Short of History: A Collection of Short Stories

ROYAL PT.2

Standing, frozen in her place, Charlotte stares at Prince Derek in shock. She doesn't know what to say so her mouth just hangs open in awe. "Charlotte?" Someone calls. She looks at who called her name, and it was William, standing next to the Prince. Well, it is his job. Charlotte's thoughts were always kind of sassy. "You probably already know this, but this is Prince Derek Rand-" Charlotte cuts him off.

"Randolph Montgomery III," she finishes whispering. Letting her arm fall from Henry's, she curtsies and says, "Your Highness."

"Oh, please my dear, there's no need for pleasantries. You're royalty." The prince replies.

"T-There must be a mistake, I was born to common folk. My parents died in a car crash when I was a baby. I was adopted and raised by my wonderful mother and father who found me on their doorstep. There's no way I am royalty," Charlotte rants. Utterly confused, she looked to the Prince waiting for him to respond.

"Charlotte, you're the lost princess," he says, gesturing behind the girl to a portrait of the late King and Queen and their baby daughter, Peony. "Just look at the late Queen Clara. Charlotte, you look exactly like her. You are the lost princess."

Charlotte looks at the portrait with a careful eye, looking closely at the features of the late Queen. "Oh my god," she whispers. It's uncanny. She thinks. Speaking up, she directs her question toward the prince. "But how? The whole country thought that the royal family, save for you, died. Wait does that mean... are you my brother?" She looks up at him, tears welling in her eyes, only to find that he's in the same state as her.

"Yes, dear sister, you're finally home." He opens his arms for a hug. Charlotte feels the urge to run into them, but refrains, not knowing what to do. "Right, you don't know me," he sighs. "Well, everyone did think you died with Mother and Father. While I was having my lessons, Mother and Father wanted to take you out and show you the kingdom, but alas fate had different plans."

"Okay, but how did you find me? H-how did you know that I was the princess?" I ask urgently.

"Once a month William sends one of his men down to country security, who controls all traffic cameras, security cameras, etc. It just so happened that you were in the exact right spot to be in the monitor William was looking at. He recognized you as our mother, but of course that was impossible. So we looked through the records and found that on the sight of the wreck, there were only three bodies found, all adult. There was no record of an infant's there." Charlotte takes in what he says and lets sink in. After a moment, she shudders out a breath.

"You found me..."