[ E D I T E D ]

♕✿~♕✿~Chapter 30//: The Elites♕✿~♕✿~

I toss and turn in my bed trying to get some sleep, but I finally sigh and push myself up from the plush bed that I have slept in for a month. I start a bit as this information processes in my mind. A month spent in the WhiteFire palace. I think back to when I first arrived here determined to leave the moment I stayed here for a month. A smile forms on my lips. I've changed since then, and I'm a bit surprised to realize that I want to stay here for as long as possible. To help Ahren find his bride, of course.

I swallow and grimace at the thick dryness of my throat. My throat was parched. I sit up from my bed, stretching before going to my door. The other girls might just order their maids to get water for them, but I didn't want to bother any of my maids.

As soon as I open my door, my eyes slide over to the rigid figure of Officer Nolle. His cryptic words from earlier rush into my mind, and I frown in confusion as I try to figure out the meaning of his words. But like before I can't come to a reasonable conclusion.

"Late night walk, Lady Madison?" Officer Nolle asks me. I force myself to erase my frown and replace it with a small smile. "No. Just thirsty," I reply. Officer Nolle nods but then hesitates. "Do you need an escort to the kitchen?" I know he's just asking me this because of his guard training, but I can see the tired look in his eyes. I shake my head. "I'm fine, Officer Nolle." He nods once more. I think he expects me to leave, but I stop before turning around to face him.

"Officer Nolle, you look too tired. You know nothing will get to me when I'm in my room, so you're welcome to retire to your bed," I advise him, slightly hoping he will take the bait and leave. He hesitates, his eyes moving from me to the floor and then back to me.

"King's order," he grumbles, not bothering to hide his annoyance. I smile a bit in amusement.

"Just go and sleep. You've been dealing with me for too long," I tell him playfully. He hesitates as I roll my eyes. "Oh come on. You didn't listen to the king's orders when that man came to escort me to the ball last week," I remind him. To my surprise, he flinches at the mention of this though I don't know why.

I sigh. "We're both tired of having to watch each other, and I'd really like some privacy after having none for weeks. Can't a girl have that in the palace?" I tell him, a bit exasperated. Officer Nolle finally breaks out of his serious attitude, glaring at me when I tell him this. A grin breaks across my face.

"I'll take up your offer. Only because you're annoying me constantly, and I can't wait to get away from you," he tells me with a smirk. I roll my eyes. "Oh, ha ha," I say mockingly. Officer Nolle raises his hand at me in a mock farewell and I do the same. But before he disappears around the corner to go back to his guard's chamber, I call out to him.

I can hear him groan as he turns to face me. "I thought you said I could be free of you if I left," he tells me with slight annoyance and amusement.

I smile. Our bickering reminds me of the many times I argued with Sydney. "I just wanted to ask what your first name was," I ask him with curiosity. I only knew he was of House Nolle because of his last name.

He stays silent before saying, "Lucas." Lucas turns away from me and turns sharply around the corner, disappearing from my line of sight.

I repeat his name in my head over and over as I head to the kitchen for some water. Lucas. Lucas. Lucas. I wonder why he said what he said earlier. It was still really bugging me.

I open the door to the kitchen, not expecting much except for a dark kitchen with maybe a few of the cooks working late into the night. But my expectations prove to be wrong when I push open the door. My mouth drops open as I take in the sight before me, unable to form words. Finally, I force one name out, still quite not believing it but feeling happy and excited.

"Rose?"

~♚♡♚♡~

I choke a bit on my water as I listen to Rose.

"Wait, wait. So you're telling me that I've seen you this whole time but you were looking like a kitchen assistant?" I ask in disbelief.

Rose nods, a smile on her face. "Yep! I wanted to say hi to you all those times but either the royal family was there or the Chosen girls were there. I couldn't risk it," Rose explains.

I shake my head, still shocked at this piece of new information. "I can't believe you," I murmur with a smile. "How are things between you and Nick?" I ask her, a bit of girlish excitement leaking into my voice.

Rose's face immediately brightens at the mention of her boyfriend. "It's been good. It's great that I don't need to worry about consequences as much anymore. He's been really sweet and kind, and I really love being around him," she says with a smile. I can't help but smile at her happiness. I'm so glad my friend has found her source of happiness.

"Anyways, enough about my love life. What about yours?" Rose demands with excitement in her voice. My eyebrows furrow as I ask, "What do you mean?" Rose rolls her eyes at me. "Oh, come on. Don't deny it. We both know you feel something for Ahren," Rose says matter-of-factly. Heat rushes to my cheeks as I deny this quickly. "No, I don't! We're just friends. I'm here to help him find a suitable bride," I explain hastily.

Rose smirks at me. "So you mean you're just going to help him propose to you at the end of this competition?" she teases.

