The Chosen [COMPLETED]

Chapter 17

"Good evening." I started. I felt King Clarkson's eyes on me. 

"Tonight, I would like to talk about hunger in the lower ranks." Queen Evelyn gave a small nod, which made me feel better. I glanced over at Easton, who was sitting next to his father. He had a blank stare on his face. I kept going. 

"Being from a lower rank, I go hungry almost every day. If we were to change the minimum wage for working, I think we could tackle hunger." I pointed at my small poster and read a few facts that I had found. 

"I recently lost my brother while he was at work. My mother is the only one providing for her and my younger sister while I am here. If people like her were to get paid more, she could feed herself and my sister better." I took a small breath to make sure I was still breathing. 

"How do you propose we raise the wage?" King Clarkson asked. 

"If we lower the wage of higher ranks, and put that money towards lower ranks, we can even out the gap between the ranks." I studied each of their faces, hoping that my answer was good enough. King Clarkson's face never changed. 

"Thank you for your time." The King said. I curtsied one last time before walking out. I let out a loud sigh when I was out of the room. Farley called me over. 

"How was it?" 

"Stressful." Farley moaned. I was directed to wait in the lounge until everyone was done. 

I waited for Farley to finish, that way I would have someone to talk to. 

"That was awful," Farley complained when she walked in. 

"I bet it was fine," I assured her. She shook her head.

"I was not as prepared as I thought I was." I tried to distract her by talking about something else until Harper walked in behind the last girl.

"Wonderful job ladies. Now we wait here until the Queen comes in with their results." Farley kept telling me that she was going home. I tried to tell her she would be fine, but the more I heard about her speech the less sure I was. 

We waited in the lounge for almost an hour before the Queen came. I was starting to get more nervous the longer we waited. I was sure the King was going to want to get rid of me, and this was a perfect way for that to happen. 

"Good evening ladies, I want to start by saying that you all did a wonderful job back there. It is hard to talk about your opinions in front of a royal family." Queen Evelyn talked in a quiet tone.

"Sadly, tonight was another project that will be sending five girls home." Sending five girls home was a lot. That meant we there would only be sixteen left. 

"I wish I could keep all of you. I know how it feels to be in your position." It was hard to picture her in the Queenstrial before she became the Queen. 

"There is no easy way to say this. But the five girls being sent home are Georgia, Penny, Christy, Hannah, and Taylor." Some of the girls listed started to cry and hug the people around them. 

"I told you that you would be fine," I said to Farley.

"I guess I was just really hard on myself." 

I went back to my room once I was able to, and August followed me in. 

"How did it go?" He asked, before kissing me. 

"I wasn't sent home." 

"So you did great." I shrugged my shoulders. 

I rested my head on him and embraced him being next to me. August combed his hands through my hair as we sat in silence. I shut my eyes and let myself relax. I felt myself starting to drift off. I could have stayed like this all night, but my maids warned me about what could happen if we got caught. 

"My maids caught us," I said. 

"Does this mean we are over?"

"Luckily, they are not turning us in, but we need to be more careful." 

"I'm sorry," August said.

"For what." He has done nothing wrong. I was the one who fell for him the moment he was nice to me again.

"For dragging you into this, I know what the consequences are, and they are not pretty." 

"What are they?" My maids never told me what they were.

"We would be whipped, then we would become tens." I gave a small gasp. I was starting to doubt myself. 

"That's awful." 

"We still aren't over are we?" August asked again. I hesitated before shaking my head. 

"I want to be with you." I smiled. August embraced me tightly. He kissed my lips, then moved down to my neck. We repeated this a few times before he stopped and checked the watch on his wrist.

"Shit." 

"What's wrong," I asked. August stood up.

"I have to go." 

"Is everything alright?" August never responded. He kissed me once before leaving my room. 

I assumed that August was late for something, but he never told me what. I was starting to worry since he never told me what it was. I tried to go to sleep without thinking about August, but he kept popping up in my head. I quickly glanced at my clock and saw that it was midnight. I tossed and turned, but I still could not sleep. 

I finally started to drift off after tossing and turning for a while longer. I started counting backward from one hundred until I was finally asleep. 

I woke up when my room got bright. I expected to see my maids pulling back the curtains to let the sun in, but my maids were not in my room. Instead, my lights had been turned on and a man wearing baggy clothes standing over me. 

"Get up." He said. I hesitated before moving. 

"Get up." The rebel repeated, this time a little more forcefully. He moved one of his hands to his side, placing it on a gun. I nodded and got out of my bed. He made me put my hands above my head and move to the corner of my room.

The rebel started rummaging through my room. 

"Where is it?" He asked. 

"Where's what?"

"The book." 

"What book?" I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Don't play games with me, where is the diary?" The man almost yelled. I tried not to show any fear once I realized I knew what he was looking for. 

"I don't have any diaries." I lied.

"He said it was in here." The man mumbled under his breath. He started walking over to me. On his way over, he grabbed the gun at his side. 

"Where is the diary?" The rebel put the gun next to my head and repeated his question one more time. I stood there silently. He leaned in closer to me, breathing warm air into my face. I did not make eye contact with the man. Instead, I looked at his clothes. His clothes made him look like he was a nine or a ten. 

Something small and shinny grabbed my attention. I looked at the object and saw the same red pin that I had noticed August wearing. I gasped and put my hand over my mouth.