The Prince's Fiancée | ✔

Chapter 47

Chapter 47 is dedicated to aribbyy and carrieobrien19 and averyrobert

Thank you for your support ❤
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My breath caught in my throat as I stared at her.

“But how?” I breathed. “You don’t even know who my mother is. There could be a million Isabelles in Meryllia.”

“Yes, there could be. But you are the spitting image of her,” she said softly. “Her daughter’s name is also Elizabeth.”

I sank into the chair across from her. “Can you tell me the address you both lived at?”

“That was years ago,” she murmured. “But I haven’t forgotten. It was 1008th Zelda Avenue, right across from a small park where we’d go to feed the ducks on Sundays.” Her eyes turned glossy as they stared at the wall behind me, lost in timeless memories.

The address was right. That was where I’d gone with Kevin today. Only, now, there were no more houses, and there were no more parks to feed ducks. It had been reformed into a corporate jungle.

“How did you find me?” she asked, leaning forward as if to hear me better.

“I didn’t,” I frowned. “I just wanted to see the library. I didn’t expect you to be here. I don’t have any memories from before the accident.”

“I see.” Her eyes drifted to Kevin again.

“You said he was special?” I asked, remembering her earlier question.

“I don’t know what to call it,” she murmured. “I thought maybe he was like that wretched King Caden. He gives off a similar vibe.”

Kevin tensed at that and she hurriedly apologized.

“I meant no offence. I can tell you’re not evil like he is. It’s just that the king terrifies me,” she said, touching her head. “He can cause pain without touching you.”

“It works on you?” Kevin frowned. “When did he do it?”

“Years ago,” she sighed. “When he managed to find out where I was hiding. I thought I was about to die.” She let out a shaky breath. “He approached me again, about three years ago, saying you wanted to see me, but I was so scared.”

A tear slipped down her cheek, which she hastily brushed away. She looked away from us with a long sigh. “I wanted to see you, Elizabeth. But I didn’t want to get more involved with him than I had to. I figured since you were so important to him, he wouldn’t hurt you even if I refused. I’m so sorry.”

With that she broke down into sobs. I stared at the floor, not knowing what to say to her. She must have been frightened to have encountered me again like this.

I settled on an “It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” she said, blowing her nose in a handkerchief. “I should have been there for you in Isabelle’s place. We were supposed to escape together that night. But he got to her before we could meet up.” Her eyes glistened as she took my hand in hers. “Oh, you look so much like her, my dear Elizabeth.”

She wrapped me in a tight hug and I hugged her back. I closed my eyes, inhaling her subtly familiar smell. At least I still had her. My aunt, the only biological link to my mother I had left.

Since I’d heard she was alive, I sometimes wondered what it would be like to meet her. How did she look? What did she sound like? What did she like?

Now I knew. She had hair that was the same dark brown color as mine with deep brown eyes. She sounded like an ancient melody floating around inside my head without a tether. She liked books as much as did.

I sniffed as she leaned away from me, still holding me by the shoulders, studying every inch of my face as if I would vanish into thin air if she looked away.

“You’ve grown up beautifully, Elizabeth-” Her voice broke and she violently dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “Our little baby is all grown up now. If only Isabelle could see the woman you’ve become.”

I smiled and she wiped my cheek with her thumb before standing up. She went to a bookshelf and removed a yellow book, bound with a leather cord. I almost expected another secret passageway to appear.

“I’ve kept this for many years,” she said, returning to her place beside me.

“A book?”

“Not just the book.”

She took out a sheet of white paper. An envelope. The edges were lined with brown and she clutched it reverently with both hands. "This is the only picture I have left of your mum."

My aunt opened the envelope carefully and pulled out a photograph. I gasped as I stared at the woman in the picture. I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up then. She was young and beautiful. She had the same brown hair my aunt and I had, and her eyes were expressive, kind and luminous. The colour of rich dark chocolate. And her smile…

“You do look a lot like her,” Kevin smiled.

I traced my fingers along the picture, almost wishing I could reach in and take her out. She looked so happy, so exuberant. I could almost remember her smile as she kissed me goodnight and I could faintly remember her holding a book. I had never felt so frustrated about not having my memories than in this moment.

I wanted so much to remember her, it hurt.

“Seeing you again reminds me so much of her. You can keep it,” my aunt said gently, smiling at the picture of her sister. “It belongs to you now.”

“Thank you.”

She nodded. “Your mum was one in a million. She always spoke her mind and was a force to be reckoned with,” she chuckled. “Her head was always buried in a book and she had a heart of gold. Everyone loved her.”

She slipped another envelope out of the book and carefully opened it to reveal a sheet of paper. “This letter was from your mum, rest her soul.”

“My mother?” I asked, leaning closer.

“She wrote it to me during her pregnancy. She didn’t tell anyone else in the world, but she told me.”

“What did she say?” I asked, my curiosity bubbling up like a kettle on a stove.

“She told me who your father was.”

My father? Not even the king knew anything about him. He’d crossed my mind a few times. He was an enigma. My aunt and my mom both had brown eyes and slightly tan skin. My skin was a little lighter than theirs and my eyes were blue. My guess was that they were inherited from him.

I slipped the letter out of the envelope, allowing my eyes to glide over my mother’s smooth, ornate, cursive handwriting. I drank the words in, finally putting the last puzzle piece into place. After I’d burned the curve of her letters into my mind, I folded it and slipped it back into the envelope.

Well, that was certainly interesting. Now, I knew who my biological father was, but I'd never heard of him before.

My aunt cocked her head in curiosity when I didn’t say anything. “You don’t have any questions about him?”

I shook my head. “I have more than enough answers already.”

“You really are Isabelle’s child.” She smiled, wrapping an arm around my waist.

I stared into the burning embers of the fireplace and then let the envelope fall. The flames licked at it and it crumpled away slowly before dissolving into ash. And just like that, the last mystery of my life before the accident was solved. I smiled.
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Hey lovelies! Thanks for reading!

Dorothy is Elizabeth's aunt! And she gave her some information about her past.

Should Dorothy be forgiven for keeping her distance from Elizabeth? Was her fear of the king understandable?

Do you want to see the letter Isabelle wrote to Dorothy? Or should the identity of Elizabeth's father remain a mystery?

Leave a comment and a vote❤
See you in the next chapter!