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return to the palace today.
    â€œThere’s also a present from Prince Josiah with a letter telling you about himself and the Bridal March and how this will affect your life.”
    Affect her life? This was going to change everything in her life. And not for the better.
    â€œA present and a letter? From the prince?” Cahri glanced about the room.
    â€œYes, Chosen One… Cahri. Let me find them.” She stepped around a pile of folded boxes and searched through several packed ones. “It will help answer some of the questions you asked last night. You may eat as you read the letter. The package must be in one of the boxes in the kitchen. Come.”
    Cahri followed her to the kitchen where more bags and boxes full of food and other items covered the counter and table. Anaya dug through a few before removing them from the table. Cahri stared at her once-neat kitchen. They'd brought a lot of stuff.
    â€œAh, here they are.” She handed Cahri a box with an envelope tucked under the ribbon. “What will you have for breakfast, Chos… Cahri?”
    â€œCereal is fine. It's what I always eat on Saturday morning, but I can get it.” She stared at the envelope and wrapped gift. Would the letter answer all her questions? Doubtful, since her biggest question couldn’t be answered with mere words. What could be in the thin box wrapped with such care?
    Anaya placed a bowl of cereal in front of her. “I’ll leave you to eat, read your letter, and open your gift.”
    Cahri pulled her gaze from the envelope and box. How long had she sat staring at the items in front of her? “Thank you.”
    She took a bite of cereal and opened the envelope then pulled out a handwritten letter. Well, sort of handwritten. A copy. Everyone must have gotten the same letter. She wondered who wrote it, the prince, a secretary, or maybe the steward. She stared at the precise penmanship. Her eyes flitted to the end of the letter. Prince Josiah had signed it. The signature and the letter held similarities. He must have written it himself.
    Tracing the flourish of his signature, she wondered about him once again. Why hadn’t he married already? Was he repulsive? Did he want to find a wife this way?
    The letter reiterated the little Anaya had told her last night and confirmed what she’d read on the internet. She had a choice between accepting the summons or death. Not much of a choice. All of the chosen ones would live in the palace and have periodic interviews and eliminations. She swallowed, forcing down the last bite of her breakfast.
    Eliminations.
    Sounded ominous.
    His words also conveyed his desire to live a life for the One True God. This surprised her, though she knew the royal family claimed Christianity as their religion of choice.
    Her mind wandered to the man in the market. If the prince looked and smelled anything like him, she’d be ecstatic. He had been a kind man, even though there’d been a serious misunderstanding.
    As Cahri came to the end of the letter, sadness descended on her when it emphasized her need to move from the area if she was not chosen. Crumbling the paper, she threw it across the room. Marry the prince or a noble, be a servant, or be exiled. Some choice.
    Her secretarial position at the mission helped her stay close to the memory of her parents. They'd been the missionaries; she'd just come along for the ride. She had never been as enthusiastic as they had been about sharing the gospel, but she had trusted Jesus as her Savior at the age of eight. Years before their senseless deaths.
    Just a month before her twentieth birthday, her beloved parents had been on a trip to one of the villages on the mainland. From what the police had told her, someone in the village had disliked the content of their message. Whoever it was had followed them a short ways and then shot them as they traveled. The killer had escaped justice because no one would admit to any knowledge