By the time Katya got home it was dark out and as soon as she walked in the door, she could her Mia and their mother arguing in the kitchen.

"Oh, the right thing for who, mom?" Mia shouted

"For all of us," Helen defended as Katya joined them in the kitchen and leaned against the door way, "I mean, if we secretly divorced he would be able to find a woman who would stay by his side and produce heirs; and I would be free to live my life with you two."

Katya scoffed, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, we would have liked to have our father in our lives?"

"Kitty please," Their mother pleaded, "we met in college, and I was young! All I wanted to do was paint."

"Then you shouldn't have had two children with the man, Helen!" Katya exclaimed, tired of listening to her mother's 'woe is me' story.

Helen sighed, "Girls, could you really see me walking one step behind someone for the rest of my life with rules and regulations and the waving and the bowing and the scraping?" Their mother was a bit of a free spirit, "I was scared!"

"Well now I'm scared!" Katya yelled, "A country has just been dropped at my feet and I don't know a thing about how to deal, or what to do with it because you made a decision that was 'best for all of us'!" Then she turned and went to her room.

She had just enough time to change into her pajamas before her sister and mother joined her in the room. She really didn't want anything to do with her mother right then, so she walked into her adjoining bathroom and began brushing her teeth.

"After the divorce, we all discussed it." Helen began telling the girls as they both tried to ignore her, "Your father and your grandmother both agreed to keep their distance so you two would have a chance at normal childhoods free of emotional complications."

Katya turned and frowned at her mother, "So it wasn't that they didn't want anything to do with us, you just didn't want them around? Great," she said sarcastically, "now instead of learning how to be queen while growing up, I've got to learn everything at once. Excellent parenting skills at play here, mom, really."

Helen sighed, "We were going to tell you both after Katya turned eighteen, but when your father died, things changed. Katya, Mia we just wanted to protect you."

"You know what," Mia's bottom lip began to quiver, "I don't feel protected." Then she walked out of her sister's bedroom.

Helen watched her leave, then turned back to her eldest daughter, "Katya, please try to understand." She begged.

Katya shook her head as she felt tears come to her eyes, "But I don't understand. All I see is that you were being selfish, not wanting to deal with the reprocutions of your actions, marrying a prince and future king, so you tore us away from our father and called it protection."

Katya sighed and walked over to sit on her bed, "I barely have any memories of dad, and now because you didn't want him involved in our lives I won't get to make any new ones with him either."

Helen looked over sadly, "I'm sorry, honey."

Katya shook her head and rolled over, turning her back to her mother, "I'm tired, close the door on your way out."

Helen sighed, "Goodnight, baby."

Katya walked down the stair the next morning only to find her grandmother sitting at the kitchen table with Helen.

She smiled over at Clarisse, "Good morning, grandma." She said, ignoring her mother, before walking over and fixing herself a cup of coffee, and grabbing a pop tart.

"Good morning, Katyana," Clarisse greeted giving Helen a look of confusion, but Helen just shook her head sadly.

Katya opened her mouth to ask her grandmother a question, but was cut off when Mia came sliding down the fire pole. Upon seeing the two women she groaned, "Oh, this is a nightmare. I'm going back to bed."

Katya chuckled, but agreed, "And I need to be getting to school." And the two girls moved to exit the room.

"Katya, Mia, the four of us have to talk." Helen interjected before the girls could leave.

"Oh, okay," Katya replied sarcastically as she turned to face her mother, "You got some other secrets you're hiding from us, Helen? Is there something else about our life we might want to know about?"

Mia nodded in agreement, "Are you two waiting to take us on a talk show to tell us we have another sister who's a duchess?"

Katya rolled her eyes jokingly, "Please god no, I can barely handle having Mia as a sister, I don't need another one."

Mia looked over at her, "Shut up." She snapped playfully.

"You have a cousin who's a contessa." Clarisse interrupted, "Fondly known as Bartholomew. Actually, we call him Pookie." She joked and Katya let out a little laugh.

"Yesterday did not go well." Helen spoke up carefully.

Katya frowned at her mother, "You think so?" she questioned sarcastically, "I pretty much just had a country dropped at my feet, with no idea what to do with it."

