The Contest

Chapter 9

The next night my maids dressed me up how they felt appropriate for a small date. I decided to take with me the book I had found in the library and my mothers journal, in case he wanted to read anything from it.
"You look beautiful!" Amy said, looking at my simple dark pink dress and pinned up hair. They liked my hair pinned and curled.
"And as far as I know the Prince hasn't asked anyone else on a date. You're the first!" Teony said. Emma just smiled at me.
"I'm so grateful for all of you. You've made me look like a queen." I said, turning around in the mirror.
"Well to us you are!" Amy said.
"But I'm not a queen, and I'm probably not going to be." I said.
"You never know that." Teony said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I would be ecstatic to have you as my queen." She said.
"Me too." Emma said quietly.
"I'm glad you girls think that." I said, as I heard a knock on the door. "Let's see if the Prince thinks that." I said, and opened the door. He stood there, a book in his hand. Not the Prince. Evander. I walked out, and closed the door.
"Evander you can't be here. The Prince is coming soon and he could kick me out for this." I said. He handed me the book.
"Just take this. I found it, and I heard what you were talking about with your friend." He said.
"You were following me?" I asked, exasperated.
"No...maybe." He said. I glared at him. "Listen it will help you." He said. I looked at it and flipped it over in my hands.
"Thanks." I said. I heard footsteps.
"Amberlyn!" The Prince said, smiling at me. He saw Evander. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked suspiciously.
"No, your highness." Evander said, giving a small bow. "I noticed this book outside her doorway and wanted to return it to her." He explained.
"I see! Well thank you." He turned to me. "Ready to go?" He asked. I nodded.
"Let me get the books I found." I said. The Prince nodded and I grabbed them.
"Okay." I said, and he held out an arm for me to take. I took it, and we walked together.
"I was thinking dinner first?" He asked. I smiled.
"Sounds lovely." I said. He smiled down at me and brought me to a room off of the main dining room.
"The other girls will be eating dinner in the dining room, so we will eat in here." He explained, and pulled a chair out for me. I sat down, and looked around. It was like a small version of the dining room. Private and secluded.
"I love it." I said, looking at him.
"I thought you would. You seem to live a quieter life." He said. I nodded looking down at my hands.
"That's one reason you don't like it here isn't it?" He asked. I looked up startled.
"I guess it is. I never really thought about that. There have been cameras at almost every event so far. Just people waiting to get a glimpse of us." I said.
"That's the life of royalty. Do you think you could handle that?" He asked.
"Isn't that what we are here for?" I said.
"What do you mean?"
"We're here so we can get to know you and while we are doing that get a taste of what royal life is like. Get a feel for all the cameras and close-ups." I said.
"I guess you're right. I never really thought of it that way." He said. "What was life like in Performance?" He asked suddenly. Dinner was placed in front of us.
"Simple. I like it I guess. Could be better, but I don't think I would have changed it had I been given the choice. My siblings and I were raised close together so we always got along. My sister and I, as the oldest's, always had to take care of my siblings. When my sister got old enough she started painting and selling them. She got decent amounts of money for those. I sing and play for weddings. My twin brother and sister-"
"How many siblings do you have?" He interrupted.
"Five." I answered.
"You're joking!" He said, astonished.
"Not at all." I said, giggling.
"How do you survive!?" He asked, not thinking. I looked down.
"Barely." I answered.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"It's okay. No one really understands. Not even the other girls from Performance. Harmonia has a brother. Eliza is alone. No one truly understands, but I'm used to the feeling." I said. He reached across the table and put a hand on mine. I looked up quickly.
"I plan to make people understand. The biggest reason for this war is because of the Sections. People don't want them, the other countries want to eliminate them for us. We are fighting back. My plan is to get rid of them. Slowly bringing other people into other sections. That's what Paris wants to help us with. One of the girls here, Marlowe Swift, is from Paris. She's meant to bridge any further gaps from our countries if she wins." He said.
"What if she doesn't win?" I asked. He was holding my hand now across the table, which was mildly distracting.
"Well then I guess we will have to convince them of our loyalty, but I don't think we should have much trouble." He said. He noticed our hands just then, and quickly pulled away.
"We should finish. We need to talk about what we found." He said, his face flushed.
"Yes, of course." I said, taking a few more bites. I put my fork down and put my napkin on the table. I stood up and went to a couch in the corner of the room. I turned and saw him looking at me with a small smile on his face.
"You coming Romeo?" I joked.
"I never noticed how..." He hesitated. What came out of his mouth next was not what I expected. "Short you are." He said. My jaw dropped and I threw a pillow at him.
"I'm 5'6 I'm not that short!" I complained. He tossed the pillow back to me, chuckling.
"That's how tall my mom is." He said coming over.
"If you think I'm short you'll have a lot of trouble with Tink Starre. She's barely 5'8." I told him as he sat next to me.
"She's feisty isn't she?" He said.
"Very much. So what did you find?" I asked.
"Well I kind of snooped through the private library my Father owns. He never said I couldn't go in, so I guess I wasn't snooping. Anyways, I found a journal, something my father wrote during the Contest."
"That's funny, I have a journal too."
"Have you read it?" He asked.
