When Kit asked me to have brunch with the selected I was sceptical. Sydney was supposed to come with me but she refused to get out of bed, which is how I found myself walking into the palace by myself. When I entered the east parlour I found everyone waiting for me.

Two folders were laying untouched on the coffee table and I instantly knew what they meant. Kit had eliminated two more girls.

"Where's Sydney?" Liv asked as she made room for me on the couch.

"Her priorities are askew."

Ella laughed, "I say she's got the right idea. I mean who does Kit think he is making us take on all his selected?"

Liv rolled her eyes. "It's all part of the process." She got up off the couch and adjusted a piece of her hair even though it was already perfect. "Now I've got to go rearrange things since Syd isn't coming, I trust you four can do the folders?"

We all nodded and Liv darted out of the room, her summery dress swishing with every step she took. Without a moment's delay Sage jumped up and grabbed the eliminated girls' lives off the table. She handed one to Agnes and the other to Ella.

"As our guests you two should do the honours. Hannah and I will catch the next round."

I nodded in agreement and stood with Sage as Agnes approached the fire. "It's ridiculous to have this thing burning in the summer," my cousin said with a small laugh. She took on a more serious tone when she opened the folder. "Tanis Havana Gentry, 19 years old, and a resident of Dakota. May you find something better outside these walls."

Aggie smiled at me as she took a step back after depositing the file in the fire. Ella slowly made her way forward as she rifled through the papers Sage had handed her.

"Carlotta Hutton," I smiled as the letters slurred together under Ella's accent. I had begged my dad many times as a child to move to England so I could pick up the distinctive accent, but he had said no every time, not wanting to take me farther away from my mother.

"21 years," Ella went on. "Good luck in the real world."

I watched as the fire ate away at the papers, not stopping until they were merely ash like Tanis'. It was quite remarkable that we could erase so much with so little.

"We should go find Liv," Ella said after a few more moments. "Supposedly we're eating in the south ballroom. It seems like overkill if you ask me."

She walked off, her heels clacking against the marble floor. Sage and Agnes followed close behind as I slowly ambled in the back. I tuned out their voices as we walked and turned my focus to my studies.

I'd been reviewing light and optics over breakfast so it was fresh in my mind. It was my worst physics unit and I was positively determined to not let it get the best of me on the final.

You would think telling the difference between mirrors and lenses was easy—but let me tell you—it's not. The only thing that got me through that unit in the first place was the fact that none of the other kids understood it either. There was one particular question on the exam that the whole class had stared at until the bell rang and the teacher collected our tests. Needless to say, none of us got it.

I smiled thinking about how I had considered dropping the class after that. Luckily I had forced myself to return the next day, and here I was months later, one exam away from completing it.

As I walked under an arch that signalled what we classified as the south side of the palace, I turned my thoughts to my current task. Brunch with the selected.

"Are you coming Hannah?" Sage called as she waited outside the ballroom doors. I nodded; she turned and proceeded inside.

My jaw dropped a little when I walked through the doors. The room was gorgeously decorated with fresh flowers and sparkling centerpieces at four round tables. The chairs had large satin bows tied around them in various colours and the table clothes were made of a beautiful lace.

Liv was adjusting a vase at the far table; when she saw all of us she clapped her hands together. "Excellent, we're just about ready." As she made her way towards us she must have fixed at least five things that I hadn't even noticed needed fixing. "You can each take a seat at one of the tables and then we'll let the girls sit wherever they want. It'll give us the chance to see which ones find you approachable."

"What happens when no one sits at Ella's table?" Ella smacked Sage as the rest of us laughed.

Liv smirked, "as you can see each table has the same amount of chairs. It's first come first serve. If they get here late then they sit wherever there is still room."

Sage shrugged and walked away to the table farthest from the door where she sat in a chair clad with a turquoise ribbon. Agnes and I moved almost at the exact same time, going right and left respectively. Once I had sat down I looked up to see Ella pulling out a chair at the last table.

Liv smiled at us, "five minutes until the girls should start showing up. Good luck."

