The Little Queen

The Little Elmhurst Daughter

-Queen Anne's POV-

"You couldn't have possibly thought that was a good idea, could you?" My eldest daughter Caroline asked while following me down one of the long hallways in the castle. My husband was waiting for me so that he could read his announcement speech.

"Caroline, I don't have time for this right now. None of this even concerns you," I didn't understand why she thought she knew everything about everyone that stepped foot in this castle. She was only thirteen.

"Theo's six, mom. What is he going to do with a wife?"

Everything started to make sense as soon as those words left her mouth. I stopped walking and turned around to face my angry child, "Do you really think he would be getting married as soon as the baby comes?" It was an honest question and by the look in her violet eyes, I could tell I knew the answer.

She sunk away from me, almost as if embarrassed, "You never specified. How was I supposed to know?"

"You weren't and that's why you mind your own business," I turned back around and started walking again, "Goodnight, Caroline. Much love, darling."

I arrived at the double doors at the very end of the hallway and pushed them open, not bothering to knock. Indulf, my husband, was seated behind his desk, looking over the piece of paper.

I noticed the baron and baroness, Elizabeth and Lucius, were here also, but his rough draft copy in front of him seemed a lot more important.

I put a smile on my face at the sight of my two good friends, "Did he ask you to come listen as well? Or am I interrupting something?" I asked any one of the three people present.

"Oh no no, you're not interrupting anything," Elizabeth waved her hand through the air, "We were asked to come listen."

I grabbed one of the rolly chairs from in front the desk and brought it over so that I could sit next to Indulf. "Is it ready?" I asked quietly.

"I believe so," I watched as he made a couple of notes on the side of the paper. I didn't bother to read them though.

"Do you think the people will react negatively towards the news?" Elizabeth asked, her voice softer than usual. She was totally freaking out, but then again I probably would have too if my only child was going to be thrusted into a world of such harsh criticism.

People didn't say bad stuff about my family because they couldn't, not because there wasn't anything to say. Her family, the Elmhurst family, didn't have such immunity. There were very angry people in the world and they would probably take all of their emotions out on them.

Lucius placed his hand on Elizabeth's thigh. He seemed upset and that was probably because he knew he'd soon be under attack from the Internet trolls. That's why I stayed clear of the media.

Indulf leaned back in his chair a bit, "I think people will be excited for the most part," he said and to be completely honest, I wasn't sure if I actually believed him. "But...I'm sure there will also be those who don't necessarily approve of the match. Theodore is going to be the King someday, and his people already have preconceived notions on who's going to rule with him."

"Has Theodore been told about all this?" Lucius asked.

"He knows little, but he's only six. He doesn't care about any of this right now and I'm sure that's how it will stay for a long time. I want him to enjoy his childhood while he still has it," Indulf answered.

A smile crept back onto my face after remembering our conversation with Theo. He always tried to see the good in things, "He said he was planning on asking you if he could name her."

Both Elizabeth and Lucius perked up at the sound of that, "He said that?"

"Boy's already been throwing out names," Indulf said with a laugh. "Wanting to know if they're royal enough."

A lot of them sounded more like they came right out of a comic book than the royal family.

The choice was ultimately up to him though, and it was safe to say he was running out of time.

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Theodore pulled at the collar of his white button up shirt as he paced around the area in front of the door separating him from thousands of curious people. He even tugged nervously at the blue sweater he had on over it.

I dropped what I was doing and went to kneel next to him so that we were now eye level. I grabbed his shoulders to hold him in place before cupping his soft cheeks in my hands, "Why are you so nervous, Theo?"

His whole face scrunched up into a pout, just barely able to keep himself together, "There's a lot of people out there, mommy."

"Everything's written out for you," I spoke softly and quietly, "You don't even have to look at the people if you don't want to. It'll only be a couple words and me and your dad will be right next to you. There's nothing to be scared about."

"What if I can't read all the words?"

"We've been over everything together. Nothing new has been added. You practically wrote it yourself, bubs. And..." I poked his nose, "I'll be standing right next to you, so if anything goes wrong, I'll be there."

He still didn't even look slightly calm, but the balcony doors opened and the cheers of thousands of people became all too obvious.

"They're waiting for you, my little Prince," I stood up and grabbed his hand. I could see the people, but Theo was still a tad too short to see over the balcony railing.

Indulf had turned away from the crowd to look at us as we walked outside. There was a podium stationed in the center that wasn't usually there but was today because of the little piece of paper Theodore would be reading off of.

I held his hand as he walked up the stepping stool and only let go as soon as he greeted everyone with a quiet hello into the microphone.

"I've never spoken to any of you before," he said with a shy smile before looking down at the paper in front of him. His eyes weren't there long though and he instead looked back at all the people, "Lord Lucius and Lady Elizabeth let me name their new baby," he said, going completely off script. "Everyone has something called a soul mate, and their daughter is mine," I could see that he had no idea what any of the words meant, he was just relaying the message to everyone else, "I wanted to name her a lot of things but my dad said no to almost all of them," he started laughing and that was when Indulf came up.

"Alright, Theo," he tapped on the piece of paper on the podium, "You're getting a little carried away."

"Sorry," he whispered before his little brown eyes fixated back on the podium. "I, Prince Theodore Henry Indulf, have named the Elmhurst daughter..." He paused to look at his dad for some reason, he almost seemed pleading, like he was regretting his decision. "Starlie Lynn Elizabeth Anne."

It was certainly a unique name.

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This was probably very confusing to a lot of you. I didn't plan on it making a whole bunch of sense right away but if you stick with it, I promise you you'll get some answers.

This is a story I've been working on for a long time and I was actually really nervous to post it because of some of the content.

Sometimes you just gotta be brave though 😂😂