I apologize for the long wait, but here is the new chapter!

I made a Tumblr for this! .com will have a few drawings and things about the story on it!

Recap: The Hallow's Eve party was a success until the palace was attacked. Alexander was hurt and later found by Miss Annie.

"Phil?!"

Phil (PHIL!) smiled cockily at me while bustling about my hospital bed.

"But I-I thought you were fired!" Really Alexander. You have such a way with words.

"Well, I was fired from being your personal maid, but I'm much too valuable to kick out," she still had that smirk on her face like she knew this would happen.

"Why didn't you tell me? Let me know? Do you know how much I missed you?!" I had tears in my eyes, but only, of course, because of waking up less than a minute ago.

I was just tired.

Really.

Her expression turned solemn. "Well, I would have, you know I would have, but one of the conditions of getting to stay was I wasn't allowed to explicitly tell you or have any unnecessary contact. I wanted to find a way, but I figured it wouldn't do well to disobey His Majesty right after he allowed me to stay."

I groaned and let my body fall against the bed, tired again, and feeling the ache of my injuries. I felt myself falling asleep again, but heard her say, "I missed you too."

~T~H~E~S~E~L~E~C~T~I~O~N~A~G~A~I~N~

"-been out?" I heard female voices talking, and a hand holding mine. I opened my eyes blearily, blinking around like a newborn.

"You're up!" Was my only warning before I was getting the life squeezed right out of me. When it felt like my ribs had all cracked in half, my attackers let go and I shouldn't have been surprised to see Leah and Razmond.

"Hello," I said, once my ribs had recovered. They both looked so happy, I began to wonder how long I was out.

"Oh, Alexander, it has been days. Days, darling," Razmond had that certain way of talking that made it seem like it was all your fault, but simultaneously you were in on the joke. A bit condescending, a bit motherly, a bit gossipy, but it worked for her.

No such luck for me.

"Days?!" I screeched as soon as that thought processed. "How have I been out for days?"

Razmond nodded seriously, but when I turned to Leah disbelievingly, I could see her barely contained giggles and knew something was up.

"Razmond . . ." I said warningly, not at all pleased with her little joke.

"Oh, have a heart," She said without conviction, her smile near as bright as Leah's.

"How long has it actually been?"

"Just a few hours since you last woke up," Leah told me.

"I suppose father will want to see me?" I was already getting out of bed, but Razmond and Leah both pushed me back on to the bed, luckily, because I had already started to feel a little woozy.

"No, surprisingly," Razmond inspected her chipped nails. "What sort of a proper king would demand to see his son after said son's televised party was crashed by rebels, failed to get in a safe room, had two pieces of table removed from his shoulder and side, and a piece of glass removed from his stomach?"

"Oh dear," I sighed, thumping my head against the pillow. To their dismay, I popped up again after a good five seconds of thinking.

"Was Miss Annie here when you found me? Where is she now?" I looked around.

"Yes, she was here, but she left pretty soon after a doctor got here," Leah shook her head gently. "Poor dear must get queasy around blood."

"Don't talk like you are so old and wise," Razmond cuffed her on the back of the head, earning a glare.

"Anyway, you should be good to go tomorrow, but you should take it easy."

"That soon?" I asked, surprised.

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Somehow the shrapnel managed to miss any major arteries or organs so you basically have three big scratches."

Three big scratches.

Right.

"Anyhow, while you can afford to laze about all day Mr. Ladies' Man, we have actual royal duties to attend to. If you will excuse us."

They both swept out of the rooms like the drama queens they are and I was left with my thoughts.

For a moment.

It seems that my sisters leaving opened the floodgates. Suddenly my small medical room was filled with multiple doctors and nurses, telling how I was going to be just fine, and a barrage of other staff who were probably just looking for some gossip to spread.

There was a lot of people talking and staring and shuffling about, but somehow I managed to stick it through until they had gotten tired of pestering me and gotten a good eyeful of the Prince. When the last of them had gone, I flopped my head on the pillow and scrunched my eyes together.

I could already tell how tiresome this would be.

