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

Chapter Eleven

Although Mom told me pretty much everything about her Selection, I couldn't help but feel as though she purposely left something out. I couldn't really care less, though. Mom knew exactly how to comfort me when I was upset, and I didn't think about the Selection for the rest of the day.

When I walked into Dad's office a few hours before dinner, and I was surprised to find a group of the more experienced guards and some advisers talking with both Mom and Dad. Dad looked concerned, but Mom had tears in her eyes.

"What's going on?" I asked, and all of the guards and advisers bowed when they noticed I had entered the room.

"You're dismissed" Dad said to everyone in the room except for Mom and myself.

"Sit down here, Eady." Said Mom, pointing to a chair next to hers.

"You're scaring me, what's going on?"

"Silvia was taken by the new Rebels. Her body was found near the palace." Mom said, sadness in her eyes. Mom had known Silvia since she was in her own Selection, and they had grown very fond of each other. She was in her late fifties, I supposed and she had lots of grey running through her hair.

"No. . ." I gasped, putting my hand in front of my mouth. "This can't be true!"

"I'm afraid it is, Love." Dad said, wrapping his arm around Mom to show her some comfort.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We're going to hold a funeral in two days for her family and us, not the Selected though." Mom replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well," Mom began. "The Woodwork's will come. The rest of the Selected didn't really know Silvia well enough."

"They have only been here for a month and a half," Dad added.

"I suppose." I said sadly, I really quite liked Silvia. Even though she drowned me with work and etiquette lessons, she was like family to me.

"I'll get the Selected's staff to inform them of the current situation and allow them to take dinner in their rooms if they wish. It's not exactly a pleasant thing to be told that someone has died." Dad said, authority in his voice. Would I ever be able to make such decisions? I thought to myself. It came to Dad so naturally, and I had seriously been doubting everything I had been dong recently, and it wasn't doing much good. What I needed was a hot bath and a chat with Neena. No, what I really needed was a heated, tender kiss from Kile.

"If you need me, I'll be in my room." I said to Mom and Dad as I stood to leave.

"If you need to talk, just get someone to come fetch us. You don't have to come down for dinner if you don't want to." Dad said to me, giving me a sad smile.

"Thank you, Daddy. I think I'll be fine." I shut the door behind me, and tapped the guard outside of the door on the shoulder.

"How can I help you, Your Majesty?" Asked the guard as he bowed.

"Could you tell Sir Kile to meet me outside the Great Room in an hour? I need to speak with him."

"Of course, Princess Eadlyn." He said with a smile.

"Thank you Officer. . ." I paused as I searched for his name tag.

"Moss" Replied the officer.

"Thank you, Officer Moss." I said, and I made my way to my room.

I turned the corner of the hall to see the one person I really couldn't stand to see right now.

"Hi America." Josie said, a rather peculiar look on her face. It was a mix between annoyance, sadness and smugness.

"I'm not in the mood right now, Josie." I said in a monotone voice, passing her without making eye contact.

"You do realise that I liked Silvia too, you know."

"I'm really not in the mood right now, Josie. Leave me alone." I said, my irritation with her already starting to rise.

"I'm not just some little brat you know! I do have feelings, and I don't appreciate being ignored!"

"Considering you steal my tiaras, mock me, think you run the place and go out of your way to annoy me, think you're wrong." She was really starting to annoy me now.

"Why do you hate me?" She asked, her eyes started to well up.

"Look, I don't exactly hate you," I started, attempting to give a half-hearted apology. "It's just that you aren't exactly a good 'friend' or anything. I mean, you don't really try."

"I just, I don't know." She began, wiping tears from hear face and checking that her mascara wasn't running. "I always wanted to be your friend, but I didn't know how to ask. You're just so, I don't know."

"It's ok. I get it." I said

"Truce?"

"Only if you address me properly in front of your friends, AND if you stop stealing my tiaras."

"Ok," Josie replied, laughing a little.

I didn't quite know what to make of my encounter with Josie, but I suspected that I needed to be a little easier on her.

I continued to walk down the numerous hallways until I reached my room, and pressed the button which rang for Neena.

"What do you need?" Neena asked, a sad smile on her face saying that she knew about Silvia.

"I need a hot bath and a box of sweets." I said, collapsing onto my bed.

"Certainly, Eadlyn." Neena said, not questioning my mood or what had happened and turned on the hot water for the bath.

I took off my dress and pulled up my hair into a messy little bun onto the top of my head. I relaxed immediately as my body was released from the snug day dress and toe-killing heels I had chosen to wear that day. It felt as though the hot water could wash away the stress and sadness of the day, and I applied a fresh face of makeup, waiting for Kile to knock on my door.

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IMPORTANT-

I had a thought recently, and it comes down to you guys (my readers). I have come up with two options regarding my content. The first being that I can update once a week, increasing the amount of pages in my chapters to give you guys more content, OR, I can update every 3-4 days but only give you 1 or 2 pages each chapter. Let me know down in the comments!

xo,

Leah