[ E D I T E D ]

♕✿~♕✿~Chapter 32//: You will never be queen♕✿~♕✿~

"Ladies, can I have your attention!"

The chatter in the Women's Room simmers down to a small whisper until there's only silence. I look up from the book I was reading in the comfy armchair located in the far corner of the room. Caroline stands in the doorway to the room. But she's not the only one there.

I quickly get up along with the other girls, falling into a curtsy that looks childish compared to the refined elegance of the Silver competitors. The queen smiles at us in acknowledgement. I continue standing up with the other girls who look at the queen with calculating expressions. Who knew what the Silver girls were thinking; it was impossible to know with their constant cold expressions that betrayed nothing of what they were thinking about.

"Good afternoon, girls." The queen greets us. "Please, sit down." The girls hesitantly sit back in their chairs, and I slowly sink back into the armchair. The queen comes in and sits on the couch facing all of us.

"I wanted to tell you all about an event that's coming up." A rare, excited look passes over the queen's features. "Since Ahren has narrowed down the 35 girls to the Elites, it's about time the king and I meet your families."

The girls around me look at each other with excitement. I search through my memory, trying to remember what my mom has told me about what happens in the Choosing. Then, I find the information I'm looking for: there was usually a gathering of some sorts in the palace where the Elites' families were invited to stay for a couple of days to meet the king and queen. It was a chance for the royal family to see how the Elites' families' statuses were.

"This year, we are hosting a small gathering out in the gardens," Caroline announces with an excited smile. Immediately, the girls around me start to talk to each other about this gathering.

"I want you all to go to your rooms and write a letter to your families. Tell them about the gathering and whatever else you would like. It's going to be held 4 days from now, so tell your families to plan accordingly! They will be provided rooms in the palace to stay in for the duration of their stay. Now, let's get to it ladies!" Caroline claps her hands together expectantly, pointing at the hallway behind her. We all get the message and get up from our chairs, the queen getting up as well. I follow the other girls out of the women's room, and we're soon all talking about the gathering as we're walking up the stairs.

"I can't wait for Ahren and his family to meet my family!" Penelope says excitedly.

Alexis snorts. "They've already met my family multiple times. It'll be like friends meeting up again."

As you can see, Alexis is back to her usual self.

"I hope the king and queen think my family has enough power. I mean, if I want to get the crown, I have to have a powerful family since the king won't allow for a weak family to marry his son," Nina voices her worry. I share a look with Emily who's next to me, and we both silently agree to keep quiet about the fact that Nina said crown instead of Ahren.

"I just hope my family has a nice time here," Emily says. "I don't even think Ahren will choose me, so this doesn't really matter."

I frown while the other girls share looks with each other, looking hopeful. "Why do you think that?" I ask her.

Emily just shrugs. "I barely spend any time with him. I think my last date with him was last week."

"My last date with him was five days ago," Olivia pipes in with a new glint of hope in her eyes.

"Mine was three days ago," Nina says with a gleeful smile.

"Well, mine was three days ago as well," Penelope tells Nina, who frowns.

"Ha! Mine was two days ago. Looks like I win," Alexis says with a triumphant smirk.

"Well, there's still Madison," Nina points out.

They all look at me expectantly. I just shrug. "You've all beat me," I lie to them. I can see them share knowing smiles with each other.

For some reason, I didn't want to share the fact that I spend my birthday with Ahren just last night, and that we confessed our feelings to each other and kissed. It felt too personal to tell anybody.

We reach the second floor where all of our bedrooms are located. Alexis goes to her room, looking confident. The other girls, except for Emily, looked slightly dejected.

I tell Emily good bye and go to my room. I smile at Lucas in greeting who gives me a small smile back. I dramatically fist bump the air at the small victory of getting Lucas to smile. He grumbles, but I can see him smile a bit wider when he thinks I'm not looking.

I head past him into my room. For once, my maids are no where to be seen. Sitting at my desk, I grab multiple pieces of paper and a pencil, and start to write the letter addressed to all of my family. I tell them about the outdoor gathering, and the time they should be here. After finishing with that, I move on to writing a quick note to each member of my family.

Dear mom,

I'm sure you've heard, but there are only six girls left in the competition including me. I'm surprised I'm an Elite. The other girls left in the competition aren't too bad. I hope the money that has been sent to you is helping everyone out. And if you're wondering, the prince and I have had some encounters with each other. I'll tell you everything when you come to the palace. I can't wait to see you, dad, and Sydney again.

