CHAPTER 15

Perhaps it was by divine intervention, or maybe Uncle Albert hadn't devoted the full force of the national security agency to it, but either way, a week passed with the council getting no closer to answers about the break-in.

Cade had to nod politely to several furious rants about it, but it seemed so far that no one had managed to gather anything resembling even the most basic form of proof, so after a week, he finally allowed himself to breathe again.

But, now that probably no one was going to arrest him at a moment's notice, he had a few things to take care of.

Starting with the security footage. Cade didn't know exactly how the papers got into his room, he always felt it was safer for him not to, that way he wouldn't be forced to lie about it if someone asked questions. He was a God-awful liar. He had a few ideas though.

The simplest one was that one of the butlers or maids passed it along to him, just walking through the hallway and opening the door, but that seemed like a recipe for eventual disaster. He assumed that at some points whoever it was who passed the information along must go through the hidden passageway. After all, the same staff member walking into the Crown Prince's bedroom every week or so would create a considerable amount of suspicion.

He just hoped that this time the messenger had decided to go the long way around.

And if not, he had to get rid of the recordings.

Cade wasn't sure exactly how to go about it. He couldn't just ask one of the guards to delete the footage, so that meant he had to do it himself, but…Cade's skills when it came to technology left much to be desired.

Andrew would probably know how to do it, but Cade didn't want to involve him. He would want an explanation.

Ellis might also know, but she was far too connected to the council. Cade didn't think she'd report him or anything, but she might mention it to her father who wouldn't hesitate to file a complaint about him tampering with the cameras.

He needed someone good with technology. Someone who had very little regard for rules or authority. Someone who would find the whole thing an exciting adventure.

Someone like…Mona.

Yes. She was perfect. She wouldn't care about propriety or the rules they were breaking. She wouldn't have anyone to tell. She wouldn't…like being manipulated. Cade's stomach squeezed at the thought. Was it really worth it? Breaking her trust, violating his own morals, all for what? An insurance policy? An unnecessary safeguard?

You're of no use to anyone dead.

That was what his father said to him when he found out. When he tried to arrange Cade's doomed marriage to Vivienne.

He was right though. How many people would suffer if Cade didn't manage to become king? That was worth more than his own virtues, and hopefully, if Mona ever found out, she would understand his reasoning.

Not that he would tell her though.

The easiest place to look for her was the women's room, so that was where he went first, knocking once before entering.

Catalina opened the door, curtsying. "Your Highness."

"Hi, how are you?" Cade asked quickly.

"I'm good, thank you. How are you?"

"Good, um, is Mona here by any chance?"

Catalina shrugged, "I don't think so."

Cade stepped past her into the room surveying the girls. Blythe and Finley were whispering on the couch, and Pamela was reading a book, but Mona was nowhere to be found.

"Oh. Do you know where she is?"

"I'm not sure, maybe you should check her room? She sometimes spends a good chunk of time there." Catalina explained.

"Okay. I will. Thank you. I'll see you later."

"Best of luck to you," Catalina offered, her eyes glimmering.

Cade found Mona in her room, reading a thick dusty book. She held up a finger when he entered, signaling that she needed a minute.

Cade didn't say anything, shifting uncomfortably. What was he supposed to say? He didn't have a way with words, and he needed this to not seem overly suspicious.

"Sorry, I was reading a really interesting paragraph. What can I do for you, Your Highness?" Mona asked, closing the book.

"Oh, what was it about?" Cade asked.

"It was examining the differences in dialect between several forms of Ancient Greek. It's actually really interesting, each city-state had its own form of language."

"That's neat," Cade said softly.

"Mmhm. Do you speak any other languages?"

"Not…not really. I should have learned more when I was younger, but I can understand basic Spanish. That's…that's it."

"That's not terrible. Most people can only understand one language," Mona said.

"I guess not."

"Well, anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

Cade swallowed, parsing his words carefully before speaking. "I was thinking, I mean, wondering, if you wanted to do something today? I know our last date ended sort of badly, and I thought if you were free maybe we could…I don't know. Do something."

"I think we certainly can," Mona responded, smiling. "What were you thinking?"

Cade intentionally shrugged, "I didn't really get that far."