~T~H~E~S~E~L~E~C~T~I~O~N~A~G~A~I~N~

I really didn't feel too bad the next day, which was lucky because my father decided that was the perfect time to have The Report. I suppose it made sense to address the issue as soon as we could to ease the public's minds but I had woken up the day before from being unconscious and having wood and glass shrapnel inside of me.

Ryker Fairburn met me backstage, his hair as pink as always, and a show stopping smile already in place.

"Just the black suit and tie for you tonight," he informed me, and waved me to a nearby door. Inside, my suit was hanging up, and I changed into in with minimal pain.

I was grabbed by a staging assistant who told me, "You don't have to do anything today." And pushed me in the direction of the stage. What a relief. Usually I was okay with speaking to the nation, but today I was feeling a little queasy. I was pointed to one of the five seats where the royal family would be, and waited, as I was a little early.

More and more people filtered in, technical crews, Ryker, my family, and the Selected. They sat on benches in front of us, out of view of the camera. All of them had dressed up, leading me to believe they would eventually be on screen.

No one bothered me until the makeup crews did their final rounds, one of them chiding me about posture.

"We're live in three . . . two . . ." the director pointed at Ryker, signaling that the cameras were rolling.

"Welcome to The Report!" Ryker said to the cameras, charming as always. "I'm Ryker Fairburn and today we will be addressing the recent attack at the Royal Palace. As many of you may have heard already, there was a brutal attack during the Hallow's Eve party hosted for the Selected. We believe it to be a faction of the thought – to – be – defeated Southern Rebels."

There were loud gasps from the Selected and I saw a camera turn for a quick shot of their reactions to the news.

Ryker nodded seriously. "Armed forces are currently on the lookout for these rebels and we urge the country to remain calm. The threat is very soon to be taken care of." He finished off the grave summary with a charming smile.

"Moving on to happier news, let's talk about the Selection!" Cue the panic. Didn't the man say I wouldn't have to do anything? "As I understand it, the Prince has only been on four dates since the start of the Selection!" He turned to me, slightly accusingly, "Is this true?"

"Er, yes, Ryker," I answered somewhat awkwardly. I could almost feel my father's glare burn through the side of my head.

"Would you mind saying who you took and what you did?" He was setting up something, but I wasn't sure what yet.

"Of course. First, I took Miss Úna to lunch in the kitchens and we tried some popular food from each other's country." As I talked, Úna approached the stage and stood in a spot farther back than myself. She wore a dark green floor length dress with half sleeves and gold on the bodice (yes I know what a bodice is, I live in a bleeding palace). "Then I took Miss Rebecca for a horse ride around the gardens–"

"I was meaning to ask you, why did you get so upset with the camera crews?" I could see Rebecca duck her head as she stood in her spot behind us. She wore an ombré blue layered dress, which only made her embarrassed blush stand out.

"It is not that I was upset about the Selection being filmed and broadcasted, it is that I had no idea they were even there. Being filmed when you know you are being filmed is one thing, but to find out in such a way – Miss Rebecca had to point them out before I realized, and apparently they were there with Úna as well."

Ryker seemed a little put off that I had come up with such an eloquent response (if I do say so myself) but he smiled through it.

"Very nicely put. What of your other dates?"

"I took Miss Kate to the beach where we waded in the water and had a small picnic." She wore the same colour scheme that she did to the beach, yellow, orange, and red. Her glasses reflected some of the stage lights.

"Last, I had a date with Sh – Miss Shiloh and we danced on the roof." She had a violet day dress on, looking very casual next to the other three, with floor length gowns. Her smile was as bright as ever, even coaxing the others to smile as well.

I thought no one had heard my slip up when I said Shiloh's name, or that they would let it go. But not Ryker.

"So did I hear you almost call the lady Shiloh?" He had a huge sh-t eating grin on his face, spelling trouble and gossip. "Seems you two are getting pretty close."

"To be honest, it is because Shiloh is such a casual person, I felt comfortable with her right away," I then realized my mistake. "Not that, er, I do not like the proper ladies as well."

Oh that was such a bad save.

Thankfully Ryker knew how to keep the show going.

"Despite the tragedy at your Hallow's Eve party, there had to have been some interesting things going on in regards to the Selection. We all saw the footage – before the attack, that is – but tell me, is there anyone you would like to eliminate?"

