For centuries, the royal family of Aridia has hosted The Choice, the competition where the eligible daughters of the Nobles of Aridia, come together to vie for the hand of the heir to the throne. This year, Prince Carlos is the heir to the throne a...
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"Dance classes were terrible," Fiona emphasized. Since I wasn't allowed to leave my bed, I had spent the day cooped up in my room, bored to death. Luckily, Fiona visited me, bringing with her a recap of the day and a jam tart.
"You're the best dancer I know, Fiona," I said, truthfully, in between mouthfuls of the pastry.
"It's not about the dancing. It's the other girls! Esme drives me nuts and Ashley goes on and on about how well she did in Finishing School," Fiona groaned, exasperatedly.
"What did they say about my accident?" I asked. They were sure to talk.
"Well, Esme thinks it was all a farce to get the Prince to carry you. They called you a number of horrible names," Fiona shuddered.
"Like...?" I prompted. I couldn't care less what the other brainwashed dummies thought of me as I'd dealt with my fair share of mean girls in Finishing School.
"A hoochie, a whore, a slut, a fake," Fiona listed.
"Well then I'm glad I wasn't there because I'm not sure what I would do," I rolled my eyes. "Though I was bored enough here without the other airheads as entertainment."
"You like to read, don't you? Why didn't you read this?" Fiona asked, reaching across me to the bedside table. In her hands was a familiar book, though I had no idea how it had appeared in my room.
"I didn't know that was here," I say, taking the book from Fiona. One Thousand and One Nights. It was the book I'd 'fallen in love with' in the Royal Library. My main question was how did it get in my room? And who put it there?
"Well, I'll leave you to read. Just don't forget we have tea with Lord Amancio and Prince Carlos soon. I'm so excited!" Fiona exclaimed.
"Tea? With just them?" I asked, letting out a tired sigh. Now that the book was in my possession, all other thoughts of leaving my room had exited my brain.
"It's so much better than eating with the Queen and King. Or is it worse?" Fiona mildly freaked out.
"I would rather eat with 10 Queen Amelias than Prince Carlos," I muttered under my breath.
When Fiona had left I tentatively opened the book. It looked quite old and on the first page I could make out just a few letters- 'Cl', the rest washed away by age. I turned the page.
A long, long, time ago lived two Kings who were brothers...
As soon as I started reading, I was swept into a magical world of love, betrayal, fantasy and galore. I couldn't put the book down no matter how hard I tried. Still, the thought of who had put the book on my nightstand didn't leave my head. Was it Amancio? Or Prince Carlos? It was most likely the former. Prince Carlos did pretty much rescue me, but he wasn't kind enough to gift me a book.
