Kaden | ✓

part nineteen ♚ quaint

The Convicting was nice and easy. After, I cleanly cut Laurel from the competition, and she didn't mind. She didn't even shed a tear. In fact, her exact words were, "I was wondering when you'd finally cut me. I knew this wasn't going to work from the start". She promised to keep in touch with the other girls and left. It was nice to know that one Selected wouldn't hate me.

After Laurel, I knew who I needed to eliminate. I wasn't looking forward to it.

Autumn was sprawled across a chair in my office, the skirts of her amber dress dragging across the floor. She smiled up at me, and it made my stomach twist and my heart clench. "So, Kaden. What's up? You look awfully somber." She pouted at me, and the expression was so comical it almost made me laugh.

Almost.

I shrugged, leaning against the front of my desk. "I need another elimination before I can propose." I began. I noticed the orange diamond earrings I had given her for the Convicting winking at me through her hair.

She nodded in agreement, which made the earrings swing. "Yes, you happen to." She said. "You need to get it down to three before you can get hitched, right?" She tossed the ball of rubber bands that she hand in her hand up in the air.

"Yes," I said. "About that..."

She caught the ball and rolled her eyes. "Stop beating around the bush. I know what you're going to say."

My head snapped up. "You do?"

She nodded. "You're going to eliminate me." She shrugged and tossed it up again. "It's no big deal, really. I was expecting it. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Also, Isabelle said that you can send her home. Her brother's wife just had a baby, and she said that she really doesn't need to be here any longer anyway. Since, you know, you can only have three girls."

"Okay..." I said. "Autumn, are you sure you're okay with this?"

She laughed. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She stood and set the rubber band ball in my hand. "Don't be stupid. I knew from the start this would happen. I was in on the plan to help you get Emmaline here, remember?" She hugged me. "I wish you the best, Kaden. And I better get invited to the wedding, otherwise I'm going to throw a fit, understand?"

I nodded and laughed. "I understand."

After a minute, she pulled back and straightened her dress. She cleared her throat. "Well, I'll be going. And I'll tell Isabelle we're leaving. When are you sending us?"

"Whenever you're ready." I said. "And you can send Isabelle down here--"

I was cut off by her look. "Isabelle doesn't want to waste her damn time. I'll let her know. How will I let you know I'm ready?"

"I'll send a guard to your rooms once you leave, and he'll escort you both out. Send Isabelle down here so I can say goodbye."

Isabelle's goodbye was filled with her rambling nonsense in Spanish and in English, and her repeatedly hugging me for, what was to me, no apparent reason. "You treat her well, you understand?" She demanded. "Prince or no, I won't hesitate to hunt you down and skin you alive." I had laughed at her threat and agreed to treating Emmaline well, and she insisted that she would be coming to visit as often as she could. She also tried to assert that she would be my first child's godmother, but I told her I'd have to talk it over with Emmaline first, which she seemed to approve of.

After she left, I took a seat at my desk and picked up the phone. First I called James, who was hanging out with Dustan and Sasha. Sasha squealed when she heard the news, and James and Dustan were beyond excited.

Following that hour long call, I sat staring at the phone. Normally we didn't make international calls, but I lifted the phone and dialed the number I'd memorized years ago. When the person on the other end picked up, I recognized the voice and immediately smiled. "Ahren? You'll never guess what's happening."