The King of Stars and Storms

Chapter five

Elizabeth blinked as her eyes tried to adjust to the light and took in the unfamiliar surroundings. She wasn't sure how she got there, then the events of the previous day flooded her memory. Finding out she is the long lost princess, meeting her father and the long journey to the castle and then she remembered that she fell asleep in the carriage so she assumed that someone must have carried her to the room. Elizabeth winced as she sat up. She glanced down and realised that she wasn't in the same clothes she wore when she left the faerie court but rather a nice cotton gown. Elizabeth slid off the bed and headed towards the door. She carefully opened it and peaked her head out, looking left and right, noticing the two guards posted outside her door and the people dressed in fine clothing walking up and down the hall. Elizabeth slipped out of the room and swiftly walked over, careful not to crash into anyone, to the gigantic windows opposite. She glanced outside at the elegant, beautiful garden that lay beneath. Children picking flowers to give to their mothers and young girls huddled in groups gossiping to each other. Elizabeth felt a presence behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see the king standing there. She quickly spun on her heels and bowed. The king put out his hand to stop her. "Please. You don't have to do that." She raised her head to look at him as he stepped closer to her. "Have you had the chance to look around?" He asked. She shook her head. "No. Not yet." Elizabeth spoke softly. "Alright. You can do that later but first, some people are eager to meet you." Elizabeth nodded and started to walk in the direction in which the king was pointing

The rest of the family was in the throne room and Luca was nervously pacing up and down. "What if she doesn't like us? What if she wants nothing to do with us?" He rambled. Mary sighed. "Just calm down. You don't know what she is going to think. And just remember this is going to be nerve-wracking for her as well." She paused. "She just found out that the people who she thought were her family aren't really. So think how hard this must be for her." His only response was to nod. Luca was snapped out of his thoughts when the doors flew open and in walked his father followed by a girl that he didn't recognise but thought looked a lot like him. His mother rose from where she was sitting and let out a gasp placing her hands over her mouth as she spotted the young woman walk in. Gabriel stepped to the side. "Mary, Emily, Luca I would like you to meet Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is my family or should I say the rest of your family." The young woman, who he now knew as Elizabeth, was taken by surprise when Mary tackled her into a hug. Once the surprise wore off she returned the hug. When Mary released the hug, Emily slowly and shyly walked over to her new big sister. "Hello, I'm Emily." She spoke quietly and raised her hand. Elizabeth had a small smile on her face and took Emily's hand and shook it. "Hello, Emily. I'm Elizabeth. But you can call me Lizzie. It's very nice to meet you." Emily finally returned the smile and then launched into Elizabeth's arms. "Okay, Lizzie." Emily then skipped over to where her mother was standing. Elizabeth straightened up and glanced over to Luca and started to walk over to him. She stopped a couple of feet in front of him. "The king told me that I have a twin brother. I guess that's you." Luca nodded. "Yes. My name is Luca. It's great to finally meet you." Elizabeth glanced down at the ground. Luca could tell that she was nervous. "Is it alright if I hug you?" he asked. She glanced up at him and nodded. Luca lent forward and wrapped his arms around her. They pulled back when they heard Gabriel start to speak. "I'm sorry I can't stay for long. I have meetings to attend to." He addressed everyone before turning to Elizabeth. "Maybe we could catch up later on." She said nothing but nodded and with that, the king left the room. Mary walked slowly over to the twins taking Elizabeth's hand in hers. "Would you like to go for a walk?" Elizabeth softly smiled at the older woman and replied, "I would love to."

Elizabeth was strolling, her arm linked with the queen, her new brother walked a little to the side of them and the little princess was up ahead skipping stopping in intervals to gaze at and sell the flowers. She picked a couple, ran up and gave them to Elizabeth. Elizabeth smiled at her, at someone so innocent and carefree, naive to the world outside the walls of the castle. People, men and women, stared at her as they walked past, she put it to who she was walking with or the multiple scars and bruises on her face. Young women gave her jealous stares but giggled when Luca glanced their way. "So what is it that you like to do in your free time?" The queen asked. "I like to read mostly." They found a bench and gently sat down facing each other, Emily still off smelling the flowers and Luca standing by the fountain situated in the middle. Mary brushed her hand over Elizabeth's scars. Elizabeth slowly turned her head away. Mary's face washed with concern. "Who gave these to you?" She asked curiously. Luca walked over to them and crouched down beside his mother. "The faeries did. They were trying to get information out of me." Mary and Luca gave her a look of confusion. "I went barging in there looking for revenge." She carried on. "Revenge for what?" Elizabeth let out a sad sigh. "Five years ago my village was burned down by faeries. For no reason at all." Mary and Luca rapidly looked at each other shocked, something inside them clicked. Mary placed a hand over Elizabeths and used her other hand to wipe the tear that was falling from Elizabeth's cheek. "I'm so sorry. That's awful." Elizabeth nodded and carried on wiping the tears away. She quickly stood up not taking her eyes off the ground. "I have to get a message to my friends, let them know that I'm alright." She said quickly. "Yes of course. I'll get someone to bring paper and ink to your room." Mary replied. "Thank you," Elizabeth spoke, not lifting her eyes from the ground. She quickly bowed and rushed away.

