King Philip’s POV

Present Day

13th day of April R.A

Reia fell asleep crying at her desk. It broke my heart to leave her, but I felt my presence pulled away from her study back toward the balcony. There was an eerie feeling that I needed to watch every part of this competition unfold. There were twelve candidates to be an heir to my wife’s throne. Twelve for the kingdom to watch, to judge, and elect to guide the kingdom into the future. Our heir needed to be stubborn, selfless, compassionate, intelligent, and full of fire to keep Ashland in balance. She would need to be careful and discerning to protect the secrets that I left behind. Would one of these twelve be up to the task?

On the balcony, Helen made quick work of the queen’s command. Not that it was hard to find all twelve of the maids assigned to the candidates. All of the maids were nervously standing around in a huddle in the hallway wondering what they should be doing. Helen sighed at the inexperienced maids. These girls knew nothing about dealing with the dangers of life as a royal. They were in for a crash course of supporting a potential royal today. Although nobles may be in danger from time to time, only a maid from the royal palace could truly assist royalty. These girls were nothing more than headless chickens wondering about. Helen sighed again, knowing she would need to whip these girls into shape before the end of the Queen’s Challenge in a month. Queen Reia had ambitious plans to take the winners on her monthly tour.

“Come now, maids. You are not a panicking hen, waiting for the butcher.” All the maids immediately focused on Helen with an incredulous gaze. “You are strong women who have pledged your service to these young women who dared to become candidates for the Queen’s Challenge.” Some girls looked confused while others looked inspired. “You must be calm. You are a rock to support your lady, a shield to protect her, and a helping hand for all of the tasks in her life. Act like it.”

All the maid replied, “Yes, ma'am.” They gave a slight bow of respect to Helen although many still seemed unsure of everything. Their faces all seemed the same with forced calm expressions and unsettled gazes. Twelve maids in brown frocks with white aprons stood there like unorganized soldiers, praying for direction on what they should do.

Helen breathed in deeply. This may take more hand-holding than she anticipated. “Girls, you will go and tend to your mistress. Take her to her room, clean her up, make note of any injuries and tend to them, give her a relaxing bath, dress her comfortably, and keep her company all evening. Dinner will be served in each candidate’s suite.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the group answered.

Helen was about to escort the maids to the balcony when she turned back toward the group. “Girls, if your candidate makes it to the final three, you must understand that events like today will happen to them for the rest of their lives. Royals are always under threat, always being watched, and always being judged. Queen Reia has created the challenge to teach and test the girls in the hopes of finding the few who can stand this life. Remember that when you are advising your mistress going forward.” Several faces scrunched up their eyebrows in thought while others glanced at each other gauging the others’ reactions. Only one set of eyes stayed fixed on Helen. Helen recognized the face as Amanda, Vestra Fairchild’s maid. Amanda almost had a look of admiration for Helen, which was unusual. Helen made note of the unusual girl and turned back toward the balcony door. “Come, your mistresses await.”

As they entered through the balcony doors, Helen watched General Brown attempt to settle the chaos around them. The medics were finishing checking over each of the candidates, and the palace guard was inspecting the whole balcony under Royal Inspector Miles Croft’s authority. The inspector wasn’t as mindful as Ian Stockland had been during my time, but the poor guy had an impossible task ahead. Three inspectors have failed to catch my killer. This guy wasn’t inspiring much confidence, but one can only hope that bastard who killed me gets what’s coming to him.

The maids crossed the large balcony toward the twelve women who looked shocked and exhausted. Zoelle was the girl among them that I had known in life. Luckily, General Brown had the camera crews sent away to the Guest Barracks for the rest of the day. Otherwise, this would have been more of a headache to guide twelve novice maids and the twelve candidates through. How would these girls handle the stress?

Helen signaled the maids to help their ladies back into the castle. “Ladies, Queen Reia has requested that you all go back to your suites and rest. Dinner will be served in your rooms tonight.” Most of the candidates were obedient and followed their maids with no questions through the balcony doors. Three of the girls were still conversing with the medics, but that left the noisiest candidate of the bunch, waiting to speak to Helen.

“Is that all ya have to say?” Kezia Ballister rambled as she stood from her seat on the ground. Kezia’s maid helped Kezia get steady on her feet. Her arm was bandaged tightly in a sling to keep it still. Her face was a mess from tears she had likely shed as the medic had pulled the glass out of her arm.

Helen was about to answer when Erina Drake stepped in between Kezia and Helen. “What else could she say, Kezia?” Erina gestured to Helen. “Clearly, they don’t know anything yet. Otherwise, the balcony wouldn’t be littered with men like critters searchin’ for scraps.”

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Erina’s got colorful descriptions… I muttered to myself. I fear she may offend people with her descriptive imagery.

Kezia put her free hand on her hip and pouted her bottom lip. “Still, the queen shoulda said somethin’. Some of us were hurt after all.”

Not liking Kezia much. Does she not understand how lucky she is to be here? My thoughts drifted to Reia when I first met her. Her fierce presence once intimidated everyone in the room.

