The guys replied in various ways, some calling goodnight to her, others saying they would see her at breakfast. Alex did both though, smiling at her and bowing his head towards her as he called, "Goodnight Princess, I'll see you around." It was much more gentlemanly of a gesture and showed a different side of him that hadn't surfaced fully when he talked to her.
It didn't take much longer for the men to finish once she left, and Kohen just smiled at Alex as he and the rest of them stood and made their way towards their rooms for the meeting with whoever was coming to see them. It was anything but a silent walk, the group of guys accompanied by their guards and chatting easily among themselves as they branched off towards their respective rooms.
Lacey chewed her bottom lip. She leaned against the wall, out of sight of everyone else, and took a deep, soothing breath. She could do this. It was just a bunch of potential suitors. Nobody important.
Her father went to find her. "How was it?" He asked. He was one of the last people to leave the room, preferring to talk to the maids as they cleaned up. He loved his people, loved to talk to them and get to know them. "Are you okay? You seem a little overwhelmed."
"A little." She gave a shaky laugh.
Alex reached his room easily, and after a minute of looking around in awe again, he made his way to the bed. It was an amazing room, similar enough to his room back home that he wouldn't get homesick too fast. Or at least he hoped he wouldn't. Not being around his sister was going to be a weird experience, and being a potential suitor for the princess was going to be even weirder.
There were hundreds of thoughts flying around his head, enough to make him lay back on his bed and just stay silent for a moment. One day down, now just months worth of more to go.
"You can do it, my little lioness," her father said comfortingly. "Just muscle through it. There comes a time in life when you need to do the things that you don't want to, the things that make you feel tired and weary. Just get through it. It will end. Not all bad things last forever." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Who knows? Maybe you'll find a guy you'll like, someone good to spend the rest of your life with."
Lacey pushed his hand away. "If you say so." She sounded unconvinced.
"I do. Now, I should go," he said. "And speak to those potential suitors of yours."
Alex sat up after a few minutes, putting the clothes that he had brought with away in their respective places and studying the array of other clothes. There was enough that he could probably wear a different outfit every day and still not run out of choices. That thought alone made him smile, thinking of how excited his sister would be to see all of this, how excited she would be to be at the palace in general.
The smile stayed on his face as he roamed around the room, exploring and generally just getting settled in.
The king waited in the room for the other men. He had seen how frightened his daughter was of the Selection, and he wanted to meet all of the young men. Background checks had been done on all of them, but he wanted to be sure. He was a pretty good judge of character.
As soon as Alex finished putting his things away, he made his way down to the room they were supposed to meet the king in, being one of the first to arrive. Only Kohen arrived before him, giving him a bring smile and motioning for Alex to sit by him. Easily, he did so as the rest of the other men trickled in until the room was full and everyone was there. All to hear what the king had to say about this entire thing.
"Hello, gentlemen," the king said, smiling warmly. It had often been said that he was one of the kindest kings in the history of the country, and it wasn't hard to see why. He seemed to radiate a warmth that very few others could.
There was a chorus of replies, most along the lines of, "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you King (Insert name cuz I don't think you've said what it was)." Alex went right along and greeted the King with them this time, smiling back at him and trying not to admit that he was actually quite nervous to be in the same room as the king when he could potentially talk directly to him.
(I didn't lol, whoops. It's Corbin.)
The king smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you all, too."
He put his hands behind his back and started to pace the length of the room. "As you all are aware, there will be rules for this Selection. There aren't many, and they aren't hard to keep. Do any of you gentlemen know what they are?"
One well-tanned hand raised in the back of the group and one man rattled off, "No being in a relationship outside of this, royal suits are off-limits and no sabotaging other contestants." He smiled at the king, as if he was extremely confident with his answer.
"Correct," the King said, smiling. "Those are some of the rules. Do you think you can follow those rules? There are only a few." He looked around at them. "The rules are simple. You can go anywhere in the castle, except for the royal suites. I will have maps made, so that you can see where they are, but it should be pretty obvious." He smiled. "Oh, and one more thing: if any of you hurt my daughter, you are going to automatically be kicked out, or imprisoned. So be warned."
