Free Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass

wouldn’t want to steal attention.” Letting Father go, she came and held me tight. “Happy birthday, son.”
    “Thanks, Mom.”
    “Your gift is coming,” she whispered, then turned back to Father. “Are we all ready, then?”
    “Indeed we are.” He held out an arm, she took it, and I walked in their shadows. As always.
    “About how much longer is it, Your Majesty?” one reporter asked. The light of the video cameras was hot in my face.
    “The names are drawn this Friday, and the girls will actually arrive the Friday after that,” I answered.
    “Are you nervous, sir?” a new voice called.
    “About marrying a girl I haven’t met yet? All in a day’s work.” I winked, and the watching crowd chuckled.
    “Doesn’t it set you on edge at all, Your Majesty?”
    I gave up trying to align the question with a face. I just answered in the general direction it came from, hoping to get it right. “On the contrary, I’m very excited.” Sort of.
    “We know you’ll make an excellent choice, sir.” A camera flash blinded me.
    “Hear, hear!” others called.
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. Any girl who settles for me can’t possibly be a sane woman.”
    They laughed again, and I took that as a good stopping point. “Forgive me, I have family visiting, and I don’t wish to be rude.”
    Turning my back to the reporters and photographers, I took a deep breath. Was the whole evening going to be like this?
    I looked around the Great Room—the tables covered in dark blue cloths, the lights burning brightly to show the splendor—and I saw there wasn’t much of an escape for me. Dignitaries in one corner, reporters in another—no place I could just be quiet and still. Considering the fact that I wasthe person being celebrated, one would think that I could choose the way in which it happened. It never seemed to work out that way.
    No sooner had I escaped the crowd than my father’s arm came swooping across my back and gripped my shoulder. The pressure and sudden attention made me tense.
    “Smile,” he ordered beneath his breath, and I obeyed as he dipped his head in the direction of some of his special guests.
    I caught the eye of Daphne, here from France with her father. It was lucky that the timing of the party lined up with our fathers needing to discuss the ongoing trade agreement. As the French king’s daughter, our paths had crossed time and time again, and she was perhaps the only person I knew outside of my family with any degree of consistency. It was nice to have one familiar face in the room.
    I gave her a nod, and she raised her glass of champagne.
    “You can’t answer everything so sarcastically. You’re the crowned prince. They need you to lead.” His hand on my shoulder was tighter than necessary.
    “I’m sorry, sir. It’s a party, I thought—”
    “Well, you thought wrong. By the Report , I expect to see you taking this seriously.”
    He stopped walking and faced me, his eyes gray and steady.
    I smiled again, knowing he’d want that for the sake of the crowd. “Of course, sir. A temporary lapse in judgment.”
    He let his arm drop and pulled his glass of champagne to his lips. “You tend to have a lot of those.”
    I risked a peek at Daphne and rolled my eyes, at which shelaughed, knowing all too well what I was feeling. Father’s gaze followed my eyes across the room.
    “Always a pretty one, that girl. Too bad she couldn’t be in the lottery.”
    I shrugged. “She’s nice. I never had feelings for her, though.”
    “Good. That would have been extraordinarily stupid of you.”
    I dodged the slight. “Besides, I’m looking forward to meeting my true options.”
    He jumped on the idea, driving me forward once again. “It’s about time you made some real choices in your life, Maxon. Some good ones. I’m sure you think my methods are far too harsh, but I need you to see the significance of your position.”
    I held back a sigh. I’ve tried to make choices. You don’t really