As the doors shut we were left staring at each other in confusion. Ella spoke first, "so, what exactly are we supposed to do when they show up?"

Sage shrugged, "I think we're expected to ask the questions that everyone else is too scared to ask." Ella scrunched her nose in slight confusion prompting Sage to elaborate. "You know, like if they eat their pizza with pineapple on it."

"What if they don't like it?" Ella asked, picking at the black polish on her pinky.

"Then we have no choice but to send them home."

Sage laughed at my comment. "Something tells me you're going to be pretty good at this Han."

As I opened my mouth to form a sarcastic remark, the doors were reopened. A quick headcount revealed there to be eleven of the selected. They'd clearly been briefed on what to do because they all immediately branched off, a few coming to each table.

Three of them approached my table. The first two looked to already be close friends, while the third, clad noticeably in long sleeves, lagged a bit behind.

"Lady Hannah," the smaller of the first two girls began, "it would be an honour if we could dine with you this morning."

I nearly gagged at the formality. "The pleasure is all mine," I replied with as much class as I could muster. After they had taken their seats—all three across from me—I smiled at them. "Would you be able to remind me of your names?"

"I'm Margot Leon," the shorter of the first two girls said.

"Danielle Pratt," spoke her friend.

Long Sleeves looked a little nervous but after a smile from Margot she raised her eyes to mine, "I'm Gwen, Gwen Pritchard."

"Excellent, it's so nice to meet you ladies. I'm Hannah Carrington," I decided to tell them a little bit about myself to break the ice. "My dad is Prince Charles of England, he's Queen Amberly's cousin which is why I live part-time here in the palace. I'll be moving to Allens in the fall though to attend university."

Margot opened her mouth to say something but was stopped when two more of the selected came and asked for permission to dine with me. They introduced themselves as "Quincy Adams," and "Roseanna Taylor."

Quincy, who had happily sat down next to Gwen, looked around the room puzzled. "Some people really take the fashionably late thing overboard."

I realized she was right, while Agnes' table was nearing full, Ella and Sage were still missing four girls each. "I'm sure they'll be here soon," I mumbled, even though I didn't quite believe my words.

Quincy shrugged and then turned to Gwen and struck up a conversation. The other girls began talking amongst themselves as well, leaving me to pretend I wasn't completely bored.

After a couple more minutes Milana Ashworth came and apologised for her tardiness, then after that Julia Saunders arrived but she didn't bother with an apology.

I looked across the room for maybe the millionth time that morning and took note of the other tables. There was one open seat at Ella's table and one at mine. She met my gaze and rolled her eyes, I knew she wouldn't be kind to whoever the last seats belonged to.

They came in only moments after that. Two brunettes, one noticeably frazzled, the other looking just plain annoyed at the situation. The frazzled one came my way leaving the other to noticeably pale when she realized all eyes were on her and the only empty seat was next to Princess Ella.

I was forced to turn my eyes away as Frazzled addressed me.

"I am so sorry Lady Hannah." She took a deep breath, I expected her heart was probably racing. "I was ready early to make sure I wasn't late but I bumped into Ruby in the hallway and I noticed she had a burn on her dress. I think the maids had the iron on too hot," she realized pretty quickly that she was beginning to ramble. "Anyway, when Ruby went back to her room the door was locked and we couldn't find anyone with a key so I told her she could borrow one of my dresses." She took another breath, "problem is we're not the same size, so my maid had to make quick adjustments and before we knew it we were incredibly late."

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "It's completely fine, we were all just getting to know each other." Maybe I hadn't been included in the conversations, but it had looked like the other girls were getting to know each other.

Frazzled nodded, looking at each of the other girls in turn. As she took the empty seat on my right she gave a nervous smile. "I'm Penelope by the way."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Penelope." The whole room fell into conversation as the wait staff began to serve food.

After everyone got some sustenance in their systems I forced myself to make an effort. "I love your dress Lady Milana."

The elegant girl sat on Penelope's other side positively beamed. "Thank you so much. I myself am extremely jealous of yours."