Luca left his mother and started storming down the hall to his father's office. He ignored the guards as he shoved open the doors. There stood the king and his most trusted advisors. The king stared at his son angrily. "I need to talk to you." He paused looking around the room. "Alone. It's important." The king looked around at the other people in the room and nodded. They collected the papers and scattered out the room looking confused. Once everyone had left and the doors were shut, the king stormed up to his son. "What on earth do you think you are doing? You know better than to barge in here when I'm in meetings." He spat and started to walk away. "That was before I heard you had innocent people killed," Luca yelled. The king looked back shocked. "Where did you hear that?" "Elizabeth. Her whole village burned down five years ago by faeries. The same ones you hired to find her." Gabriel walked back up to hi, their faces not so far from each other. "I did what I had to do to find her." The king screamed. "There are better, less bloody ways to find her. All those people didn't have to die." Luca yelled, his voice loud, people could hear it for miles. "For crying out loud. Elizabeth went out looking for revenge that's how they found her. It is because of you all she has known for the past five years is pain and violence." Luca was angry, his blood boiling. He couldn't stand to look at his father anymore so he started for the door but halted when his father started to speak. "You would make the same choices I did so don't act like you are better than me." "I wouldn't kill innocent people." With that he left, looking for a way to calm his anger.

Elizabeth signed off the letter, folded the paper and handed it to the guard. "I need you to get this to the Masters but don't tell anyone." The guard nodded and left. Elizabeth sighed and paced her room. She hoped that the letter would get to them without interruption. She could only imagine what they thought when they got to the court and she wasn't there. She had to let them know that she was alive and well and where she was. She leant against the chair that sat in front of the bay window and glanced up at the sky, she thought back to the time when things were simpler before her parent's death. When she would go out into the forest every day to pick fresh flowers for the dinner table. She smiled at the memory and slid into the chair bringing her knees up to her chest. Elizabeth gazed down at the garden below her and spotted Luca walking hand in hand with a beautiful young woman with long wavy golden hair and smiled at how happy they looked. She felt guilty at how she left things with him and Mary earlier but she hated crying in front of people, especially people that she had just met. Elizabeth didn't move when servants brought in clean clothes and washcloths, she just nodded in acknowledgement

After the hostile confrontation with his father, the only thing Luca could think of that would calm him down was Aurora. He stood outside her door for a while before knocking. She opened the door ajar and poked her head out from behind it. "Luca." She had a big smile on her face but it so switched with a look of worry when she looked him up and down noticing his fist clenched angrily. She steps out from behind it and came face to face with him. "Are you alright? You seem angry." Aurora rubbed her hands up and down his biceps in hopes to get him to calm down. "I just got into an argument with my father over his search for Elizabeth." Her hands landed on his cheeks. "Should we go for a stroll?" She asked softly. He nodded. "Alright. Give me a moment." With that, she disappeared back into her room only to reappear a few minutes later. "Let us go." She gave him a small smile in which he returned.

They strolled through one of the many gardens the castle had to offer. "That's horrible. Does she know that your father is the one behind it?" Luca had told Aurora all that he knew. "No at this moment in time she still believes that the faeries were acting of their own accord." Aurora nodded. "Are you going to tell her?" "I want to but I don't know if she'll believe that the rest of us had any inkling about it. I don't want to lose her." Aurora sighed stopping in her tracks. Luca stopped a few feet ahead of her and spun around to face her. "I know you just met her and that you don't want to lose her again but you will lose her for good if you don't tell her the truth. So it's in both of your best interests to tell her what you know and let her make her own choices." He sighed. He knew in his heart that she was telling the truth. "How is it that you always know what to say?" "Because I'm amazing." They both chuckled lightly.

ⒸSashabarrow1999