10

Enmyria had come home from school for just about time enough to have moved the whole of her wardrobe to her bed while she fretted about just what she could possibly wear on the following morning. It would have been terrifying enough if she was just meeting her father or just attending a royal party; but being both made her close to hysterical tears while she pictured herself in a terrible dress and being mocked by the Princesses as if she were Cinderella.

She didn't even have a hat!

Em was ready to crawl into the tiny little bit of bed that had no clothes and cry herself until she had managed to calm down when a light knock sounded and Kara walked in.

"Hey" the girl said, eyeing the mess of clothes with a frown. "Wardrobe malfunction?"

"I have nothing to wear" she moaned, shaking her head dramatically. "It's going to be humiliating." Em closed her eyes for effect, before opening them again and eyeing her almost-sister with a frown. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"Dad says I'm being useless and looking thoroughly hangover" Kara replied, with a grin. "He asked me to come and help you with 'the girl things, you know' – his exact words. Now, I have a credit card and I'm not afraid to use it, so, I may be the answer to your prayers. "

"Bless him" agreed the teenager, taking a deep breath. "I was already sure I was going to be barred at the entrance."

"The first thing" Kara said, with a practical approach, "is to put this all back into place, you know he'll have an heart attack if he arrives to find your wardrobe all over."

The oldest girl offered her a hand and helped her to stand up, and as soon as Em was up, she started grabbing things and putting them back in their proper place.

"Now, first things first: where exactly are you going?"

Em half-turned around and stared at her, surprised that she didn't know.

"The Royal Windsor Horse Show" she said, putting on some things back in place. "And I don't have a hat!"

Kara chuckled at her exasperation, before addressing the issue.

"Oh. So, should I assume that whomever your secret father is, he's disgustingly rich and posh and as close to royalty as they can be" she glanced at a handful of old My Little Pony shirts. "Does that even fit you anymore?"

"I use it to sleep" Em told her. "And, yes, of course. Why is it that you're not surprised?"

"I think I lost my ability to be surprised after the Prince of Wales dropped by the office yesterday" Kara said with humor. "Anything else won't even get near that scale – unless you're Morgana's love-child with the prince himself."

She turned to Em, still smiling, but it fell apart when she saw the look in the girl's face.

"No way" Kara said, her eyes budging.

"Never call me a love-child again" was Em only reply, her nerves so agitated that she involuntarily opened up the windows. "I really don't need any more regency-era elements in my life right now."

"No shit" the older girl said, moving to close the windows and shut the curtains. "I think it's better if we do this with magic – it'll be good for your nerves."

The blond girl just looked for a second before nodding and trusting the biggest part of her clothes back inside the wardrobe at once. It did ease some of the tension. She never wanted to run to Gaius and Alice's far away farm and release it all into the wild as much as she did now – not even at her mother's death. She felt jittery, and it was clear by the way the hangers kept on hitting against each other.

"It's absolutely insane" Em started, feeling as if the words were getting out of her with as little control as her magic. "It's illogical and unreal – I mean, he's the prince! And Princess Vivian is just gorgeous, how could he even…?"

Kara shook her head, uncompromising.

"I don't think they got together until after you were already born" she offered, as a consolation, and Em scowled at her. "Now, Morgana was much prettier than her."

"I don't even know why my mother hid it from everyone – even from him, we found out with a paternity test! Your dad thinks she'd have told me when I was old enough. Now, how would that go? 'Happy birthday! By the way, what I've been hiding from you all those years is that you're really a bastard princess. Congratulations!'"

There was a mocking tone in her voice, and Kara laughed at her words, which made her grin as well.

"But you are!" her sister said, still laughing. "You're The Secret Bastard Princess. They'll write books about your life and make an ITV film over your dramatic childhood without your rightful place. Of course, I'll be the first to sell information to you for a ridiculously high price."

"God help me" Em muttered, which just led the other girl to have a fit of giggles. "You're supposed to be helping!" she accused, and Kara sobered up.

