Chapter One: The Family.

Kay stood gazing out the window of her bedroom. Down in the courtyard the tables were being set up accordingly. Kay was the second oldest of her eighty cousins. With nineteen aunts it was slightly expected to have so many children. It was the beginning of birthday season. Jamie's birthday kicked off the year which would end two weeks before the start again. The birthdays spanned across the year and many were born on the same day. They celebrated birthday season every five years due to so many birthdays. The season ended with Colin and Daphne's birthday.

It had started when Jamie had turned five, but then there had only been a handful of babies but as the years progressed it seemed only reasonable. Kay shared a birthday with her favorite cousins, Kimberlee and Elyse. It was three days after Jamie's being the second birthday that started out the season. Today was the day that everyone would be arriving. She couldn't wait to see all of her aunts again, her favorite being her aunt Kai. Her aunt's youngest daughter, Kayla, was a week after her yougest sister, Riley. Kay had been responsible for taking care of the two.

She watched as the workers began to set the table. Riley and her mother were outside overseeing the work that was to be done. Ellie had always provided well for each of her eight daughters and she took pride in Kay. As the heir to the throne and future queen her mother had introduced her to the gardens. If something were wrong with either of them thats where they could be found. They had grown close as she grew up and she was surprised at her mother's strength. Every time the aunts would get together the four oldest girls, Jamie, Maria, Callie, and herself would sit in and listen to their stories. Her mother had never really spoken about all the things that had happened to her but her aunts had told her the stories. Her aunt Sara had informed her of the things her mother had suffered over the years and how she had stood strong no matter what.

When she learned the truth it instilled it in herself that she would always look out for her cousins and younger sisters. Her father had taught her about the ways of politics. She had a close bond to her father but not as close as her and her mother. Ellie had taught her everything she knew about swords and the two would get into sparring matches that would always end in a draw. It was a family tradition to get together and watch a match. This year Kay planned to finally beat her mother in a match. She had been practicing harder as the months drew closer to Birthday Season. During the Season were balls that were held in the city.

When she turned twelve her aunts and mother took her into the city where she learned what it was like to really dance. Like her mother, Kay had become a dancer. Her mother had told her she would never understand what it meant to really become a dancer until she learned all the dances. From then on her and her mother would go into the city on random days to dance. On occasion her father would join them or a random cousin that stayed. A huge dance was always put on during Jamie's birthday.

Ellie turned to look up at her daughter and smiled. She waved her down. Kay smiled and hurried down and outside. As she came out of the garden she heard a yell.

"KAY!" Kimberlee and Elyse cried before they tackled their older cousin.

"Kim! Elyse! Get off of me!" She shouted to her younger cousins.

Ellie and Riley laughed as they approached. Riley was curled in a ball on the ground. "Just like their mother I tell you. She always tackled me when she saw me."

"ELLIE!" Rian cried as she tackled her older sister.

"RIAN! You are thirty-three you do not need to keep tackling me!"

"Oh but that ruins all the fun of doing it when we were kids!" Rian complained. Kay, Kim, and Elyse were all laughing a few feet away.

"Just like Aunt Rian huh?" Kay asked with a grin.

"Exactly," Jason and Daniel said as they approached.

"Aunt Rian!" Carol, Samantha, and Risa called as they saw their favorite aunt. Rian hit the ground as the three girls tackled her sending the rest of the family into fits of laughter.

"I think its more of a family thing," Sara said from behind the others.

"Aunt Sara!" Kay, Elyse, and Kim all said before they ran over to hug their aunt.

"No tackling me!" Sara said as she held out her hands towards her nieces. They ignored what she said as they hugged her tightly. Instead of knocking her over they picked her up instead. She laughed at her nieces. "It's good to see you all again as well."

"Cousins!" Ellie and Rian called. They were Sara's oldest girls.

It wasn't long before the whole family arrived. Many people had stains on their clothing sfrom being knocked to the ground. Noise filled everyone's ears as the talking began to increase in volume. Jamie was the last to arrive, with her mother, Tammy, in tow.

"Jamie!" Kay, Marie, and Callie called as they spotted their cousin. As the four oldest they pretty much ruled over the entire family. The three ran to their cousin, managing to get to her before all of the younger ones did.