I blushed, not used to being complimented on my fashion.

"A lot of people seem to have copied my colour," Penelope said winking at Gwen, they were wearing almost the exact same shade of burgundy. Penelope then went on to wave at a third burgundy girl who was sat at Sage's table. "If I'm honest, I kind of stole the idea from Grace. I saw her dress yesterday before I'd picked out mine."

"Speaking of dresses, how did you all enjoy your first royal ball?" All eight of the girls perked up at my mention of the ball.

"It was spectacular," grinned Danielle.

Julia nodded her agreement. "I got some great photos," she said pointing to the camera sat beside her plate.

"It would be pretty awesome to be able to attend another one," spoke Margot, wistfully.

I shrugged, "chances are you all will be at more. Around here they're not exactly a rarity. I mean for all we know there could be one next week."

"Have you attended balls at other palaces Lady Hannah?" Roseanna questioned, as she added some strawberries to her plate.

"As a matter of fact I have. Most of them were in England but I've also been to a couple in France and Swendway."

Milana showed a particular interest in my words. "I keep telling myself I'm going to see France, and Swendway, and England, and the whole world, but something always comes up." Her initial excitement had faded to near sadness by the last word.

Penelope placed her hand on Milana's back. "You'll get there someday Lana. I mean we're all so young, we have years and years left to have adventures."

The other girls all nodded their agreement and I found myself with only one question. "What if you're the one though?"

"Then he's the one," a soft smile grazed Penelope's lips, "and that means we'll be on a whole different type of adventure."

Milana and Roseanna seemed to agree, but the younger girls—the ones my age—looked a bit scared at the notion. There was however the exception of Gwen, she looked calmer than she had all morning. I decided then that by the time I left for Allens in August, I would figure out Gwen's story.

The other girls were clearer to me. Maybe I didn't understand every detail of them, but at least I understood something. I was known to be unyielding when I couldn't solve a problem, this situation would be no different.

As the conversation fell away to allow bites of food, I began examining some of the other girls sat around the room.

Agnes' whole table was engrossed in what must have been a fascinating topic, while Ella's and Sage's tables resembled mine quite closely. Ella seemed to be refusing to talk to anyone, as she was stuck between the tardy Ruby and a girl whose gaze never lifted from the tablecloth. Sage on the other hand had an untouched plate of food sitting in front of her as she talked animatedly with the girl on her right.

"Do you know who that is sat next to Sage?"

I'd directed the question at Julia who was on my left but she said nothing leaving Danielle to answer. "That's Sienna Larson, she's quite lovely, isn't she Margot?"

Margot nearly choked on her bite of food but as she swallowed she nodded enthusiastically. "Lovely, yes that's definitely Sienna. We met on the plane when I was a ball of nerves, but she calmed me down within seconds."

"Can I presume that you're all getting along pretty well then? I've been stuck in the city studying and so I'm kind of out of the selection loop."

Margot opened up her mouth to speak again but Quincy quickly cut her off. "Well we've been alright," she twirled a ringlet around her finger as she pursed her lips. "Margot's been a little," she tapped her index finger to her cheek, "how should I put this? Happy, I guess. I mean some of us are trying to complain about the garbage accommodations but she never stops praising it all. You'd think she's never left the house before."

The other girls giggled but Margot had turned a bright red. Trying to take the spotlight off of her I asked the girls what their afternoon plans were.

"Jasmine and I are going to teach some of the other girls some dance moves," Danielle replied, as she cut her pancake into evenly sized squares.

"I'm afraid I'll be missing that," Penelope looked apologetically at Danielle. "I have a date with Harry Potter." She winked and Danielle laughed.

"I wish I would've brought my copies," Margot sounded a little bit jealous. "Do you think I could borrow yours once you're done?"

Penelope bit her lip, "do you know any French?"

Margot arched her eyebrow, "no?"

"Then I'm going to have to say you don't want to borrow my books." When she received a series of questioning looks Penelope elaborated. "I'm learning how to speak French, so I'm rereading the books en français in my free time. I've always found that I pick up on new languages faster when I'm reading my favourite stories."

