Prologue

It had been one day. One day since my mother was brought into the hospital wing. I had retreated to my room since yesterday, unable to face anything else. As soon as I reached my room, I let my emotions go. I cried on my bed for what felt like hours. It was all my fault wasn't it? I made my brother leave because I was selfish. His sudden departure triggered my mother's heart attack. Everything fell apart because of me.

Neena had already left, so I was all alone. I thought about Ahren and Camille. I thought about Miss Marlee and Mr. Woodwork. I thought about Miss Lucy and Mr. Ledger. I thought about Kaden and Osten who were beloved by all in the palace. Finally, I thought about my mom and dad. My father refused to leave her bedside. He had transferred all his work to the hospital wing, unable to physically leave my mother. They all had each other and I was all alone.

This is what I wanted isn't it? That was the last thought in my head as sleep took ahold of me.

I woke up feeling the worst I'd ever felt in my life. My face felt swollen, my body was numb, my head was pounding, but most of all, my heart was so very heavy.

I pulled myself off my bed and looked at the mirror.

My eyes were bloodshot. I looked like a mess. Worst of all, my eyes held nothing of the strong, independent girl from a month ago, telling herself no one was more powerful than her. All that was left in my eyes were sadness. But I now knew what I had to do.

It was too early for Neena to be on call, so I basked in the silence, washing my face, getting dressed and preparing myself mentally for the day. I needed to find myself a fiancé. I had to get married for my father, for my country.

I looked back at the clock. It was 7am. Neena should be arriving shortly, but I decided to leave before she found me. I didn't want to see her pity. I bolted out the door.

My feet had a mind of their own. They carried me to the hospital wing. They carried me through the door and next to her bed. I looked at the sight before me. My mother was quiet, almost as if she were sleeping, but the silent beeping of the machine told otherwise. She looked so pale and so frail. Seeing her like this brought tears to my eyes. My mother was strong and seeing her so powerless was like an arrow to my heart. Then my eyes fell to my father who had fallen asleep in a chair right next to her bed. He was grasping her hand in both of his, and his head was nestled against her side. He looked even worse than I had this morning. I never thought I would see my parents like this.

I bent to kiss my mother's forehead.

"I will make you proud. I promise. Just wake up soon okay. Daddy needs you. We all need you. I need you."

Then I turned and walked away before more tears could fall. I love you mom.

I entered the dining hall and waited patiently for everyone to arrive. Slowly the camera crews and palace residents started to trickle in as well as the selected. I knew I would be the center of attention today.

As soon as everyone arrived. I stood up and prepared myself for the speech I was about to give.

"Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here this morning. I just wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes for my mother."

I paused, trying to push away the sadness in my voice. I turned toward the selected. It was even harder to look at them, but I continued.

"I have been so blessed that you came to the palace and I have never felt more of that blessing than last night when I experienced one of the hardest things in my life."

My voice wavered again. I just smiled and continued. I needed to show the people that I could fall in love, like my parents, that I cared.

"When I was a little girl, my parents would take me and my brothers out to a countryside house just outside of Angeles where my mother's family lived. We would play with my parents all day and when the night came we would stay up late, past our bedtime and sneak down the stairs to watch them. Sometimes they talked, but most times, they would dance."

From the corner of my eyes I saw Kile tilt his head a fraction, almost like a nod. A memory came unbidden in my mind of an 7 year old Kile holding my 6 year old hand as we snuck down the staircase to watch my parents dance. His eyes seemed to capture mine and tell me that he remembered. Miss Marlee and Mr. Carter did travel with my parents often and they always brought their children with them. I looked away from Kile.

"My mother would hum a soft melody to my father and I remember the way they looked at each other. I was so young and I didn't understand it at the time, but last night, I was reminded of their love. I saw the very same look of love in my father's eyes as he stayed by my mother's bedside. I-I didn't realize how much I wanted that until now. I want to find someone who would love me though all the ups and downs, someone who would be beside me to help carry my load when things got too heavy. To you the selected, I make this promise from now on to you. I will try harder to be there for you as you all were there for me. I promise I will do as much as I can to find the one, my true love."

I had the speech prepared in my head, but I wasn't prepared for what the speech did to my heart. Looking back at the words I had said, even though I didn't mean to, I meant every word. And that scared me more than I cared to admit.

"If you all will, please join me at a garden vigil for my mother tomorrow afternoon. Thank you."

I sat back down and began to eat, berating myself for being weak. I silently rehearsed a mantra in my head. Love was weakness. I was going to be queen. Queens can't afford to be weak.

...

AN: More Keadlyn in the next chapter I promise. This prologue is just kind of a back story kind of thing. I just wanted to set up Eadlyn's relationships. I decided to write this because although The Heir had plenty of Keadlyn, it still wasn't enough. I promise to give you plenty of Keadlyn goodness coming up. Oh and a little Henri too.

I don't own any of the characters of "The Heir" Kiera Cass does & she is awesome.