Apparently that was their cue, because all the girls found their places behind us, and all the chairs were turned to be facing in. All the ladies had on smiles and jewels, looking right at the cameras.

"Let's get right to it," Ryker said with a wicked grin. Every person and every camera were suddenly turned towards me.

First I had to get rid of the two that were badmouthing my costume at the party.

"Miss June and Miss Mayda." They walked up. "Perhaps insulting what the crown Prince chooses to wear is a poor choice." I looked at them apathetically.

"Gentlemen, please escort the ladies out," Ryker waved in two security guards who walked them out, the ladies glaring at me but keeping quiet.

I scanned the ladies to look for the grabby, scratchy cat girl from the party. Ah, there she is.

"Miss Ellie." She stepped forward, glaring. "Your costume was very inappropriate for a Palace function of any sort and my personal space is something I would like to keep personal." She sneered at me, and crossed her arms.

Ryker waved his hand and Miles walked in, gave me a smile when the cameras couldn't see his face, and walked Miss Ellie out, being extremely careful not to touch her.

"That leaves us with an even twenty lovely ladies in the Selection! Let's see them all!" He waved at the group, but it must have been another choreographed thing, because they began parading around one by one.

"Miss Felicity De La Fuente from Kent!" She had a simple dark red dress on, with stunning and intricate jewelry. I remembered she was the one who offered to be my friend shortly before the party.

"Miss Jordan Romanos from Dominica!" She wore a black dress with silvery decals and an open back.

"Miss Raine Wilson from Hansport!" Miss Raine wore a navy dress with gold accents on the bottom and a halter top, also with gold.

"Miss Liliana Sandalwood from Ottaro!" While she walked, her bright orange curls bounced, clashing a bit with her mostly pink floral dress. I noticed her nails were painted all different neons, making for an interesting combination.

"Miss Fae Harrison from Angeles!" The famous singer wore what had to be the latest in fashion, definitely not something the staff would have provided for any of the Selected. It was olive coloured, and had multiple patterns on it in different places. Surprisingly, Miss Fae looked stunning in the strange dress.

"Miss Jane Zahar from Lakedon!" I didn't recognize this girl right away, but I remembered her purple eyes. She had on a purple loose – hanging dress that matched her eyes perfectly.

"Miss Kate Jasmin from Sonage!" She stepped forward for a second time, her dress yellow on the top, but fading into orange and then red on the bottom.

"Miss Nicole Wilson from Paloma!" Miss Nicole had a gold evening gown with a tie – neck and an open back. When she walked I saw it had a slit up the side. The gold made her gold highlights and eyes stand out.

"Miss Lila Winters from Midston!" She had a baby blue dress that ended just below her knees. It was a little casual for The Report, but if I remembered correctly, she was a farmer or something, so this was probably fancy for her.

"Miss Annaliese Montgomery from Likely!" The petite brunette – that I had yet to ask on that date I promised her – was wearing a soft white dress with pink and blue flowers curling up from the bottom.

"Miss Allison Marketer from Denbeigh!" She had a bright yellow dress on that went very well with her dark skin, bold blue eyeshadow, and red lipstick.

"Miss Willow Sanders from Columbia!" The rock star Mohawk girl had a black dress with multiple silver chains around her neck like necklaces, and on her waist like a belt. She appeared to have taken out a few of her piercings, but left most of them in. The light shined off them everywhere.

"Miss Rebecca Counter from Whites!" Her layered dress in different hues of blue looked very nice on her, and she was about the same height as all the other girls, so her maids hadn't forced her into too – tall heels this time.

"Miss Hope Eden from Yukon!" She wore a sleeveless black gown with a silver lining on the color, her very light hair and skin seeming whiter, and her dark eyes looking like holes in her head.

"Miss Bridget Oakwell from Atlin!" The white dress she wore stood out against her dark skin, and the simplicity of it allowed her jewelry to be a prominent feature of her outfit.

"Miss Natalie Roman from Clermont!" She had on a lilac dress that was very plain, and no jewelry that I could see. Her hair was in a braid with a white headband.

"Miss Shiloh Newman from Waverly!" Her day dress was a violet that complemented her fiercely red hair.