(Sorry for disappearing! I was gone for the Fourth with friends but I'm here now!)
All of the men nodded in return, a few exchanging nervous glances at his last words. Most of them seemed to understand everything though, and Alex already knew without a doubt he would never try to hurt the princess in any way. Now he just hoped none of the other guys were going to be stupid enough to even talk to Lacey when she didn't want them too.
(It's fine! I've been gone for a while, too, so I don't blame you XD. How was it?)
The King laughed. "Now then, I hope to get to know you boys better. I take pleasure in knowing the people I rule, and you all are no exception. Plus, one of you gentlemen will be my future son-in-law, so…"
He snorted. "Anyway if any of you have any questions, the guards posted around the castle can answer them. Breakfast is from 8 to 11, so if any of you sleep in, there will still be food."
(It was amazing I loved it :D)
The men seemed to relax slightly, replying to the King's words with a faint smile and small nods. Most of them seemed still slightly on edge, including Kohen. "Another perk to being in the Selection, you can eat whenever," Alex joked quietly, bumping Kohen in the side and grinning lightly. He didn't usually mind getting up early, but just having the choice of when to eat sounded like a nice luxury.
(Yay!)
"Are there any more questions?" The King asked, looking around at the men around him. "If not, you can all go do what you want. There isn't any bedtimes. I'm not your parent, and you are all adults." He gave a slight chuckle.
None of the men asked anything, and after a few seconds of glancing between each other, a few of the brave ones stood up and left the room. Kohen was one of them, and with one glance at Alex, the other male quickly followed in standing, bowing in respect to the king and leaving. All Alex added was a tiny smile, then he was out. "Don't know what you're going to do now, but I'm itching to go for a walk around the palace before bed, you in?" Alex asked, a tiny smile on his face as he glanced at his new friend, "Then we can explore this place without having to worry about having to be anywhere."
Kohen grinned and nodded, easily agreeing and leading the way down the first hallway, "Sure, might as well do something with our limited free time. Could even become tradition, depending on how long we're both here."
Lacey sat down on the seat on the balcony that connected to her room. She stared out at the sky, and it almost seemed like that cliche scene in a book or movie, when the man comes and sees the princess sitting at a balcony in the moonlight, and falls in love at first sight.
That was not happening here, though. For one thing, Lacey was not looking up at the stars, or whatever cliche stuff she was supposed to look at. She was focused intently on the sketchbook in front of her, her hand gripping the pencil tightly.
She was here because she was avoiding everyone. Usually, she would be taking a trip to the kitchens to get some sort of late-night snack, but now that the men were here… well, she didn’t want to meet any of them on her way there.
It wasn't long before Alex and Kohen started wandering around the palace, going down whatever halls that they were allowed to go down and exploring all the other rooms that they could. They didn't walk in silence either, just kept a light string of conversation going, leaning about the other and just wasting time before they wanted to go to bed. After all, neither of them wanted to go to bed right away and waste the free time they had. "So, what was your reaction when you found out you were going to be a part of this?" Alex asked as the pair turned around and headed back towards the rooms, having decided to only minutes earlier.
"I was shocked. It didn't help that I was sleeping when my family found out, and they burst into my room at Mach ten shrieking of happiness," Kohen replied, chuckling and shaking his head, "I thought the house was burning down for a minute, but then I figured out what they were saying and I was both in awe that I had been picked and excited to be picked."
Why wasn’t the eye working? However Lacey tried, the eye of the person she was drawing just kept getting crooked, and ending up looking somehow… wrong. It was supposed to be the eye of a psychopath who looked kind and sweet, and acted that way. He was one of her cousin Holly’s characters, and Holly had asked her to draw this.
And she was failing.
Or maybe I just have too much going on in my mind, she thought with a rueful grin. Maybe I should get those snacks. She set down her sketchbook and started down the hall. It was pretty late, so hopefully none of the men were awake.
