Chapter 9! sorry it took so long, hopefully the length of this chapter will make up for the time spent writing it :) Thank you Dream Plane for the awesome review! I just wanted to let everyone who is reading this that for the first 8 chapters the rating was K+ but I just changed it to T for mentions of death, just to be safe. As the story progresses (In further chapters) there will be some mild violence, nothing drastic. but I will warn you at the top of said chapters before you start reading. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this and as always, Review! Review! Review!
I sat down next to her and put my hand on her shoulder, right as a light bulb went off in my head. "Give Aaron the crown. He would love to be king."
"I couldn't do that to him. I am the heir, and I have trained my whole life for this. I must do my duty to Mangrail. I need to show the people that I won't flee at the first sign of danger." She said, sucking in a breath. At least I knew that her personality wasn't lost in this ordeal. Her selflessness shone brighter than ever and even though her parents were gone she wouldn't see the kingdom crumble.
"I'm so sorry, Ebony." I said in the softest tone possible. She looked at me with grief in her eyes.
"They're gone. I will never see them again. It's truly unbelievable. I keep expecting them to walk through the doors at any moment, or show up at my parties. I didn't even take our last goodbye seriously, I had no idea it would be the end. That was the end." She started crying again, and I started rubbing her back.
"It wasn't the end. You're still here and you're strong, it's the same with Aaron. You have each other and that will have to be enough. All that your parents would have wanted is for you two to be happy and for you to continue their legacy. You can conquer, Ebony, and they knew that. You're going to be a great queen." I whispered.
"I hope you're right."
"I'm always right." I said with a smile. Ebony gave a stifled laugh, wiping the tears off her face with her sleeve.
"Aaron has no idea." She said. I hated that she would have to go tell him but I had to be at the entrance of the castle by noon.
"Do you want to stay here and we can send him a piece of parchment?" I asked.
"No. I want to tell him in person, and I should probably get to him before word gets around. I have no doubt that the messenger who gave me the original letter snuck a peak. You know how some people are, they will happily give the latest gossip in exchange for goods." She started to stand up and walked to the door slowly.
"I'm sorry again Ebony, they were wonderful people and I know this is not easy for you. If there's anything that I can do just let me know." I hated saying it and not knowing if I would actually be there. I was not planning on leaving the castle at night with a complete stranger, so at least the offer was somewhat valid.
"Thank you for saying that." She hugged me tightly and wiped away a few straggling tears.
"Of course." I walked out the door by her side and we went our separate ways. There was a grandfather clock at the end of the hallway close to my room and it said that the time was 11:30. I began my walk to the castle's main entrance.
There were guards around every corner and they seemed to be swarming since the letter about the King and Queen arrived. Ebony must have been right about someone reading the letter and spreading the word. It was weird that the guards were more protective now though, Ebony's parents were killed in a crash, not anything mysterious. I shrugged it off and continued my walk until I met the large room with the entrance. I didn't expect Charles to just come marching in to the foyer, especially with the added security. I could only imagine how shady it would look for a servant and the prince of another kingdom to have a hushed conversation in the middle of a room. I saw an old tapestry in one of the corners of the room near the double doors and went to admire it. Right as I walked up to it a hand extended from behind and put a hand over my mouth, pulling me behind the tapestry.
I squirmed and the scent of chestnut tingled my nose as the mysterious personage placed me in a hidden crevice in the wall. It was small, only big enough to fit 4 people at most, and deeply shadowed. I couldn't see who had grabbed me because of the strange lighting, and I seemed to have forgotten the reason I came to the entrance in the first place. The person took their hand off my mouth and I was ready to give them an earful.
"What do you think you're doing!?" I shouted to the shadowed figure, I stamped down hard on their foot, ready to escape.
"Ouch! Be quiet! The guards will hear!" The person said in a harsh whisper. The voice was deeply accented and it was then that I realized this person was from another kingdom. I scrambled into a deep curtsy.
