Things like: This can't be true and I am so in trouble shoot through my head.

Although I suspect they were there at every interview, it was suspicious that they would come and listen at mine. And it doesn't help anything either when they keep grinning at me like that.

'There's our little bad guy after all. We've been waiting for you.'

Oh yes, I was in so much trouble.

I blow out my breath. The man at the table pulls a piece of paper from the pile and shouts loudly "aha."

Then he waves away the two guards behind me and gestures to the wooden chair in front of him.

Stiffly I sit on it without looking away from the prince and his friend.

The man in front of me pens something on the sheet. "Name?"

"Eliana Winter."

The prince's eyes light up.

"Age?" The pen skims across the sheet.

"Eighteen years old."

"Place of residence." My curiosity causes me to look over his arm and stare at the words written there. The man looks up and I bolt backward against the backrest.

My cheeks turn red.

"Residence?" Says the man again, now slower than before.

I hesitate at this one. If I told them my real place to live, I'd be outside before I could blink. But if I lie and they find out later, the exact same thing was waiting for me. If not already worse.

Everyone is waiting for my answer so I say the first thing that comes to mind. I hope I don't regret it later.

"Moran."

No more questions come for a while and the boys' gazes burn into my neck but I refuse to give any sign of their presence.

The man folds his hands together and observes me. Then he breathes in.

"Tell me about yourself Miss Winter."

My head blocks. All I can think is: I'm not from here, I don't belong here.

I blink quickly and search the room for something to use.

My hands begin to sweat and I rub my pants discreetly.

"I uh-"

The man in front of me raises an eyebrow and taps the back of his pen on the table.

"She doesn't listen when asked anything," the prince says.

I frown. "That's not true. I can listen very well and am very observant."

The prince has a challenging look in his eyes. "She smuggles animals into places where it's not normally allowed."

I shoot straight in my chair. "That's not true either! You shouldn't listen to him sir. I am very exemplary and obey the rules."

"Has a big mouth," he lists further "does what she wants, goes against higher authority."

"No!" I grab the armrests of my chair and squeeze them hard as I lean forward to the man across the table. 

"I am docile, but can also lead. I follow instructions when asked and always try to make the best of a situation."

The man writes everything down on his sheet, so fast that I can hardly see the pen. A frown has appeared on his forehead and I am afraid he is writing down all the things the prince has just listed all.

Quickly I try to save it still.

"I like to help and roll up my sleeves when I can. I'm not much of a talker and often withdraw so I don't get in the way when they don't need me."

My breathing comes in fits and starts.

"Good." The man folds the paper and then tosses it into the pile. "Thank you for coming Miss Winter. You will hear our answer as soon as possible. For now I ask you to follow the guards outside to where all the others are. We will join you as soon as we are done here with our answer."

I swallow away the lump in my throat and peel my fingers from the handles. 

In a daze, I get up and walk out of the classroom. I follow the guards and sit down as if stunned by Cedra who greets me enthusiastically.

She babbles on and on, but I don't catch anything she says.

That dirty, filthy, son of a bitch! He ruined my interview! If I ever get my hands on him, his royal throat will go.

They will have to peel me off of him screaming, knock me unconscious to safe him.

I'm going to pull the hair out of his royal skull, punch his royal teeth out of his mouth and break his fucking, royal nose.

Cedra finally sees that I'm not listening. She shrugs her shoulder and then continues talking to the girl next to her.

I ball my hands into fists on my lap.

I won't be able to help my family, I won't be able to earn money, and I'll have to toil in a factory just because Sir thinks he can just interrupt my application with things he THINKS I am!

The doors open and I fly upright.

"Ladies. Once again, I want to thank you so much for coming all this way. There are 6 princesses coming to the castle so I will be able to make 9 girls happy today." The prince and his friend appear at the man's side and a growl escapes me.

I tense and relax my hands all the time. My left eye twitches a little and I start making my way between the girls to the prince.

"Ashley Jacobs, Nora Leens, Amanda Schroeve, Cedra Wolf, Kamilla Hendrix..." Sums up the man.

I am vaguely aware of Cedra's name being called but I am so focused on my goal that I forget to cheer for her. Girls throw me furious glances as soon as I shove them aside.

All the while the man keeps listing names. "Vivianne Hellen, Eliana Winter and Sofie Mane and Claudia Emmars."

The prince sees me looking through the girls and grins, but that grin quickly disappears as soon as he sees how red I am. With great strides I walk toward him and already extend my hands to fold them around his throat.

Then Cedra grabs my arm and jumps up and down. "It's us, it's us!"

I peer at her and then realize what has happened. "I'm in," I whisper. My anger vanishes and gives way to overwhelming joy. I emit a shaky laugh. "I'm in."

Cedra nods and continues to jump. I begin to join her and we fall into each other's arms.

"We're in!"

Someone comes up beside us and we stop. But the giant smile on our faces doesn't go away.

The prince takes Cedra in. "Well done," he tells her. Cedra grins even wider and her cheeks turn red. She takes a bow.

I don't imitate her.

Dante next to him rolls his eyes and folds his arms. All around us there are disappointed sighs and a few girls are dragged out crying.

That leaves only those nine ladies who will work here.

"What was that all about," I hiss at the prince. "Because of you I could have lost this job."

The prince surprises me by throwing his head into his neck and laughing at the high ceiling.

"Did you ever consider that the prince just saved your job," Dante asks.

It's like he punched me in the face. "What are you saying? He just started blackballing me to the man. In front of my face!"

The prince stops laughing. "No. I made you start talking about yourself. So you said something dammit, and didn't sit there like a stupid goose."

"Sorry? Are you talking about me?" My voice shoots up a few octaves and Cedra puts a hand on my shoulder warningly.

"Come, let's go Eliana," she murmurs by my ear. But I don't listen.

"The prince saved you by offering you a job. Without him, you would be on your way back to your small town now."

The man interrupts our argument by loudly clearing his throat.

"And now, the division of you."

I peek at the prince and his friend and curse them in my mind.

"Ashley, Princess Fiona. Vivianne, Princess Elonora. Nora, Princess Mia. Sophie and Cedra the king and queen..."

I put up big eyes. Cedra gasps and squeezes my shoulder hard.

"Claudia, Princess Jameelah. Amanda, Princess Tiffany. Eliana, Prince Olivier and Kamilla, Princess Amelie."

I choke and cough loudly. I'm sure I misheard because there is no way in hell that I'm with-

"By the looks of it, you're stuck with me." Prince Olivier puts on a supposedly sad face, but the evil gleam in his eyes betrays him.

"I promise you it will never be boring."

That's what I feared.