Her Royal Secret

Chapter 4: Part 2

It was Mum who had shrieked, so loud that she could have raised the dead. The entire Royal guard now stood in the living room and not one person could touch the man who was responsible for the Queen's anguish because he was their future King. I watched their faces as recognition dawned, as they gasped and shook. Some had tears in their eyes, some were frozen in shock, others looked like they just might pass out as I had done. Beside me, Liam stood unmoving and I wasn't sure if he even dared to breathe. His face was drained of blood, his eyes widened to a point that they looked terrifying. I saw him mouthing Robert's name but it was as though any sound refused to leave him. I had never seen Liam looking this stricken and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around my twin.

"Robert." Mum gasped as she neared him and I had to look away in order to contain the emotion in me. No matter what faults she had, I still couldn't even begin to imagine what Mum was feeling right now. After Robert's death, Mum hadn't given herself a lot of time to grieve. She picked herself right up and continued being the Queen everyone expected her to be. But as I watched her shatter and fall apart, watched Robert hold her up as her legs gave way, I was hit with a sudden realization. Her pain, when she lost him was incomprehensible and now, as she watched her eldest child come back from the dead, I couldn't ever come near to feeling the joy that she felt.

But it was a beautiful thing to watch. Even though he looked a little different, a little broken and out of place within the palace, she held Robert close as though nothing had changed.

Liam finally moved from his frozen state next to me, tugging me along as we walked towards our brother. Robert's eyes shone with emotion as he took his family in and as he pulled Liam towards him, embracing him in a tight hug. I knew in my bones that we would be all right.