Love,

Madison

♡

Dear dad,

I miss you so much, you don't even know. I hope you've been getting a lot of clients asking for an art work. I know how much you love to make art. Everything in the palace has been good. There's been no rebel attacks since the last one, so don't worry too much. The girls in the competition are being nice enough, and the prince has been sweet. I know public gatherings are not your thing, but please don't show up in paint splattered clothes like you did last time. You're supposed to meet the king and queen, so it won't end as well as it did before. I love you, and I can't wait to see you again.

Love,

Madison

♡

Dear Sydney,

Hey, you little monster. How have you been? I hope you've been practicing your flute. And to answer the questions that are probably going through your mind, yes I have spent some time with the prince. And I'm not going to answer your question about me kissing the prince. You can find out about all of that when you come to the palace. I promise we'll spend the first night you're here talking about everything. Make sure you don't pass out at the gathering because I'm pretty sure Josh Ritter is going to be there. I'm pretty sure there's a high chance that you'll pass out from the presence of both Josh and the prince. Love you, Sydney, and I can't wait to see you.

Love,

Madison

Looking down at the letters, I feel suddenly excited. I was going to see my family. After a month and a couple of weeks without seeing them, it was great to finally be able to see them.

I put the letters in an envelope, and poke my head out of my door. Lucas looks at me questioningly and I decide he might be my best chance.

"I need to send some letters to my family. Do you know if there's a maid around here to send it the Services Office?" I ask him. He shakes his head, but puts his hand out.

"I can take it to a maid," he offers. I smile gratefully and give the envelope to him. I watch as he walks down the hallway and turns around the corner. I finally go back into my room, shutting the door behind me. But as I'm plopping down into my bed with a book to read for the rest of the day, a knock sounds at my door. A bit curious as to who it is, I open the door.

I smile. "Hey, Ahren."

He shyly smiles back at me as he stuffs his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Hey, Madi." He clears his throat, and I lean against the door frame in amusement at his slight nervousness.

"I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie with me," Ahren says in one breath. I raise an eyebrow in surprise but nod in agreement.

"Yeah, that would be fun," I tell him. He sighs in relief, and I can't help but giggle at him.

He blushes silver. "I was a bit worried you would say no," he admits. I look at him, confused, as I close my bedroom door and loop my arms in his. I was always used to holding onto his arm whenever we went to the gardens to talk. Now, I was starting to feel myself notice the muscles of his biceps from under his shirt. For some reason, I gulped.

"Why would you be worried about that?" I ask. He shrugs, and I scoff even as I smile a bit.

We reach the indoor movie theater located on the first floor (which I never noticed before Ahren brought me here). Ahren dramatically open the door for me, and I roll my eyes at him but play along. I enter the room, and my jaw drops.

Inside, there's a screen that fills one whole wall. There's only one row of seats, and it's obvious that only the royal family uses this room. In the back corner of the room, there's a popcorn machine, and the smell of buttered popcorn makes my stomach growl.

"So, what movie do you want to watch?" Ahren asks me as he comes to stand by my side. I'm still in a state of shock from the amazingness of the room, so it takes me a moment to answer him

"Any movie is fine, really," I tell him. He purses his lips in thought. "I guess I'll just choose the first movie that pops up," he finally decides. He looks at me. "Popcorn?"

Before I can answer, my stomach growls in response. Ahren chuckles, and I feel my cheeks heat up a bit as I roll my eyes at him. "Guess that answers my question," Ahren says a small laugh.

I follow Ahren to the popcorn machine. I've never actually seen one making popcorn before, but I've passed by some in display of stores many times.

I watch as Ahren puts some popcorn kernels into the metal canister of the popcorn maker. He plugs the machine into an outlet, and then waits patiently. I realize with a jolt that he's watching me.

"What?" I ask in heated embarrassment under his heated stare. He just shakes his head, and smiles.

"I'm just looking at you because you're beautiful."

I look down at the ground, embarrassed at the compliment. I've only ever been called beautiful by my parents, but never by a boy.

I shyly look up at Ahren from under my lashes, and blush as I realize he's still smiling at me.

"Geez, Ahren, stop it. It's making me embarrassed," I mutter. Ahren's smile just widens as he walks to me. He gently grabs my hands in his, and I feel comfort as his thumb traces circles on the back of my hands. I sigh as I close my eyes, leaning my forehead against his. It's weird to think that 24 hours ago, we were just "friends" by agreement.