"So, you're meeting His Royal Hotness tomorrow…" she started, before Em spluttered.

"Don't!"

"Oh, right. I can't call him that anymore, can I?" Kara wondered, tilting her head.

"I'd really rather you didn't" agreed the blond girl, with a sigh.

"Again: you're meeting His Highness tomorrow" she corrected herself, and Em smiled gratefully at her. "For the first time. And after that?"

"What do you mean, after that?" The girl asked, frowning.

"Do you plan to keep in touch or…? Have you really thought about it, Em?" she looked at her with something like pity. "I mean… If you do, it will come out. People will know, and they'll talk. I was just teasing before, but it's very likely that there will be a media circus about you. Are you ready for that?"

Em felt herself grow cold at that. Of course, Kara was right, and she hadn't really think it through. This may be exactly the reason why her mother had chosen to keep her undercover. Still, it was pretty useless to worry about it before she even met the man – he might never want to see her again, of just hope he'd convince her to silently disappear. Maybe they'd send her somewhere far away – Australia would be nice.

"I'll go tomorrow" she said, finally. "And then… Then we'll see. I won't worry before I have to. It won't help – one crisis at a time. Right now, I need something to dress."

As if on a cue, the doorbell rang, and after a few seconds, she heard Will's annoyed voice downstairs.

"Em, it's for you!"

She knew better than to keep anyone waiting when Will was in such a mood, so she ran down the stairs and met a handsome young man, just slightly older than Kara, dressed in a dark suit and carrying a huge box.

"Hey" she said, belatedly remembering she was still in her uniform, and that her hair was a mess. "How can I help you?"

"I've been sent to deliver you this" the man said, formally, after a small bow. "From, err, Sir Leon."

"I didn't even know he was a sir" she muttered, grabbing the box. "I… Thank you?"

"It's my pleasure" he said, smoothly, and with another small bow, he walked away. She stood at the door for a moment longer as he walked in a black indistinctive car and drove away. Kara showed up on the stairs a moment later, shaking her out of her dazed state.

"What is this?" she asked, as Em ran over the stairs with the package.

"Something from Leon" the girl replied, resting the box on the bed and lifting the lid.

"Did you even check if it is safe?" Kara wondered, crossing her arms at her chest.

"I'm sure it is" Em uttered, her voice firm. "It feels good."

"Right" Kara said, easing again. "So, open it!"

Em didn't need to be asked twice. The big box held a pretty dress of dark green with thin red stripes that crossed it in a delicate tartan. As she picked it and raised it, she felt how soft the fabric was, and wondered how it would feel against her skin. The neckline was squared, but very modest, and there were three red satin ribbons to mark the waist. It had a A shaped skirt, but it would fit her well, since it would give her more hip volume than she actually had. All in all, it was absolutely complementary to her appearance – from the colors to the shape, it was just perfect. Kara was gaping at it, and Em handled it to her and grabbed the small hat that had been sent with it – small, discreet and dark green with a red ribbon and a flower that were the only details in it.

It wasn't a princess dress, but it was finer than anything she owned, in the very details of its careful crafting. She wanted to try it right away, but Kara didn't allow her to get the dress back.

"You're dirty and I'm not letting you put it on before you take a GOOD shower!" she said, pushing her to the toilet. "And make it quick, I want to see you in it and we still have tons to do!"

"What do you mean?" Em asked, opening up the hot water and allowing it to flow. "I've something to wear now!"

"Which leaves us with hair, manicure and shoes to be still seen today" answered Kara, counting on her fingers. "So, you better hurry up!"

Enmyria knew better than to argue with that, so she got out of her clothes as fast as she could before jumping inside the shower. She had just put her head under the jet of water when she heard Kara's shriek.

"Oh, there are clothes for Mordred and Dad too!" she announced, walking back inside the bathroom as if Em wasn't naked inside it. "And I'm stuck with baby sitting. This is so not fair!"

