Chapter 8:

(Hugo POV)

"I thought the same thing and it ended up costing me your mother," He said. What was he talking about? "Mom died when I was 4 due to the flu," He shook his head, "No that is what I told you as a boy, the truth is when you were 4 and Axel was 6 there was some issues in the kingdom. People thought that your mother wasn't the right person to be Queen because she... she wasn't born royal." I looked over at my Dad he had never told me that before. He pulled up a chair and sat beside me next to Sofia's bed

"I was supposed to marry the daughter of a Duke, Laurianne Beaumont. Everything was arranged and was moving along but, I was in love with someone else. Your Mom, my Lila, she was a maid inside the castle she had escaped a terrible family in her old kingdom and pleaded with us to allow her to start over. I was immediately enchanted with her and agreed to allow her to stay. Axel got her chestnut red hair but you, you got her eyes. Her beautiful emerald green eyes," Dad began to get lost in his thoughts, "She was not only beautiful but, so sweet and kind. She had more empathy and compassion than anyone I had ever seen especially given her environment growing up. I spent most of my free time, outside of my training with her. I would take her out on walks in the garden, skating in the rink, I even let her ride my derby horse. No one ever had a bad word to say about your mother, there was something about her that made everyone love her. Even your grandfather and grandmother loved her and when I asked them if I could marry you instead, they immediately agreed. I asked your mother for her hand in marriage and she said yes. Everything was perfect. However the Beaumonts were not happy about this. They were a well established family in the kingdom and breaking off the engagement with a royal was a huge embarrassment for them. We gave them more lands and treasure and they had forgiven us, at least we thought they had. Their daughter disappeared off the face of the Earth after our wedding but they stayed in the Palace a while longer. I had not know why but then your mother started disappearing for long periods of time. She wasn't as happy as she was before and became more detached. I thought it might be her training but, you grandmother told me that she was excelling in all regards. I didn't know what was wrong, until one day I saw the Duke and Duchess berating her on how she was not doing enough. That she would never be there real Queen. They were immediately expelled from Court and stripped of their titles and land. Your mother started to become herself again. We were crowned King and Queen, we had Axel, we had you. We were a family."

He looked down in his hands, no longer making eye contact with me, "When you were 3 she started receiving threats. We didn't know where they were coming from but, they were coming frequently and grew in severity. They started off by calling her an imposter and saying she didn't deserve to be Queen. Then it started to be weapons: knives and stones. Then the weapons came but they had blood dripping on them. Until a year later when someone jumped her when she was visiting a village orphanage. She was brought home covered in bruises, she had cuts on her lip, they had hurt her pretty bad. What I hadn't known was that she was pregnant with a third child, they didn't make it." He was starting to tear up, "I decided it would be best to send her and you children away until we got a further handle on it. I wanted to keep you all safe. Your Mom, she begged me not to send her away. She told me that I could keep her safe, that we couldn't let them tear our family apart but, I didn't listen. I sent you all away to a friend's kingdom. A week later, I was notified that there was an attack on your safe house. Your Mom didn't make it. Someone took her and they, they carved out her heart. That wonderful big heart of hers. You and your brother were found hidden away in a cupboard, your mother had stashed you two away when she heard someone coming."

I let go of Sofia's hand and wrapped my arms around my Dad. We were both crying as I felt knots forming in my stomach. I could see the guilt that he had been carrying around after losing Mom. He started to compose himself and grabbed both my shoulders, "Hugo, the worst thing you can do to Sofia, is leave her alone. If you send her away to keep her safe, they would find her. If you annul your marriage, they would find her. Ever since you said, 'I do,' all your enemies and all her enemies put their sights on both of you. They are not going to take their eyes off both of you until you are gone. She is your weakness and people know it so she will always be used to hurt you and you to hurt her."

I sighed looking over Sofia again. She still wasn't moving and the color was still drained from her face but her breath was beginning to even out and that made everything feel a little better. "Don't do what I did Hugo, don't abandon her in the name of protecting her. You will lose her, in more ways than one." He left the room and I took Sofia's hand again.

"Sofia," I whispered. She didn't move at all, "I know you are hurt right now and I know it is all my fault. I only hope you can hear me right now but, if you can I need to know: What do you want? I asked you this before we got married, I asked you when we got married, and I am asking now." I sighed squeezing her hand harder, "If you want to leave, if you are so unhappy here that you want out... I won't stop you. But, if you want to stay, if you want to be with me, if you want to spend the rest of your life with me... I promise things are going to change. I won't let us go back to the way things were before because we were apart and that is what led to this. If you want to stay please give me some kind of sign." She stayed still and I sighed leaning my head against the bed. I then felt it, it was brief but it was definitely there. She squeezed my hand back. "I love you," I whispered.

After clearing it with the doctor I picked Sofia up and carried her to our carriage. I wasn't going to have her stay there any longer than she had to. I also had to tell my father everything that Sofia had told me earlier. We got back to the palace and I carefully picked Sofia up and carried her to our room and laid her on the bed. I turned toward Sarah, "Please send word to the Kingdom of Enchancia and let them know that something had happened to Sofia, they deserve to know." "Yes Prince Hugo," she curtseyed and walked away. I was dead when they arrived. I turned toward Mary, "Please get my father and tell him I need to speak with him. Also can you get a book from the library for me and Sofia's notes." She curtsied and left. I had stuff I had to do but, I wasn't leaving Sofia.

Mary came back with the book and notes, "Your father will be here shortly." I began going through the papers and the book. While Sofia had been painstakingly copying the text word for word she but, she had also had taken some notes on the context inside. I just needed to find the right section and then I found it.

It was in our kingdoms founding, 5 prominent families broke off from 5 different neighboring kingdoms and combined their land, businesses, towns, people to create a kingdom: the Beaumont Family, the Cunningham Family, the Albridge Family, the Quarcuse Family, and the Everton Family. The two largest families were united in marriage: Peter Albridge and Olivia Quarcuse. They became the first King and Queen and named the kingdom after their two families Albuquerque. If their line ended it would go to the third most powerful family the Beaumonts, but they lost their title and control after my Mom, and then the Cunningham Family. The Everton Family choose to abdicate any claim their family had to the crown and eventually moved out of the kingdom due to infighting amongst the prominent families.

I then flipped through the book and found the family trees. I began following down the Cunningham family tree and it was there Lady Eliza Cunningham. I then looked back at Countess Laurianne Cunningham, she appeared again in another family tree and suddenly everything was connecting together. In black and white and it all became clear. "Champ, you wanted to see me?" I heard my Dad come in. "Dad, Countess Cunningham is your ex-fiancée Laurianne Beaumont." Dad's jaw dropped as the wheels in his head began turning, "This is her great revenge story. It also explains why she hates that Sofia was not born into a royal family," Dad began spiraling. All my attention was on him that I didn't notice what was going on behind me until I heard, "H-Hugo."