah is an amazing cinnamon roll that lives wherever she wants. Now for the second clarification, Agnes' age. In the last chapter Liv gave Jules the folder to burn because Jules is the oldest. Let me point out though that Jules is 25 and Agnes is 31. Although Agnes is older, she grew up in Sweden/Swendway and thus isn't a huge part of the group. In saying that Jules is the oldest, Liv was not including Agnes, which is kind of rude now that I think of it because Agnes was standing right there.

Sorry for the essay, especially considering it has nothing to do with this chapter. That being said, I feel like I'm probably forgetting some super important details about this chapter, so if you find anything that doesn't add up, just send me a message and I'll try my best to explain.

Thank you to all the superstars who have reviewed, you guys are amazing!

Shaelynn