"Okay. What is there to do then?"

"We could go horseback riding, or play croquet, or um, you like exploring right?"

"I do." Mona answered, seeming interested.

"Do you want a tour? Not of the ballrooms and stuff, you've probably already seen that, but maybe of, I don't know, do you want to see the security offices?"

That piqued Mona's attention. "Are we allowed to?"

"Probably not, but, I can get us in," Cade said with more confidence in himself than he felt. This was do or die. Literally. He might not be able to convince a scarecrow that it was made of hay, but right now, he needed Mona to agree. Maybe it was adrenaline, but somehow, he managed not to stumble over his words, to not to make himself seem like the liar he was.

"Well, that does sound very exciting." Mona flicked her dark hair behind her shoulder, "I'm in."

Perfect.

"Okay. Do you want to go now?"

Mona stood quickly, excitement radiating off of her. "Yes! This is the most thrilling thing to happen to me since I was selected. Life can get very repetitive after a while."

Cade felt a pang of guilt at that, but still he led the way down the basement of the palace. "What do you mean, repetitive?"

Mona shrugged. "I don't know. I mean no offense, every day is lovely, but it just happens over and over again. Nothing new or different ever occurs. It can get a little tedious."

"What are your days like?" Cade asked quietly. He should have known the answer to that - he was the one making the ladies stay here. He should be able to… at least have some grasp of what they do on a daily basis, but he had just been so distracted lately. Next week, when he had time, when things slowed down, he would devote all of his energy to the selection. To finding his wife.

"Breakfast is at eight. Then we have lessons, then lunch and then we have free time until dinner. Then we get ready for bed. I suppose the lessons change at least."

"Is there anything to do when there's nothing scheduled? Sorry, that sounds like a weird question, I just meant-"

Mona waved her hand, cutting him off. "I don't mean to interrupt, Your Highness, but it's okay, I understand what you mean. There are some things to do. We can go to the library or watch television, but it gets boring after a while. No one who visits wants to speak to us, and it's not as if we're free to leave to get a change of scenery."

Cade frowned at that. He should do something about it. He was the Crown Prince, sure he could think of something…maybe there could be an activity schedule?

Or maybe he should just stop being a wimp and move the selection along so these women could all get back to their lives.

The couple got several suspicious looks as they approached the main security offices, but no one spoke until Cade went to open the door to the camera room.

"Your Highness, is there anything I can help you with?" A deep voice asked. Cade turned, looking at the man. By luck would have it, he didn't seem far enough up in the ranks to openly contradict him.

Cade hated using his title like this, but sometimes he had to.

"I was giving Miss Phobos a tour of my house, um, we're going to go look in the camera room now."

"It is not quite ready for public use. Perhaps you could come back at a later date."

Cade breathed deeply. "We are going now. Is there um, is there any way you could clear the room for us?"

The officer was hesitant, but he complied, and not a few minutes later Mona and Cade were situated in the dim room.

Most of the front wall was taken up with square boxes displaying different camera footage. Several glowing switchboards held controls that Cade had no idea how to use, and two computers showed larger images with timestamps on them. Mona gasped as she looked at it.

"I feel as if I'm in a movie," she said, slowly turning around to look at the room. Cade nodded, he had never been down here either, and if it wasn't for the coil of nerves in his stomach, he might actually find the whole setup very interesting.

"Yeah." Cade walked over to the switchboard, running his fingers over a few buttons. "I wonder how these work?"

Mona turned to him, answering promptly. "I can't say for sure, but I believe that those control the physical cameras, turning them on or off."

"Really?" Cade asked.

"I think so."

"Wow. I guess…I guess we shouldn't mess with them then."

"That would probably be a bad idea."

"So how would you watch old footage?" Cade gave his best laugh. It came out high-pitched, awkward and squeaky. "It would be weird to see myself just walking around."

"It would have to be the computers. I think you just enter the time you want and the camera number. It should pull up the footage."

"Did you learn this in college or something?"

Mona laughed. "We take videos of the archaeological spots at night, and often we have to piece them back together. I've gotten pretty good at these types of things. I've never done it on something as high-tech as this thought." She gave the computers a longing look, obviously wanting to test her theories.

