Celia
I felt the eyes of all of the selected girls on me as I stood just out of shot of the camera on the side near to the royal family's seating. America, Maxon and Shalom had not yet arrived, but Aspen stood with me, the very picture of calm. 

I was, however, an absolute mess. I couldn't decide what to do with my hands, I checked my hair, then my hands swung at my sides, then I balled my fists before smoothing my dress.

"You're as bad as Shalom," Aspen complained, turning me away from the set so that we were looking at each other, "calm down, it's going to be fine. It's not as scary as it seems, honestly."

"Have you ever announced that you were a member of the royal family to the country?" I asked.

"Well, I suppose I haven't," Aspen replied, "but I've been on the report almost every Friday since I turned ten. You've just got to pretend that you're fine and that's what people will see."

"It's that easy?"

"It is?"

Maxon entered the room, all of the selected girls rose and curtsied to him. He didn't notice but instead walked purposefully across the room to Aspen and me, adjusting his shirt cuffs as he walked.

"How are you?" he asked me, quickly taking in my stiff shoulders and fidgeting hands. 

"I could be worse," I admitted, "I'm just nervous."

"Anyone would be," Maxon gave me a reassuring smile, placing his hand on one of my shoulders, "this report is your time to let the country known who you are. Don't pretend to be anything that you're not, the public wants to know Celia."

I nodded, taking a deep breath.

America and Shalom entered just as one of the crew members gave a two-minute warning.

"We have to sit down," Aspen gestured at the five seats that had been set out for us.

I settled myself on the end of the row beside Aspen, who was seated beside Shalom who was beside the King and Queen. Gavril Faradaye was on the set, his grey hair carefully styled and his suit without a wrinkle. 

I found myself looking over at the 33 remaining Selected girls. They were all muttering to each other as Silvia tried to get them to quiet down. Isabella and Harleen were staring at me and muttering something, Amethyst was glaring at me, clearly under the impression that it was about to be announced that one of the Princes had chosen me to be their wife and that I was spoiling her chances. Amethyst had never been my favourite of the selected.

The only person in the selected seating who gave me the slightest bit of reassurance was Amelia, who gave me a wink and stuck her thumbs up at me.

"And we're on in five, four-" the cameraman continued to count down with his hands. A hundred red recording lights were blinking away at me and the national anthem played. On the monitors, I could see the Illea emblem displayed. 

Aspen gave my arm a quick squeeze as the anthem finished and Gavril's face appeared on the monitor.

"Good evening Illea," Gavil's smile was dazzling as he stared into the camera straight ahead fo him, "as you know, in this report we were scheduled to interview our lovely selected girls." The monitor showed a shot of the selected, some of them gave bashful smiles, whilst others laughed. "However, there has been a change in scheduling and we will be properly introduced to these lovely women next week. For this week, King Maxon has a very special announcement."

The monitor changed to a shot of the royal family, I was very tactfully excluded from this shot so as not to spoil the reveal. I tried not to move so that I wouldn't be seen.

Maxon had been given a microphone, one of his hands held this up to his mouth, whilst Queen America held his other hand tightly in her's.

"As you are aware, nineteen years ago our beloved Princess Celeste was taken from us in one of the last rebel attacks on the palace to date. Ever since then we have continued our search for our daughter and maintained hope that she is alive and well. Whilst the intention of the selection was for the princes to find wives,-"

Beside me, Aspen flinched slightly at the word wife.

"-there has been a wonderful, yet unexpected result of the selection. Princess Celeste has been returned to us alive and well."

I braced myself, and sure enough, the shot changed so that it included me. I put a smile on my face and tried to reflect Aspen's calmness. 

"Having entered the palace as a member of the selection, DNA tests have since confirmed that Lady Celia Gardener is, in fact, our daughter," said Maxon, I continued to stare forwards at the monitor, but even through the screen I could see that Maxon was struggling to contain his joy. 

"Thank you, your majesty," Gavil said, he turned to look at me, "Princess, would you like to join me for an interview." Gavil gestured at the two chairs set up in the middle of the set. There was a microphone sitting on one of them for me to take.

I took a deep breath, and smiled, "Of course." I got to my feet and made my way over to Gavil, who smiled and gestured for me to sit down.

I sat down in the seat, picking up the microphone as I did and Gavril sat down in the other chair across from me.

"So Princess, I'm sure this is all quite overwhelming for you," said Gavril.

"That's an understatement," I laughed, "a month ago I was just a normal girl!"

"Would you be able to tell us a little about where you've been for the last nineteen years?" Garvil asked.

"Well, I was abandoned at a church on the outskirts of Angeles, and that's where my parents Wednesday and Quentin Gardener found me and adopted me. Of course, they had no idea about any of this," I gestured around me, "neither did I."

"So can you tell us why you wanted to enter the selection?"

"Well, it's a bit embarrassing, but when I was younger I used to wrap a bedsheet around myself and pretend that I was a Princess, so when I saw the opportunity to come to the palace and potentially become a real Princess, of course, I was going to take it! But I never thought this would happen!"

We settled into a rhythm and I was surprised at how quickly I settled into the interview, setting aside my nerves, and simply answering the questions that Gavril asked me. Maybe being the Princess wouldn't be so hard?