The Chosen One (The First Book)

Chapter 4

The capital was nothing like I had imagined. It was worse. Too many people, too many horses, too many buildings, and far more noise than I knew what to do with.

I pressed myself against the carriage window as we passed through the city gates. The walls alone were taller than anything I’d ever seen, guards stationed along the battlements watching the roads below, banners bearing the royal crest hanging from every tower.

The closer we got to the palace, the cleaner everything became. The streets were paved smoothly, the buildings grew taller, and even the horses we passed looked more expensive than anything in Northmarch.

I caught myself staring. The girl across from me noticed.

“First time in the capital?”

“Yes.”

“I can tell.”

She smiled.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

The carriage turned onto a wide avenue, and then I saw it. The palace rose above the city on a hill, pale stone walls and towers catching the afternoon light, royal banners moving slowly in the wind. For a moment I forgot to breathe. It was exactly like the books.

No. It was better.

I hated that.

⸻

We were taken through a side entrance rather than the main gates, where a group of palace attendants waited for us.

“Candidates will be divided according to their assigned rooms,”

one of them announced, while a woman beside her checked a list.

“Candidate forty-seven.”

I raised my hand.

“This way, please.”

I followed her through a corridor where everything, the floors, the walls, even the brass handles on the doors, seemed to have been polished within the hour. I became suddenly, uncomfortably aware of my boots. They were clean. Mostly.

The woman stopped in front of a door.

“Your room.”

I looked inside. A bed larger than the one I’d shared with my mother my whole life. A wardrobe. A small desk beneath the window. The fireplace was already lit, though it wasn’t cold. A mirror tall enough to show my whole reflection, which I avoided looking at directly.

“ Is this mine?”

“For the duration of the Selection.”

“Do I have to pay for this?”

The woman blinked.

“No.”

“Good.”

She left before I could embarrass myself further.

I closed the door, and for the first time since leaving home, I was alone. I walked to the window. The capital stretched below, people moving through the streets like ants, and somewhere beyond those rooftops was the royal family. The king. The queen. The princess.

And the two princes.

I had heard their names, of course. Everyone had. Prince Cassian, the Crown Prince, the future king. And his younger brother, Prince Julian, the second prince. I knew almost nothing about either of them beyond that, which was probably for the best.

I opened the wardrobe. Inside hung several dresses, each finer than anything I owned.

I laughed, out loud, alone in the room. Apparently the Crown had decided I needed better clothes. I pulled one out. It was beautiful. Too beautiful. I had no idea how to wear it.

A knock came at the door. I turned to find the girl from the carriage, the one who’d been leaning toward the window, smiling at me from the hallway.

“I’m Eliza.”

“Aurelia.”

“I know.”

Her eyes dropped to the dress in my hands.

“You’ll need help with that.”

“Why?”

“Because unless you’re secretly royalty, you don’t know how to lace a corset.”

I looked down at the dress, then back at her.

“I’ve killed a boar with a knife.”

She stared at me.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

She laughed, and I smiled to myself. Maybe I could survive a few weeks here after all.

Then she lowered her voice.

“Have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“The princes are attending dinner tonight.”

I stopped smiling.

“Oh.”

Eliza grinned.

“You’re nervous.”

“No.”

“You are.”

“I’ve killed a boar.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

I looked at the dress again, and something in my stomach tightened, though not, I told myself, from excitement. I had come here expecting to be eliminated. That was all. I had no reason to care what either prince thought of me.

None at all.