"'Always?' Are you saying you've done this before?" Quincy sounded both shocked and impressed.

Penelope shrugged, "in middle school there was this exchange student, and she knew next to no English. I was the only one in the class who knew Spanish so I translated for her. I decided then and there that I wanted to become a translator, and since I'm such a perfectionist I figured why not teach myself even more languages?"

"I like that," I nearly jumped out of my seat when I heard Liv's voice from behind me. "You must have a great work ethic." Liv placed her hand on my shoulder. "I'm afraid I have to take Hannah from you lovely ladies, we have a meeting to attend."

They all muttered a mixture of greetings, acknowledgments, and farewells to their Princess as she grabbed my wrist and dragged me around to the other tables to collect the rest of our family.

The four of us followed Liv obediently out of the ballroom and into the nearby library. She gave us a smile that had a trace of wickedness in it and thus put me on edge.

"Now you've all completed part one, the second part is really quite simple."

Ella gawked at Liv. "Part two? What are you talking about? There is absolutely no way you can get me to go back in there."

"I'm not asking you to," Liv said as if it were obvious. "I'm going upstairs to get Kit, and while I'm gone you each have to pick one of the girls you dined with. Kit will meet with all four of them separately this afternoon and choose two of them to eliminate."

My eyes widened, "how on earth are we supposed to decide that?"

"Well my choice is easy," Ella was now positively smug. "Ruby Reynolds. There is no excuse for being late to a meeting with royalty."

I scoffed, "you can't put her up for elimination just because she was late, you're always late to everything Ella."

Ella glared at me and Sage rolled her eyes. "You've got seven other girls to choose from Ella, I'm sure you despise another one just as much as you despise poor Ruby."

As Ella thought through the other girls I realized Liv had snuck out sometime during our bickering. She could be back with Kit any minute.

"Leila Page," Ella finally decided. "She was sat next to me and we didn't share a single word the whole morning. I don't even think she spoke to the other girls."

Sage nodded, "sounds like a fair choice. Mine is Sienna Larson. She didn't seem to be getting on well with the other girls, I think she's got a bit of a temper."

I stared at Sage, I was completely perplexed. Everything I had heard about Sienna was positive, and it had looked like she and Sage had been getting along famously. Something must have happened between them when I wasn't looking.

I was still gaping at Sage when Agnes finished telling us in the politest way possible that Dusty Aurelius was an airhead. When all three pairs of eyes turned on me I started to panic. I hadn't even began to think of who I was going to pick. My circumstances were intensified as I heard footsteps outside the door, so taking a deep breath I decided to go with my gut.

"Julia Saunders."

A/N

Happy May everyone! It's been exactly a month since I last updated which I feel really terrible about but I promised myself I'd get you guys this next chapter before the end of the long weekend, so here I am meeting my deadline. Something you all probably picked up in the first six chapters is that I write extremely short chapters, I have no clue why, it's just how my mind works. That being said the length of this particular chapter is really freaking me out which is kind of sad considering many of you will still consider it short.

Now about the chapter content, I'm sorry if I didn't portray your character exactly to your liking. I'm trying to get a feel for all of the girls as well as progress the story along and sometimes I miss details. There is plenty of time in the future for things to change so don't let anything that happened in this chapter worry you.

Now on to Hannah, I don't think we've ever really talked about her title. From what I've read being the daughter of a Prince would make her a Princess, but I chose instead to have the characters address her as Lady Hannah. When you consider the life she lives it just makes more sense that she and Sydney don't have the Princess title. There are also many other details that contribute to this but I'm afraid you'll have to stick with the story to learn them!

Last quick thing, I added quite a few new face claims for the royals to my Pinterest shaelynnsophia. You will most likely notice that they're way too young to be used for 50 year olds but in truth I picked the actors when I intended on publishing the prequel first, so if you subtract 28 years from their ages I think you'll find the actors are much more suited.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter

Shaelynn