The Ducal Palace of Darmstadt was an artistic wonder compared to the Munich Residenz, according to Gabri.
But it was really under surveillance. Four guards were in the main door.
Gabri's mind was thinking how they were going to get in. Using their titles was the plan but will they believe them? Sophie was sure known in all the continent. She remembered when her mother told her about the newborn with the tiara, to remark that that baby was the Danish princess.
In her case, she could just try. She just hoped to be similar to her parents' looks.
The difficult thing was Alexei. Will the Grand Duke believe that Alexei is his nephew who happened to come back from the dead? Or he won't? She hoped for the first.
Her eyes caught a little orange glow coming from her pocket. The communication rune. She took it out.
"What's that?" Sophie asked
"An Atlant communication method" Gabri replied and looked into the rune.
A few words in Atlant language appeared. "Where are you? Alexander is planning to send someone to the palace to inform the Grand Duke and we chose you" Gabri read
She whispered the reply words in Atlant language into the rune "We're already in the palace. Tell Pavel we'll inform him" She looked to the other two "Seems we've to get into the palace. They were going to send us here"
"Okay" Sophie said "When do we get in?"
"Now" Alexei said calmly "I'm awfully bored here" Gabri shot him a gaze of disapproval. Alexei smirked.
They headed to the door.
"Who are you? Identify yourselves or you'll be shot" One of the guards said. The other three had their guns, ready to shot.
"I'm Gabrielle Wittelsbach, Grand Princess of Bavaria" Gabri pronounced, but the title sounded weird for her "We've come with the rebels to inform the Grand Duke of our arrival"
The guard who'd pronounced the order, looked to the others "Alright, you can get in. I'll inform the Grand Duke to come out and welcome you, Your Grand Ducal Highness of Bavaria" He bowed and got inside. The three youngsters followed him.
Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse was looking through the window to the cloudy sky of outside. His two sons, Georg and Louis, were receiving lessons from their English tutor. By his side, Eleonore, his second wife, was looking at him, worried. She knew how many tragedies her husband had gone through in just two decades. She took a deep breath.
"Are you okay, Liebe?" she asked, knowing the answer beforehand.
"You know I'm not" he said
Eleonore was going to say something but a guard irrumped in the room and the words died in the Grand Duchess' throat.
"Your Grand Ducal Majesties, the Grand Princess of Bavaria has come with two youngsters to inform you. She has been sent by the rebels" The guard said, bowing.
"Okay, thank you, Mertens" Eleonore said "I'll welcome them" She got up
"I'll go too" Ernest was about to get up
"No need to, Liebe" She said "I'm sure it'll be nothing important. They're just notifying us of their arrival"
"Alright" He said, while the woman left the room, following the guard.
The three youngsters had been told to wait in a green living room. They had sat down in the couch and were waiting for the Grand Duke in silence.
Alexei moved his fingers nervously and swirled his hair strand. A little part of him wanted to run away. A little part of him that didn't want to meet his past. He felt Gabri's hand suddenly over his, trying to stop them from moving. He took a deep breath.
"What's behind this?" Sophie said and pulled a black cloth that was covering something in the wall.
"No, Sophie!" Gabri said
The black cloth rested in the floor. It revealed a picture. It showed a couple with six children, five girls and a boy.
"Who are those?" Sophie asked
Alexei and Gabri stared at the picture. Gabri was sure that the couple wasn't the Grand Duke and his wife. They also hadn't that many children.
"Who has taken the cloth off?" A slightly angry female voice said
The three turned and saw an elegant middle-aged woman.
"Your Grand Ducal Majesty..." Gabri's voice trailed off, recognising the Grand Duchess of Hesse.
"Who?" she asked again
Sophie raised her shaking hand "M-Me. I-I was just cu-curious" her voice shaked
The woman looked at her in slight stern disapproval that disappeared in some seconds. She walked and grabbed the cloth
"I'm sorry for my reaction" The Grand Duchess apologised "This picture is pretty emotional for my husband"
"I suppose, Your Grand Ducal Majesty" Sophie said "May I ask why?"
The Grand Duchess looked at the picture "It's my husband's family. Just two people of this picture are currently alive. Including him"
Alexei kept his gaze in the picture. If those were the Grand Duke's siblings, two of them had to be his aunt Elizabeth and his mother. His legs shivered, he clenched his fists, closed his eyes and took a deep breath while opening them. The Grand Duchess looked at him.
"Is something wrong with him?" The Grand Duchess asked Gabri
"No" Gabri said "He just..." She thought what to say "went through a family tragedy when he was a child"
"Alright, I understand" The Grand Duchess said
Alexei turned his gaze to them, realizing he had said no word since the Grand Duchess' arrival.
"Good evening, Your Grand Ducal Majesty" Alexei bowed
"Good evening" The Grand Duchess said
"The Grand Duke isn't coming, Your Grand Ducal Majesty?" Sophie asked
"Well, he's a bit melancholic. That's why I decided to come in his place" The Grand Duchess explained "but we can go see him"
The three teens followed the Grand Duchess.
Eleonore was walking slowly, she didn't want to disturb her husband but it was necessary. Meanwhile, she was stablishing conversation with the two girls. Yeah, they just wanted to notify them their arrival.
She looked to the boy. He was like living in another universe in silence.
Ernest Louis was still looking through the window when his wife called him. He saw her in her ordinary elegant self. After her, he recognised the Grand Duke of Bavaria's daughter, but grown up and with longer hair. The other blonde girl was cute and seemed familiar to him.
But who caught his attention was the boy at the back. His brownish blonde hair, his greyish blue eyes... Where had he seen that? He knew where and who but... It seemed unreal. It couldn't... But it was.
He got up and went towards the teens.
"Good evening, Your Grand Ducal Majesty" Both girls said nearly at the same time. But the Grand Duke didn't pay attention to them. Gabri noticed it and smiled in her inside, he recognised him.
Alexei had also noticed it and was fighting hard not to take a step behind and ran far, far away from here.
His eyes fixed his uncle's, who was looking at him like he was a ghost. But he understood it, after all. It was seeing someone coming back from death.
"Alexei?" The Grand Duke asked "Is it really you?"
YOU ARE READING
Believe in Revolution ©
Historical Fiction{Fictional History/Fantasy AU} What if World War I never happened and instead, it was just an European war, the Great War? What if the French Revolution had been the only triumphant revolution against the absolutist monachies? What if the Bolshevik...