Em couldn't help but laugh as the other girl set on the edge of the bathtub.

"I'll try to send you pictures" she replied, evenly.

"Never mind pictures" Kara made a hand gesture to agree with her words. "What I want is a telephone number."

"What?" She asked, reaching for the soap. "What number?"

"There's this guy in the Prince's security team – his name is Percival. As I'll be watching your siblings tomorrow while you enjoy yourself…"

"They're your siblings too" cut Em, but Kara ignored her.

"As I'll be watching your siblings" she repeated, as if she hadn't heard a thing. "it is your duty as a almost-sister to get his number for me."

"How will I even…" she started, but Kara was far ahead of her.

"He's like, the tallest, fittest guy you've ever seen. I swear it'll be easy to recognize him – tall, well-built, gorgeous. Short fair hair and green eyes – maybe blue, I'm not sure. Anyway, you can always ask your dad."

"Oh god. You're planning to hook up with one of the Prince's – my father's – security man?"

"What's the problem with it?" the older girl asked, looking at herself in the mirror. "You haven't even been introduced to the family yet and you're already becoming elitist?"

"Shut up" was the only proper answer to it. "It's just that… Most of those guys are dumb."

"I don't think he is" Em couldn't see Kara anymore because of the vapor. "He's actually a pretty decent guy – we talked for over half an hour yesterday and he didn't sound dumb. Well, when he did speak."

It made the younger girl laugh out loud.

"What, you attacked him?"

"No!" was the outraged reply. "He was on duty and we were waiting for Mrs. Hurst to come and pick a toddler's pink coat. Not very romantic, I'd say."

"So he just kept silent because he couldn't think of what to say?" teased Em, glad to think of something other than her own crazy life.

"I think you're being prejudiced" announced Kara, as Em stepped out and started to dry herself with a towel. "Even smart guys can work in security – Lance worked as a security for a few years before he decided what he wanted to do with his life and went on to work on Amnesty International. He's the ultimate proof that a man can be handsome, smart, fit and gallant at the same time."

"I thought you had got over your pre-pubescent infatuation" nagged Em, giggling, and Kara had the grace to blush.

"I got over the insane idea that I'd grow up to be The Woman Who Steals Him Away From Gwen, which is just as well, since he never looks to anyone but her – another of his many qualities – but that doesn't mean I don't think he's everything a man should be. I'm just aware now that he'll never think of me that way and that most man just won't meet his high standard."

"That sounds like a crush to me!" It was time to pay back the earlier teasing.

"Oh, do shut up!" Kara said, rolling her eyes. "Your pre-pubescent crush was Alvar and he's nothing to be in awe about. He's actually quite lame."

It was Em's turn to blush. She had been barely eleven when Kara had brought Alvar home for the first time, and he had seemed very sophisticated and charming. Of course, time had shown them both that this was nothing but an elaborated mask.

"You're the one who slept with him" was all that she could say in her defense. "Repeatedly."

"Which is a very good proof that hormones and drinks mustn't be mixed" Kara said, standing up and heading towards the bedroom. "I'm the poster girl against teenage drinking. Now, come on, we've got a dress to try and perfect shoes to find."

There was nothing that Em could do but to wrap herself in her towel and follow.

Arthur fretted for hours over how exactly he was going to break the news of Enmyria's existence to his little family circle. He couldn't see any way of avoiding Vivian's scandal and backlash, and there was nothing his father despised more than Vivian's sudden outbreaks of temper – for all he had championed the marriage (or, more accurately, bullied Arthur into it); he had grown to abhor his daughter-in-law after she had felt secure enough in her position to just be herself. Arthur couldn't even pretend not to understand his father's stance, especially when he readied himself for another of her tantrums.

Eventually, he decided to do it the only way he knew how: as a Prince, making an announcement. Arthur tried and made an effort to be at the palace in time for dinner, but by the time he arrived, Vivian and the girls were already finishing up their desserts. It was just as well – he was so tense that he didn't think he could face any food at all.

