When I woke up the next day I knew exactly what I needed. Pulling on a t-shirt and shorts I marvelled at how good it felt to wear something that wasn't a suit. As I made my way to Liv's room I had a genuine smile on my face for the first time in a long time.

"Livlee," I called as I knocked on my sister's door. She wasn't a huge fan of the nickname which is why I often used it.

When she opened up the door she was wearing a smirk. "What can I help you with on this fine day Kitridge?"

I rolled my eyes and then grinned. "Breakfast at Jules'?"

Her facial expression changed to match mine, but with added excitement. "Do you think Mom will let us go, now that the Selection has started?"

"Who said anything about asking Mom?"

"Fine," she said clearly not wanting to push it, "but I have to change if we're going out." She took a glance down the hallway, "you should come wait in here in case Mom or Dad is up."

Liv turned and headed to her closet to find something less formal, and I headed to her balcony. Somehow she'd ended up with the best view in the palace, and for long as I could remember, I'd envied her for it.

Opening the French doors I smiled as the warm air met my body. I loved Angeles in the summer. The air smelled sweeter and all things attained a brighter hue. Everything that the winter had killed found a way to breathe again.

My absolute favourite thing about summer in Angeles was breakfast at Jules'. It was a tradition we started five years ago when Sage called one morning to say that Jules hadn't made it home the night before. It didn't take us long to find her sound asleep in her office.

That day was one of the many days that I offered Jules a room in the palace and she declined. She loved her home too much to part with it. More on point though, that was one of the many days I offered her the day off. For once I got her to accept, but only on the condition that Liv and I went home with her so we'd be out of our parents' hair.

When we arrived at her house it was to find Ren and Sage cooking a huge breakfast. The five of us cousins sat down around Jules' kitchen table, and so started the tradition of breakfast at Jules'.

It would've gone on yearlong but Ren left that fall, and the years he was back Sage was at university.

We'd come a long way, the five of us. Especially considering what had happened only months before our tradition started

"Are you ready?"

I snapped myself out of the trance I'd fallen into. "Yeah let's go before Mom finds out and kills us both."

Tiptoeing past our parents' room we made it to the garage without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Climbing into my car I turned to my sister. "Are you ever going to learn how to drive?"

She shrugged as I began to back out, "what good is a princess who can drive?"

"What good is one who can't?" She smacked my arm, "no hitting the driver unless you want to die."

Our conversation ceased as we put on our politest smiles for the guard at the gate. As usual he let us out without question, he knew the 7:30 drill.

"What are we going to do when Jules gets married?" Liv asked after we'd cleared the gate. "I mean he's kind of going to ruin our cousinly bounding."

"You realize I'm going to be married soon too, right?"

Liv bit her lip as she considered it. "You can leave your wife at the palace though, we won't exactly be able to leave Jules' husband anywhere."

"Maybe you and Sage should just find husbands. Then it wouldn't be so weird."

Liv squirmed in her seat at the prospect of settling down. "What about Ren, doesn't he deserve someone?"

I laughed at that, "something tells me we'll never get to see Ren Hart get married."

"I hope we do," Liv said as I parked in front of Jules' house. "It would do him some good to find someone. He's been through so much. Is a happy ending too much to ask for?"

"I wish it wasn't."

Liv didn't hear my answer as she'd already gotten out of the car and was on her way to Jules' door; clearly she didn't want to have an argument. By the time I caught up to her Jules had opened the door.

I smiled at my oldest cousin as she welcomed us inside. Jules looked surprisingly carefree, which wasn't a word that was used often to describe her.

We found Sage in the kitchen, her hair in its signature ponytail and a grin on her face. She was attentively watching pancakes cook on the griddle and when she saw us she took a step back.

"Jules still doesn't trust me to flip anything." Sage rolled her eyes, "I keep telling her I've learned since the blueberry incident, but she doesn't believe me."

"Why don't you all go check on Ren, and I'll flip the pancakes." Jules liked things done a certain way, and we all respected that.

Liv and I followed Sage into the living room where we found Ren stretched out across one of the sofas watching TV.

"If it isn't the womanizer," I'd learned over the years not to take Ren's words to heart.

"What are you watching Renly?" Liv asked, thankfully taking the attention away from me. She shoved Ren's feet out of the way and took a seat. "Don't tell me it's one of those awful talk shows you love so much."

"They're discussing the selected, Harper," he wiggled his eyebrows at Liv. "This show is doing a countdown on who's expected to win, they're already down to the top four."

Sure enough there was a number four in the top right-hand corner of the TV. I recognized the girl even before I read the name displayed.

Ren turned up the volume as we all quieted down to hear what the brunette show host had to say about Milana Ashworth.

"I must say I was a little surprised at this one, simply because we don't know very much about Lady Milana." The host paused as more pictures of Milana flashed across the screen. "What we do know is that she's currently majoring in psychology at the University of Clermont, she has a twin brother named Edward, and she's an avid Jane Austen fan."

I couldn't help but smile as the next picture showed an enthusiastic Milana holding up a vintage copy of Pride and Prejudice. She looked like a kid on Christmas and I found it quite endearing.

