Forest of Fireflies

Chapter 62

(Daniella's POV, Following morning)

A shuffling of footsteps woke me up from the comfortable slumber that I found myself in. I missed living in the palace and being back in my own bed and own clothes. I described my rooms to my mother and she procured something very similar to what I had. 

Turns out that the shuffling of footsteps belonged to a maid. I groaned and hid under my covers to block out the noise. I believe that she must have gotten the memo, for she left the room almost immediately. My mind drifted off to the cuff on my wrist. I yanked it and as expected, it didn't budge. I need to see Henry.

I preferred my warm bed to the cold air but I was curious about what Henry was up to. I got up and quickly padded to my wardrobe to get a robe. To go to Henry's room, I had to walk down a set of stairs as he did not reside in the royal wing of the palace. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to pass some guards and servants who gave me strange glances. I didn't really care what they thought, but I couldn't help but feel as if I was thrown under the spot light again.

When I reached Henry's room, his door was slightly ajar. As I approached, I heard two voices. The first belonged to my brother. The second belonged to...

I frowned and questioned, "Mother?"

I entered the room to see the Queen towering over Henry, who looked a little frightened. 

"Mama, what are you doing here?"

She turned around and smiled. "I'm just paying your friend a little visit. I couldn't have someone I know nothing about stay so close to us."

I rolled my eyes and gave Henry a glance. "Relax, he's not hiding anything. He's not an assassin." 

Mother continued, "Whilst he seems to be a good boy he doesn't speak much. Is that normal?"

If only he would have kept quiet most of the time in Storybrooke. "Yeah, that's normal."

Mother raised her eyebrows. "How did you two meet?"

I answered in place of Henry and I. "At school. We are in the same class."

"School? So in this future world, I sent you to a boarding school? Isn't your tutor good enough?"

"It's different in Storybrooke. I don't think there's any boarding schools there. Everyone just simply goes to school for the morning and returns in the afternoon."

"You're telling me that you're in a class with the children of peasants?"

I let out a breath, "No, well, yes. But it's not like what you think. There's no social class distinctions in Storybrooke. It's really different there but it's nice."

Mother nodded and turned to face Henry. "And you, my boy. You're of noble blood?"

Henry looked at me and gave my mother a nod. So, she continued, "Who are you parents, dear?"

My heart thumped. I hoped that Henry would say something smart. To my disappointment however, he seemed totally stumped. I frowned. Just say a fairytale couple. Doesn't matter who!

I opened my mouth to speech but luckily, we were interrupted by approaching footsteps. A maid entered the room. She bowed before my mother and I. "Your Majesty, Your Highness, breakfast is served in the dining hall."

When she left, I quickly said to my mother, "I'm hungry, can we go down now?"

Before she nodded and surrounded us with smoke, she narrowed her eyes at Henry. When we arrived in the dining hall, I almost immediately raced to the table. I was very hungry but I knew that if I stuffed myself and got sick, it'd give the servants something to talk about.