"Ah!" Jamie cried as her three eldest cousins knocked her to the ground. "I blame Aunt Rian for this!" She called over the commotion.

"Yes well my dear niece. You have it easy, Rian has been tackling me for years," Ellie said as she helped her oldest niece to her feet.

"I resent that," Aunt Rian called as she moved to hug Jamie. "Happy birthday dear."

"Thank you."

"Well you two never did learn to behave," Tammy said as she hugged her two sisters.

"I didn't do anything," Ellie said indigantly. "It was Rian who always tackled me. You know that as well as I do."

"Oh would you three stop your arguing and get over here!" Anne and Talya cried together.

"We are hungry!" Nora, Gira, and Tallie chimmed in.

"If you're good I'll give you a cookie," Laci put in from her end of the table.

They all laughed. "Come on lets get some food in us," Ellie called.

Once everyone was seated lunch began. Talk filled the air once more as talk buzzed among the family. They had all seen each other occasionally through out the year so they all began talking about the latest fashions at court. Kay was hounded the most, as being heir to the throne, she knew almost all the court gossip that went on.

Lunch progressed relatively slow as everyone enjoyed the company. When the trumpets began to sound, they all began to quite down. Ellie and Jason stood at their end of the table.

"It's good to have everyone here this evening," Ellie began. "I am glad to see that everyone made it here without a problem and that we can all be here to celebrate the birthdays of this coming birthday season. This year we are going to be doing things a little differently. Tonight is the night for the city wide celebration!"

All the girls began to cheer happily. It was one of their favorite parts of the birthday season.

"Settle down, settle down," Jason commanded over everyone. "Tomorrow we are going to put on the battles. To kick it off Ellie and Kay will spar and set the matches into motion."

"Prepared to go down Mama?" Kay called from her seat.

"You've never beaten me Kay, don't think you're going to now," Ellie shot back with a grin.

"As I was saying," Jason interrupted his wife and daughter. "Then we will be having the dancing, singing, instruments. That's really all we changed was the order."

"So that means, the city wide celebration has begun!" Ellie put in.

All the girls cried happily. Kay, Jamie, Elyse, Kim, Carrie, and Maria were the first ones into the city. As the eldest they had the right to be there first. The city was already in full swing as they made their way to the many stages in the town. Kay and Kim broke off from the rest of the group and headed to their favorite part of the celebrations. The two easily made their way into the crowd and began to pick up the beat of the music.

The city celebration lasted well into the early hours of the next morning. Kay and Kim were stumbling up the path to the castle. They had spent the larger portion of the night dancing and playing games with the other kids their age. Neither of them noticed the hooded figure watching them as they passed through the outer gates of the castle.

The figure disappeared into the shadows. They moved to a small fountain not far away where another hooded figure sat. "Well, what news do you have for me?" The second figure asked.

"They are all vulnerable. I believe that the heir, the eldest of the children, and one of the twins will do well enough to break the strength of the family."

"The heir? Yes, the Queen will be the first to go looking for her precious daughter."

"I believe that if we can split up the power we can easily get to the younger ones as well."

"I see," the second figure said. "Then let it be done. I want Kay, Jamie, and one of those twins in my grasp. Find out when they leave for the coast and I want them caught before then. Do not fail me. I know exactly where they shall be sent. It's time for my revenge."

"As you wish master," the first said with a deep bow.

"Away with you," the second snapped. Once the first figure disappeared, the second rose to it's feet. "Your time is short Queen Ellie. I will free you from your daughter and show you what it means to feel real pain. You will pay for the mistake that was made all those years ago and your daughter is just the ticket. Your whole family shall pay the price."


A/N: I'm back! Ta da! The next installment of my famed 'My Mother's Secret', alright so its not really famed but its still here none the less. With as many characters as I had it took a while to get all of this settled. Forgive me about the names, some of the children were named after aunts so it might be a little confusing so I will attempt to distinguish it. So here it is, my new story for fairytales. Well do enjoy as this story will be sure to hold a lot of new surprises. If I get a good response for this I will be sure to continue it.

Seritha