"Do..I mean, should we? Is that wrong?"

"Nobody would know," Mona murmured.

"They wouldn't," Cade answered, with more confidence that he felt.

"What if we just…which camera do you want to use?"

"I don't know…we can just do the one outside of my room. I think that way it won't invade anyone's privacy you know. I don't want to do that."

"That's a good idea." Mona agreed, pressing a few keys. "I think it's this one? They're labeled?"

Cade glanced at it. That was it. He was so close. He could do this, and Mona wouldn't know, and the guards wouldn't know, and it would be fine. It had to be fine. "Yeah, that's it."

"Which date? It needs a time too."

Cade bit his lip, trying his best to feign surprise. "Oh, um, I don't know…July sixth maybe?

"What time?"

"Oh, uh…at around eight am?"

Mona plugged in a few numbers, and the video started playing. Cade crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping. Nothing appeared on video, or more aptly no one, until Cade himself walked into his room. And that meant that past Cade was about to find the stack of papers.

So there was no evidence. Nothing connecting him to this crime.

He was safe.

He laughed, relieved. "I just…it's weird to see myself."

"It is. I wonder which one is outside my room?"

Cade glanced at his watch, knowing that they only had a few more minutes, and it would be better for them to not be playing with security tapes when the guards eventually barged back in. "We can come back, but I think we should get going. This probably isn't exactly a proper date."

"We never have proper dates, do we?" Mona asked. Still, she cleared the browser history and powered the computer off, before leaving the mouse exactly where she had found it.

"I guess not," Cade answered, holding the door open for her.

"I don't mind that though. What is life without spicing things up once in a while? I wasn't made for a mundane life."

"Oh. What do you mean?"

Mona sighed, "God, this is awfully sentimental of me, but I like taking risks. I don't think I could ever have a job as an accountant or a banker. I need things to change. For things to be exciting and different. The selection is like the princess equivalent of being a secretary."

"Um, Miss…I mean, Mona. I don't mean to sound condescending or anything, but I think, if you want excitement, you would probably like being a princess. Things change a lot. And maybe every once in a while someone tries to kill you, but if you like that sort of thing…" Cade trailed off, not entirely sure where he was going with his odd little speech and not knowing how to end it.

Mona looked him over once, her gaze sharp. "You think I would be a good princess?"

"If you like change, yeah." Cade mumbled.

"Oh. Huh. I wasn't expecting anyone to ever say that, but thank you anyway."

"Why…why not?"

Mona shrugged. "I always thought being a princess would mean being prim and proper every day. Sitting still and being quiet."

"Oh. I mean, it depends on the person."

Mona gave him another one of those piercing looks that made Cade flush. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind. So, what do we do now?"

Cade hadn't gotten this far in his planning, but he didn't want the 'date' to be over yet. It was one thing to manipulate Mona into showing him the security tapes. It was another thing altogether to leave her once he got what he had wanted. Besides, he was enjoying himself. Once he got past the nerves of being found out, of seeing something he didn't want to see on the tapes, of Mona or the guards asking too many questions…she was actually very pleasant company.

"Um, I don't know. Do you want to play cards?"

Mona grinned. "Sure, but I would get ready to lose."

It might have been that Meyers was simply too otherwise preoccupied to "forget" to send Cade the outline for the Report this week, but Cade certainly wouldn't be complaining.

At least he knew what he was going to be doing, which was close to nothing, but better than usual. An update about the selection and a few sentences about how much he enjoyed the political debate he attended.

Right.

Well, he shouldn't complain. He supposed it was better than the selected who had to sit on stage for the entire episode, the cameras trained on them, but not allowed to speak. It must be awful - the harsh lights and heavy make-up combined with having to sit still for nearly an hour. Cade didn't want to imagine how horrendously he would fail at that.

Several of the selected already sat on the stadium-style seats, patiently waiting. Catalina was chatting happily to Charlotte, both seeming undisturbed. Blythe had her hands folded in her lap, a fixed smile on her face, even though her eyes were clearly glazed over.

On the other hand, Irina was standing irritably near the refreshments table, glaring at the two councilmen chatting near her.

Cade walked over to her hesitantly, "Is um, everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course," she said quickly. "I just don't want to have to sit there for any longer than I have to."

