章 24: Control (2)

"Fine. I will leave her be," Tabitha said solely for the sake of not arguing with him now.

Tobias will not see it now, but she controlled this selection. It was the queen's duty to watch the young women and pick the best match for a queen. It was not all up to Tobias to pick his wife and since he had not made a lot of good decisions concerning women in the past, she could not leave this up to him.

He would soon see that he could do nothing but follow the rules just as the princes before him did.

"Get some rest and be dressed in the clothes I picked out for you to wear to dinner. I will not forget the way you looked at me just now. After I am doing my best to make sure you have everything you need for the future. You hurt me," Tabitha said and then exited the room for Tobias to linger on her words.

Tobias sighed, noting his mother's new tactic of making him feel guilty but it wouldn't work this time. He was hellbent on getting what he wanted in this selection.

He looked forward to the time his mother would step down as queen and then she might go back to the mother he loved. Right now, she was pushing him away by trying to get her way as if she were the one to get married.

Her time would be better spent with his sister who was being cared for by someone else while their mother worried about the selection.

Tobias walked to his bed and fell down on it. His coat was still on as he stopped unbuttoning it when his mother left. "Only six more days," he muttered.

In six more days this group of women would be gone and he only had to pick from the best of the two groups. It would be some time before the wedding would happen as the woman he picked needed to be tutored on what she needed to do and say as queen. Even though she was picked to wed him, if she failed the lessons there was a chance she would be replaced.

Then after the wedding would be the coronation for them to be named king and queen. There wasn't going to be a break for him to do whatever he wanted.

"I need to get out of here," Tobias decided.

There was one place he could go that the palace guards could not enter to bring him back to the palace. He only needed to convince his friend to let him stay. Though Edgar would be grumpy about it, the butler there would help convince Edgar.

Tobias sat up from the bed and walked over to the door. When he pulled the door for it to open, it didn't bulge. "Open the fucking door!" He yelled for the guards he knew were still outside.

"You are not to run away," Tabitha answered. She knew him better than he liked to believe. "I will see you at dinner."

"Ha," Tobias scoffed. His mother had to come again if she thought this would stop him from leaving when there was another way out.

Tobias let go of the doorknob since it would be pointless to find a way to open it and then have to fight the guards. Instead, he went to the window which would be tricky for him to get out of because his room was so high up, but it was better than staying here alone in his room until it was time for dinner.

Tobias took off his coat, leaving himself in a shirt and long pants. He opened the window which had vines growing up the side of the wall because of the garden right below his wing of the palace. His mother would be lucky if she were to find him for dinner.

Meanwhile, Hazel was returning to her room. She found a maid and was told some of the other women were still in the garden, but they would soon need to return to their rooms so she came here first to be ahead of them.

"Hazel!'

She stopped walking upon hearing Helena call to her. Hazel turned around and found Helena walking with a maid behind her. She remembered the maid as the one meant to take Helena to her room at the beginning.

"I can walk from here on my own. You can return in an hour with water," Helena ordered the maid. She could get used to having someone follow her around. She didn't see why her parents did not give her or Hazel their own maids.

"I see you have gotten quite comfortable here already," said Hazel, watching the maid walk off. She hadn't thought of sending for the maid meant to help her.

"Of course," Helena answered as she walked to Hazel. 'It shall be my home,' she thought.

"Good for you. Do you know where Linda is?" Hazel asked, turning on her heel to continue her walk to her bedroom. She wanted to hear exactly what deal Linda made with Tobias for Linda to abandon her. She was going to enjoy teasing Linda about how she betrayed her.

Helena frowned as it didn't make sense that Hazel didn't know where Linda was. "Shouldn't she be coming with you from spending time with the prince? Did you leave her with him?"

Helena didn't like the idea of Linda being alone with the prince even though Linda loved someone else. What if the prince were to fall for Linda? What was Hazel thinking? Why wasn't Hazel concerned?

Hazel realised that Linda had not returned to the group. "She must be in her bedroom already. I will leave her be," she said.

"You did not answer me. Why is she not with you and where could she be now? Did you let her spend time with the prince alone?" Helena asked, worried that Linda was still with him now.

"Do not panic. Linda left early and I was the one alone with the prince. Do not ask what we spoke about because I will not be sharing," said Hazel.

Helena sighed in relief. "I was not going to ask. I will no longer expect you to help me and I will not tell you about my time alone with the queen or prince. I shouldn't have asked you to give up your pick today. It won't happen again."

Hazel looked to her right at Helena. She poked Helena just to be sure it wasn't a dream. "How can I be sure that they have not switched my sister with a mature replica?"

Helena swatted Hazel's hand away. "It is me and I am always mature. I know that I can win this selection and I wouldn't need your help to do it. I won't ask you to do something for me or turn down any opportunity you get because I will get it from now on. I hope when that time comes you will not hate me. You can get angry with me once like I did."

"I will not get angry with you, Helena. No man will have me feel that way to you," Hazel replied.