The next morning, Mabel knocked on my door and told my maids to try to get me up and ready as quickly as possible. They rushed me into the bath, and filled it with a citrusy vanilla scent, telling me that was Lionel's favorite scent. That was a little weird, trying to make me smell appealing to the prince, but I didn't say anything about it to them.
They ended up putting me in a pretty cream colored, knee-length dress and cream, close-toed kitten heels that had a nice cream fabric flower on them. For jewelry, I wore a simple string of pearls, pearl earrings, and my bracelet that I had brought from home that was from my sister.
"Do you like it, miss?" Fathom asked, smiling at me as if she were afraid I'd say no. I had to admit, I looked good.
"Like it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. They almost jumped, thinking I was disappointed. "I love it!" They relaxed at this and ushered me out the door.
.~.~.~.
The Great Room was full of girls in pastel dresses. My maids apparently didn't get the memo, and I was the only one out of the ordinary. A few of the girls glared at me, but I saw Ginger and she motioned for me to come over and sit next to her. She was sitting and chatting with Dianna Wallace. Good. I thought to myself. Someone nice.
"Hello," Dianna greeted, a smile wide on her face, "I'm Dianna. You must be Analeyah." I nodded, taking a seat next to Ginger.
"Yes, you must be Dianna. It's nice to meet you." I replied, reaching out to shake her hand. Instead, she took me in for a hug.
"I hope we can all be friends. It'd really be nice to know that I have some allies around here." Dianna gloated. I nodded as she finally released me from her hug.
"That'd be great." I answered, placing my hand on hers.
"Do you think we're going to meet the prince today?" Ginger asked a little too loudly, as Mabel shot her a disappointed look and slammed a finger against her lips.
"Yes, that's what I heard." Dianna said, sounding rather excited. I chuckled.
"I hope he's as cute in person as he is on TV." I laughed, and Ginger playfully swatted my arm.
"Hey! Don't say such things in his house." We all laughed, but it was short-lived as the shrieking of a microphone erupted into the room.
"Sorry!" Someone said. "It was an accident!" Laughter soon took over the room, and Mabel had to practically scream to get us all under control again.
"Alright, ladies! The prince will be arriving in exactly two minutes, so try to be on your best behavior until then!" Mabel sang before sitting back down on her plush, red chair.
"Oh, I'm so excited!" Dianna squealed, taking mine and Ginger's hands. "I hope he likes us!" Ginger rolled her eyes.
"Dianna, he can't not like us. We're great." Ginger commented, chuckling a bit. I was about to say something, but Mabel violently hushed us. The whole room was silent in a matter of seconds. Ginger's breaths had stilled, and Dianna was even shaking a bit. I was fine, though I knew I should probably be a little bit nervous. I mean, what if the prince was only saying that to me last night to make me feel confident so he could send me home the next day? I had to convince myself otherwise.
"Ladies! I see him down the hall, stop talking and poise yourselves!" Mabel demanded out of nowhere. The whole room silenced, and I was slightly frightened by her tone. I straightened out my dress and folded my hands over my lap, sitting up straighter. Dianna was breathing very quickly, and Ginger was watching something that was moving…towards me? I turned to find Prince Lionel walking towards me, a smile wide on his face. He held out his hand, and since I had no intentions of declining, I took it.
"Good morning, Lady Analeyah. How are you today?" He smiled and brought my hand to his lips, raising an eyebrow.
"G-good morning, Your Highness. I am well, and you?" I answered a bit shakily. He chuckled.
"Quite extraordinary, my lady." Lionel let go of my hand and turned to the rest of the girls. "Good morning, ladies, I hope you all slept well. I am going to be taking each one of you over to the table in the corner to try to get to know you. Lady Analeyah is first, so if you don't mind…" All of the girls nodded at the same time, and Lionel smiled in approval. He then led me over to a white table that had two plush, baby blue chairs. I sat down first, and he pushed my chair in, later taking his own seat.
"So, Analeyah," Lionel began, resting his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, "how're you liking the palace so far?"
"It's huge," I answered honestly, "I think it is beautiful, but it'll take some getting used to."
"I understand." Lionel said with a nod, "Why did you enter the Selection?" My heart stopped. I didn't know whether I should tell him or not, and since I was supposed to be honest, I did.
"I wanted to get away from home, honestly. The compensation would help my parents so much with my two younger siblings, but I mostly signed up for the experience. I know I'm not going to be picked, so I might as well just enjoy every moment of it." I brushed a stray curl out of my face and met his deep brown eyes. He seemed amused at my uncertainty, and I could tell he wanted to laugh. A small chuckle came instead.
"What makes you so sure? You're at the top of my list right now."
"You have a list?" I raised an eyebrow, laughing a small amount, "And that's because you've only talked to me! That's not even a fair decision." Lionel laughed for real this time and reached out to me, placing his hand on mine.
"Maybe, maybe not. You never know." He grinned at me and took his hand from atop mine, and I was slightly disappointed. His hand was so warm, so inviting-sort of like his arms. We stared at each other for a bit, and soon enough, I heard footsteps approaching.
"Sorry to interrupt, Your Highness, but she's not the only girl in the room." Mabel told him, bowing her head. Lionel nodded.
