Chapter 13

The rest of the evening passes in a blur. We talk for a little longer before I tell Persephone that I'm going to collapse if I don't go to bed. She walks me to my room and as soon as my head touches the pillow, I'm out.

For the first time in years, I don't have any nightmares and I only wake up as I hear a voice.

"Your majesty, are you awake?"

I grumble internally, but open my eyes. A woman in her mid-twenties stands at my bedside.

I slowly sit up. "I am now. Can you tell me what time it is?"

"Terribly sorry to wake you, my lady, your mother likes a word with you before breakfast. And to answer your question, it's 8:30 AM."

I'm instantly awake. "Is it already that late? I never sleep this long."

"You don't have to worry, my lady, it's still fairly early." She smiles at me. "Let's just get you dressed, shall we."

She leads me into the wardrobe and picks out a beautiful light blue dress.

"It's beautiful," is all I can say.

Putting the dress on was a bit awkward. The woman insisted on helping me to put the dress on, though I could do it myself just fine. In the end, I just stop arguing and let her dress me. The dress fits me perfectly, and its light color suits my skin tone just right.

"Thanks," I say but she holds up a hand.

"We're far from done, my lady. Just follow me." She walks towards a huge mirror with a dresser and chair in front of it and gestures for me to sit down. I sit down and as she works on my hair I start asking questions.

"If I may ask, what's your name?"

"I'm called Jewel, my lady."

"No need to call me that, Jewel. You may call me Em, everyone calls me that."

"I'd rather not, my lady, if it's all the same to you. Your mother wouldn't be pleased if I were to call you by your name. It would be disrespectful."

I look at Jewel through the mirror. "Jewel," She looks at me through the mirror, and seeing the look in her eyes, I decide to drop the subject. "Do you have any idea why the- my mother would want a word with me?"

"I'm afraid not, my lady. All I was told was to make you look beautiful, but I don't have to do much for that." She smiles at me through the mirror as she finishes putting my hair into an intricate braid. "Just a few finishing touches and then you're good to go."

She puts a little makeup on my face and lastly, she picks up a tiara. It's smaller than the crown Persephone showed me yesterday but it's still a little overwhelming when she puts it on my head.

"Are you sure I can't do without this?" I ask her, pointing at the tiara.

"I was told specifically not to leave the tiara out. Now, off you go, there's a guard outside your door who will take you to your mother," Jewel says as she shoos me out the door.

Walking out the door, I almost bump into a guy standing in front of the entrance with his back to me.

"Pardon me, your majesty," he says quickly before I have time to speak. "I wasn't paying attention."

"It's alright, neither was I."

"It was totally my fault, your majesty. I should have-" I hold a hand out just like I've seen Jewel do just a few minutes ago.

"Let's just agree this never happened, okay. Because I don't think we are going to agree on whose fault this was." I pause for a moment as the guard nods. "Jewel said you would bring me to my mother, so shall we?"

The guard holds out his arm and I take it. We walk through a labyrinth of halls before arriving at a big door. The guard knocks three times before I hear a voice say, "Come in."

Silently, the guard opens the door for me and announces me before stepping aside. I walk into the room which seems to be a library. Around one of the tables sits a group of people. As I walk closer I see my mother and Persephone sitting with two men. The one sitting next to my mother seems to be in his fifties while the man next to him seems to be twenty at most.

"Gemma," my mother says as she points to the seat between Persephone and the young man. "May I introduce Gregor Eswich, governor of Liragen, and its prince, Landon Ethan Richard. Gentlemen, this is my daughter, Gemma Estella Clarissa, princess of Alemea and heir to its throne."

I look at Persephone silently asking her why those men are here. All she does is shrug and turn away.

"I do not wish to sound disrespectful, my queen," prince Landon starts speaking, asking the question that was on my mind the moment I walked into the room. "But why have you invited us?" Even as he says this, his eyes never leave my face, causing me to blush and look away, though I can still feel his gaze.

"Governor Eswich, as you might remember our countries have come to an understanding when Gemma was born," Mother starts.

I get the bad feeling I know what she means by that.

"I certainly do, your majesty," the governor answers.

"When Gemma disappeared many years ago that understanding was jeopardized. Now Gemma has returned to us, I see no reason not to continue on the path we started to walk all those years ago."

The governor smiles, but it's not a sweet smile, it looks more like a cat when it catches a mouse. "Your majesty, I am very happy for you that you have found your daughter and I do not doubt for one moment that this is in fact your daughter, but the king is not that easily persuaded. That is why he sent me to gather the evidence to back up this claim."

Mother smiles a humorless smile. "I would have expected no less of a great king such as him. You are free to ask anything you want."

"So, Miss," he says, turning to me. "What name do you go by these days?"

"Em," I say immediately. "Though some people call me Gemma."

"And how old are you?"

"I will be eighteen in a few months."

"Where is your family?"

This is a tricky question, what should I say? I see Persephone and Mother looking at me, a hopeful look in their eyes. I take a deep breath. "Frankly, I don't know. I don't seem to remember anything up to ten years ago. So I can't be sure, though I do seem to have dreams about this place and recurring images about certain people. I can't tell you for sure if I really am the princess or not, I already told Persephone and the queen that. But they seem quite certain that I am the princess and I'm not one to doubt them."

There is just one more question I'd like to ask," the governor says after a moment of silence. "May I look at your shoulder blade?"

I nod and stand up. He walks towards me and examines my back. As he finds what he's looking for he walks back to his seat and sits down heavily.

"I do believe you are right, your highness. I shall contact the king saying that the missing princess has been found and advise him to further the preparations." He looks at me and Prince Landon. "The prince and your daughter will be wed as soon as she comes off age."