Flashbacks

The entire span of thirteen years of Victoria Mary's life flashed in front of her. Which to her seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds.

She saw her father and mother being insufferably lovesick, her grandfather giving her overly large and warm hugs. She heard her groans at the dad jokes. Who knew King George V, the monarch of England makes a ridiculous amount of dad jokes. She saw her schedule filled up to the brim, her meeting with possible future finances and her temper tantrum. She saw her youngest brother, John's condition. It saddened her but to this day nothing could be done about it.

Having grown up the only girl among brothers, Mary was a full-fledged tomboy. She was an excellent horsewoman and far too athletic and fond of walking to like wearing high heels. She saw her brothers joining her in pranks. Oh yes, princess royal was a prankster, alright. All in all, Isobel liked Mary.

Jayden was not having the same luck. Edward's personality presents a puzzling contradiction. On one hand, he was a royal prince with all the sense of entitlement and superiority which that implied. On the other, his memories show he was beset from his early youth by the feeling he was not worthy of the role into which he had been born. What he could tell was that he was egotistical, a playboy, and selfish but he was also very vulnerable. Being the oldest sibling and the future crown holder just put so much pressure over him by others that he was drowning.

So, he did what teenagers do. He rebelled.

Though one thing he was certain about. If Isobel is right and he renounced the throne. It wasn't just because of his mistress. He saw a way out and he went with it.

In those few seconds, she absorbed every skill that Mary had made her immediately straighten her back and stand with such poise and grace she didn't know was possible. And Jayden absorbed Edward's biting tongue. No wonder he got into trouble, Edward's wit was dry and harsh.

Isobel looked in front of her, the woman she now realized was their mother. She couldn't believe she didn't see that. The authority and power were radiating off the woman. She was strict and prim but she had a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Standing before them was Mary of Teck.

"And where were both of you?" she said in a stern voice.

"Out for a walk, mother," Isobel replied in her soft voice that always got her out of trouble.

"I was with her," Jayden said, in order to help the situation.

Mary just pressed her lips in a thin line. "That's what I was more worried about," she said. "You haven't really been very promising now have you?" she added dryly.

Jayden stiffen. Did his mother really think Edward would let anything happen to his sister? He just shook his head and sighed.

"You know your father is to take the throne next month, do you think your incompetency to follow basic sets of rules are helping him? Do you Edward?" Mary asked.

Isobel just squeezed Jayde's hand. Mary had called him Edward instead of David. Everyone at home called him David.

Jayden just hung his head and shook it. This wasn't the first she had said it to David and this won't be the last. The fact that she didn't call him David hurt but it was out of his control. He was merely borrowing the body for some time; he couldn't do anything about Edward's life. Not to mention changing the timeline could put an adverse effect on their mission.

Mary pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn't want to deal with so many things today. "Go to the crimson room and wait, we'll go to the chapel for the ceremony soon."

Both of them nodded and Mary went to look for some Dubonnet. She needed some in her system right now.

Luckily for Isobel and Jayden, they were in the round tower and wouldn't have to walk much. They took the flight of stairs close to the engine court and went up.

She was not liking the castle very much as it seemed to be never-ending. Only the walk to the Garter's throne room had taken them over five minutes, mostly because she was dragging Jayden who wanted to explore the place. She couldn't reality blame him because the place was absolutely beautiful with its tapestries, the armours, the glam, the intricate designs on walls and ceiling in gold. But she could blame him so she did.

He was behaving like the immature brat that he was and the fact that nothing wrong or out of place feeling was received by her was getting on her nerves. She just wanted to be done with, she didn't want to be here longer than needed.

Walking down the gallery where the dolls were kept was even harder because Jayden wanted to touch everything.

And she meant everything.

Even the small books in the bookshelf of the dollhouses.

Finally, they were getting closer and containing Jayden from running away like a little child was getting harder. There was something seriously wrong with the guy and he probably needed medical assistance this very moment. He was even more ridiculous than a child and when she had snapped at him and asked him to stop behaving like a five-year-old his response was…

"But I am this much," he said, pushing four fingers in front of her face.

She could tell you what happened next but you can very well guess. She smacked him so hard upside the head that it rang through the hallway of the octagon dining room.

She regretted it then. Because now she had her hands full with a pouting and sulking man. Finally walking across the state dining room, they reached the crimson drawing-room.

Isobel nearly wept in joy when she reached there. She no longer had to drag a pouting, sulking, filled up to to the brim with curiosity and an overly excited boy. That's something she could live with. Dragging someone who was two heads taller than you and twice your size wearing a really, really tight bodice was not something she would recommend you to do. Especially when even the breathing was tough. Mary had some good muscles on her thirteen-year-old frame though.

She threw the gates open and everyone in the room turned to look at them.