La Princesa | ?

"Father, what about her?" I ask, pointing towards a pretty brunette. My father clicks on the girl's picture. It enlarges, and next to it appears her information. I read through it and shake my head. As beautiful as she is, she doesn't seem...right.

"What about this one?" He selects a redhead, but we both look at each other and shake our heads when we're halfway through the information.

"Her," I say. The girl has black hair and pale skin, and she looks beautiful. I read through her information and turn to look at my father, grinning. "Her. Definitely her."

"For which of your brothers?" He asks this every time I choose a girl and decide on her.

"Alexander," I say. "Even though it seems that she would be more than suitable for Mason and I'm sure that they might do well together, her fluency in so many languages would be more suited for Alexander. Also, there's just...there's something about her that seems that it would work with Alexander, isn't there?"

My father nods slowly. "I agree with that." We put her name into the list.

It goes on like that for several more hours. Another one of my favorites is a beautiful redhead from Sonage. I can see her and Mason together easily, and the thought of Mason falling in love with her the minute he sees her makes me smile.

We only have two or three more provinces to do, and Father tells me that we can finish in the morning. We head down to dinner together, and I take my seat between Mason and Alexander.

"How was it?" Mason asks.

I shrug and take a sip of my water. "You two will love the Selected. They're all so beautiful and they seem wonderful." Alexander doesn't say anything. He glares down at the table in front of him, and I nudge him with my elbow. "Try not to look so glum about it, big brother. You're acting like you're waiting for your funeral to happen."

He shrugs and pushes away his plate, although he's barely touched his food. Alexander hasn't been eating much since the announcement. I wonder if it's intentional or if he's just stressed, but I'm worried either way. "Aren't I, though? This will be the death of my independence."

"Alexander," I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "It will not be the death of your independence. It will be the death of your solitude and your distance from people. You won't lose your independence over this. If anything, I'll be the one to lose mine, although that will come later. At least you get to choose who you marry." The last two sentences are quiet, meant only for my brothers to hear. My parents don't like it when I talk bad about my opportunity to strengthen our connection with France—that's the entire reason I'll be marrying one of the French princes once I'm seventeen. But I still can't stand my situation—I won't ever get to fall in love. Sometimes it angers me when Alexander takes this opportunity for granted. Here he is with the chance to fall in love, a chance I'll never get, and he wants nothing more than to throw it away.

Alexander and Mason exchange a look, and Alexander's hard eyes soften. "I'm sorry, Clara."

"It's forgiven," I wave him off. "Just...promise me that you'll at least try. That you'll give these girls a shot and you won't just throw it away like I know you want to. This is something that I won't ever get to do."

He smiles down at me, and relief floods through me. "Anything for you, Clara."