“Surely, this attack on the queen wasn’t that surprising to you all.” Suki Karin inserted herself into the conversation. “We warned when entering this competition in our districts that there’s a danger of becoming a public figure. Didn’t Queen Reia explain that when she visited your districts during her monthly tour of the kingdom?”

“Warning? I couldn’t hear half of what she said about the protesters in my district during her speech. The protesters shouted until their lips turned blue about how limited their rights were. They wouldn’t shut up until Queen Reia agreed to have a meeting with them. To be honest, I am not sure what became of that meeting, but there are still protesters in the street crying out for change. So, I guess I never got that warning.” Kezia explained with a defensive tone that was almost a slap in the face.

“Consider yourself warned then, Kezia. You can always walk away from this competition, and none of us would stop ya.” Erina said, dully.

Kezia let out a haughty breath. “As if. Making it this far has pulled my family out of the Rivercreek slums, and my brother was able to get an apprenticeship with a carpenter. The longer I am here, the better my mom and siblings will have it.``

Ok. Perhaps Kezia isn’t so bad. My voice was still lost in the abyss of the veil.

“Sounds noble, but I get the feeling that you just like a pampered way of life,” Suki responded.

Kezia’s brows furrowed. “It’s not like your life has changed much. You are the daughter of a successful merchant and ship’s captain. Technically, you aren’t a noble, but you are the next closest thing.”

Erina giggled at Suki and Kezia as the girls glared at each other. “You both sound ridiculous. The reason we agreed to enter the Queen’s Challenge doesn’t matter. We made it here because either a minister, a noble, or a governor backed us in our campaign in our home district. We aren’t that different in the end.”

“And on that note, this discussion is over,” Helen announced before the girls got into an all-out brawl. All of these girls were between eighteen and twenty-one years old, and their inexperience with life was obvious given the amount of people who were watching them right now. All three girls looked over to Helen with frustration in their eyes. She refused to answer their childish scorn. “Maids, please escort your candidate to their room before General Brown gets involved.”

All three girls froze at her words and slowly glanced behind them to find an annoyed General Brown watching them. He had previously been inspecting the scene and speaking with palace staff, but his full attention was on the girls in front of him now. “There isn’t a single candidate in front of me worthy of winning the Queen’s Challenge.” His firm voice made their girls cower.

General Brown stepped aside and pointed to a young woman assisting the medics with the production crew member, Nigel Fey, who had a lacerated eye due to a glass shard. The woman’s violet dress was stained with blood. Her short blonde hair was a sweaty mess as she used her lap as a pillow for Nigel Fey. A medic was struggling to stop the bleeding with the rags while another was pulling the glass out of the wound. Nigel Fey screamed, causing the few soldiers left on the balcony to flinch. The young woman held Nigel’s head still as he shouted in pain.

“That’s Lucina, right?” Erina asked with a twisted expression.

Suki nodded. Her face was serious but all emotion had fallen away from it. “Lucina Augusta of the Violet Isles.”

The medic pulling out the glass finally finished, allowing the other medic to pack the wound and bandage it. Some soldiers brought over a stretcher to carry Nigel to the hospital wing of Mortar Castle. Lucina watched the man go as he continued to groan in pain. Lucina’s maid helped the girl off the dirty, stone floor of the balcony, and escorted her over to the three gawking candidates.

“She might have the potential to win,” General Brown whispered to Helen, but all three candidates could hear him.

“It’s too early to tell, General,” Helen responded as if she knew the girls were listening.

My sentiments exactly, Helen.

Lucina joined the group of candidates and the quiet maids who acted like nothing more than statues. “Is everyone all right? I thought we were supposed to head back to the rooms.”

Kezia made a hmph sound and began walking away with her maid right behind her. Erina just shook her head and motioned for her maid to follow after her as the four of them disappeared beyond the doors of the balcony. Lucina’s kind face dropped as the two ladies walked away. Suki watched each move the girls made and decided it would be better to build bridges than burn them this early in the game.

Suki was careful and guarded. A tribute to her father no doubt. Captain Karin may be a merchant on the surface, but his practices walk the line between legal and illegal. He may as well be a pirate, making her a pirate’s daughter. She will be dangerous in this competition. Helen will have her hands full with this lot.

“Don’t worry about them, Lucina. The general just soured their mood a bit with his opinions. They will get past it after a while.” Lucina looked up at Suki with a surprised expression. “Why don’t we walk together? I would love to hear about the Violet Isles since I have only visited the East Coast districts.”

“Uh, sure. Let’s go,” Lucina faltered a bit.

Suki seemed unphased by Lucina’s reaction. She knew these girls were in competition with each other, and many of them would return home by the competition’s end. However, this competition would not end with one sole winner. There would be three girls at the end, and Queen Reia had a plan to use all three of them to bring about a better future for Ashland. Having respect for all of her competitors would be important in the end, Suki seemed sure of it. Suki gestured goodbye to the general and Helen and hooked Lucina’s arm to pull her along. Staying on this balcony would only cause problems for the palace staff. Both maids trailed the girls as they disappeared into the palace.