As Milana's face faded from the screen a number three appeared followed closely by a picture of Grace Wallace.

"Lady Grace is quite the opposite of Lady Milana," the host said with an awkward laugh. "Lady Grace happens to be a very open book. In my opinion she's the epitome of the girl next door."

"You've talked to Grace, haven't you Kit?" Sage asked from her spot beside me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I met her at the ball. It seems like a pretty accurate representation, but then again I only had the one conversation with her."

Liv whispered something to Ren, which distracted both of them from the introduction of Charise Borghese. Liv snapped her head up when she heard the words "Italian Count."

"Conte Borghese's daughter is in your Selection?" Liv looked relatively shocked.

"Do you know her?" I figured Liv didn't, but then again I wouldn't have guessed that Sydney knew her either and I'd already been proven wrong on that one.

"Well not really, but I've spoken to her before. Clarice, right?"

Sage burst out laughing. "It says her name right on the TV Livlee, only you could manage to still get it wrong."

Liv turned bright red but was luckily saved from further embarrassment when a loud drumroll came out of the speakers signalling the announcement of the top girl.

Tanis Gentry of Dakota stared back at me. I couldn't help but be surprised considering she was one of the few that I had yet to talk to.

The host bore a smug look as she began giving the description. "Lady Tanis has been modelling since she was a child, and has worked on six major campaigns." I had to admit it was pretty clear why Tanis was a model. "It's no surprise she was voted into our top spot considering how beloved she is by the country. I'd go as far to say she may be the perfect girl for out Prince Kit."

The TV went black and we all turned to see Jules standing behind us with the remote in her hand. "Breakfast is ready."

No one said a word as we sat down around the table, but moments after we began to eat the tension flowed away and it was like every other breakfast we'd ever had before. That is until Sage decided to make her announcement.

"I got accepted to go abroad for the semester," she said as she popped a raspberry in her mouth.

"Sage that's amazing," Liv grinned at our cousin who was sitting across the table from her. "Where are you going to go?"

"Auckland, New Zealand."

My fork clattered against my plate as it fell from my hand. Jules, Ren and Liv turned to stare at me as Sage averted her eyes. She knew I was not going to be happy about her leaving.

When I said nothing Liv sighed. "We should probably get going, Mom and Dad will no doubt have realized that we're missing."

Jules nodded and began to clear our plates away. "I'm working from home today but I should be in tomorrow if you need anything Kit."

"I'll be fine," without another word I headed out the door. I just wanted to be alone and if I didn't have to drive Liv home I probably wouldn't have gone back to the palace.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" She asked when she'd pulled the car door shut. Sometimes it scared me how much she understood me.

I very nearly said yes but I knew that I couldn't. "Avoiding things isn't going to make them go away."

Liv said nothing for the rest of the car ride and when we arrived she practically raced out of the garage. I sat alone for a few moments before I followed her inside. I was going to head straight to my room but I heard voices down one of the hallways.

I stopped to listen to make sure it wasn't my parents. I was not in the right mindset to run into them. I meant to continue to my room when I realized it wasn't them, but then I listened closer to what they were saying.

"They'll be begging to go home, and even if they don't, it'll be clear that they're not fit to be Queen." The voice carried an immense amount of venom and hatred. I wished it didn't belong to one of the selected but I knew I was wrong.

"You know," a second voice piped up. "If for some reason I don't get the crown, I totally hope you win Tanis."

Tanis Gentry was a cutthroat. Liv had told me that some of the girls were here simply for the crown, I just hadn't expected a public favourite to be one of them.

"Likewise Carlotta, I'll even put in a good word for you with the Prince if you help me with this."

Before I could even think through what I was doing I was around the corner and approaching them. Carlotta noticed me first and panic quickly spread to her face alerting Tanis that something was wrong.

When Tanis turned around she didn't even have enough civility to look guilty. She slunk into a curtsy with little delay. "Good morning Your Highness, we missed you at breakfast."

I took one deep breath and then spoke as calmly as I could muster. "Pack your bags, both of you. I want you gone by lunch."

I turned around and walked back the way I had come, paying no heed to Carlotta's whimpers or Tanis' insults.

If this Selection was going to work I couldn't let anything go unnoticed. A girl as vicious as Tanis or one with no backbone like Carlotta would never be Queen. If I could have control over one thing, it would be that.

A/N

Hey, I hope you guys enjoyed this somewhat quick update because I'm not sure if my schedule will let it happen again anytime soon. First before I forget to put it in like last time, I still need more selected, so please please please submit, it would mean the world to me. Also to those of you who have already submitted and are constantly reviewing, you guys make my day every time I read your reviews. Let me know what you think about Kit so far, he was a bit too moody at Jules' for my taste but I think it's good that he eliminated Tanis and Carlotta without second guessing himself. Hopefully this helped you all get a better idea about the relationship between the cousins (Jules, Ren, and Sage are Kit and Liv's only first cousins so I'm trying to put more emphasis on their relationship than on the more distant family members like Ella and Agnes).

Since I won't be updating again on or before the 24th, happy five year anniversary of The Selection!

Shaelynn