The Selection (Troyler AU)

♔Part XIII♔

This is actually the slowest story I've ever written. It's already chapter thirteen and the main OTP has barely talked twice up until this point.

Points for patience, for all of us, really.

( This takes place the day before, after breakfast )

Tyler POV

At some point after realizing that not knowing where I was going after breakfast was a bad idea, I went to my bedroom to mull some things over. After all, that one meal was a lot to take in, from surprises regarding the girls to the rediscovery of Troye.

Troye. A name I couldn't shake, even if I wanted to. But I didn't want to in the first place.

I realize now that Troye is in a very interesting position, both in general and to me. He's to only that I've told the truth about when it come to my feelings if the Selection - a place that I've put him in myself - and somehow keeps popping up around me, ever since the day that Connor took off. Strangely enough, Troye is probably the only one that I could be open about, in this case, but how could I be? He's a Servant, and one who definitely didn't seem to think much of me when we first met. Of course, it wasn't my fault that I had to deal with cameras watching my every move, and have to act the part my father wants me to play so much, but he didn't know that. How can he? Only guards and higher-ups knew about the cameras. Even I didn't know for some time.

It was then that I had an idea.

Leaving my bedroom, I sent one of the nearby guards - Joe, his name tag said - to find Korey, and to tell him that I needed a favor. Once he was off, I asked one of his buddies to send a message to my father, to arrange a meeting.

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"You're telling me you want me to have all of my security cameras disabled?" My father asked me, a controlled malice evident in his voice. "And how did you even come to find out about them? Have you been sneaking around into off-limit areas without my permission?"

I shook my head, chiding myself to not let any emotion show. This was a proposition, one that hopefully even he would understand, as long as he doesn't twist my words. "I have not, Father. I simply saw someone repairing one in the hallway once." It wasn't a total lie; I did see someone do that once. But that wasn't how I found out. "And I don't want you to dismantle all of them, just the ones where the girls and I are allowed to go. Surely, that's a reasonable negotiation."

"And why would you want to disable the ones where the girls could go? It means less protection for them, if there was to be a rebel attack form the South." I winced at that. The two rebel groups, the Northerners and the Southerners, contrasted in more than just their location. Northerners attacked the palace for often, but they've never caused any casualties on our side. They rarely even break in - they just cause havoc and tear stuff apart. But the Southerners, their crueler counterparts, have no mercy when it comes to the lives of people. Anyone not on their side can die. And there's been reports of some of them even going after young Maids for horrible, disgusting reasons. Thankfully, they don't attack very often ( their last attack was about eight months ago, where's the Northerners attacked about six weeks ago ) but that's didn't mean I wasn't going to be alert for them at every possible opportunity.

Instead of backing down, however, I directed to use tact. "The Ladies of the Court are located nowhere near any entrances of the palace. Surely, your other equipment will catch them in time. Then you can sound the alarm, and the Ladies will know what to do. Besides, it's not like they can go to too many different places without being escorted by me, and I know where all of the bunkers are located. I honestly don't see how it could go wrong."