The Selection - KOTLC X THE SELECTION SERIES

Chapter One

HI GUYS CAN YOU PLEASE COMMENT BELOW WHO SHOULD BE KRISS THANKS

And this for much later, but who should be with Biana? Dex vs. Tam.

I'm pretty sure the entirety of Havenfield, my home province, heard my adoptive mother's squeal. The letter arrived. Sigh.

"Sophie, Sophie, come in here right now, the letter is here!," Edaline yelled. I could hear Amy's rushed footsteps as she ran around in joy while I walked in the house.

I didn't understand why they were so happy; I had slim chances of being Selected. Uhm, hello, I'm a Five. I sing for a living.

Thirty-five girls, one from each province, were competing to win a guy like he's a prize. Of course, it's an "honor" as the rest of the world calls it, but I find it rather shallow.

I sat down at the table and glared at Edaline.

Edaline was my adoptive mother; she currently was ignored my glares and groans and sighs that she has grown so used to. Her long amber hair twisted into a tight bun had loosened over the day, finally fell, leaving the soft firey hair to frame her annoyed face. She removes her aquamarine apron, which is the same color as her glimmering eyes and sat down at the rather tiny table.

Amy, my sister, is practically jumping up and down in her seat. She, too, is adopted, with light brown choppy hair that stopped underneath her jawline. Her sparkling stormy eyes shifted blue and back to gray as she moved. Amy, or as I like to call her, Ames, starts fidgeting with her lavender flowy blouse, then her owl necklace Grady gave her, then Ames was back to jumping in her chair.

To stop myself from biting my nails, I start playing with my moonlark necklace. Grady gave it to me as well; it held a small soft gray charm made with tiny bits of feathers to form a moonlark on a thin black string. Soon I started drinking the too-diluted tea, and the moonlark pendant rested at my collarbone.

Grady soon came to the table. He was my adoptive father, he painted for a living, and was prominent in our town. He had customers asking for custom art every week. He finally sat down; rubbing is a paint-stained tunic to his face. His tired blue eyes perked up at the sight of food. But when Mom started chattering about the Selection, Grady fell back in his seat, desperately trying to get out of the conversation.

We all started piling chicken pasta on our plates, eyeing Edaline.

When I finally caught my mother's gaze with a glare, she immediately stopped talking.

"Sweetie, why haven't you filled out the form?" she asked in a sugary voice. Uh-oh. "The Selection is an opportunity of a lifetime, and like one of those novelists you love said, 'You miss one-hundred percent of the opportunities you don't take.'"

I released a rather long sigh before she started reading off the notice,"'To the House of Ruewen, a single woman between the ages of sixteen and twenty currently reside in your home. This lady is eligible to participate in the Selection to honor the great nation of the Lost Provinces.'"

Amy started yelling," SOPHIE THAT'S YOU!" in my ear.

"Our incredible Keefe Sencen is coming of age this month. While he walks through this beautiful part of life, he wishes to find the right and worthy woman to step forward with him. If your eligible member of the house is interested in possibly becoming the bride of Prince Keefe and the adored princess of the Lost Provinces, please fill out the form attached to this letter and return it to your local Province Services Office. One woman from each province will be drawn at random to meet the prince.

"Participants will be housed at the lovely Candleshade Palace in Eternalia. Each participant's families will be generously compensated each week during their stay."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. They did this for every prince in the royal family. The born princess wasn't as lucky and was married off for political alliances.

"Oh, Prince Keefe would love Sophie! She is a beaut!" Amy cried.

"Oh hush, if anything, I'm below average."

My mom and sister kept cooing that I was going to be a heartbreaker when I grew up.

I had long thick straight blonde hair that fell to my hips, generally twisted into a fancy braid Amy creates herself. I typically wear jeans and a blouse, though it depends on every day, Ames is always dressing me up. Sometimes she goes as far as making me look like a Four. I have big pink lips that are as smooth as pebbles that give me a natural light-hearted smirk. Everyone keeps asking me where or how I get my eyebrows done, even Twos! I tell them I naturally have them. They think I'm lying, but it's not like I have the money to get my eyebrows done anyway.

But the weirdest part was my eyes. They were a warm hue of brown, with gold flecks in them. When Ames was a baby, she would call them alicorn poop. And I would roll them at her. The gold slowly has grown more pronounced every couple of years. One day I'm going to have shiny gold eyes. Great. Everyone has blue eyes, and brown eyes were considered low class, I was one of the highest ranked brown eyed people in Havenfield. I find it odd, most brown-eyed people live in the south though.

"Oh please, boys come by every day to ask you out!" Edaline said with a dopey smile.

"What?! Since when?"

"For a while now," Grady said grumpilybefore taking a sip of tea. That was his first comment in the conversation. And he did not like boys going for his daughters, at all.

I stared at my father with my jaw on the floor.

I observed the table. Amy was eating in silence. She chirped for seconds, but there weren't any. Everyone started getting up and ready for bed while I was clearing the table and Dad was sipping his tea.

"Sorry, Pops," I mumble.

"Don't be sorry, moonlark," he replies with a smile, yellow paint in his hair.

"It's just...," I sigh, but he interrupts me.

"You don't need an explanation," he mumbles as he kissed my forehead.

I made my way to my room and laid on my bed thinking about the Selection until it was time. (For what? You may ask, you'll see soon though *wink*)

Why is Mom pushing me so much to participate in the Selection? It's not like I was ever going to fall in love with Keefe Sencen. From the what I see on the report, he was just too rich for me.

I sigh as I waited for midnight to arrive. I crawl out of the window to see the stars. I run quietly into the clutter of trees nearby. I carefully crept into the treehouse; I had warm homecooked food laid out to surprise Fitz. The man I loved.

Fitz was a Six (lol hey that rhymes), which meant he did lots of housework and was continually lending helping hands to feed his family. He was the leading provider for his family; his father died three years ago. He had a steady job, but there was never enough work. There were times the boy would go a week without eating only so his siblings and mother could eat.

When I finished, I waited for five minutes, then a lovely voice with a crisp accent greeted me.

"Hey there, gorgeous."