The Nerd

Chapter 3

Aunt Josie and Uncle Kaden were in their room, when Amberly and I went to find them. We knocked and were laughing the whole time. "Come in!" A high voice shrieked. We were in, in an instant. "My sweet, sweet Amberly. So lovely to see you." She hugged her niece and went back to smoothing out all of our dresses.

"Oh, is your mother downstairs?" Amberly nodded, her brown hair dancing as she did so.

"Not a big fan of Mom, Dad is my favorite. Don't tell her I said that." I giggled and sealed my lips. "That's a good cousin." And we ran out the door down to the children's room.

Since there were so many children, Mom designed a room for all of our cousins to hang out in. All eleven us were in there, laughing and holding onto each other. "-You are so lucky! I hardly ever leave the palace during the year." I searched for the source, Lucille. Clarissa spoke up and they continued on, figuring who had it best.

Clarissa was the star of Uncle Ahren's children. She loved the spotlight, just as much as I did. Hope was the rambunctious one, she runs around constantly but is always a sweetheart. Brentley was constantly giving us updates on murders. Steven, oh sweet sweet, Steven. He was an angel, he read books, and sat down in corners to draw all the time.

Kendall stood behind me and kissed my head. "Lilacs?"

"You know it." He grabbed my hand and I wrapped my hand around his. We sat back and watched all of my cousins play. He was tackled in a matter of seconds. I giggled as Hope made him get up to play a game with her. "Beat her, Kendall!" Lia came to sit next to me shortly after. "Hey, little sis."

"Hey, I was wondering, would it be possible if your tutor could help with my reading? You know, dyslexia and all."

"Sure, anything for my best friend." I wrapped an arm around her until I felt her calm down. "Well, I'm going to go bug Steven, okay?" She nodded and I made my way over to Steven.

"Hi, Kerttu." He looked up from his drawing and lit up. He was drawing a picture of a crown. "Amberly wanted me to design her tiara, she was complaining that her old one was too plain." I scruffed his hair and went over to the door, noticing someone. Chef Henri had a platter in his hand, his famous cinnamon rolls.

"Thank you." He smiled and before he had to run and find Dad to translate what I just said, Dad came to him quickly. Dad muttered the words in his ears, rather fast, and Mom came around in a matter of seconds.

"Your Majesty." Chef Henri said. "You would like one, yes?" He held out the platter to Mom and she grabbed one immediately. "I give kids sweets, okay?" Mom giggled and he headed around the room, stopping to muster the best compliment he could to each kid.

"Kerttu, we wanted to speak to you."

"Okay, well I'm here, so let's get this done quickly." They looked around the room.

"Alone." At that I obeyed and went with them. Dad held Mom's hand and they walked in front of me. Dad whispered something to Mom, and she whispered back.

Mom was the one who opened the office door and she rushed to her desk. "You know how my close friends and I met." I looked around her office and all of her friends were in the frames around the room.

"Of course, the Selection." She smiled at the sound of the word that meant the world to her.

"We were hoping after your competition you would consider having one. It was very successful for your grandparents." I tried to imagine Grandma and Grandpa as teenagers and shook my head at the thought.

"No, I don't see why I need to do this. That's why we have the parliament, right? To help me?"

"Yes, princess, but you are required to have an heir, just like we were." Dad's eyes softened at the sight of Mom showing the queen side of her. "Eikko, tell her."

Eadlyn, she brings up an excellent point. She's the first heir to know the hands are fully in the hands of the people. Our family is just a decoration after we step down, your father might've done more than we have but he didn't change the government.

"My point is, Kerttu, if you want to do the Selection go ahead, you don't need to have an heir, technically your cousins are also considered heirs."

"Thank you, Daddy. Now, Mom, if you excuse me, I need to study for the competition." I walked gracefully out the door until I was interrupted by Lia. She stopped and burst out laughing.

Her brown eye and blue eye showed a bewilderment. "Your face! It's priceless!" I bet it was, she   pulled, yet another prank on me. I pulled her in for a hug and headed to my room. It was long overdue but I needed my bath, partly for work but partly for my enjoyment.

My cousins and other extended family members piled into the room and I headed to the end of the table. With all the palace household in the dining hall we needed to have place cards set. I looked at who was sitting by me; Amberly and Uncle Ahren were on the sides of my table, which meant the Schreaves were on the right side and the other families were on the left side. Of course they wanted the heirs on the same side of the table. A butler came around the corner with all of our drinks on a tray as we got situated. "Princess Kerttu, you requested a sweet wine, correct?" I nodded and all the wines were passed around.

Dad had a beer mug instead, but I assumed he wasn't in the mood for wine. "So, Ahren, are you enjoying being a prince consort as much as I am still?" Uncle Ahren nearly spit out his wine.

"If I remember you passed out the second time on the Report." Dad whipped his hand around. "Anyway, Camille here has been so tired that she requested I helped with more work, I don't mind though. I love my time with the love of my life." At that Camille looked at Ahren like he was the sweetest thing on the planet. "I sure you do as well."

"Yes, Eadlyn is the same way, but it's probably easier because Kerttu isn't as spoiled as Amberly." He joked, and Camille laughed.

"Very true, we don't make her work as much as you make Gertrude work, but all the same, she works a fair amount of time." Aunt Camille gave me concerned look.

It's not abuse, I actually request to work. I mouthed. She gave me a fleeting frown and went back to eating. "Daddy, did you really pass out?" I looked him in the eyes.

"Yes, your mother was hysterical when it happened. She thought I died." I didn't blame Mom, she loved Dad to the point where she would die for him.

"You were unconscious for thirty minutes!" She accused.

"Well, excuse me for being afraid of cameras." He shot back, jokingly.

"All the same, I love you weirdos." I looked at all of my family members and took it all in, my cousins chattering and my aunts and uncles admiring everyone has done. And I? Well, I loved them.