(Quite sorry it's so short)
Alex and Kohen had reached the stairs to the upper floors soon enough, still talking and even poking light fun of each other. They both were aware that others might be asleep though, and so after teasing between the two of them, they quieted down while they started up the stairs. As much as they were aware of people sleeping though, the pair didn't register the fact that there might still be people awake as well, and that they would have to watch who was coming down the steps.
(It's fine lol)
Lacey left her room, throwing on a jacket as she did. While the palace had heating systems, they weren't very good in the halls, and so she needed to be careful. Also, this jacket was super soft, and she would never turn something like that down.
She hurried down the halls, to a staircase that led down. She was about to start down the steps when she heard voices. She glanced over and saw two of the guys, Kohen and Alex, coming up. They hadn't seemed to see her, and so maybe she could have escaped.
For a minute, the two of them were oblivious to Lacey's presence, but Alex glanced up for a second, still laughing at something Kohen had said. It was only then when he noticed the princess, and even then it took him a second to recognise her. He quickly jabbed the other male in the side, and smiled at the woman, quickly saying, "Nice seeing you again, Princess Lacey."
Kohen took even longer to recognise the princess, but when he did, he smiled as well, doing a small half bow in acknowledgement but letting Alex speak first.
… No, she couldn't. Alex had spotted her.
Damn it. Lacey plastered on a smile. "Hello, gentlemen. How are you two doing tonight?" Inwardly, she cursed her clumsy manners, but there was nothing to so about it now. She wanted to hurry on past them, so that they would forget that they had ever seen her, but another part of her wanted to stay and talk to the two men who had stood out most to her.
"We're doing good, just out for a walk around the palace. And you princess? How are you?" Alex said smoothly, still smiling and now leaning lightly against the railing on the steps. He was almost surprised to see the princess out at this time, but he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to talk to the gorgeous girl.
Kohen even nodded in agreement, though didn't say anything. He seemed either perfectly content with not speaking or caught off guard from her presence. His smile stayed present as well, not giving off any clues as to which reason was the right one.
"Oh! Um… I'm good, thanks," Lacey said. She was still flustered on the inside, and it was showing a bit in her words. She composed herself. "I was going to go get some sweets from the kitchen. Would you gentlemen like to join me?"
She brushed a strand of flame-colored hair behind her ear and calmed her beating heart down.
Kohen smiled, glancing at Alex and then at the princess, "I wouldn't turn down that offer, if you'd like company Princess Lacey." He shifted on his feet, waiting to see what his friend would say.
"I wouldn't mind joining you either," Alex replied smoothly after Kohen, "Princess." The title could've been interpreted as him just addressing Lacey, but from the light playfulness in his eyes, it was also very much going to become a nickname for the gorgeous girl. He offered out an arm, though his smile showed that it wasn't necessary that she took it, that it was more of an offer.
"Well, alright then." Lacey smirked at Alex and took his arm. "Let's go, gentlemen," she said, drawing out the word, drawling it between her teeth in a flirtatious way.
She led them to the kitchen, where it was practically empty, except for a few servants heating up some food for themselves after a long day. They all bowed to her in surprise and shock when she came in with Alex and Kohen.
"My lady! Why did you come all the way down here? You could have just notified us"
Lacey waved her hand. "I didn't want to make you guys come all the way upstairs. It's fine. We can get our own food."
Alex smirked back at Lacey, letting her take his arm and walking along with her easily. He wasn't suprised when they reached the kitchen, though was quite suprised at how informal she was with the servants. Normally he wasn't much more formal, but with the help his family had at their home, he was required to be formal.
Kohen took up the other side, keeping his hands respectfully clasped behind his back as they walked. He smiled at the servants as they reached the kitchen, staying silent like Alex and meething his eyes when the other male glanced over.
"Would you like help to get your food?" One of the servants asked.
Lacey shook her head. "Nope! You guys can relax. Just pretend that I'm not here." She disentangled her arm from Alex's and walked over to one of the enormous open pantries, the size of a bedroom in a normal house, and went inside. She reached for one of the higher shelves, for a box of chocolate hidden behind a few bags of sugar.