"Miss Annie Beaker from Fennley!" She looked well rested, which I was glad for. I would hate for her to lose sleep or have nightmares or anything because of what happened at the party. She had on a black dress with gold swirls on it, and her purple hair was in an intricate up – do.

"Miss Elise Gonera from Bonita!" She wore a dark red dress that worked nicely with her black hair, but only served to make her pale skin paler.

"Princess Úna Acheson from Baffin!" They were still going with Baffin instead of Scotland, even though everyone knew she wasn't from the country. Her hair was down and wavy, with the usual two beaded braids. That combined with her dark green and gold dress, she looked like a fierce Scottish warrior - maiden, and I did not just think something so weird.

It must have been the recent injuries that made me think something so strange.

"And those are all the Selected ladies we have!" Ryker announced. How he managed to look manly and whatnot with bubblegum pink hair, I will never know. "See you next time on The Report!"

The cameras stopped rolling and the lights dimmed. The smiles dropped from everyone on stage's faces, and we dispersed.

"Miss Annaliese!" I jogged after where I saw the ladies walk off. They were all standing very closely together in a narrow back hallway, and I had to (politely) push my way through. I caught a glimpse of her dress, and fought my way through the final few ladies in my way, probably not earning many smiles.

"Miss Annaliese!" She looked startled, which I could understand. The Prince did just pop out of an extremely cramped hallway, huffing and puffing and probably very pink, and yell her name.

"Yes?"

"I know that I promised I would ask you out on a date when you asked me but I said I was busy, and I really am sorry that I forgot, I meant to but I did not, and I figured now would be as good a time as any-" She was beginning to look overwhelmed, so a deep breath later, I just asked, "Would you like to go for a walk with me after lunch?"

"Of course!" She beamed. "Where should I meet you?"

"By the front doors?"

"See you then!"

Miss Jayla appeared at the end of the hallway near the exit into the main part of the castle. "Ladies, get moving, we have lunch with the Royal Family in an hour and I can assure you, whatever extravagant, uncomfortable costume you have squeezed your bodies into will not be forgiving come time to eat."

As they stampeded out, I hid behind a stack of cleaning supplies to avoid being killed. Apparently it didn't matter if I was dead as long as they looked fantastic at the lunch.

Once the dust had settled, the same staging assistant that had lied to me about my participation in The Report ran up to me.

"The King would like to say that there will be news cameras at the lunch, so be on good behavior." He scurried away as quickly as he had come. Kind of like a crab.

Scuttle.

Anyway, that meant I had to wear something different because god forbid the public sees me wear the same thing on The Report and at lunch.

When I got back to my room, Miles was laying on the bed starfish style, his eyes closed.

"Miles!" I was very happy to see him. Being a royal guard and the Prince, our schedules were usually very busy, not to mention my father didn't approve of him now that the Selection was on.

"Alex!" We hugged and sat on the bed, where he immediately began dissecting The Report and the ladies outfits and attitudes. "So I took a few notes-" He pulled out his small black notebook and flipped through it a bit. "Let us begin with my personal favourites. Miss Rebecca, stunning in the blue dress and even though you crapped up your first attempt at a date with her – oh, and the second one too – she seems to enjoy being here well enough. Princess Úna, looking like a beautiful Scottish warrior in-"

"I thought the same thing! But I had thought it might be weird to think such things, but you thought it too so I suppose it's alright that I had an odd thought like that!"

Apathy is the name of the game with the look Miles bestowed upon me.

"Right, sorry. Continue." He nodded.

"– in her green dress, and the footage that I may or may not have recorded from when it aired is very cute and she seems to genuinely like you even though she's actually known you for a while-"

"I'm not that bad!"

"Methinks the princeling doth protest too much. Anyway, moving on to Miss Raine, an absolute knockout if I do say so myself in classy blue and gold. But you appear to have dated two other girls not on my list and not this absolute beauty. Why is that, hmm?

"Ah – ah." He raised a hand when I opened my mouth to explain, "And Miss Annaliese with such a cute dress, white with flowers really showed her adorable side. But, oh wait! You haven't gone on a date with her either!"

"Actually, I asked her after The Report and we are walking around the gardens right after lunch."

