Returning Reign

Chapter 5

The light was poking through the long white curtains causing me to stir awake from my sleep. "Ugh," I groan and head to the bathroom to get ready for the day. I brush my teeth, brush my hair, and I put on some light natural makeup and some deodorant. I walk back into my room and start reading the book about the history of Zemira. The black leather-bound book is quite heavy insinuating it probably has much knowledge to offer.

I recall Ben, the elderly man from the bookshop saying my parents died a long time ago and that they were royal. Hopefully this book has some information on them. I start scrolling through the pages, looking for anything. After skimming the book for almost the entire day, I neared the end of the book. This chapter was titled: Present Day Zemirian Royalty and I start to pay more attention to this section. It showed a picture of the King that I saw this morning. His name is Hugo Laurelli. It showed his family tree and he had a younger brother. I use my finger to follow the line and the name of his brother, Diego Laurelli. My father. There was a line that connected him to his spouse, which was of course, my mother Alice Laurelli.

My uncle is the king.

How could this be? My first instinct was to go tell him I am his niece but there would be many problems with that. First, he would probably not believe me if I told him. Second, can I really trust him? My parents told me to not tell anyone and I will take that very seriously. If they wanted me to tell him they would have told me Hey by the way, your uncle is the King. He can help you. I wasn't even supposed to be in the castle or searching for them in the first place.

My mind was jumbled and I hardly noticed that it was already four in the afternoon. I hear a knock on my door and I jump in startlement. I head to the door and open it only to be greeted by a very excited Lizzy. "I think we should get ready for the ball together!" she walks into my room with makeup bags, and hair styling tools.

"Lizzy, I don't recall agreeing to go to the ball with you," I tell her as I sit on my bed mentally exhausted. It felt like I was living a lie, I mean technically I was.

"Come on Cartia! We will have so much fun and there will be royals from all the kingdoms allied to us." she talks with a shimmering sparkle in her eyes. She really looks like it could be Christmas today.

"I dont know, it's too risky. I just got this job and I don't want to lose it," I ramble nervously.

"Its a masquerade ball no one will ever know," she begs. I honestly don't know why she wants me to go with her. I have nothing against her going by herself. A wave of recklessness comes over me and I let myself surrender to it. I will be wearing a mask and technically I am royal. Plus I really need a break from reading I was starting to get a headache.

"Fine I'll go with you, but I don't have any ball gowns or masks," I tell Lizzy. She suddenly runs out of my room and quickly returns with several large bags. "Lizzy please tell those aren't dead bodies, I playfully tell her to elaborate on the contents of the bags.

"No silly goose! They are ball gowns, I think we're the same size so you should be fine," she opens them all. Beautiful ball gowns are spilling out of the bag and I gasp in awe.

"Lizzy how do you have these?" I shriek and cover my mouth with my hand.

"I forgot to tell you but my mom is a very talented seamstress for royals in Zemira," she explains. "Sometimes she makes me some as gifts, and others get rejected by royals but they were too beautiful to get rid of," I stand there speechless. I mean there is a lot of stuff we both don't know about each other. Lots of secrets too.

"Is this why you wanted to attend the ball so badly?" I ask her with understanding. She nods yes.

"Yes and because when else will I have the occasion to wear these?" Lizzy stumps me with her good reasoning. "When else would we have the opportunity to wear elaborate gowns to a royal ball? Also, because the crown prince will turn eighteen which means his search for a bride will start!" she jumps around.