The Decision- A sequel to 'The Heir' by Keira Cass

Chapter Five

Raoul really was gorgeous, he had caramel coloured skin and deep chocolate eyes which could make you melt from their richness. I was thinking about what I should do with him when a guard knocked on my door.

"The King requests your presence, your highness." The guard said as I opened the door.

"Thank you officer..." I had to look down at his name tag before addressing him. "Officer Grieven. You may continue with your duties" I said, finishing my sentence.

I walked to Dad's office, and found him sitting at his desk with his hand over his forehead. He looked a little stressed. "Hi love"

"Hi Dad, anything wrong? The guard seemed like he was in a hurry."

"Actually," I could sense doubt in his voice, "The public are getting a little unsettled. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I was wondering if there was anything you could do in terms of The Selection to keep them happy?" I thought for a second, and then remember my ambitions for my date with Raoul.

"I was going to ask one of them- the selected that is, to do something with me this afternoon. Is that going to be enough?"

"Well, I don't think it will be actually. I was hoping that you would organise a game or, well, something. I'm not really sure but a date won't really cut it this time. With all the issues in terms of the taxes we've been having recently, the public are on the verge of causing riots." This unsettled me a little.

"I'll get Silvia and organise something for tomorrow." I was just about to leave when I thought about the taxes. "What's wrong with the taxes, Dad?" I asked.

An expression of worry crossed his face. "Somehow, the system has been messed up. The less wealthy are being given more taxes to pay while the richer citizens of Illea are almost paying so little it may as well be nothing at all."

"Dad, let me help. Please, I won't be having a selection forever. I will be queen in the near future too, so I do need to learn about this kind of stuff."

"Alright." He sighed, and reached into his desk drawer to pull out a folder of papers.Taxes was written on the folder in black pen, and it was underlined several times to make it appear more important.

"Thanks, Dad. I'll see if I can find anything." I grabbed the folder and made my way out the door. I liked it when Dad trusted me with things, I really wanted to prove that I could do things on my own.

That afternoon I sat with Silvia in the women's room, planning the whole of tomorrow. We would have lunch in the gardens, as the forecast for the next few days was rather pleasant. Then, we would host some members of Illea's government for tea in the afternoon. Silvia and I both thought it would be good for some of the guys to learn how to interact with important figures. Hey, they weren't exactly the king and queen of England, Swendway, Italy or the German Republic, but it would have to do. I was asking Silvia how many sun tents we should set up when a alarm started blaring through the palace.

"Arrgh!" I yelped, clutching my ears to try and block out some of the noise. Silvia stood up immediately, panic expressed all over her face."Silvia, what's going on?"

"Eadlyn, dear, come with me right now." Silvia grabbed my hand and we ran out of the women's room and down the hall. She pressed into a brick on one of the walls, and lead me down a narrow stairway.

"Silvia, I order you to answer me, what's going on?" I yelled.

"This alarm is used for rebel attacks, those stopped years ago, but I'm guessing they might be back." She led me into a room, and sat me down on a bed. The room had about six beds in total, and was filled with boxes of tinned food and barrels full of water. "Stay here, I'm going back to make sure everyone else is ok."

"Silvia, what about the staff? What will happen to Neena?" All these worries passed through my head, when one more much worse one crossed my mind. "Silvia, what about Mom?" my voice started to crack, and my gut wrenched with fear.

"I don't know dearie, but all the staff have their own safe rooms. One of the guards would have helped your mother. The palace is full of tunnels and pathways. She'll be ok." She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.