FIVE YEARS LATER

Y'ALL THOUGHT I WOULDN'T DO IT.

This was actually Chapter 3, draft one; I just had to edit a tiiiiiiiny bit and write half a page. It was worth it.

I will revive the Selection fandom with my bare flipping hands.

"I think we should kill him," Josie declared.

I groaned. Although Josie had come a long ways as a person (largely thanks to me, not that I would ever get any credit for it) she definitely still had her moments. This here had to be one of them, when I had reluctantly let her sit in on a kind of impromptu advisory meeting, following a disaster informally known as "Marid Illéa makes an absolute ass out of both him and I on live television". In lieu of the actual advisory board, I had Miss Marlee Woodwork (and, unfortunately, her daughter), Lady Brice, General Aspen Leger, and my younger brother, Kaden.

It wasn't the most official group by any means, but they were awfully effective when it came to certain things. Except, y'know, Josie.

I sighed deeply and massaged my temples. I had like, seven different headaches coming on. "We've already discussed that, Josie; I said no. I can't just go around killing people! We need a solution we can actually do."

"Can't we just ignore him?" Kaden suggested. "I mean, yeah, he's buying an engagement ring. Probably for you. But no one's going to look like a fool except for him when you reject his proposal."

"You do plan on rejecting him, right?" Miss Marlee asked worriedly.

"Of course I'm going to reject him!" I exclaimed shrilly. "I'm in the middle of a Selection! And he's a douchebag! I just don't think it's going to work exactly like Kaden's implying it will."

"He does have a lot of public influence," Lady Brice murmured. "The good kind, too."

"And I'm kind of lacking in that at the moment," I admitted. "Rejecting his proposal would just make me look even more like the bad guy."

My advisors all got very quiet, and that's when I truly understood how bad things were. I'd never before come across a situation where even Josie couldn't come up with something. It was not a good sign.

"We'll figure out something, Eady," Kaden said confidently. "You could always end your Selection immediately and blow all rumors of you and Marid out of the water!"

I blanched. "I don't want to do that! I'm not sure who I want to pick yet!"

Josie elbowed me, winking way too pointedly. "Are you suuuuuuure? Is it Kiiiiiiiiiiile?"

I blushed and buried my face in my hands to hide it. "Josie, usually little sisters are repulsed when a girl finds their brother attractive! Why- why…do you have to be so weird?"

"You find Kile attractive?" Miss Marlee demanded, on the edge of her seat. "Oh, Eadlyn, does this mean he's got a chance? In the Selection?"

I gritted my teeth. "Did you not see me making out with him on TV? Because that happened. That definitely happened."

"We all know that was fake," Josie informed me. "Now we're talking about the real stuff."

"Is there maybe a better time to talk about this?" I asked, my voice getting higher by the second. My feelings for Kile were a) too new and fragile to be defined in words, and b) not something I wanted to share with the group.

"Well, I have to go," General Leger declared, standing up from the table abruptly. "I don't think I'm helping, anyway!"

He sounded like a spoiled child. Miss Marlee rolled her eyes. "Aspen, you're helping, I promise. Come back here!"

It did no good. Aspen had already left. My shoulders slumped. Everything was in shambles- my Selection was a train wreck, Marid was going to embarrass me out of the crown that was rightfully mine, and I couldn't even keep all my advisors with me. How was I ever supposed to lead an entire country on my own?

Oh, right, I wasn't. Marid was going to take all that from me. Get it together, Eadlyn.

Once Aspen left, my advisory board and I played around with a few more ideas, but that got us nowhere. One by one, they all excused themselves for previous obligations, until it was just Josie and I sitting at the table, deep in thought.

"Nope, I can't do this," I announced, shoving my chair backwards and lifting the hem of my dress so I didn't trip over it. Trust me, it had happened before. "Bye Josie. Let me know if you come up with anything. I'm going to my room."

"I'll send Kile up!" she called after me. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. I wasn't even sure if I wanted her to be.

In the end, there was no Kile, it was just me, lying flat on my bed and staring dead-eyed at the ceiling trying to think of a way out of this. The only thing that seemed even possible was Kaden's idea of immediately ending the Selection and taking a husband. But even though it was possible, it was still a terrible idea. Choosing a life partner was the absolute worst decision to rush, and even though I had a lovely pool of men left in my Selection, it was all too likely I'd make the wrong choice.

I managed to fall asleep like that eventually, and though I'm sure my dreams were far from peaceful, I don't remember anything until I was shaken awake by my maid, Eloise. "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Get up!"

A cold shiver ran down my back, and I snapped awake. "What is it?" I demanded, flying out of bed. "Are we being attacked? Are the rebels back?"

She shook her head. "No. It's Marid."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "Oh no. What's that walking bag of dog crap done now?"

"He's done nothing, Your Majesty," Eloise said grimly. "And he's not going to, either. It's on the TV."

My still sleep-addled mind couldn't really process what that meant, but I followed Eloise down to one of the larger offices, which did indeed have a television mounted on one wall. My father was there, though he looked to be asleep facedown on the desk, along with my lady-in-waiting, Neena, and Miss Lucy, who had no real reason to be there as far as I knew.

"What's going on?" I asked, tapping my dad on the shoulder.

He jumped. "What? WHAT?"

Lucy sighed. "Just play it again, Neena."

Neena hit a button to restart whatever the TV was playing- a news report, it looked like. A flat female voice was describing and dictating things, but I definitely wasn't listening. All my attention was captured by the shaky camera footage onscreen. There were two people, a boy about my age and a middle-aged woman. I squinted. Wait. I knew those people. "Is that…Georgia Illea?"

"Yes," said Lucy.

"And is that…Marid?"

"The one being dragged by his ear? Yes."

I had to just gape for a moment. All that stress about how I was going to handle Marid and his stunt at the jewelry store, and here was Georgia Illea handling it for me by dragging her son across a parking lot. She seemed to be shouting things like, "What an embarrassment you are!" and "I raised you better than this! Show some respect!". I hadn't seen Georgia in at least half a dozen years, but I suddenly felt the need to invite her over for tea.

"Do you think he'll still try to propose to me?" I asked, as Neena started the clip over again.

"Not if he wants to keep his ears."

Relief washed over me. The Selection was saved. I was saved. I had time to make my choice, and everything was going to be alright.