"I sure hope you didn't tell her 'right after lunch'! First you had The Report, then an hour later – forty minutes or so now – you have a publicized lunch and directly after that you want her to either: A – sprint to her room as fast as possible to change into the appropriate attire and sprint back down to meet your lazy butt who, if it was up to him, would wear the same two outfits forever, or B – show up to your date wearing the same clothes she wore to lunch and wind up making a fool of herself on national television!"

He heaved in a couple breaths after that scorching rant, and plopped back down on the bed, waiting for me to admit my defeat at the hands of his convoluted logic.

". . . I'll send a note." He grinned victoriously. "RILEY!"

She came a minute or two later.

"You screeched?" She asked, unamused.

"Please send a note to Miss Annaliese saying that I would like to change our meeting time to an hour after lunch but to still meet in the same place."

Riley quickly memorized what I had said, nodded, waved, and walked out.

"Was that Chloe's replacement?" Miles asked, voice solemn. He always called her Chloe and not Phil. They respected each other quite a lot, even though they had only met a few times over the years, and only very briefly.

"Yes. Now what about the other girls?"

"I'm glad you got rid of that Ellie b-tch-"

"Miles!" I cried, "What foul language!"

"Oh shut it. Anyway, she was catty and the remaining ladies seemed happy to see her go. The other two you let go were not all that interesting in the first place, so I never bothered to find out about them."

I was in the middle of wondering how exactly he was finding out information when I realized he was still talking.

"-looked the best were, in the order they walked through; Felicity with the nice jewelry, Raine, who I already told you about, Fae in the strange but flattering green, Annaliese with the flowers, Allison with primary colours, Annie with the black and gold, and of course the Princess Úna. Not to say that the others didn't look nice, but, you know . . ."

"Yeah, I get it."

He looked over at the clock on my nightstand and suddenly shouted, "You only have twenty minutes until lunch starts!"

Miles ran me over to my closet and began tearing through the clothes with abandon until he pulled out one of my Prince outfits that had practically no bling on it, white pants with a baby blue jacket. He threw it on the bed and pulled me over. He immediately started undressing me.

Now I know that sounds so strange, but we're best friends who are not into each other, plus I had on boxers and an undershirt so it wasn't even weird.

Apparently that's not what Riley thought when she walked right in as Miles pulled my pants to the floor and I had my hand on his head for balance because I was going to step out of them.

"WHAT THE F-CK!" She screamed. "I'M LEAVING NOW!"

"No, wait, RILEY!" I yelled after her. Because I was in my underwear, I couldn't exactly run after her, so Miles had that fun job. He rolled his eyes, but took off.

I dressed quickly into the clothes and hurried to the hallway leading to the dining room. I peeked around the corner, and saw two news crews arguing loudly.

"The King promised us exclusive rights to this lunch!" A thin man with a tuxedo yelled.

"The King and Queen promised us rights to any televised event inside the castle!" A tall girl with frizzy hair screamed right back.

The ladies arriving tried to find their way around the commotion, but the two and their groups were directly in front of the door.

I was considering stepping out to solve this (usually I would have, but with the recent backlash against my yelling at a camera crew, I hesitated) when my father, who went previously unnoticed, stomped right up to them.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, seething. They both paled and shook their heads. He nodded, pushed past them, and he and my mother walked through the open doors into the dining room.

The people on the edge of the two crews rolled their eyes and walked in, as well as many of the ladies pushing past.

"Does that usually happen?" A voice from behind me said. I whirled (what a fun word) around to find professional volleyball player Nicole Wilson hovering near the corner a good four feet away from me. She had changed from her dress earlier – gold if I remember correctly – and was wearing a casual sleeveless red dress that went to her knees and had a large white strip on each side.

"Sadly it happens quite often when something important is going on," I groused, remembering how every time even the most insignificant local figure showed up, there were at least two news crews having it out with each other in plain sight.

I looked up, expecting some sort of comment or response to that, but Miss Nicole was halfway to the doors, head down and not looking back.

That was strange.

I have more written, but the lunch scene is not finished and I am leaving tomorrow for two weeks without access to my computer, so I decided to post this now even though I had hoped to have written more to make up for the multiple month long break. You can most likely expect the next chapter by the end of August.

Do not forget to leave comments and such!