I open my eyes to see Ahren leaning towards me. I start to lean towards him too, glad that we're thinking about the same thing. Our breaths start to become one as we get closer to each other. I start to close my eyes as I feel Ahren's lip brush against mine when suddenly, a popping noise makes me jump and yelp in surprise.

Ahren chuckles as he tries to calm me down. "It was just the popcorn machine making the popcorn," he explains. I feel myself let out a shaky breath. I can't believe I was scared by a popcorn machine.

The popcorn machine pops again, and popcorn flies up in the box. I watch as it repeatedly goes up again and again. Ahren gently squeezes my hand.

"Hopefully, you're not so freaked out now," he teases me. I playfully glare at him as he chuckles once more.

Soon, the popcorn machine is done popping the popcorn kernels. Ahren scoops some popcorn into two bags, one for me and one for him. I quickly grab a handful of popcorn and put it in my mouth, smiling happily at the buttery deliciousness of the freshly popped popcorn. Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see Ahren smile softly.

He chooses the first movie that pops up on screen, which happens to be an action movie, and we start watching it. But I find myself falling asleep easily as the movie goes on. I've seen the trailer for this movie on the tv's in stores. I thought it would be good, but the characters and plot aren't that interesting. I'm thinking I really am going to fall asleep when something warm hits my arm. I jolt up from my seat, looking around in bewilderment. That's when I notice the popcorn in my lap. I glance at Ahren who has a mischievous smile on his face.

"If you fall asleep, darling, I'll just eat all of your popcorn," he says in a sing-song.

I gasp dramatically. "How dare you think of taking my popcorn." I smile back at him. "This means war."

Ahren's face falls into one of confusion. "Wha-"

He doesn't finish his sentence because at that moment, I grab a handful of popcorn and throw it at him. He actually grabs a few popcorn in his mouth. He stands up from his seat, and I do too. We stand off against each other, both reaching into our popcorn bag and getting some popcorn to throw at each other.

At the same time, we both throw the popcorn at each other. There was some dramatic song playing in the movie, which added to our popcorn battle. I squealed with childish excitement as I dodged Ahren's popcorn attack, and quickly grabbed some popcorn from my bag. I aimed it at Ahren and threw it at him. He dodged, but some popcorn hit him on the shoulder.

I reached into my popcorn bag, ready to end this once and for all, when I felt nothing. I looked into my popcorn bag and was shocked to see no more popcorn. It was all scattered on the floor. I saw Ahren reach into his bag and knew he was going to be the one to win this battle. But I felt triumphant when his expression changed from one of victory to one of shock. He looked into his popcorn bag, and from his expression there wasn't any more popcorn left in his bag either. We both look at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

"That was the most fun I've ever had," Ahren tells me as he tries to pick up some popcorn to throw away. I laugh as I try to do the same.

Soon, we just call a maid to clean up the mess. I apologize to her for making such a mess, and Ahren and I exit the movie theater, still laughing about our popcorn war. But our laughter quickly fades away as we come face to face with King Oliver and Gregory Arven, the king's advisor.

The king looks at me coldly before turning his cold glare to Ahren. "What were you two doing?" He asks.

Ahren tilts his chin up, looking back at his father with power. "Madison and I were just watching a movie."

The king stays silent, then grunts in disbelief. "Something urgent has come up. There's been another attack up north. Go with Gregory to the war council," the king orders Ahren. I see Ahren pale a bit at the words 'another attack' and I feel my heart drop. Did the king mean another rebel attack?

Ahren turns to me. "I'll see you later, Madi," he whispers before giving me a quick kiss on the lips. My pulse quickens a bit in that second, and I notice the king's glare on me. Ahren follows Gregory to the war council, leaving me alone with the king.

I nod to the king, not wanting to stay here. As I go past him, he speaks up.

"Don't think your relationship with Ahren will go any further. You will never be queen. You are just a Red." The king spits out the last word. I feel anger flowing through me, and I can't help myself. "We'll see about that, Your Majesty." I say his title mockingly.

Instead of getting annoyed or angered by my mockery of him, he just smiles a cold, knowing smile. He leaves without another word, going in the same direction that Ahren and Gregory went, leaving me to dwell on the fact that the king who never smiles actually smiled such a disturbing one at me.

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

Oh wow, I'm still alive?

I know, it's been way too long since Ive updated. But I had a lot of things happening in the beginning of January, plus I had to slightly change my plans for this chapter. I finally came up with this plot for this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it. I also made this chapter extra long because it's been a while.

I can't promise when the next update will be, but hopefully it'll be this week. But we'll see.

Anyways, hope you all have a great week!

Glass_Sword