Amelia ate her breakfast and finished it, although she didn't have much of an appetite. She stared at her half empty mug for a long time, wondering if she was brave enough to accept whatever result the selection would bring to their family today.
Once the clock hit ten in the morning, she and her brother headed to the town square. Everyone was required to show up, except for those who were bedridden and gravely sick. Guards were roaming around the town, making sure that no unwed women were hiding and planning to escape the selection.
There were some who attempted to do it in the past and they didn't end up well. Being chosen as a tribute, as one of the maidens to be sacrificed, was as much of a death sentence anyway. Those who were selected were forbidden from ever returning again.
However, it was also detrimental to the loved ones they were leaving behind. They could lose a daughter, a sister, a friend, forever and there was no hope of seeing them again.
One thing they had to accept soon was that their names would be forgotten, the townsfolk forbidden from uttering their names. Whoever left Calaren town and Dravial as tribute would be forgotten, as if they never existed in the first place.
Whether it was a way to cope or it was a way for their leaders to sleep peacefully at night, Amelia wasn't sure. She also doubted that there were any available means of communication that those tributes could use to reach their families.
"Keeping the peace with the darkling is an ugly business." She heard Jacob say one time and she couldn't agree more with him.
Was it really necessary to sacrifice a few human lives to keep the rest of them safe from other, more dangerous darklings?
The town square was already buzzing with people when Amelia and her brother arrived. From the other side of the square, she spotted Chrysanthe with her parents and little brother, looking just as worried as the other young maidens present. She was dressed in a white and blue long sleeved dress. Amelia thought that Chrysanthe would have looked so stunningly beautiful if her face was not marred by tears.
Up on the stage, Amelia spotted a familiar face. It might have been a decade since she last saw him, but the young Crown Prince, Prince Rupert, still had this arrogant expression on his face. He even had the audacity to look bored and uncaring, as if he would rather be anywhere but here, in Calaren town.
The square was just beside the town hall, and the town chief was standing a few feet away from the arrogant prince, looking nervous. Families kept their arms around their precious daughters, not willing to give them up no matter how hard their lives were.
The square became more crowded as more people arrived. Amelia spotted Junifer with her mother a few meters away from her, but she couldn't find her best friend anywhere. This only meant that Iris hadn't woken up and would miss the selection altogether.
Maybe it was a good thing that Iris was still in a deep sleep. It would save her and her family the heartbreak, if she were to be chosen during the selection today.
The town chief went to the chancellor, who was standing next to the crown prince, and received the decree that listed the maidens to be sent to Asnar. He then moved to the small podium set on the left side of the stage and faced the public.
He started telling a brief history of the Kingdom of Dravial and how they successfully freed themselves from the darklings' influence. How the treaty between the two parties kept every human safe from any harm, which Amelia knew to be a lie.
If they were really free from the darklings, then the royal court should have protected their citizens at any cost. How many young women had lost the chance to live their lives to the fullest because of this treaty?
What's more infuriating for Amelia was the fact that only those small villages and towns near the border were required to provide the maidens that were needed and no noble families from the capital would do the so-called 'honorable role' to give up their own daughters.
The names of the chosen maidens were called one by one, followed by several cries from the crowd. When the town chief called Chrysanthe Vale, her family refused to let her go, but the guards had harshly pulled her away.
Amelia was still distracted by the scene, but when her name was called up next, an inexplicable rush of coldness rushed through her. If it wasn't for her brother, who immediately gripped her arm, refusing to hand her over to the guards, Amelia would have been dragged away in a daze.
"Not Amelia! No!" She heard Jacob yelled, but his words were drowned by the cries of the other families of the chosen maidens.
Amelia went up to the stage and when Prince Rupert spotted her, he sat up straight and laughed.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Lady Amelia Buchanan." He cocked his head, then paused as if he remembered something. "Ah, not anymore, but I'm glad that I'm the one seeing you off today."
Amelia hardened her jaws as she stood next to Chysanthe, who had thrown her arms around her the moment she arrived. She wanted nothing but to slice her sharp blade over his throat to shut Prince Rupert up. She tried to ignore the prince's stinging words and focused on what was awaiting for her and Chrysanthe.
'I hope they didn't choose Iris. Please don't let Iris be chosen.'
Even though the three of them were best friends, Amelia would never wish any harm to befall either of her friends.
Her prayers seemed to be answered by the old gods, because the last maiden that was on the list wasn't Iris Scarborough, but the other one.
Junifer Scarborough.