"I hope all of you enjoyed the ball. Many of you looked wonderful in your dresses. You will make this selection hard for us," Tabitha said, looking far down the table to acknowledge those far away for a moment.
There was always the possibility someone not close to where she sat could outshine the young ladies here. All the young ladies present came from remarkable families the palace could benefit from so it hardly mattered who she picked though she had her favourites. It was the young ladies' actions that would cause them to be seen as someone reckless and would not make a good queen.
Tabitha was looking for a young woman who shared similar qualities to herself to become the next queen. Then she would know that the kingdom was in good hands. It was not all up to Tobias to pick the woman he was going to spend his life with.
"Helena," Tabitha said, shifting her attention to the right of her. As of right now, Helena was at the top of her list. To her, it was remarkable how the younger sister stood out though Hazel still drew the most attention when she walked into a room. That could change with Tabitha's help. "You danced with my son well at the ball. It was evident your parents invested a lot in a fine tutor."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I remember having a dance tutor since I was five so any kind of dance comes naturally to me now. Like I am floating on air," Helena answered.
Helena felt like she was floating now for the queen to address her first. She could feel others looking at her, but that didn't matter now when she was the centre of attention aside from the queen. It was what she always wanted.
"I do recall hearing your mother gloat about your talent. She has every right to. Are you an excellent dancer, Hazel? I apologise that my son ran off after the first dance. It's a shame I didn't get to see the older sister dance before the younger," Tabitha said, looking away from Helena.
Helena gripped her dress, hoping Hazel wouldn't speak of Tobias wanting to dance with her. Hazel would be a fool to let the queen know that she turned down a dance from the prince. What if Hazel's poor judgement reflected on her in the queen's eyes? It shouldn't come out now about the dance Hazel denied. Not until Helena felt she had a good hold on the prince's heart.
"My mother also started my dance lessons when I was five though I recall my father trying to teach me when I was younger. I'm not sure if you have seen it, but he doesn't know how to keep up with the music," Hazel joked, feeling sorry for her mother having such a dance partner.
Tabitha smiled, remembering her younger days when Nathan used to dance more often. He had no rhythm, but he always looked happy when he danced. "Yes, I have seen your father dance. That must be why they carefully picked a good tutor for the two of you. I look forward to seeing if your dancing is just as wonderful as your sister's or if you will outshine her."
Hazel smiled instead of replying to avoid the trap the queen had laid out. It was no surprise that the queen was going to compare everything she did to Helena.
"Linda, your attention seems to be out of the garden," Tabitha said, tapping on the table to get Linda's attention. She would enjoy it if Linda were more focused on this selection. She could help the young woman to be picked so the palace would have to worry less about Grant who was speaking too much these days.
Linda looked away from the entrance of the garden where she thought she saw Edgar walking by and looked at the queen. She didn't have the slightest clue what the queen asked her.
"Linda loves flowers, Your Majesty," Hazel answered to save Linda. "Their beauty tends to distract her."
"All of the flowers in the garden were handpicked by me. I am happy to see someone enjoying the garden, but you should focus on what is happening at the table. It might lead me to think you have no interest in being in the palace," said Tabitha.
Queen Tabitha carefully selected all the young women present and the group before them. For any of them to not be appreciative of their invitation to the palace would be a slap to her face. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity she granted all of them.
When she sat in their seats many years ago, she understood the honour it was to be there. Anyone not grateful to be here would regret it.
"Not at all, your majesty. I could not resist looking to see if the rumours about the palace garden were true. It goes to show how much thought you put into the garden for it to distract me while I sit here," Linda said, hoping the queen would end this here.
"You are smart. It is also a shame that you did not dance with my son. I suppose it had something to do with your older brothers acting like guards so they must have scared him off. They are not here to bother you so please relax," Tabitha said as she knew how overprotective the men in Linda's family were when it came to her.
The maids needed to be careful in watching that nothing happened to Linda so the Hensons wouldn't be arguing with the king and ready to bring their army to the palace gates.
"The garden is lovely," Helena said, bringing herself back into the conversation. "As was the ball from beginning to end. You truly know how to create magic."
Hazel resisted the urge to shake her head as Helena kissed up to the queen. She would bet her favourite shoes that Helena was not happy the queen had stopped talking about her dance with the prince so quickly. She was going to enjoy watching Helena realise that it could not always be about her. Her sister needed this awakening.
If Helena wasn't careful, she would show the childish side she didn't like to admit she had.
"Your compliments are too much. What did you think of the ball, Jasmine?" The queen asked the young lady beside Helena.
Helena snuck a glance at Jasmine Green, another young lady she considered to be great competition. They had spoken in the past because of their father's doing business together and their mothers having the same group of friends.
Helena knew that like herself, Jasmine was determined to become queen. Jasmine sometimes had an arrogance like she was already queen which Helena greatly disliked. She smiled, knowing that having to watch the prince dance with her must have fueled Jasmine with anger.
Helena wished she had looked around the room more to see Jasmine's face when she stood on the sidelines watching the prince dance with someone else.
"I enjoyed the ball, Your Majesty. I was hoping for a dance with the prince, but it seemed something turned him off from taking part in another dance," Jasmine said, looking Helena's way.