"No, I've been reading it slowly. My mother gave me it to read when I got in the Contest. I'm hoping her wisdom will help me somehow." I said. The Prince nodded. "I also found this record book, but there's half a page missing. Like they tried to completely erase something from the Contest history. I looked around the bookshelf where the book was but I didn't see anything. I feel like it was probably thrown away or hidden really well. Either way I don't think we are finding it." I said. He nodded and I opened the book. "It says here "Prince Steven is found." I'm not sure what that means exactly." I said. He put his arm on the back of the couch and leaned over to look. I tensed up, and stared down at the book.
"My mother tells me there are old newspapers in the library as well. She said there are loads of them. Maybe we will be able to find something in there." He said. I nodded, and looked up. I found myself very close to his face.
"Your highness." I whispered.
"Archer." He whispered back.
"Huh?" I said, backing away.
"Call me Archer." He said, backing away as well.
"Archer." I said, with a smile.
"Anything else?" He asked.
"No," I said, disregarding the book Evander gave me. I felt like I should read it on my own time first, "But the library is open at all hours." I said, grinning. Archer stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the room. I giggled as we ran down the hallways and to the library. I held my mothers journal in my other hand. He stopped abruptly.
"What's going-"
"Shh." He shushed me. I peaked out from behind him. I heard a crash, the sound of a bottle breaking. We walked to the corner, and looked around it. There was a girl, holding a bottle of champagne and a broken one on the floor in front of her. She spotted us.
"Your," she hiccuped, "highness!" She said.
"Indiana, it was?" He asked. I heard a small noise coming from down the hall. I saw a flash of movement. A photographer.
"Archer. Photographer." I hissed.
"Let them witness this. I don't mind." He whispered back. "Indiana Jance?"
"Yes." She said, her speech slurred.
"I'm sorry to say this, but as of now, your position in the Contest is over. Thank you for participating." He said. The girl opened her mouth to respond, and threw up. All over me. Archer stepped over slightly. He spotted two guards down the hall.
"You." He said, calling for one. "Please get a maid to clean up the mess." He said, trying not make a face, and failing.
"And you," he said, calling the other one over. "Please make sure Miss Indiana is shown out." He said. The guards ran off, one to Indiana, and one down the hall.
"Amberlyn?" He asked hesitantly.
"You said not to cry, so I'm trying really hard not to." I said, my arms stiffly out to my sides.
"Why don't we get you back to your room. I'll explain to your maids what happened so you don't have to, okay?" He said. I nodded, and then remembered I was still holding my mothers journal. I looked down frantically. It was safe.
"Can you take this please? I don't want any of this," I said using my head to gesture to the front of me, "to get on it."
"Of course." He said, and took it.
"Let's go. I just want to go back to my room." I said. I had heard the clicking. I would be on the front page of all the magazines and papers by tomorrow afternoon.

~~~

Archer took me back to my room. Upon opening the door, my maids gasped.
"Oh my goodness!" Amy gasped.
"I'll explain what happened, one of you get her in the bath, please." He asked. Emma stood, and immediately took me into the bathroom. She closed the door. As she undressed me and got me into the bathtub, I heard quiet chatter coming from the main room. I heard a few gasps, and a tongue click, which was most likely from Teony.
"I'm afraid the dress is ruined Miss, unless Amy can work some miracles." Emma said, taking my attention away from the other room.
"It's fine. It will just remind me of what happened tonight anyways." I said.
"It's not too bad. At least it wasn't you in front of the Prince." She said.
"There was a photographer." I said. Emma's face changes from her usual small smile to a face of hurt and sadness.
"Oh that's awful."
"They will twist the picture, making it look like it was me. I'll be the laughing stalk of the country." I said, sinking into the bathtub a little deeper, and beginning to cry.
"No, don't cry. This will only be in the papers for a day or two at most, and then it will focus on the other girls. Don't worry. The Prince knows what really happened, and if things get out of hand, he will fix them." She said, picking up a brush. I continued to cry, but my tears were slowing down.
"There there." Emma said, brushing my hair softly. I sniffed. "Better?" She asked.
"A little." I said.
"Good. Let's get you dressed and into bed. You need your rest." She said. I nodded and stood. I dried myself off and put my hair into a bun. My nightgown was mid-thigh and a light blue, made with silk, and trimmed with lace. I walked into the main room. Amy gave me a small sympathetic smile.
"His Highness is waiting out in the hallway if you wish to see him. If not, I will tell him you decided to sleep." Teony said.
"I'll go see him." I said. She nodded. "You girls can leave as well. I'm fine for tonight." I said. The girls nodded and went out the door. I followed. Archer was against the wall his knees up against his chest, and his head in his left hand.
"Archer?" I said. He stood.
"How are you doing?" He asked.
"Besides crying for a few minutes, I'm fine. I'm just worried about tomorrow."
"They will twist the situation but if it gets out of hand I will fix it. Other than that, there's really nothing I can do." He said. I nodded. He held out my mothers journal. I took it gingerly. I looked into his crystal blue eyes. He pulled me into a hug. It was something that I'd never forget. In this hug, I felt safe. Like nothing could hurt us. Firm, but soft at the same time. I didn't cry, I didn't feel like I should. I felt relieved. It lasted for a long while. As I backed away, he looked at me, a soft smile in his eyes. He took my hand and kissed it.
"Goodnight Lov-Amberlyn." He said.
"Goodnight Archer."