"Oh. Is it bad?" Cade asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, it's not bad if you like pretending to be a statue." One of the councilmen turned around to look at her, his eyes landing on the silver name tag pinned to her dress. Cade winced at that.

"So I guess it is?"

"I guess it's probably educational if one of us is going to be a princess at the end of this."

"Well, um, no, not really."

Irina huffed a breath and turned back to the table filled with water bottles. "Sorry. I'm ranting again, I'm trying to be more positive, but it's pretty hard when I have to not move for an hour straight."

"I know it's bad, I just don't think there's anything I can do about it…"

"Do you help make the Reports?" Irina asked, seeming interested.

"No, not really. I actually don't have any control over it. I guess I will eventually, but there's a committee in charge of it now and they send out the script every week," Cade explained, hoping that she didn't think too low of him for not even being allowed to help work on a television program.

Irina didn't seem to. "Ah, that sucks. How do you get on the committee for making the Report?"

Cade shrugged. "It's a few of the council people and then the producers and stuff, but they don't really write the script or…you know."

Irina's eyes lit up, "You don't think they're looking for new employees do you?"

"I would say no, but I can give them your resume?" Cade offered, not entirely sure if she was joking or not. He hoped she was.

"Good, because I have some serious changes to make. Starting with getting rid of those awful seats. The bleachers in my highschool's gym was more comfortable than those." The councilman who had obviously been eavesdropping on their conversation let out an annoyed sigh and walked away, the other following after.

Irina didn't notice. "And there needs to be some way it doesn't get so hot in here. I know there are heavy lights, but it is absolutely absurd. Is it really too hard to purchase a few fans? They sell them at every single hardware store in this country."

Cade laughed nervously, "Those are good ideas but um, I don't really think they'll want to listen to them."

That was Irina's turn to laugh. "I know, Your Highness, I wasn't being serious, but I do seriously wish they would make some changes around here."

"Oh. Okay." Cade smiled, relieved, "Well then, those do sound like really good ideas. I'll pass them along if I ever get the chance to talk about the Report with them."

"Thank you. Everyone who ever has the misfortune to be on the Report will be in your debt." Irina commented wryly.

"Oh. They don't need to be in my debt or anything."

Irina shook her head, "You are funny sometimes, Your Highness." Her gaze turned to the nearly full bleachers. "I guess I have to go sit now. Hopefully I can find a seat in the very back. The less people see me the better."

"Okay. I'll see you around, I guess."

"Hopefully. We are living in the same place after all."

"Yeah."

"Goodbye, Your Highness." Irina gave a vastly improved curtsy before walking off to her seat. Cade needed to thank Vivienne when he got the chance. He knew Andrew said she immensely disliked the selected, but she was certainly getting results.

Irina settled herself in the back row, looking extremely happy that she would be blocked by rows of other girls. Cade almost envied her, but he didn't want to hide. He wanted the exact opposite.

The Report was as unremarkable as ever. Porter gave brief introductions. George Hyde provided a summary on the council's new infrastructure bill. Uncle Albert spoke on the upcoming elections, saying in the vaguest terms that there was an ongoing investigation.

And Cade?

Well, Cade stuck to the script. It wasn't worth going off it. He said how much he enjoyed the selection, and how excited he was for one day the country to get to know the selected.

It was an odd choice of words. Perhaps they would get to speak on the Report soon. Even if they were all as allergic to the cameras as Cade was, they couldn't be worse than him.

He hoped so, because he was beginning to realize just how unfair the selection had been to the women. They had nothing to do during the day, they couldn't speak on the show, and Cade was being awfully slow about his dates.

He had to do something to make it more enjoyable.

Something that everyone liked.

Something like…a party.

A/N: Omg is it already 2023? Wow this story is so last year xD. I'm so funny I know I know. Anyway, I can't believe I haven't updated this story since last year :0. Sorry that's all the jokes I'll stop now. Anyway, I've had this chapter written for like two weeks because I thought I was getting into my early decision school for college and I did not, but now I submitted all my applications so I can finally post this! Also, idk, I kinda want to make a poll for this story but I don't even know for what I'm just in the mood. See you next time!