I choke on my water once more. "No! Friends, I repeat. Friends!" Rose stares at me in disbelief.

"Madi, you're going to have to stop denying your feelings sooner or later. I suggest sooner so that Ahren can just end this Choosing and marry you," she tells me as she sips some tea.

I stare at her in shock. "Rose, I don't have any feelings for him. And if I did, he wouldn't return it," I tell her. For some reason, this saddens me.

Rose eyes me in disbelief. "Have you seen how much he smiles every time he looks at you?" My heart speeds up a bit when I hear this. " And I heard he kicked out Tiana because she said something rude about you on their date."

This theory of hers shocks me into stillness. At dinner earlier today, we had all noticed Tiana missing. According to Alexis, she was kicked out of the competition during her date with Ahren.

"That's silly. He wouldn't do that because he feels something for me. If that is the reason he kicked Tiana out, he was probably just mad that she said something about his friend," I counter Rose.

Rose throws her arms up in exasperation. "Just end the poor guy's misery and admit your feelings, Madi! I know you like him," she tells me as she points at me. Geez, it's like she's trying to force me to like Ahren.

"I don't, Rose. I don't like Ahren," I tell her with a sigh. She arches an eyebrow at me.

"So are you saying you don't like anything about Ahren? At all?" She slowly leans towards me as if interrogating me and trying to get answers. I gulp as I lower myself in the chair I'm sitting in.

"Well, I-I'm not saying I don't like anything about him," I say in a murmur.

"And what do you like about him?" she asks me with an intimidating stare.

I pause to think about it. What did I like about Ahren? "Well, I like his thoughtfulness. I like how he cares about future plans and family. His laugh is nice. It's cute when he blushes. And the dimples he gets when he smiles." A small smile is on my face now. "And I like how he listens to what you're saying. He really cares..." I trail off as I glare at a grinning Rose who looks victorious.

"I see what you did there," I say grumpily as Rose chuckles.

"Look at you. You basically like everything about him, and I got you to admit most of it," Rose says with a huge grin still plastered on her face.

I cross my arms across my chest defiantly. "It doesn't prove anything," I retort. Rose scoffs, still smiling. "Keep on saying that for as long as you want. I'll make it my life goal to get the two of you together," Rose promises me, and I can't help but giggle a bit.

A series of small dings sounds throughout the kitchen. I glance at the clock and realize with a start that it's 4 am. "Oh geez, I need to go back to my bedroom and get some sleep," I mutter.

I turn back to Rose and suddenly feel sad. Who knew when I would be able to see my friend again? Rose hugs me tightly and I hug her back, trying to hold in my tears.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other soon. Just come to the kitchen from time to time and maybe we can see each other," she tells me as we pull apart. I smile at her and nod my head. "I will. Take care, Rose. And tell Nick hi for me. I barely get to see him these days," I tell her as I head out of the kitchen. Before the kitchen door closes, I hear her say, "I will! And remember my promise to make Mahren a thing!"

I stumble a bit at the last thing before chuckling and shaking my head, going back to my room.

~♚♡♚♡~

I grumble a bit as I allow my maids to dress me in a simple, red day dress that reaches my knees.

"Miss, why are you so tired?" Sam questions, suspicion laced throughout her voice. I start and try to cover it up by coughing.

"Just wasn't tired last night," I tell her vaguely. I can see her stare at me in disbelief in the mirror, not believing my words. I shrug at her sheepishly.

After a couple of moments, I'm dressed for breakfast. I tiredly pull myself to my bedroom door but accidentally hit the corner of my door as I try to exit. I grimace as my maids come over to help me.I wave them away.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I tell them as I carefully walk out, doing my best to avoid crashing into another object. I really shouldn't stay up ever again.

A smile tugs at me as I make eye contact with Lucas. According to the king, I still needed someone to supervise me after my "little stunt". But the king didn't need to know that Lucas wasn't there to supervise me 24/7 like before.

"You look dead," Lucas comments as he trailed behind me. I look back at him with a glare as he smirks.

We reach the doors to the dining hall and Lucas says a curt good bye before turning and going wherever he needs to go to. I'm about to enter the dining hall when a voice stops me.

"You will do as I say."

Curious, I follow the sound of this rough voice to the corner of the hallway I'm in. I peer around the corner and bite my tongue to keep quiet. Ahren and the king are facing each other. The king looks a bit disheveled as he paces in front of Ahren.

"You need to get rid of all of the Red competitors in today's elimination," the king tells Ahren. My heart beats a bit quicker at this. I stop breathing, trying to listen for Ahren's response.

"I won't do that, father."

For some reason, I feel relief. But it quickly goes away as the king turns towards Ahren. "What did you say?" he says in a deathly quiet voice.

I see Ahren swallow before saying," I'm not going to eliminate all of the Reds today. This is my Choosing, and I get to choose who I will send home."

