Truly Selected (Book One of The Next Selection Series)

Chapter 19

Breakfast was the same. Usually, I hated mornings, but today felt magical. I don't know if it was because I had been so taken care of this last week, or because of the relief of getting the story of my failed romance off of my chest. I felt lighter and walked around with more pep in my step.

My dress grazed my ankles, and my hair was pulled elegantly into a high bun. Crystals were pinned in it perfectly and they made me feel like a diamond in the rough myself.

Delicious strawberry tarts were being passed around at breakfast and I loved every bite. I glanced towards the head of the table to see the Queen had a huge, childlike smile flickering on her face. The King elbowed her lightly and I could tell he was holding back a laugh. She rolled her eyes at him and took a tart from the basket using.

I eyed Willow and found that she was staring at me; again. I smirked slightly so she couldn't see and continued to eat my tart. I wouldn't speak to Willow until she apologized, though she didn't need to. It was hilarious watching her reaction to my silence. She thought I was really mad at her.

After staring at me for some time Willow moaned and called my name. I turned to face her and she finally said it.

"I'm sorry." She sounded so sincere, like I was actually mad at her, and that caused me to burst out laughing. Willow gave me a weird look but turned away as Silvia shouted her name.

"Lady Willow, what have I told you about jokes at the table?"

As my laughter got louder and louder, I had to clutch my stomach out of pain. I was laughing so hard, from Willow's oblivious apology to Silvia's scolding, that I hadn't even noticed my chair was swaying underneath me. My chair flipped over and my feet flew into the air, but my laughing didn't cease. In fact, it just got louder and it started to sound more melodic. I wiped the tears out of my eyes after my episode and stood up, grabbing my chair's back off of the floor.

"Lady Sol, is everything all right?" Matthew asked as I sat down.

I nodded my head and forced out a laugh.

"Everything is fine Your Majesty."

Matthew didn't seem convinced,  his eyes sparkled with excitement and mischief.

"Is that so? Well, would you care to explain all of your laughing." He smirked and I saw Daniel looking at me intently. In fact, the whole table was looking at me, waiting for my response.

"No thank you, Your Highness. It wasn't that funny any way."

"I'll bet it was too." Matthew countered and I cocked my brow.

"Oh really? Well I bet it wasn't. I'd bet money that it wasn't that funny, but of course, I don't have any."

We had a stare down, all eyes around us watching and waiting to see the outcome. Matthew's mouth quirked up into an amusing smile, and he leaned forward with his elbows on the table.

"Would you do a trade off instead?" He asked.

"What?" I asked and he chuckled.

"Instead of you and I betting money, we could bet for something else."

"Oh." I said, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, what do you want?"

"I think the real question here is what do you want?" Matthew attacked me with his question and my eyes widened.

All eyes were going back and fourth between the two of us and I knew I had to answer. What did I want? I thought about what I missed the most.

"If I win, I want to call my family."