Returning Reign

Chapter 19

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!  Don't forget to follow, vote, and comment. Now enjoy the story!!

Once the work day was done I headed back to the staff cafeteria to eat some dinner. It was barely Monday but I felt exhausted already.

I walk in through the large doors of the cafeteria and scan the large room full of tables and staff eating. Some were catching a snack during their break, others eating before heading home for the night, or other staff like myself eating dinner before heading to our rooms.

I grab food and put it onto my plate mindlessly. The food is always delicious and cooked by amazing chefs so it didnt matter what I put onto my plate. I head towards the table Lizzy is sitting at.

"Hey Lizzy," I greet as I sit down. Like me, she seems just as tired and over the week already.

"Long day huh," Lizzy comments when she sees me. I nod my head tiredly and sigh.

"Yup," I pop the p and take a bite of the steak I had grabbed in my daze. I suddenly remembered what happened at the Kings suite and I looked around to make sure no one was near enough to hear my next words.

"I need to talk to you in private," I tell Lizzy knowing she will understand the hint. She nods and we finish our food as quickly as possible.

The halls are empty on our way back and I decide to have some harmless fun. I take my low bun out and let my black hair loose. I turn around to Lizzy and undo her braid.

"Remember how freeing it was to run and skip around as children?" I ask Lizzy. She nods her head and a glint shines in her dark eyes.

"Whos to say we cant anymore?" Lizzy runs ahead of me and she skips and lets her hair run wild. I follow her lead and my hair flies around me as I skip around the magnificent white marble palace halls.

We giggle, stumble on our feet a couple of times, and smile freely. The feel of the air colliding with our faces was liberating. The energy that had been sucked out of me had returned.

Once we reached my bedroom we were both breathlessly laughing and in a much better mood.

"If anyone saw that, they'd probably think we're insane!" Lizzy laughs out as she clutches onto her stomach and we stumble into my room. We could barely walk from our laughter, watery eyes, and weak knees.

"Who is to say we arent," I say as I drop onto my floor cry laughing.

"We really needed that," Lizzy replied after she caught her breath and composed herself.

I stretch out my muscles and get comfortable on the floor. I wanted to make sure I did not forget to tell Lizzy anything. I caught her up on mine and Nathaniels brief argument and I told her about everything I had overheard in the Royal Suite today.

"What could Vivian be hanging over the King's head?" Lizzy asks out loud. The exact same thing I had been pondering about the entire day.

"I feel like the more information I gather from the royal family, the more confused I get," I sigh out in frustration.

"I guess we will be having King Hugo's wedding soon," Lizzy grimaces at the thought of Vivian being officially crowned as a Queen.

"Speaking of the Royal Family, when are you going to meet with Nathaniel again?" Lizzy asks. I have to refrain from asking her about Sebastian since she is not ready yet.

"I dont know. We just end up meeting without planning it," I reply with a shrug of my shoulders.

"I think you two would make a great couple," Lizzy tells me blatantly. I smack her arm and make an immature grossed out face.

"Dont be silly. I am looking for my parents, not a relationship," I tell Lizzy. But I cant ignore the way I get excited when I think of when I will see the Prince next. That is a confession I am not ready to make to my friend yet.

"Well then I need to take a shower and get my beauty sleep!" Lizzy waves goodbye and leaves. I pick out a white slip nightgown that ends right above my knees. I leave my black hair down and lay to sleep. My thoughts race and I toss and turn for over an hour.

I groan and sit up to look at the time. It is barely midnight. I stand up giving up on sleeping and I head to my closet. I grab a long black cardigan to put over the light straps of my slip dress. I grab my light pink slippers and head to my sanctuary.

The palace halls are dimly lit and the cold winter temperature causes goosebumps on my skin. The large windows look out to the brightly lit gardens and forest surrounding the palace.

Just as expected the library is empty. I grab a random romance novel from the book shelf and head to the couches in front of the fireplace. I sit and wrap the cardigan tighter around my body. Reading always helped me fall asleep and calm my wild thoughts.

I was supposed to get sleepy and head back to my room. The warmth of the fireplace, a book, and the familiarity of the library lulled me to sleep on accident.

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I stretch my arm and legs and let out a loud yawn.

"Good morning," Nathaniels deep voice whispers into my ear. I open my eyes in shock and look around. This is definitely not the library.

"How did I get here?"

Authors Note:

Last night I played the Sims for the first time in over six months. I'm hooked, again. Also thank you so much for all the support this past week. RR had been stagnant for the past few weeks but this week I got a lot of support! It was honestly an amazing Christmas gift for me.

-xoxo