"Will you just listen to your grandmother?" Helen exclaimed, fed up.

The sisters rolled their eyes, but didn't protest.

"Thank you," Clarisse smiled, "in a matter of weeks we have an annual ball. I was... that is, I am hoping that I may present you both to the press and the public on that occasion. However girls, you desperately need some instruction. I speak for the entire Genovian parliament and the royal family."

"And I speak for this family." Helen added.

"Excuse me," Mia interrupted, "The only 'family' I have is Katya, because you ignored me for fifteen years..." she pointed at Clarisse, "and you lied to me." She then looked to Helen.

Katya nodded, "Families don't do stuff like this to each other."

Mia turned on her heels and walked out of the room then. Katya watched her go and sighed, before turning back to her pop tart.

"Where is she going?" Clarisse asked curiously.

Katya pointed up, "The tower."

Helen stood up and followed after her, "Mia, you can't run from everything!"

"She gets it from you." Katya mumbled under her breath as she followed her mother up to Mia's room.

Clarisse frowned, "She has a tower?" she questioned in surprise also following them up the stairs.

They reached Mia's bedroom and Katya's nose wrinkled at the sight, it was so messy. She sighed and plopped down on the unmade bed.

"Please? Just come down from there." Helen begged as she stared up at the tower.

Mia opened the door and looked down, "You know, most kids hope for a car for their sixteenth birthday, not a country!"

Katya nodded in agreement, "That's what I got."

Clarisse looked over at her eldest granddaughter, "You have a car?"

"Mhm," she nodded, "1990 Dodge Challenger, dad helped me buy it."

Helen turned back to face Clarisse, "Just make yourself comfortable."

Clarisse looked around the untidy room and Katya chuckled, "Yeah, Mia's the messy one."

Her grandmother smiled slightly at her, but decided to continue to stand there.

Helen huffed in aggravation, "This is getting us nowhere! Talk to me."

Katya scoffed as Mia opened the door again, "I can't talk to you right now. I'm late for a meeting with my guidance counselor."

Katya winced in sympathy, "Is it cause you threw up in debate?" and her questioned earned her a small glare from her little sister.

"I'm late for a meeting with Spain and Portugal." Clarisse interjected sassily.

"I have a thought." Helen turned to look at Clarisse, "The girls promises to attend princess lessons until your ball."

Clarisse interrupted quickly, "It's not my ball, it's Genovia's annual Independence Day ball."

"I'm sorry." Helen responded, slightly aggravated, "The girls promises neither to accept nor reject your offer to be royal until this grand ball, and then they'll make their decision." She looked between the three of them, "Now, can we all live with that?"

Clarisse sighed, "It seems I have no option."

"If I have to." Mia grumbled unhappily.

Then all eyes turned to Katya, "Oh I've already decided to accept the position." And she watched her mother and sister frown at her while Clarisse let out a relieved smiled.

"Katya," Helen started, worried, "Are you sure? This is a big decision."

She nodded, "I'm sure. If I turn it down the throne goes to Mia, and I know she doesn't want it. So then who knows what would happen. No, I want to do this for the Renaldi family."

Clarisse placed a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder, "Your father would be very proud of you." Then she turned to look at everyone sternly, "But I want not one word of this until that evening. Is that understood?"

"Duh." Mia scoffed

"The press would have a field day with this." she added.

"Uh oh," Katya bit her lip nervously and all eye swiveled to her.

Helen frowned, "Katya, what did you do?"

"Well," She started nervously, "I kinda already told Michael about everything."

"Katyana!" Helena scolded as Mia moaned despondently.

"Who is Michael?" Clarisse asked in confusion.

Mia scoffed as she slipped out of the tower, "Katya's boyfriend."

Katya stuck her tongue out at her little sister, "He is not my boyfriend... yet."

"And you told him... everything?" Clarisse asked worriedly.

Katya shrugged innocently, "I was upset, and I needed somebody to talk to. He's my best friend; I've never kept a secret from him. He won't tell anyone, trust me."

"He better not." Clarisse warned.

"Well," Helen spoke up finally giving a fake smile, "Let's not keep Spain and Portugal waiting."