The Heir

This was why love was a terrible idea: it made you weak.

There are some things you don’t learn about yourself until you let someone else into the most intimate places of your heart.”

You can be brave and still be feminine. You can lead and still love
flowers. Most important, you can be queen and still be a bride.

like she hung the sun in the sky every morning. It was beautiful, the way he watched her, enchanted by every breath that came out of her mouth.

And still, somehow, you will find that you are enough

But I can tell you that sometimes the very thing you’ve been hoping for will walk through the door, determined to fend you off

Because he was right: I didn’t want to fail. But for me, failure meant having my life led by someone else.

Do you ever stop smiling?” I asked, unable to believe his
face could hold that pose for so many days straight.

“Not when she’s here.”

“But I don’t want to get married,” I pleaded. “Please don’t
make me do this. I’m only eighteen.”

“Which is how old I was when I married your father,” Mom stated.

“I’m not ready,” I urged. “I don’t want a husband. Please don’t do this to me.”

Mom reached across the table and put her hand on mine. “No one would be doing anything to you. You would be doing something for your people. You’d be giving them a gift.”

“You mean faking a smile when I’d rather cry?”

She gave me a fleeting frown. “That has always been part of our job.”

I stared at her, silently demanding a better answer.

“Eadlyn, why don’t you take some time to think this over?” Dad said calmly. “I know this is a big thing we’re asking of you.”

“Does that mean I have a choice?”

Dad inhaled deeply, considering. “Well, love, you’ll really have thirty-five choices.”

I leaped up from my chair, pointing toward the door.

“Get out!” I demanded. “Get! Out!”

Without another word they left my room.

Didn’t they know who I was, what they’d trained me for? I was Eadlyn Schreave. No one was more powerful than me.

So if they thought I was going down without a fight, they were sadly mistaken.

I frowned. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“You know how your mother and I met,” Dad began.

I rolled my eyes. “Everyone does. You two are practically a fairy tale.”

At those words their eyes went soft, and smiles washed over their faces. Their bodies seemed to tilt slightly toward each other, and Dad bit his lip looking at Mom.

“Excuse me. Firstborn in the room, do you mind?”

Mom blushed as Dad cleared his throat and continued. “The Selection process was very successful for us. And though my parents had their problems, it worked well for them, too. So . . . we were hoping. . . .” He hesitated and met my eyes.

I was slow to pick up on their hints. I knew what the Selection was, but never, not even once, had it been suggested as an option for any of us, let alone me.

“No.”

Mom put up her hands, cautioning me. “Just listen—”

“A Selection?” I burst out. “That’s insane!”

“Eadlyn, you’re being irrational.”

I glared at her. “You promised—you promised—you’d never force me into marrying someone for an alliance. How is this any better?”

“Hear us out,” she urged.

“No!” I shouted. “I won’t do it.”

“Calm down, love.”

“Don’t talk to me like that. I’m not a child!”

Mom sighed. “You’re certainly acting like one.”

“You’re ruining my life!” I ran my fingers through my hair and took several deep breaths, hoping it would help me think. This couldn’t happen. Not to me.