Preparation (1)

"Hazel, I don't know what world you are living in, so I must remind you that as one of the candidates for the next queen, you are supposed to be doing everything you possibly can to get my favour. If you do not accept this dance, your family's efforts to hold you back for two years will be for nothing. It won't come again so easily," said Tobias.

She should take the dance while he was offering it since he had to spread out his attention among the other young ladies in the second group so there would be no guarantee that Hazel would get to spend a lot of time with him. 

"I am aware that I am supposed to enjoy any time I can get with you, but at this moment, I do not wish to dance after my sister. I will see you in the palace tomorrow, Your Highness," Hazel said, ending it with a curtsy. 

Tobias knew very well that he should pick a lady from another family to dance with after her sister. She would not be forced to compete with her sister more than she already was. Helena was an overthinker and would give in to the things being said. 

"Hazel, you should know that I influence what life will be like for the women staying here. I am not saying that I will bully you, but it is best to be on my good side and take the dance to be one of the women my mother keeps an eye on. If you are not picked to be queen, making it high in this selection will have many men at your door," Tobias said,

"I know that. I have paid attention to how the selection works. I don't want to be courted by men who are only interested because I was one of the second choices to be queen. I hope my words have not offended you. You are looking for Edgar and I think he is heading for the carriages," Hazel added in the lie to get rid of him.

"That bastard," Tobias muttered under his breath, leaving Hazel and Linda alone to find Edgar. He would continue this conversation with Hazel another day, but if he didn't find his friend now, Edgar would go into hiding.

Linda inched closer to Hazel when Tobias was out of sight. "What has gotten into you? Is there some secret feud you have with the prince that I was never aware of? I felt jabs of pain in my chest from worrying about you and what he might do for the way you spoke to him. Should I follow him to see Edgar?"

Hazel held Linda's hand to stop her from running off to find Edgar when he did not want to be found. "There is no feud between us. Sometimes I just find the prince to be annoying. It has always been this way since we were children. I cannot believe he will be our king."

"Hazel, you were just excited about all of this not long ago, but now that Helena has received the first dance, you are finding every reason for why you should hate the prince or planning how you should mess up to get out of the selection. I think you should stop worrying about Helena and just have fun. You would make a wonderful queen," said Linda.

She didn't want Hazel to miss out on the fun of being in the palace because she didn't want to compete with Helena. The same Helena who was inside enjoying the ball and not thinking of her sister. 

"The three of us are going into this understanding that only one person can be chosen as queen. Some might be taken as the king's women if Prince Tobias is as the rumours say, but know this. This outcome won't ruin the relationship we have with each other," Linda promised.

"I am only certain that my friendship with you won't change since you are so in love with Edgar and want nothing to do with the prince. I can't say the same for Helena when she is so in love with the prince and becoming queen. We fought over who would wear what colour tonight. I love her, but I already had yellow picked out," Hazel said, smoothing out the front of her yellow dress with her hands.

As much as Helena liked to argue, she could never win against her older sister.

"Hazel, I swear if you do not go into this selection and enjoy yourself, you will have to look for a new best friend. I've already imagined our future with you as the queen and I will be married to Edgar. You've waited two years to get married so make the time you wasted count. And I can't have a moment alone with Edgar if you aren't with the prince so please," Linda begged, holding Hazel's left arm to try to convince her.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but your obsession with Edgar scares me. There isn't a guarantee that I will be the one to marry the prince. There are a lot of girls trying to become the next queen, remember? I will give it my all even though I get annoyed when I see Tobias sometimes. Maybe I would have been happy to fall in love with him if I didn't spend a lot of time in the palace," Hazel said.

She would know little about the prince like all the other ladies who just knew that he was handsome.

"I wish that I would have convinced my father to let me come with you to the palace so I could have seen Edgar-"

"Linda, it scares me that all you do is think about him. We both know what he is like. The man hates anyone who is obsessed with him and can't get two words out when you are in front of him. I don't see what you like about him when he likes to make people cry," Hazel said, linking her arm with Linda's so they could walk back inside before her brothers started to look for her.

"He has never made me or you cry," Linda pointed out.

"You never had a proper conversation with Edgar for him to make you cry and I am not in love with him or his wealth like everyone else for him to care to tell me something bad to send me away. Forget about Edgar Collins and have fun with me tonight. Dance with me since we cannot dance with anyone else," Hazel suggested, starting to move along with the music she heard on the inside.

"You are so needy, Hazel. Fine, tonight will be about the two of us since we are to spend the next week thinking only about the prince and trying to avoid the tricks of other ladies. We must start planning some tricks of our own to get back at anyone who tries to mess with us. Should I tell my father to have the army ready?" Linda asked. 

Her father would certainly get the army ready if he knew someone had done something to her.

"You don't have to tell him. Your father will be like a fly on the wall, listening to what is happening to you and ready to attack anyone foolish to try something," Hazel replied as she walked back inside with Linda.