At the age of thirty-six, King Edward had an impressive reign so far, but his choices were far from popular with all of his subjects. Favouring freedom and equality, he dissolved the castes, which brought with it a new set of problems, namely rebellions with the more conservative citizens of Illéa, along with new forms of discrimination that he was still working closely with his advisors to combat. But he supposed that should be expected, change was hard to accept, even if it was for the better. He knew he needed to stand strong against the adversity he was facing. But there was one matter he hardly knew how to navigate, the death of his wife, Queen Freya. She had died six months ago after a horrific car crash. Her death had rocked the nation and had a deep impact on his children, Anna and Tyler. He didn't put them through a public funeral, deciding that they weren't ready. Instead, he held a private funeral for close friends and family, then a public one for the citizens to pay their respect. Edward had always kept his children sheltered from the limelight, they never appeared on the Report, and pictures of them in the media were rare. They even attended public school, as Freya wanted them to have some sense of normalcy in their lives. Now, Edward was faced with a tough decision. His council members wanted him to proceed with a Selection, the people needed a queen, and if he were being honest his children still needed a mother figure in their lives. Not to mention, he was ready to move on, and found parenting and ruling a country to be too challenging to do by himself. Sure, his kids were teenagers, but that was more challenging than he ever could have expected. But he wasn't sure if his kids were ready for him to remarry. Edward tracked down his children in their family parlour, where he had asked them to meet him there after school, and found them engrossed in a card game.

"Hey, how was school?" Edward asked.

Tyler shrugged in response as he glanced at his hand, contemplating his next move.

"Ty got into a fight," Anna supplied for her younger brother.

Tyler rolled his eyes. "I was defending someone, it wasn't a big deal."

Edward pursed his lips, and decided to talk with Tyler about it more in depth when they had a chance to speak alone. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Tyler replied.

Edward nodded. Tyler had always been closer to Freya than he had been with him, and the reverse was true of Anna. It was a good system, until that system fell apart. He had enrolled his kids in grief counselling, though Tyler refused to cooperate, and Edward told him it was his decision whether or not he wanted to go, and soon enough Tyler stopped going.

"Look, there's something I wanted to talk to the two of you about," Edward began, unsure of how to breach the topic. "I think it's time I remarried."

Shock registered on both of their faces, though Tyler hid it slightly better. Edward knew it was a lot for his kids to process, and he hated to spring it on them.

"I won't do anything you're not ready for, however-"

"I think you should do it," Anna cut her father off. "I mean, you can't spend the rest of your life alone."

Edward smiled slightly, then turned his attention to his youngest. "Ty? What do you think?"

Tyler was silent for a moment, glancing between his father and his sister. "Can I think about it?" he asked.

"Of course, there's no rush," Edward assured the fifteen-year-old. He didn't want Tyler to feel pressured to say yes just because his older sister did.

Tyler nodded. "Can I go to Emmy's for dinner?"

"Sure," Edward answered. He had met Tyler's girlfriend a handful of times and she seemed nice enough, and he was just glad that his children were getting a semblance of normalcy in their childhoods that his was clearly lacking.

"Thanks." Tyler said as he stood.

Edward didn't bother to remind Tyler of the safety protocols, he already knew them. And quite frankly he still had work to do, so he left his teens to their own devices.

Tyler and his security detail arrived at his girlfriend's house. It was a large manor about twenty minutes from the palace. He didn't really want to go, but Emmy had insisted and he didn't want to deal with the argument that would ensue if he said no. He got out of the car and forced a smile when he saw her waiting in the doorway. Here we go, he thought. He walked up the steps and she immediately pulled him in for a hug and a kiss.

"It took you long enough," Emmy said as she grabbed onto his arm and pulled him into the house. Tyler adjusted his square framed glasses and followed her inside.

"Sorry, traffic," Tyler apologised. He wasn't really in the mood to spend the evening with his girlfriend, as he had a lot on his mind.

"What's wrong with you?" Emmy asked, turning to face him. "I mean, I invite you over for dinner and you look like I shot your puppy."

Tyler sighed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "Sorry." he sighed out. "It's just, my dad's thinking of remarrying..." he might as well tell her the truth, she'd find out eventually then get mad at him for not telling her.

Emmy's face lit up at this. "If he's thinking of remarrying, that means he'd have to have a Selection…" she trailed off. She then smoothed out her features. "But wait, you're saying it like it's a bad thing."

Tyler shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, he hasn't decided yet, he's waiting to see if it's okay with me."

"Why wouldn't it be okay with you?" Emmy demanded, her tone harsher than she intended. "I mean, you want your dad to be happy, don't you?"

Tyler furrowed his brows in confusion, why was she so invested in this? It didn't affect her at all. "Yeah, I do."

"So, the answer is simple, you'll tell him to go through with it," Emmy said, her tone chipper though Tyler knew it was more of a demand than a suggestion. "Think of how exciting a Selection will be!"

Yeah, but that means cameras, press, media, and thirty-five strangers in my home, Tyler thought. "Yeah, I guess," he said nonchalantly. He sighed as he looked down briefly, he knew it'd be selfish of him to say no, so he'd figure he might as well take Emmy's "advice" and tell his dad to do it.

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