Cassandra bit her lip now as she watched the older woman slowly pace the floor before them.
"You will be given chambers for now in a wing far away from the main throne room," the older lady's voice was clear. "My name is Dame Agatha and I will be the overseer. I will inspect your conduct and the way you behave every day for ten days. There are twenty ladies present here but I do not want such a crowd around her majesty."
There was a small stir among the ladies when they realized a competition would be taking place.
Dame Agatha stood in front of them with her chin lifted high. Her sharp eyes still wandered over the girls' expressions.
"Seven girls."
There was a soft gasp before the girls regained their composure quickly.
"Only seven of you will become her majesty's own ladies-in-waiting." The older woman had a look of finality in her tone, "it is a prestigious position that cannot be granted to just about anyone. Only seven of the twenty of you will be chosen at the end of the ten days. The rest of you will be sent safely back to your own homes."
The ten days had not even begun but Cassandra's heart sank.
She could not do that.
She could not go back home.
For Cassandra Heartrianne, coming so close to getting what she wanted to make her father look at her with approval, maybe even pride, and then failing and worse of all, going back to her father and having to narrate it was a fate worse than death itself.
The sharp spears imbued with magical energy that the guards were holding did not look at all painless to Cassandra when she thought of the option of failing to become a lady-in-waiting and being sent back in a carriage to her father was probably pacing the front of their estate wondering why she had been called there in the first place.
What he wanted the most was to be an influence on the queen and enter court.
Cassandra would be the daughter to get that for him. She would make him proud.
She would ensure he looked at her with beaming happiness.
He would kiss her on the forehead like he had when she was a little girl and when her father had still loved her mother.
Cassandra Heartrianne would win her father's love back again and she would do that by becoming the esteemed and challenging queen's lady-in-waiting.
Vella Heartrianne frowned at her reflection.
She could just stab it with the fruit knife that sat at a small table next to her.
She was growing quite irritated with how the week was progressing.
First, Vella had heard of the queen's new plan to gather a group of ladies-in-waiting. It was one of the most powerful positions in the kingdom and guaranteed riches and power to any woman who was smart enough to secure the role and hold on to it as carefully as she could.
Access to the queen and her royal court was no passing fantasy.
It was a solid way to secure a position of power for life for you and your family.
But of course, Vella Heartrianne would not be considered for the role.
For one thing, she was the daughter born to a grand duke by his mistress and not by his legal wife. For another, even though she could squash the first reason since her father had legitimized her after his wife's death, she would not be seen as a woman with "fit breeding".
Vella rolled her eyes before focusing on her reflection again.
It had been too easy to seduce the crown prince when she had seen the opportunity.
Using the chances given to you was not a crime and if that made her unfit in the eyes of the royal rules, she could not care less.
Looking back at her in the mirror was a stunning woman. She had curly blond hair that fell down the sides of a long face. The curls fell around her shoulders with locks falling right into the middle of her abundant bosoms.
Vella Heartrianne was blessed with a body that men would fight over, and she was not one to waste it.
Her dresses were always carefully selected and tailored immaculately.
The cinching of the waist and the plunging of the neckline were things she kept in mind for every one of her dresses. Vella Heartrianne had grown up pampered with many gifts by her father. Her mother was a mistress to the grand duke of the kingdom who was one of the richest men around.
She had several visits from him per week while his poor, modest and dutiful wife was neglected and stayed in their official mansion with no one to dote on her.
Vella smirked. Much like the wife's one daughter, Cassandra Heartrianne who was pretty much born in the same mould as the old wife of the duke.
There was no ambition in her eyes. No fire and no cleverness and that bothered Vella.
Every time she saw timid Cassandra and her elegant ways, it made Vella want to throw up.
Things did not work out for you unless you went out to get them yourself.
This was something Cassandra never quite seemed to understand and that made Vella more furious than she liked to think she cared to.
Did Vella feel like Cassandra was looking down at her by not trying? Or did it just irk Vella that everyone around her was battling and winning while Cassandra walked around like a wounded sheep and licking at their father's boots all the time?
Vella rose from the vanity with exasperation.
Whatever the case, Vella knew she had hated Cassandra from the moment they had met when their father had brought Vella to live on the main estate that he owned.
Cassandra's kind words and the way she had held out a hand for Vella to shake on her arrival had cemented in Vella a murderous rage like she had never known.