I Am Royal

I'm what now?

The room was almost empty. It was a large room, to be sure, and the fanciest Willow had seen thus far. It had several seats and plenty of room to move around, and a large set of windows, which must look out over the square, but now were closed and heavy drapes pulled over them. The electric lights were on- which she considered a crime at the Festival of Lights- and there was only one person in the room. Prince Roger sat in a high-backed, gold inlaid throne of a chair, the fire behind him, his face a cold, stony mask.

So Prince Henry wasn't in the room! She felt a flood of relief and even Roger's hard face couldn't frighten her. She could take whatever insults, slurs or sympathy he threw at her.

Prince Roger looked over her shoulder and nodded at the escort who, instead of leaving like Willow expected, walked over to one of the couches behind her and sat down. So he needed a witness? She began to feel uneasy again.

"Willow Maria Jane Cartier," he said in the expressionless voice of a diplomat. "We meet again."

Willow suddenly had a flashback to the plays the gypsies would perform when they traveled. Her favorite, The Tragic Rivalry of the Brothers, told the story of a family who, grieved by their sister's death, blamed each other for it and fought their own kin. One of the lines she remembered well was in the final face-off between the last two brothers when John said to Philip, "So we meet again... for the last time!"

Willow hoped sincerely Prince Roger wouldn't be quoting her favorite play. But instead he moved on, his tone still crisp and business-like.

"The last time we met it was to discuss your mother's claim to our kinship that she had left in her will. As a courtesy to you and her Majesty the Queen, I generously offered you a chance to explain yourself, and even went as far as to have a blood test done."

Willow remained silent. What did he want, a thank you for ruining her life?

"As you know," the Prince went on, "The results came back negative and I graciously made arrangements for you to be given the best of care and the finest prospects for your future we could offer you. But you took advantage of our generosity."

Willow thought suddenly about the reaction the royal family must have had to the news that she'd punched their prince in the face then made off without even a good bye. She barely contained a giggle. Prince Roger frowned at the laughter in her eyes.

"I could have you tried and thrown into a detention center," he said icily. "But the Prince Henry claims it was a... a 'love tap', as he calls it. To be sure, it took me quite a bit of time to find you, you hide yourself well."

Willow spoke for the first time, in a voice as expressionless as his,

"I know how to hide when I don't want to be found, my Lord."

Prince Roger ignored her and went on,

"But we finally did find you, and I wanted to talk to you about an important matter that came to my attention about two months after you left."

Willow shifted uncomfortably. Was she about to get in trouble for something?

"The people who did the blood test came to me three and a half weeks ago," Prince Roger said. "They said they had been reviewing their files and came across a little... a little mistake they'd made concerning that certain test. There seemed to be a mix-up between two samples. They reported that it hadn't been my blood they'd tested against yours, but another client's. So they took another sample and retested."

Willow's heart beat faster and faster. No, no, this wasn't happening.

"The results were positive," Prince Roger told her, the civility gone from his voice.