Queens Are Made

Ch 2

"Let the selection begin!"

My heart thumped loudly in my chest as I mindlessly followed Yenni toward the forming line of our other sisters. Even as I shrunk into the crowd I still felt the mans gaze, it followed me until I reached my eldest sister Vainira. Vainira was my fathers first girl, her mother was the mistress my father had taken before he had even met my mother. I wasn't fond of Lady Amele, and I wasn't fond of her daughter either. They were two women that somehow believed they were greater than anyone else. Lady Amele had a son -the oldest of my fathers children-, and she was convinced that even though he was conceived outside of wedlock, he would be my fathers succesor. She had gone nearly insane when Mikail was named crown prince and heir to the throne.

My mother is suspicious that she was behind the plot to end my brothers life. If that is true, she was unsuccessful. A few years ago Mikail was almost poisoned. The culprits were captured and interigated, but we all suspect parts of their story were nothing but lies told to protect whomever had put them up to it. My father eventually had no choice but to let it go. Lady Amele's son died not long after. He had took it upon himself (at his mothers urging) to try to win fathers favor and joined our highest generals battalion. In the end, my half brother was just another casualty, the first but not last of my brothers to die in this war, and an attempt on Mikails life has never happened  since then.

Vainira was 23 years old, and she had been waiting for my father to find her a match since she was 16. Her and her mother were convinced that one day she would be a queen, but she had failed to attract the attention of that level of man. She had been talking about the selection for weeks on end, claiming that it was finally her time for marriage, and for both of our sakes I hoped it to be true. Lady Amele was a castle servant before she met my father. His infatuation with her only poisoned her into believing that she could always be more then what she was born to be. When she wasn't made queen, she took it upon herself to further her influence through her children, but her efforts so far had yet to yield any success. So far all it had given her was loss and a daughter who was evil in her own sense.

"Sisters." She greeted as we all took our places. Her tone was pleasant, but in its depths I could hear her hatred. She was smart enough to understand that she couldn't harm us, not physically and not verbally towards our faces. That didn't stop her, however, from starting nasty rumors about my blood siblings and I at her pompous tea parties.

Words are weapons, just less potent.

We were supposed to stand in the order of our ages, but Yenni and I had already decided to rebel against that custom and stand by each other instead. Vainira was at the front, followed by me and Yenni, and then Ayn, Loma, Ometa, Ksee, and Elyina the youngest of us girls.

All of my sisters had their own unique beauty. Ayn was my age, but unlike me, she had firey red hair. She was the only one of us to have such vibrant colored locks. Loma and Ometa were twins, both 15 years of age, and they looked exactly alike with their dark skin and black hair. Ksee was 11, a blonde with brown eyes, and Elyina was only 3. She had her mothers tanned skin and hazel eyes, but she had my fathers dark hair.

The crowd began to part as the tall, handsome prince made his way toward his line of potential brides. A selection was an event unlike any other. Typically in the royal world men were expected to court the woman they were interested in. The couple would take chaperoned walks, dance at balls, and get to know each other to assess whether or not they would make a solid pair. A selection was the exact opposite, we did not dance, or get to know the prince, he merely would choose one of us based entirely on our looks. If King Adnian was a smart man, they would have gathered what information they could about us, and use that to determine which one of us fit their needs. They had most likely chosen their queen long before they even arrived at the castle. Marrying for love in this world was nearly unheard of, so processes like this weren't viewed harshly, especially not when it came to ending a war.