Containment Of Secrets

Chapter 13

(Mallory's point of view)

Braxton and I walk back toward the foyer area. I stop him in front of all the different pictures on the table before grabbing the picture I want. I raise up the picture frame, admiring it before handing it over to him.

"Wow! They are a good-looking couple." He compliments.

"Do you see it?" I ask.

"Oh, I can definitely see the love between them. I see why the citizens here miss them dearly. Nothing about this was fake, this was all real."

"No, look at the little girl between them." I reach over pointing to where she would be in the picture. It was one of my favorites, I memorized every little detail down to the point.

"She's definitely the perfect mixture of them. She has her father's facial features, but her mother's piercing blue eyes." He remarks.

"No." I shake my head, taking the picture back gently before guiding it against my face. "Now, do you see it?" I ask.

"You're Princess Mallory? The daughter of King Abel and Queen Saige?"

"Yes, my parents met under some unusual circumstances. My mother was only supposed to stay for a few weeks. It was during that time that they fell in love with each other. My grandparents were hosting a big festival to honor the day Wilachia got its independence from a neighboring country. During the festival, many of the great families travel here. My grandparents were hoping during this festival that my father would start looking for a bride. To their dismay, he fell for my mother."

"I imagined he had to still play along with the politics of it?" Braxton asks.

"Oh, of course. He would have faced serious backlash had he not. After some time though, he knew had to confess his feelings before he lost my mother for good."

"How did your grandparents act?"

"They were not ecstatic about my father's choice at first. Eventually, they came around to it. My parents married a few months later. About a year after their marriage, my mother became pregnant with me. This caused more shock."

"Why? You're the heir. Is that not great?" Braxton asks.

"Yes, but me being conceived a year after the wedding was considered scandalous. Many kings and queens were expecting by the time the honeymoon was over, hell, if not before the honeymoon."

"I think people were overreacting. Some married couples want to enjoy each other before having children." Braxton replies.

"My parents were adamant about having children, but they wanted them on their own terms. Their child was going to be first and foremost, while the throne came second. They were not the type of nobles who believed babies were made to secure the throne. My parents saw my brother and I as acts of love, not a need for the throne to be filled."

"When did Michael come along?"

"4 and a half years after me. They wanted more than just my toddling feet running around."

"So, you two, are you?"

"Yes, I believe another one would have come along had my parents lived."

"If I may ask, how did they pass?"

I knew this question was coming. No matter how many years passed, it still got to me. I never could face this head on. I looked away, trying to stay reserved as long as I could.

"You don't have to tell me, Mallory. I get it. It's way too much-."

I cut him off. "No, it's fine. They were shot in the woods while they were staying with some nobles. Their autopsies ruled accidental death, but I believe otherwise. Many people believe it was hunters that were hunting in the woods that did not see them...and may have...well, you know. I have never believed the reports for a minute."

Braxton pulls me into a hug. I hold onto him for a few seconds, replaying my past in my head over and over for a few seconds. "I just wish I could see them...just...hear their voices again."

"I know, but I think that's why we are not meant to know when our loved ones are going. If we spent every moment trying to enjoy someone's mere existence, then we would never really get to appreciate them fully like we should. People would be moving heaven and earth just to keep someone around longer." Braxton states.