They all turned to him as he walked, and he smiled, trying to ease himself. He was confident that he could handle Sophia and Elena, and it was to them that he turned as he spoke.

"When you're done, I'd love to talk to you in the sitting room."

Sophia gave him a graceful nod, but Elena tuck in the final bite of her pie inside her mouth and jumped from the chair.

"I'm done!" she yelled, making her mother snap.

"Elena! How many times? Princesses do not yell, and no one should speak while they have food in their mouth. It's disgusting!" she turned to her husband then, her face all polite interest. "Am I invited as well, or you wish only for the girls?"

"No, you should come too" he answered, distractedly, before turning back to his youngest child. "Do as your mother says, Elena. When you're done chewing and cleaning your teeth, you can come."

He didn't waste another second before bolting to the comfort of the sitting room. It was full of happy memories – Sophia's first steps had been here, and Elena's first words too. Back then, the traditional furniture had been pushed away to make space for children's toys and safety mantles, but Vivian had ordered everything back in place right after Elena turned three. She said it was time that they learned grace. Arthur wondered if his youngest had never done so as an instinctive act of rebellion against the loss of her safe place.

Arthur sat himself the biggest armchair, and as they walked in, Sophia and Elena arranged themselves on the sofa facing him – the first one with a natural grace, and the later as if she was a sack of potatoes rather than a person with limbs – while Vivian perched herself on the sofa facing the fireplace (lit, even during the spring). Once, she might have chosen the armchair next to him, a smaller version of his, but nowadays she wouldn't use it unless they were lecturing the girls.

He knew it wouldn't be easier if he took longer, so he cleared up his throat and started.

"As you all know, we have an official engagement tomorrow" Arthur said, his voice calm. "A very important one and the eyes of the world will be upon us, so I hope you'll behave like true Princesses of the Realm and make us proud." The girls nodded, and Elena beamed. She and a couple of other girls were going to make a small presentation with their horses on the beginning of the event, and she was extremely excited. "And even more than that – we will have a very special guest that I want all of you to treat with the utmost respect and complete consideration."

Arthur made a pause – this was the hard part. He didn't even know where to start.

"Who?" piped Elena, always anxious.

"Ms. Enmyria LeFay, my firstborn" he said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

The girls stared at him, and Arthur didn't even dare to turn his head enough to see Vivian's face. Elena was actually gaping, and his wife must be seething if she hadn't yet barked that it wasn't a princely thing to do. The silence stretched interminably, and it was Sophia that broke it.

"I beg your pardon?" She sounded unfailing polite, but there was something hard and dark in her look. "I must have misheard something, father, for I could swear you said Ms. LeFay was your firstborn; which can't possibly be right since I am your firstborn."

He had never wanted to flinch so much in the presence of his children, but he wouldn't allow himself such a reaction even when alone, let alone in front of them. He would make no show of his weakness.

"You're his first true-born, darling" said Vivian, her voice soothing. "Ms. LeFay is but a bastard girl."

"I prefer the term 'natural daughter', thank you" Arthur replied, stiffly, before looking back at the girls. "Still, your mother is right. Enmyria may be my firstborn, but you, Sophia, is my heir; and I hope that you behave as such tomorrow – do remember that a Queen is to be the mother of her people; so it would be most unfitting for you to treat your half-sister with anything other than perfect courtesy."

Sophia nodded, albeit a bit tensely after those words; but he felt that he owned all of them more than that.

"The reason why you've never heard any of this before is that I didn't knew about her existence myself until a few days ago. Her mother never wanted any of us to take the burden of the gossip that would surely follow the discovery of a natural daughter, but after her mother's untimely death last winter, the girl started to look for the father that she never knew. Luckily, she asked for my help, and we discovered that she was my own."

"You never knew her mother was pregnant?" Sophia inquired, cynically.

"Morgana left the country early on her pregnancy, and I've never seen her since. She wasn't back in England for years, from what I know. So, no, I honestly had no idea."

