BIRTHRIGHT (complete #Wattys2016)

Chapter 13: Coronation

"Isabelle." The Scottish queen sighed for the umpteenth time. "Please calm down."

"Forgive me, mother." Isabelle smiled. "I can't seem to contain my excitement."

"Oh." The queen realized. "Whom do you look forward to meeting the most?"

Isabelle looked at her mother curiously and then chuckled to herself.

"Need you ask mother?"

"I am curious. I would like to know."

"Mother! You know that it is Alex."

"Alex? You call the King of France, Alex?"

"It is short for Alexander, and he is going to become King in the next three days," Isabelle said in mock exasperation.  "Also he prefers that I call him by his name."

A silence washed over the two as Isabelle couldn't contain her excitement of finally going back to Alexander. She was so excited that she had run around the palace, yelling "Je vais revenir en France! Retour à mon Alexander", causing a majority of the staff a great deal of surprise as they did not know what she was saying and at how overjoyed she was about leaving Scotland and going back to France, even if it was for a few days.

Over the one year, she had spent in France, their little princess had been transformed into a beautiful lady. Before France, she never liked the thought of going out the palace without her parents, but now she was just overjoyed to be going back. She had found love in France, she had found a family, she had everything she could ever need.

It was difficult to be there in the beginning, but during her one year there, she became accustomed to the French way of living and sometimes forgot that she was back in Scotland and not in France, when she would suddenly start to converse in French with the servants. She missed France, she did, but then she missed Scotland too. Her heart and mind were conflicted, but no matter where she was, she always had the people she loved near her, and that was all she required.

However, she could not hide the fact that she missed Alexander the most. The way she teased him, or how protective and jealous he got when Isabelle was in the presence of a man he did not trust. She missed everything about him. His smile, his laugh, his care-free nature that he brought forward only for her.

But most of all, spending time with Alexander made her realize that home wasn't a place. It was there, safe in his arms.

Isabelle didn't even realize it, but she had fallen asleep, and the same could be said for her mother. It wasn't until they were crossing the village did Isabelle awaken. Drowsily she looked around her as she realized that the carriage was still moving. Peering out her window, she recognized the all too familiar scene of the bustling French marketplace and her heart rate increased as the excitement and joy coursed through her veins. 

"Mother!" Isabelle exclaimed to her sleeping mother, who sat up.

"What is the matter, Isabelle?"

"We are arriving!" She exclaimed in excitement.

The queen smiled at the excitement her daughter's eyes portrayed.

'Oh Henry, how happy you would have been to see your princess like this.' Queen Mary thought to herself silently.

The death of the king had taken its toll on the people of Scotland, especially the royals. Isabelle had cried into her mother's arms the moment she had entered the palace walls, the Queen was in no better state. However, after given their time, they had started to come around to their normal lives in the palace.