The Selection: but less competitive, more wholesome

The Beauty Without

"She must have done something terrible," Amy insisted.

"That's not what she made it sound like," Kriss disagreed.

Tuesday tugged Kriss's arm. "What did she say again?"

Janelle wouldn't be joining us for dinner tonight. She'd been eliminated. The first without known cause, and the first isolated event. I wondered what had happened, too.

Kriss's room was across from Janelle's, and she'd seen her return after her and the prince's date that afternoon. Kriss rubbed the center of her forehead. "She and Maxon had gone hunting, but you knew that."

"That was her second date with Maxon. She's the only one who got two," Bariel reminded us.

"When she came back," Kriss continued, "she was crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was leaving, that Maxon had told her to go. I gave her a hug because she was so upset and asked her what happened. She said she couldn't tell me about it. I don't understand that. Are we not allowed to talk about why we're eliminated?"

"That wasn't in the rules, was it?" asked Tuesday.

"No one said anything about it," Amy said with certainty, bolstered by shaken heads on all sides.

"But what did she say then," Celeste urged.

Kriss sighed. "She said that I'd better be careful of what I say. Then she pulled away and slammed the door."

The Women's Room quieted, as we considered what Janelle must have said to warrant her expulsion.

"Did she insult him?" Elayna theorized.

"Maybe she said something about the country?" Marlee thought out loud. "Like the policies or something?"

"That'd be a boring date," Bariel muttered. "Has anyone here actually talked to Maxon about anything related to running the country?"

The consensus on that appeared to be zero. I wondered where my overheard conversation during the photo shoot factored in.

"Of course you haven't," Bariel said. "Maxon's not looking for a coworker, he's looking for a wife."

"Don't you think you're underestimating him?" Kriss objected. "Don't you think Maxon wants someone with ideas and opinions?"

Based on her reaction, Celeste found this opinion funny enough to pretend to laugh at. "Maxon can run the country just fine. He's trained for it. Besides, he has teams of people to help him make decisions, so why would he want someone else trying to tell him what to do. If I were you, I'd start learning how to be quiet. At least until he marries you."

Bariel settled herself in comfortably at her cohort's side. "Which he won't." Very sure of themselves, those two.

"Exactly." Celeste smiled like a cat. "Why would Maxon bother with some brainiac Three when he could have a Two?"

I grunted down at the crane I was folding. "Man, I never knew I was such hot stuff until now."

Celeste glowered at me. "Frosting a brick doesn't make it a cake."

"Makes it cute though."

Her disgusted confusion made it worth it if the others thought I'd lost my mind. Celeste needed to loosen up.

Silvia backed through the door with a basket. "Mail, ladies!"

We all shot up, encircling her as though she were offering those strawberry pastries from our first breakfast here, and we were all me. Silvia read names off the letters, passing them out. I got a considerable handful, and returned to the viney armchair I'd been lounging in.