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

Chapter Nine

After breakfast, I started off my day with a date with Raoul. I had planned this date by myself, as Sylvia was still nowhere to be found. I couldn't help but laugh a little at Raoul. He was waiting in the foyer of the palace for me, holding a rose in one hand and a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Good morning, Princess Eadlyn" Raoul said as he gave me a bow.

"Good morning, Raoul" I replied, trying to sound chirpy and approachable.

"What did you plan for us to do, Princess?"

"Please, call me Eadlyn."

"Eadlyn." Raoul repeated a little quieter than his usual tone of voice.

"So," I began, as we started walking out into the gardens. "What is it like living in Panama?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"When the weather is nice, it is beautiful." Raoul said, a look of fondness is his eyes. "It's located in the center of Illea, so we don't have many beaches or anything, but the gardens and towns are very pleasant."

We turned a corner, and I led him up the stairs to a balcony. I looked out at the view, rather pleased with myself for picking this spot in the palace. "Do you like it?" I asked, seeing if Raoul had given his approval.

"Yes! You can see all of Angeles from here!" Raoul's thick Hispanic accent made his 'yes' sound like he was saying 'jes' instead. We stared out into the distance for a while, looking at the beautiful day we had been presented with.

"Hi, I'm the photographer," said a stout little man. "Can I just get some shots of the two of you in front of the view?" He asked. "Great, great. Yep, that's perfect." He said after every photo. When we were finished, he said "Great. That will do." and ran off down the stairs, leaving us to ourselves.

"Do you assist the King much with his work, or do you observe?" Raoul began after a short while.

"I observe a bit, but I still have to go through paperwork and things like taxes and financials." His question confused me, and I thought it was a bit odd that he started a conversation with that particular topic.

"So, how much work would your future husband have to do." Again, his question confused me.

"Uh, I guess we would share equal amounts. I'm not really sure, as I have about two years before the throne is passed on to me."

"Hmm." Said Raoul.

"I'm sorry, but what are all these questions for?"

"Well, I would just like to know what I am in for, if you pick me, that is."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. You have about fifteen competitors, some of which are very strong." I could tell that my comment threw him a bit, as a look of worry washed over his face. But hey, if he couldn't handle the competition, how would he be able to handle me? (Or the throne for that matter)

"So," I began, trying to change the subject. "Are you from a big family?"

"I guess so, I'm the middle child of three. I have a younger sister, who is 12 and I have an older brother who is 23."

"What about your parents, what do they do for a profession?"

"Well, my father is an engineer, and my mother stays at home with my sister."

"What about you? Do you work, have hobbies? You know, that kind of thing."

"I like sports, I'm not amazing but I enjoy them. I work part time as at a market and help my neighbor sell his vegetables." After this, the conversation really dried up. There wasn't much to talk about.

"Uh, do you have any? Hobbies, that is."

"I play piano, I like music." I replied, trying to sound interested. For someone who appeared so nice, he really couldn't hold a conversation too well. It had been about 45 minutes in total, and I finally decided to put us both out of our misery. "Thank you, for a nice time Raoul." I said, a fake smile on my face as I tried to look genuine.

"Yes, thank you Prin- uh, I mean Eadlyn. Can I . . ."

"You may kiss my hand" I said, holding out my hand delicately. He nodded and kissed it softly.

"Have a nice day, Raoul." And with that, I left to finish some work.

"How did the date go, love?" Dad asked me as I finished off one of my reports.

"It was awkward to say the least. He's nice, but we didn't really, 'click' if you get what I mean."

"I know exactly how you feel. When I started to meet with some of my Selected, I could just tell that we weren't that compatible." He sighed, and I knew he was probably thinking about his own Selection.

"He didn't do anything wrong though, and I don't want to send him home just yet."

"Then don't. I can't tell you how to run your own Selection, love, but I think that if you can't find anything wrong with someone, don't discard them as an option completely."

"Did that happen with Mom?"

"Well, I guess you know by now that our relationship got off to a rocky start, but nothing like that happened."

"Then what did happen?" I asked, hoping I wasn't prying too much.

He sighed, took off his glasses and looked me in the eye. "Well, because her family wasn't doing very well financially, we made a deal. She obviously needed to stay for the money, and the food, so in exchange for her staying, she promised to be my friend. I only ever had one friend growing up and she lived in France, so this offer was very appealing to me. We argued a lot, the reasons I won't bother you with, but eventually she realised that she was in love with me, and vice versa. I never really loved the other Elite the way I loved your mother, she was different. She was special, and she didn't feel the need to prove it to me. It was as if she said, "Here I am, take it or leave it", and that was what I loved about her." I could see the deep admiration and general loving look in his eyes. He had loved her from the moment they met, and that just hadn't happened for me.

"Thank you, Daddy"

"You're welcome Eady."

It had been several days since the last attack, and though most people had relaxed and forgotten about it since then, I certainly hadn't. I was in the office with Dad when the attack happened later that day. The ground rumbled a little, and a few minutes later the alarm blared throughout the palace.

Dad grabbed my arm and led me to a tunnel in the wall of his office. "Quick, in here." He said with urgency in his voice.

"Where are we going?" I asked. I had never seen this tunnel before, and the cobwebs in the corners suggested that it hadn't been used in a while.

"This leads straight to the safe room downstairs. Don't worry, everyone will be able to get down here quickly. We just had a bit of trouble with opening the door last time." This comforted me a little, knowing that everyone was able to get downstairs.

After a few minutes of walking down stairs we finally made it to the safe room. I counted all fifteen of the selected, Mom, Kaden, Osten and Ahren, the advisers were all there. Except for Silvia. I was worried that she was captured by the New Rebels, killed, or something like that. I hadn't realised how much I relied on her until she was gone. She was getting old now, I couldn't pinpoint her age, but I knew she was in the palace when Dad was much younger.

"Mom," I asked, hugging her for comfort. "Where do you think Silvia is?"

"I don't know, Eady." She said in a hushed tone. "I really don't know."