Truth Or Fiction

Chapter Sixty Eight

Hercules sighed as he unfurled his scroll.

"You okay Herc?" Meg asked, her voice soft.

"Just...just hate the fact that the kids are dealing with all this in the future," Hercules told her.

Meg smiled slightly and rested a hand on his shoulder. "At least for the parts in the future, we can change them. Make it so the kids don't have to deal with this."

Mal rushed down the hall of Auradon Prep, frantically trying to get to her next class before she had another meeting with Natalie.

Kit shook his head. "Who is this woman? And why is she so devoted to Leah?"

"Actually...Ben and I did a little research a couple of years ago," Malinda said, looking over at Kit and Cinderella. "Natalie's full name is Natalie Doyle, she's the daughter of the Grand Duke you exiled and...and Prudence."

"But Prudence never said anything," Cinderella said, her voice soft as her eyes grew wide. "She knows we would have helped her right?"

"It's hard to say," Benji said. "But Natalie didn't start getting schooling until maybe about seven or eight when she was sponsored by—."

"Don't tell me, let me guess," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. "Leah?"

"So...so Mal going through all of that...it's our fault," Cinderella whispered as Leah scoffed.

Malinda shook her head. "No, please don't think that. We all know you would have helped Prudence and Natalie if you knew about Natalie's existence but with Natalie's connection to the Grand Duke, chances are Prudence didn't want to risk reminding you of him."

"That does kinda explain Natalie's obsession on 'how things are done'," Lucy said, looking at Cinderella. "Didn't you say Prudence was that way when you were learning the ropes, mom?"

Cinderella nodded, her eyes still shining with unshed tears at the thought of being the cause of so much pain even indirectly. "But Prudence has relaxed when it comes to that. At least she has now."

Ever since Leah's exile, her handler had been piling on more and more 'Lady of the Court' lessons.

"Why?" Ben said with a small frown. "And how? I don't think I'd approve of you getting more commitments, not when you're still learning. Wouldn't she need to run it past me?"

It was one thing to be a Lady by right, what with her father being a God, but she still needed to know how to act.

"But you do know how to act Mal," Persephone said. "I went over this with both you and Uma."

Gods forbid she accidentally embarrass Ben right?

"I don't think anything could actually embarrass Ben," Chad said as he looked over at the Crown Prince. "Remember that time we had an oatmeal eating contest?"

Ben nodded. Yeah and everyone was talking about whether or not I was ready to be King because I looked like dad did when he forgot how to use a spoon, he thought but didn't want to say out loud. He didn't want his dad feeling bad.

But it was getting to be a bit too much. She just felt stressed and panicked all the time.

"So talk to someone," Hadie said, shaking his head. "You know, even if you don't want to talk to mom and dad, you have Uma there as a roommate."

And what was worse was she had a feeling those emotions were leaking out through her mental link because she could feel a constant pressure there. As if someone was trying to talk to her.