The Heiress Of Ronzerony

02

Chapter 2 | Burning Rosy Gold

Hailee woke up. She looked around, finding herself in her room and tucked into her bed like she always was for her sixteen years of living. But something was strange. She could feel it in the air around her. The house wasn't so quiet. There were voices in the first floor. Aunt Penolope barely ever had anyone come to visit her at - she checked the time on her alarm clock - seven thirty in the morning.

With curiosity eating at her limbs she got up from the bed, shoving her blankets away in the process. She opened the door to her room and it let out a creaking sound. The voices immediately stopped at the sound, and Hailee knew for sure this time that something was terribly wrong. She walked towards the stairs and she found her aunt standing at the other end of them, surrounded with foreign people to Hailee, and most likely foreign to anyone with their looks.

They were four. Dark navy cloaks hugged their broad shoulders, falling down to the floor and dragging slightly behind them. They all looked up at her, and she noted that half of each one's face was inked in swirls and strange forms. They all had piercing blue eyes, and they all looked insanely identical as if they were quadruplets. They were bald, but the ink continuing up their heads made them look better than if they had hair. They were intimidating, causing a shiver to run down Hailee's spine as she stared down at them.

"Your Highness." they all said a moment later, kneeing down as each one of them put his left hand onto his chest were the heart is. Their voices joined together were a frightening yet magnetic sound; deep, rich and smooth and unlike any church choir Hailee has ever heard before in her life. Hailee looked at Aunt Penolope confused, but was taken aback as she saw her aunt herself kneeing down like the men did.

She didn't know what to do. She was frightened. It was all too much to take in. She was being treated royalty, but she wasn't. There wasn't a single sound in the atmosphere, but it felt like she could hear the tension building in fast and thick all around her. She went down one step of the stairs after the other shakingly, holding the stair rails for back up. Once she reached them, she stood there in front of their bent bodies, looking from one head to the other.

"What is this?" she whispered afraid. Her aunt's body stiffened as the four men raised their heads to look up at her. "Penolope Ingrewood, perhaps it is time for you to start explaining matters to her majesty." one of the men said, giving Aunt Penolope a meaningful pointed look. "I know, Brother Fredrick." she snapped at the composed man furiously. He didn't budge, staying very calm as if she spoke to him lovingly. "Now, Hailee dear, I need you to come downstairs for a small chat." Aunt Penolope gently told Hailee, motioning to the living room. "With all due respect Auntie, I just don't believe we're going to be having a small chat when there are four strange-looking men in this house where I have never seen a male but Drake." Hailee said slowly, suspicion clear in each word she pronounced.

With a shaky breath, Aunt Penolope took Hailee's hand in hers and squeezed it assuringly. "I know this all seems out of this world - which ironically, it is, in fact, out of this world - but I need you to trust me and listen carefully to everything I will be telling you. There's so much yet so little to be told as for now, but it is time, and you must be ready for your destiny." she said, her voice wavering at the last sentence with worry. Hailee felt sick at the bit of her stomach at her aunt's words. She could feel fear climbing up her muscles and the hairs on the back of her neck. "Lead the way." she whispered to her aunt, who nodded nervously and turned to the silent men, ushering them to the living room.

"Sixteen years ago, you came to the world." Aunt Penolope started after everyone sat down. "But it wasn't this world that you came to. It was, well, more of an alternate diminision. You were born to a beautiful woman - Isabella Wayfair - who happened to be my friend of a very long time here on Earth, and also King William's wife. Your mother and I had entered the other world when William proposed to your mother after explaining everything about him. Your father isn't just a king. None of the people in that place is. They have, how can I say this properly, abilities. Anyway, you were born royalty, Hailee. But, sadly, on the night you were born, a witch declared war on your father's kingdom, turning the castle and homes of his people to ashes and burns. You were saved, as your mother asked me to do. But the two of them disappeared into the smoke that night, and-" she swallowed hard, "met their death. There was a prophecy about a child of Wiliam and Isabella, saying that the child will bring back the kingdom's glory. Though, it didn't tell an age or a gender. Saving the kingdom from the wrath of the witch is all that it said."