The Reign

Chapter 30-Jacen's POV

Hey guys! As I told you, the story is almost over, but I have multiple things planned for the ending. Also, there is a bit of kissing and making out, if you could call it that, so if you don't like it, just skip through it. 

Mom came up this morning and asked if I was ready. I said yes. I have chosen. I have gone through all of my options. I have weighed them. I have deliberated. I have decided. I have made plans for her favorite color to drop from the ceiling at the announcement. I am ready. 

After we did the montage to open on the Special edition Report, I saw her running down the hallway that leads to the elevator to go upstairs. I stop her before she walk in, and I pull her into a room and close the door behind us. She smiles at me, her bright eyes shining through the darkness. I give her a kiss, and begin to say something, when we hear people right outside the door. 
I move to the door and put my weight on it, my heart pounding. I lock the door and listen to what they are saying. I hear their voices loud and clear. 

"Where's she gone?" One asks.

"She must've gone upstairs already." Another answers. 

"Maybe she is with Jacen." The first says. "They seemed to be staring at each other a lot at dinner last night."

"Well, I think he is still into me." A stubborn voice adds. The girl I was kissing giggles softly, her hand holding mine. 

Once I know all of them are gone, we move away from the door, and collapse on what I can kind of see as a couch. We resume our kissing, my gentleness turning to hunger. I kiss her everywhere, and I think, "Is the crown prince of Illea supposed to do this?" Then I remember that I don't care, as long as she is in my arms. 

We continue for a while longer, and I lose track of time. I finally get up and turn on the light, to find that we are in what my mom said was once the Men's Parlor, for her Selection. We see the discarded bookshelf, that once had multiple books on it, the couch with threads worn down, and other little things that were once my mother's boys things, as she put it. We get up and walk around the room, noticing little things.

I see on the wooden bookshelf, almost hidden, two names inscribed, with a heart around them. "Hale and Ean." I murmur softly. I think for a minute then remember. 

"Who were they?" She asks. 

"They were two boys in my mother's Selection. Hale was one of my mother's top choices, along with my aunt Josie's brother Kile. My mother was preparing for her coronation, when one of them, Hale, told my mother that he was attracted to Ean, another of the suitors. She didn't send him away until after the coronation, and to this day, they remain best of friends. He even designed her wedding dress. 

"There were now 2 suitors and 1 translator left, and my mother sent Kile away when she realized that he would never get to be an architect like he wanted to if he was married to her. There was now one left, it was a man by the name of Henri Jaakoppi. 

"My mother thought she was going to marry him, when he realized that my mother and father loved each other. So he resigned from the Selection, so that my mother and father could marry. Henri made their wedding cake. So my mother and her boys, as she called them, remained friends. For every one of my birthdays, they were there. Hale would make my suit, Kile would design and decorate the place, and Henri would make the cake or dessert. My mom always said the three of them did a much better job than any of the palace staff could do."

"Oh," she said. "I never realized. Was your mother close with Kile before the Selection?"

"Yes, actually." I said. "He lived in the house. His mother, Miss Marlee, she was called, was my mother's mother's best friend. She was Queen America's best friend. And so she offered to let them stay with her and my grandfather, King Maxon. My mother and her twin brother Ahren, grew up with Kile, him being only about a year older than them. His sister Josie, who ended up marrying my uncle Kaden, grew up with Kaden, and then Osten. So yes, Kile and his family was very close with my mother. Why do you ask?"