The ball (2)

"Pick a young woman from those three families to be your first dance partner of the night. I suggest the Henson girl," Tabitha said, looking down at the family who controlled most of the royal army. 

"Let the boy decide on his own," King Jeffrey said, shaking his head at his wife who was acting like their son was a young boy who needed his hand held to pick a wife.

"You should stick to preparing him to be a good king while I focus on making sure this kingdom has a great queen to match the king. There is a tradition, and you are to share a dance with a young lady tonight like you did with the other group. If you had not been hiding from us, you would already have a wife and your father would not need to worry about stepping down as king," Tabitha reminded Tobias.

His ways worried her, especially with what she had been hearing from the palace maids. There was that story of him in a library alone with a young lady. Tobias was hellbent on creating a scandal that the palace would have to clean up.

First, she had to drag him back from war to find his wife and now this.

"You should consider yourself lucky that I did not already pick out a good young woman for you to marry," Tabitha said as it had crossed her mind to do this without him.

Tobias smiled as it would have been no different if she picked out someone for him. She would have to send the palace guards all over the kingdom to find him since he would be the one to have the final say in who he would marry or he was out of here. 

Tabitha sighed, knowing her son was up to no good. "Please dance with a young lady, Tobias. It is of the utmost importance that you find a wife before you are crowned king. You need to start preparing for an heir. You know what your duty is."

"How can I forget?" Tobias muttered as it was the same story he heard from the time he was a boy. He didn't have the crown on his head yet and they were already speaking about the king after him. "The last time I danced with a young lady at a ball, I got to witness some hair pulling, so I am only doing this to see it again. Make sure you get a good look, Edgar."

"I'm looking," Edgar replied, looking around for his way out of the ball. He had stayed long enough and had to leave before the queen turned her attention to trying to get him to dance with a young woman.

He already hated his mother speaking about marriage, so he wasn't in the mood to have a second mother.

Completely unaware of his friend abandoning him, Tobias walked down from the throne to the crowd of young women and their escorts who wished to join the royal family. He wished to tell them that the inside of the palace wasn't as pretty on the inside as it was on the outside. 

None of the young women preparing themselves to capture his attention had any idea what awaited them if they were to become queen. There was more pressure than they realised, and once they sat on that throne, only death would be the easy way out of the palace. What family would allow their daughter to run away from being queen?

Tobias glanced at Linda and Hazel to pick who he would dance with, but Linda's three irritating brothers standing behind her put him off against asking her, and not being in the mood to approach that family, Hazel was out of the question. 

Tobias walked further into the crowd of people who watched his every mood to see which young lady would have the privilege of being the crown prince's first dance. Some would say that the young lady had the best chance of becoming queen while others placed her as a target to get rid of, and she would be running out of the palace before the selection ended. 

Tobias approached Helena, who smiled and straightened herself as she knew he was coming to her. He did not have many encounters with her, unlike her sister whom he had seen shadowing her father whenever he came to the palace.

"If I may," Tobias said, holding out his hand to ask her for a dance.

Helena fought hard to hold back her excitement so she would not squeal because of the crown prince standing in front of her. She was yet to enter the palace for the selection, but she already had his attention. 

Helena looked to her father for permission to leave their side to dance with the prince. They could not waste a moment like this when she had the prince's attention. If she could continue to keep his attention on her, it was likely that she would become the next queen. 

She wished for her family to be remembered in history for a queen being born from it. She would make her family proud.

Helena smiled when her father nodded his head, allowing her to accept the prince's hand for a dance.

"I would be honoured to dance with you," Helena replied, curtsying before accepting his hand. She placed her right hand in his right hand and slightly lifted her dress with her left hand as she walked to the middle of the ballroom with him.

"Looks like Helena will be the jewel of our group. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the two of them would just fall in love tonight so we wouldn't need to be in the palace tomorrow? I rather spend my time doing something else," Linda said, looking around for where Edgar disappeared to.

"Like speaking a certain Collins? I thought it would have made more sense for me to marry the king and you to be with Edgar. Then we would all be close to each other. Do not listen to our conversation, Jack. It is rude," Hazel scolded Linda's brother. "You must get used to the fact that your sister and I talk about men from time to time."

"I'd be less concerned about who you speak to if it wasn't Edgar and she wasn't entering the palace to be far away from us," Jack grumbled. The selection for queen was ridiculous and his father should have done something to get Linda out of it.

"He wishes for me to grow old so that no man would want me. I had already waited long enough to marry after my grandfather convinced my mother and father to let me wait on the prince. I would rather they help set me up to marry Edgar. Being with him is much better than competing for the prince," Linda said, tiptoeing to try to see behind the throne where Edgar was not long ago.

"You do realise that there are just as many women looking to marry Edgar, right? Everyone wants to be the young lady to make him settle down. Because I love you, I am rooting for you and I will help get rid of any young lady who gets in your way of becoming Linda Collins. It is about time you stop drooling when you see him," Hazel teased. 

"Funny, but you are not the sister I need to be friends with right now. If Helena becomes queen, I will need her to get me close to Edgar so you must find a new best friend," Linda joked.

Hazel looked out at Helena dancing with the prince. All eyes were on the two of them as everyone stopped dancing to watch. "Tonight will be painful listening to her talk endlessly about the prince," she said.