The twelve-year-old nodded with a serious face.

"Was she your girlfriend?" asked Elena, curious.

"She was… A very special friend" he said, lamely. Vivian snorted, and he was surprised that she'd allow herself such unladylike noise.

"So you got sad when she left, yeah?" the little girl piped on. "And mom came around and made everything happier!"

Arthur couldn't help a smile when he heard her sweet words, even if it hurt a bit. Although Vivian never seemed to care much for her youngest girl, she clearly still thought the world of her mother.

"Yes. But none of his is Enmyria's fault. She's just a girl, caught in the middle of it. She has never met me, and I intend for us to meet her after the Show, alone, but I invited her to come – with her step-father and half-brother – so she can get acquainted with all of us in a more general environment before our first private meeting. I trust you to both be agreeable to her and to shield her from any sort of public issue; I have no wish to publicly announce her existence just yet."

That made Sophia smile, while Elena promised to be 'very very nice'; and Arthur sent the two girls away; reassured that they'd do their best – out of a wish to make him proud, even if they weren't ready yet to accept his oldest daughter as their sister.

"You don't seem surprised" Arthur told his wife as the girls left, chattering about the newest developments.

"I already knew about it" Vivian responded with a tiny elegant shrug.

"What do you mean you knew?" Arthur asked, confused.

Vivian's eyes were cold and careless when she replied.

"You're so foolish Arthur – so trusting! Do you really believe that Morgana never tried to reach you? That she never tried to… She was here in the moment she came back to the country!" Vivian shook her head, her white-blond curls moving alongside. "She came in and tried to make an appointment. The girl in the desk was new – Sara, do you remember her? She asked me what she should do. I made sure to tell Sara that Morgana was persona non-grata in the building."

Arthur swallowed dry, too full of anger to think properly. It burned hot under his skin, and it made him tremble. He should have known – Vivian was right, he was foolish and trusting. He had trust her to be his partner, after all, and she had turned out to be nothing more than a snake he was feeding too close.

"But I was curious" Vivian continued, her tone mocking. "What could possibly have made her change her mind? Morgana had been quite clear before leaving that she never wanted to hear from any of us again. So I had her tracked and I staged a chance encounter on the park I was told she took her baby to sunbathe on the mornings. I blabbed at her and I cooed at the brat, even took her in my arms for a bit, although Morgana seemed ready to strike me – no doubt she would have if I hadn't been escorted. I knew as soon as I saw the girl; she looked just like you at the same age. Still, I was careful enough to get some of her spit and to send it to the lab to confirm my suspicions. At least, it made it very clear why Morgana had come around – it was obvious she wanted to inflict the little bastard upon you and make you pay for her own irresponsibility. Well, I wasn't going to have that. I made sure that she would stay away with a few well-aimed threats."

Once in his life, Arthur was grateful for his upbringing, which allowed him to remain impassible while he heard all about it. Vivian seemed to take a special pleasure on telling him every little detail of her unforgivable behavior, as if she had longed for a long time to do so – and she indeed had, she had had her waiting, twelve whole years of it at least.

"I thought, then, that Morgana wanted you for herself. I thought she wanted to break our engagement, that she wanted to steal the man I was intended to marry. The brat also had me fooled – it made me believe that things between you weren't as they seemed to be. But I was wrong, wasn't I? She knew, she always knew about your little perversion. She was trying to give you a way out. I was a stupid, romantic girl hoping for a fairy tale; I should have noticed it before. I was too young and too naïve to notice that it was completely absurd that you wanted us to live chastely before the marriage when you knew I was no blushing virgin. You spoke of appearances and traditions, the filthy hypocrite that you are – it was not about that. It never was about that. You could never stand the sight of a woman's body – you could never lay with me if I wasn't carrying my own prick." There was something hard and feral in her smile, and she walked around him, taunting him with moves as well with words. "And Morgana knew that, didn't she? I bet she used big, large one, that she made you beg for it before she had her way with you, hoping to get pregnant."