"Prince Charles, I am so sorry. I didn't realize that it was you." I whispered, glad that he couldn't see how red my face was.
"It's alright. We don't have much time, so I need you to listen carefully." He didn't even wait for me to respond before he went at it. "I am your twin brother." He paused and waited for my reaction. I gave a strangled laugh and quickly covered my mouth.
"I'm sorry, I just- no." I said quickly. After I processed what I had just said I mentally facepalmed. "That doesn't make any sense." I whispered.
"But it's true."
"With all due respect, I don't believe you." I was about ready to dart out of there. It was starting to become more and more clear that this Charles fellow was a psychopath.
"I'll give you proof. Our mother's name was Evangeline, and you never met your father. And how would I have gotten you the letter from him if I was just a random man. He told me to give you the letter upon his death, and well- He died a few days ago." He said quietly. I was so confused, how was he a prince if he was related to me? And I had never met my father how could he be dead?
"You have a lot of explaining to do." I said.
"So you believe me?"
"I'm not sure yet. But I think I would like to hear you out." I said. He let out a relieved sigh and ran his hand through his dirty blond hair.
"You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that. I'll start from the beginning but I have to make it quick. Our parents weren't married when they had us and our father was the crown prince of Achillea. We were twins and our grandparents did not know of either of us. When they found out they were furious, and only permitted the king to keep me because they thought I was born first. Our mother ran away to this kingdom with you because our grandparents- they sent out a kill order for you two. They didn't want the kingdom to find out that the prince broke the rules and got away with it.
"They had to set an example, and they used you two. Long story short you both escaped and our grandparents really know how to hold a grudge." A million questions were racing through my mind. After a few seconds of stunned silence I chose the question that was pulling hardest in my mind.
"What are you trying to tell me?"
"You're our queen and your crown is waiting for you in Achillea. Please. The law is that after the death of a king or Queen, if the heir doesn't take the throne in a week, the previous royal can take it. Our grandmother."
"What about our grandfather?" I asked.
"He passed away years ago." That was the last of the most burning questions, which made room for all of the information to come tumbling in. My father was gone and I had never met him. My grandmother was out to get me. I was a queen. It suddenly became hard to breathe in our little crevice in the wall, the panic hitting me like a brick.
"I-I can't- I don't- I have no idea-"
"Hey, It's going to be fine. I'll be by your side the entire time. Please breathe, it would look so peculiar if I had to end up dragging you out from behind a tapestry." He whispered, holding my elbows to keep me steady. His last sentence earned a laugh out of me and I felt my panic subside and my breathing regulate. "Will you come with me back to the kingdom?"
"Can I have some time to decide?" I whispered.
"I truly am sorry, but we do not have time to spare. Father passed away on Monday night, and today is Friday. If we leave at dusk, it is a two day journey by horse and we will barely make it in time. Trust me, you do not want our grandmother to rule." He said. His Achillean accent came out stronger when he was emphasizing a point, and it was very easy to distinguish during the last sentence.
"I'll do it, on one condition." The words escaped my mouth before I had fully thought them through. Charles seemed elated,
"And what would that be?"
"There is someone that I would like to bring with me. Can I bring a friend?"
"It may cause us some trouble at the border, but I bet I could persuade the guards, I am the prince after all." He seemed hesitant, as if the border guards were people that we didn't want to mess with, but if he said it was possible, than it must be.
"One more thing."
"Oh?"
"You have a date with the princess tonight. Were you just planning on blowing her off? Her parents just died, you know." I saw horror etched across his face.
"The king and Queen are dead? It seems we have more trouble on our hands than I first believed." He mumbled. I was too concerned with him standing up my best friend to process what he had said.
"So, the date?" I pressed.
"I'll figure something out." He said. That would have to be enough for now.
"Then it is settled. We leave at dusk, meet me in the gazebo. We can exit through the back door and I can get us horses from the stables."
"Are you sure you can secure us horses?" He asked.
"Definitely." I responded with a smirk. I knew just the person to ask.