Anya

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lara’s POV

   Lara stayed rooted on the windowsill in Anya’s room. She had not moved from the windowsill since Anya disappeared and until her big sister returned back home, she was not going to either.

   She knew she had made mistakes – going to see Darya, the first week Anya had been gone, was one of them – but that did not mean that she did not miss her.

   Whenever she was sad or lonely, or whenever her grandfather had made a hurtful remark, Anya was always there to calm her down and to make her feel better about herself in some of the most simplest ways. She would braid her hair and talk about the previous ball they had attended together with Viktoriya or she would just be there for her to listen.

   And now, she practically had no one. She had barely seen her mother without puffy, red cheeks from crying and it was only her grandmother Olga who gave her any attention and that was because she had to as her training to be the future Queen on Daighte was still going to go ahead.

   It was an odd feeling, knowing that she was now going to be Queen instead of Anya. She had always been second best in her family’s eyes and now she was the important one. She was the one that everyone stared at to make sure she did not fall over and she liked it. She didn’t know how Anya did it so gracefully either; she had fallen over too many times to count already.

   When her grandfather announced that she would in fact be Queen, she was shocked, stunned even, because she had settled herself to just being a Princess all of her life. She never even wanted the job until she started her formal training. Now, she loved it. It was the only thing that got her off of the windowsill during the day and she knew that she should feel guilty about it but she just can’t.

   She is still only settling into the role as she has only been training for a few weeks but she feels like she was born for the role. Even when her father told her not to expect this training to come into practice she enjoys it.

   If Anya comes back alive, which Lara does hope for, she knows that deep down, Anya will be Queen and not her but now she has had a flavour of this life she is not going to get rid of it as easily as she would have at first. Even though Anya was born first and therefore it is her birth right to become Queen, Lara knew that the king was keeping something from the rest of the family, she was sure of it. And that would be good news to her.

   A light knock took her away from looking out into the gloomy sky and towards the heavy, wooden door, expecting a servant to pop their head round.

   “Lara?” Her mother’s soft voice beckoned.

      “Yes mother?” She replied as she stretched her legs out and sat properly on the windowsill, facing her mother at the door.

   “Good, I thought we could have a chat?” She asked and Lara gave her mother a beaming smile and gestured for her to enter immediately. The fact that her mother was acknowledging her was more than enough to make her grin.

   “I would love that,” Lara replied and patted the cushion on the window next to her.

      “Goodness, it is odd sitting on here without your sister,” Katerina mused. “How are you feeling?”

      She shrugged her shoulders and shuffled closer to her mother, feeling the warmth radiate off her like a fire. “Miss her so much,” she admitted gloomily. “She used to always be there for me, you know? I have never gone this long without speaking to her before.”