Separate Crowns of One Heart

Twėnty-Ėıght

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔,

𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅? 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆?

𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.

𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚,

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔

I was not able to sleep last night as I was much too worried about the Prince and because the Queen insists on starting tasks earlier in the day, I am beyond exhausted. I'm walking back to the suite when Demi comes running the hall towards me, waving her arms in the air frantically. "Your Highness! Odusanya!"

"Yes?" I study her as she gets closer to make sure she is not injured in any way. "What's wrong?"

"It's here. Look!" She holds two ivory envelopes in her hands and shakes them in front of my face. "It's from the Prince."

"Alright, alright," I say, my own face breaking into a much-needed smile. She hands over the mail and stares at me expectantly. "I will open them in the privacy of my suite."

"Of course." She smiles secretively at me. "Do tell me of His Highness's wellbeing. And tell him I say hello."

"I will." Clutching the letters in my hand, I hike my dress up and hurry to the suite, just short of a sprint. I do not wait until I'm seated to rip into the letter with the earliest date.

𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬,

𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲? 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧-𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬. 𝐁𝐚𝐞𝐳'𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐅𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭.