Adrienne Emlyn Schreave stared vacantly at the small, svelte, rectangular device placed alone on her cherry wood desk. It was hard to believe that something so innocuous could possibly hold the key to her entire future. She'd started asking to see the videos contained on this device when she was thirteen years old. At the time, her parents had made it clear that they understood what she wanted and why she wanted it, but in the words of her father, she was "entirely too young".

Well, apparently she wasn't "entirely too young" anymore. Last night she'd brought it up yet again, catching her father in a good mood, and he'd reluctantly agreed to screen them with her. It was astounding how quickly things happened in the Palace when the request bore a signature from the King of Illéa. Addy had been trying to convince Gavril Fadaye to let her sneak a peek at any of this footage, even just a minute of it, for years. There was always one excuse or another why it simply couldn't be done.

But one little scribbled note from the King, and suddenly the whole collection was sitting on Adrienne's desk.

Sometimes Addy couldn't wait to be Queen; not to have to wage a whole strategic campaign to convince people that they should listen to her. She couldn't wait to be taken seriously, to have her ideas heard, to get simple things done quickly with the stroke of a pen like her father did. It seemed like her everyday life would be so much easier once she was in command.

Addy brushed her fingertips over the electronic data storage device again, feeling its grooves and angles. The mere fact that it was here, on her desk, meant that she was getting closer to her ascension. With the information that she would learn from that simple rectangle, no larger than a paperbound book but containing untold stores of helpful information, she would finally have everything that she needed to make her very first real decision as the future Queen of Illéa.

And the next time that her father's advisers asked if they should begin to make preparations for her Selection, Adrienne would know exactly what to tell them.