The king is silent for a moment before he narrows his eyes at his son. "Norta does not need a weak and useless queen, son."

Anger pumps through me as I hear the king say this. He just called Reds, my kind, weak and useless. This was the thought that was imbedded in most of the Silvers' minds. This kind of thinking, of self-worth, was the whole reason there was a divide between Reds and Silvers.

Did Ahren think like this as well?

For a beat, I stay in my spot, wanting to hear Ahren's response. I want to see if he agrees with his father. If everything I thought of him was wrong.

But I can't.

Being the coward that I am, I turn around and rush into the dining hall. For some reason, I couldn't find the will to make myself find out if Ahren was just as bad as his father. No matter how childish it sounded, I wanted the illusion that I had of Ahren to last, even if it might break after breakfast when Ahren eliminates some of the remaining Chosen girls.

I sigh as I drop into the seat next to Addaline. She looks over at me, looking a bit worried at my ragged appearance.

"Rough night?" Addaline questions as I try to calm my racing heart.

"Couldn't sleep well," I tell her . Guess that's going to be my excuse for today.

Soon, the rest of the Chosen girls start to trickle in one by one. I'm a bit shocked when someone sits next to me. I glance sideways to see it's Emily.

"Hi," she greets me. I nod back in acknowledgement. I realize then that the other Chosen girls have crowded closer to each other than before, talking excitedly or laughing at something another girl says. I guess now that the number of girls left in this competition is dwindling, we;re taking the chance to get to know each other more.

I eat my breakfast carefully while watching Emily. Alexis was sitting across from us with Marissa and Penelope Macanthos. They were all talking to each other, occasionally smiling and laughing about something.

"So Madi, what was your occupation before the Choosing?"

My head snaps away from Alexis, Marissa, and Penelope to look at Emily. She's watching me, still waiting for an answer. I clear my throat before saying, "I was a musician."

Emily nods. "What instruments can you play?" she asks as she continues to eat her breakfast daintily.

I purse my lips. "I play the viola mostly. Sometimes, I sing or play the piano."

Emily's eyes suddenly brighten. "Really? That's cool. I slightly know how to play the piano," she tells me. I'm a bit surprised at this. Emily was a Three, and it was usually only Fives who knew how to play an instrument.

We soon got into a discussion about our favorite composers and music for the piano. I told her of some of the places that I performed at. Surprisingly, it was easy to talk to Emily. If I was told that I would have an easy-going, friendly conversation with Emily Osanos a month ago, I would have laughed and not believe it. She, Alexis, and Fiona had assaulted me the first week we came here.

A couple of minutes later, we all stand up to leave for Lessons and training when Ahren stands up as well. He's going to eliminate you, the voice at the back of my mind says as my pulse quickens. For some reason, I didn't want to leave. It would mean saying goodbye to the friends I made here. It would mean having to go out to the real world, to take on a new occupation as a Three.

It would mean not seeing Ahren in person ever again.

I try to quiet down all of my worries, but it fails miserably. I just let them take over me as I stare at the floor, unable to look at Ahren as the illusion I have of him breaks into a million pieces.

"Will Lady Marissa, Lady Christine, Lady Heather, Lady Remi, and Lady Addaline stay behind?"

My heart stops as I process these words. Then, I look at Addaline with wide eyes. Another one of my friends, gone.

Addaline smiles sadly at me as she hugs me quickly before letting go. "Don't worry. We'll keep in contact." She winks at me. "I really hope you become the next Queen of Norta, Madi."

I can only nod and blink back some tears as Addaline turns away to go follow the other girls whose names were called to the end of the table where Ahren is at. I numbly force myself to walk out of the dining hall as the doors behind me close.

In the end, Ahren didn't eliminate me. But Addaline was eliminated. I was now the only Red left in the competition. Alone, in a sea of Silvers.

I looked up at the rest of the girls left. Some looked back at the doors of the dining hall, having looks of sadness as their friends are eliminated.

Six girls.

I realize this with a start. There were only six girls here including me. The competition has dwindled down, leaving only six in the Choosing.

I look at each of the girls' faces, putting a name to each. Alexis. Emily. Penelope. Nina Marinos. Olivia Eagrie. And me.

We were all officially Elites.

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

I hope you all had a great holiday! Are you guys ready for 2017 to be here? I kind of am.

So we have finally reached the point in the Choosing where the Elites come in. And no, I'm not ending the first book here like Keira Cass did with her Selection series. This first book will continue on, but only for a couple of chapters. I'm planning on ending this book soon, but before you panic this IS going to be a series. And yes, I plan to add romance between Ahren and Madison before this book ends. Things are going to start getting craaazy in the next few chapters, so prepare!

Anyways, I hope you all have a great rest of your week and enjoy the last few days of 2016!

Glass_Sword