"Yes, of course. Please got get Lady Paullina, and tell her that we have five minutes so next time someone will remind me. I'll see you at breakfast, Lady Analeyah." I rose from my chair and nodded a goodbye to him before heading back over to Dianna and Ginger. Ginger was on the edge of her chair when I got back.
"Hey," I said as I sat down, "what's wrong?"
"You see that girl over there?" Ginger pointed over at Jani, and my heart dropped. What had she done this time?
"Yes, that's Jani. What about her?" I cocked my head to the right, interested in what she had to say.
"She was saying that she could just kill you because of your dress. She said she wanted to take it." Dianna explained. I blinked. I knew this competition would be intense, but I didn't know girls were going to be plotting murder.
"Can't that get her disqualified?" I asked, hugging myself.
"I believe so," Ginger said, "could you mention it to Mabel? Or even better: the prince?"
"I don't know, Ginger." I said, "I only met the prince this morning. I don't expect him to believe everything I say." Dianna grumbled something, then returned to glaring at Jani. I sighed, really not wanting to start any drama on our first official day as competitors.
"Do you just want to act like you didn't hear her so we don't start something?" I begged, glancing over at them. Ginger shook her head.
"Why would you want to let her get away with this?" She asked, knitting her eyebrows. I thought about that. She had a point; we were competitors. If I could somehow get her eliminated already, that would be one less girl to worry about.
"Because, until she does something, I'm going to pay no attention to her. Until I get evidence, I'm not saying anything about it." I told her, sighing. Ginger nor Dianna answered, so we sat in silence for the rest of the time that we were waiting for breakfast time to come around.
.~.~.~.
Breakfast had finally come around, and all but 5 girls were taken into the Dining Hall. I wasn't one who stayed behind, but Paullina Edmonds, Arlene Becken, and a few other girls had. They all looked nervous, and the prince was nowhere in sight. The image of them so disoriented was nerve-racking. I decided not to think about it and began to look for where my nametag was today. When I found my nametag, I was surprised to see Jani Hembly sitting right next to me.
"Hello, Lady Analeyah. Isn't this such an honor to be seated next to each other?" Her eyes were narrowed and angry. She looked like she was ready to fight me, and I admit, I was scared.
"Most definitely, Lady Jani. Your dress is quite pretty today." Her dress was a pastel purple, and it complimented her grey eyes. It was indeed pretty, but I didn't necessarily mean it as a compliment.
"Yours is…" Jani searched for the right words, "different. Why?" I shrugged.
"My maids didn't get the memo that the prince thought pastels looked good on women, I suppose."
"Could you ask them not to do that next time? It humiliated me." Jani mumbled.
"Sure thing." I wasn't going to mention it. Why would I? If she had been a bit nicer to me before now, maybe I would consider it, but I wasn't about to help her if she was always going to be so rude.
The food was brought out around five minutes after we got into the Dining Hall, and there were so many things that I thought I might explode. I decided on a few pieces of exquisitely done French toast, and some strawberries. Other girls piled food onto their plates, and Mabel was watching disapprovingly from the corner.
"Lady Analeyah," I heard Prince Lionel's voice come from up the table, "is that all you are going to eat?"
"Yes, Your Highness. I am really not very hungry." I gave him a polite smile before turning back to my food. I took the first bite of the French toast and was already in love. I must've had a strange look on my face because I heard the Queen and Lionel laughing.
"Do I have some on my face?" I asked.
"What makes you think they're laughing at you?" Jani questioned quietly in a rude tone.
"No," the prince replied, "the look on your face is priceless. You don't get nice food often, do you?"
"No, Your Highness. My parents usually give us the same rice for three weeks straight." Queen Camille's smile faltered.
"Oh, dear child." She said quietly, then whispered something to one of her maids who scurried off not too much later.
"Well, since you haven't gotten your taste for exquisite foods yet, why don't you let me treat you to a dinner in the gardens tonight?" Lionel asked, his expression caring and thoughtful.
"Of course, Your Highness." I replied, a smile blooming on my face.
"Wonderful! We will discuss the details after breakfast—ladies! You didn't have to stop eating to listen. Feel free to continue!" Lionel returned his attention to his family and chatted among them.
.~.~.~.
I was done eating before most of the other girls, so the remainder of breakfast seemed like forever. Lionel pulled me to the side and told me to be in the gardens at 6, and that he was extremely excited. I had to admit, I was pretty excited as well. It was near noon, and I was so excited to tell my maids what the event was.
My maids were sewing some finishing touches on a pretty grey dress when I walked in.
"That's beautiful, guys." I said and sat down on my bed. My maids piped up and smiled at me.
"We thought grey might look good on you," Fathom explained, "so we made your dress for tomorrow that color."
"Well, do you think you could quickly make me another one?" I asked, careful not to hurt their feelings.
"Why? Do you not like it?" Idris asked, frowning deeply.
"No, no! That's not it." I said, grinning a bit. "I love it, but I have a date tonight." My maids looked at each other and started to squeal.
"I'm so excited for you, Lady!"
"Thank you! So, do you think you could do a green?" I asked, hoping they could.
"Of course! We'll get started right away!" They both bowed to me, then practically ran out of my room. I laughed. Tonight was going to be wonderful.
A/N: Oh my gosh. It has been over a month! I am so extremely sorry, you guys. I had such bad writers block and every time I would try to write, I would come up dry. I hope you all enjoyed this! I'm going to try to get new chapters up a lot this week in an apology for my absence! Love you all!