"You idiot!" I said as soon as I climbed down from my room and hit Damon hard on his head. It was night time and him and I were having our 'meet'.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot. Just like I said."

"You need to be more specific than that you know that right?"

I gave him a look and said, "What were you doing at the field area today?"

His eyes lit up in realisation and he smiled, "Oh, that."

I hit him again.
"Yes, that."

"You know I can get you arrested for hitting me. Not once but twice."

"Are you going to?"

"Well no but-"

"Then quit wasting my time and answer my question."

He rolled his eyes and said, "God Amelia, that is a field area, just like you said, and I was in my gear, with a sword. Could it be more obvious that I was there to train?"

"Yeah, and out of all the places you could find, you had to come right where we were training didn't you."
We had started walking by this time since both of us knew where we had to go, the place we did last time.

"About that...," he said with a smirk playing on his face. "I didn't know you knew sword fighting and that you were pretty good at it too."

"You don't know anything about me yet, Damon. I was trained in sword fighting when I was ten. My granddad taught it to me himself."

"Your granddad? That's weird."

"Why?"

"If he taught you so well, obviously he was great at it too and in those times there were very few people who knew sword fighting at all, let alone be so good at it. What was his name again?"

"Richard Grayson," I said as soon as we reached our spot and sat down.

"That name seems familiar for some reason," he said as he sat down beside me. He scrunched his eyebrows, clearly showing that he was trying to recollect something.

"Now that's weird because granddad never knew many people in the first place. His family was all he cared about."

There was silence for a while after which I asked, "Anyway, tell me about your girl number 1."

"Ah, of course. I expected you to ask me that. What do you want to know?"

"Was any of the nonsense she said true? All the parts with the ' sparks flying' and stuff?"

He chuckled and said, "No, not at all. At least not from my side."

"Then why did you choose her?"

He sighed and said, "Not everything she said was incorrect. I do know her for a long time and Father and Mr. Ambrose are great friends. This was a necessary formality, if you can call it that. Not all of the ten girls are going to be my choice Amelia."

"Oh," I said, shocked. "That's... sad."

"That's the way things are. All I hope for is for this to work. For things to turn out properly. I have many people to prove, to show them that I can be a good leader."

His eyes showed a different kind of determination, one that made me believe that he is perfect for this, that he was born for this, so that's exactly what I told him.

"Hey," I said and he looked at me. It was as if the stars and moon had a magical light in them that made it extremely clear for me to see what he felt. Unsure.
"You don't need to prove that to anyone because guess what? You already are one."

***

Damon's POV

I woke up the next morning to a knock on my door. I quickly put on something appropriate and opened it. Standing on the other side was my butler, Francis.

"Good morning Your Majesty," he said and bowed. "His Highness King Rupert wishes to have an audience with you."

"Right now?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, I'll be there immediately. Thank you," I said and shut the door.

That was definitely out of the ordinary. Father never asked me to meet him so urgently at this time of the day, ever. Surely something was wrong. I quickly changed into a suit and left to meet him.

"You called me, Father?" I said as I stood at the door of his room which was already ajar.

"Come in, and shut the door behind you."
I did as he said.

He put down the book he was reading and looked at me. Then, reached for the newspaper behind him and chucked it on the table.
"Please do explain."

I looked at the half folded paper and saw a picture of a girl. The second girl chosen for the selection process, Eva Fernandez. I had been the one to choose her myself. I had met her at a charity event and to say that she was gorgeous was an understatement. She was fierce, independent and confident and had immediately caught my eye. Though now Amelia is the only one I think about most of the times, but after her if there is anyone I am excited about, it's definitely her.

Looking at her picture confused me more though. Father was particularly happy about me choosing her given that her parents were great influencers so what could have caused this anger?

"I do not understand, Father," I said looking up from the newspaper.

"That isn't the problem my son, instead, that's one of the better choices you made," he laughed sarcastically and said. "It's what's on the next page. That is the problem."

I flipped the newspaper and saw a picture of me in my fighting gear. I wasn't alone though, Amelia was there too. This particular picture was shot when our swords had met for the first time and I had gone closer to her to challenge her. Looking at the picture and the reading what was written under it, I clearly understood what Father was implying.

"This isn't what it looks like,"I said.

"Oh, it isn't?" he said, not believing a word I was saying.

"No. We were just playing a match."

"Of course you were. It's completely normal for someone to get photographed in such a compromising position when they 'play a match', " he said with sarcasm dripping in his voice.

"Compromising position? That isn't a compromising position Father!" I yelled in annoyance.

"You do not raise your voice with me, Damon," he said warningly. "Are you trying to tell me that you aren't interested in that girl at all?"

He took my silence as his cue to continue. "Just what I thought. This girl, Amelia, do you know her family is barely keeping it together? Do you know that they still have many un-payed loans ? I know such people Damon, she is only spending time with you for your money, your status, nothing else."

"Did you actually find all that about her?" I asked, shocked, even though I already knew the answer.

"Of course I did. I need to know what my son is doing. Any mistake he makes, I need to be the one to rectify it and Amelia, son, is a mistake."

"On the contrary, pursuing her is one of the smartest choices I have made so far. Your research has a glitch, Father, because it doesn't show the kind of person she is. One that has a voice and can use it to make others feel better. She has something special in her and I know it."

He scoffed in response and I continued.

"According to our agreement Father, out of the ten, you choose 5 girls and I choose 5 so whoever I choose shouldn't matter because the girls you want are already in. So that means, if I want her, she's in."

I hadn't ever spoken to him like this but he needed to know to give me my freedom in certain matters.

"I'm repeating this again son, you are making a mistake. This girl is already controlling you and you don't even know it. You will regret your decision in the future and I will be there to tell you 'I told you so', to tell you how wrong you were and then you will finally do what I say, realising it's the right thing to do."

With that he stalked out of the room. He ended up getting upset whereas I ended up being more determined than ever.
I was going to prove him wrong. No matter what.