"It wasn't like that" slipped from his mouth unbidden, and Vivian maniac grin only got bigger.

"No? So maybe your beloved Leon took you from behind while you mounted her? Or did he gag you so you wouldn't see her disgusting female form kicking in your hips? Did you often do that, the three of you?"

Arthur gritted his teeth at that, but there was no denying that his body had had some primal response on the images Vivian was describing; even if it wasn't Leon that had showed in the picture, but dark hair and full lips wrapping around him, such a perfect way to shut in up... She eyed the faint budge and her lips became so stretched that they might have broken by themselves. None of it had even the smallest bit of truth, but she had all the confession she might have wanted from nature itself.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" she went on, mocking worry in her voice. "Finding out that you were fooled all along…"

"Enough" he said, before she started it all over again. "I've heard enough, Vivian."

It silenced her, but it didn't remove the smirk from her face. For some seconds, he just welcomed the silence.

"You will now get yourself ready to go to Elena's presentation" he said, his voice carefully controlled. "And after that, you'll be taken to Balmoral Castle, for a long needed vacation."

She spluttered, indignantly.

"What, a time out?" she said, with a laugh. "This is real life, Arthur, not a playground."

He ignored her and went on.

"I'm warning the personnel that you'll be staying over for three months. I think it will be enough."

"For you or for me?" she wondered, sweet as poison.

"For both of us" he answered, truthfully. "You'll have the time to put your affairs in order and find yourself adequate quarters before I officially announce our intent to divorce."

It gave him undeniable pleasure to see the shock in her face. Vivian couldn't believe he was about to cast her away – and he almost couldn't believe it himself, that he had the courage to make such a move; but this was far beyond the scandal that his personal feelings could cause, he couldn't allow such a person to be in charge of his house, of his children, even if he didn't have the responsibility over a future head of state. There would be no safety or peace for any of them while Vivian was around.

"You can't be serious" she said, shaking her head, and her smile came back, full of confidence. "I have your secrets right in my power, and I swear to you, Arthur, if you cast me away, I will have no qualms whatsoever to reveal them to the whole world."

He knew well enough it to be true, but he could do to her just as she had done to him: hit it where it hurt the most.

"You have my secrets, it is true" he replied, calmly. "But I have the children."

That made Vivian's smile wither and die, and it was his turn to bare his teeth with a pure glint of steel.

"You know it as well as I do that it would be easy – so easy – to claim they weren't mine and have the tests to prove it."

That made her gasp, his treasonous wife of his, and he knew he had it right.

"You wouldn't…" she said, but there was fear in her voice – Arthur would have been hurt by how little faith she had in his honor if it didn't serve him so well now.

"Why not?" he said, a dark smile in his face. "And who would question it, if you told the world yourself that I was never truly a man? It would be easy, Viv" he said, his voice silken. "So easy. And whatever came of the public disgrace, I would still have a natural daughter, undeniably mine, with my mother's looks to prove it and a fairytale story to win the public's good graces. What about you? What would you have?"

The silence was heavy around them, with all the dark words and unspeakable treasons. It stretched, unending, covering the last fourteen years of secrets and lies between them.

"Fine" she acceded, finally. "Have it your way."

Arthur prepared himself to leave – wishing with all his heart he never had to see her face again, when her voice ringed in his ears once again, making him face her.

"I will keep my silence, your Highness" she said, using the honorific for the first time ever. "But if I ever have any reason to believe you're about to push your dear little bastard above our daughters, I'll drag your name in the mud, even if I have to come down with you."

There was something difference in her posture now – it wasn't her own pride or her own anger that she was fighting for with those words; she had, at last, put something above her own interests. Arthur bowed slightly.

"Have no fear on that account, my lady" he said, stiffly. "They are my daughters after all."

Arthur turned on his heels and walked out of the room. As the doors closed behind him, he knew he had just finished the most painful chapter of his life.