Lost Royalty

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The members of the Mason family were all very close with each other. The siblings seemed to be the best of friends. Most people found this surprising as being royals they have many duties to take on. But no matter how busy he was, the King insisted on having a family dinner every evening.

The King, Jonathan Mason, was sat at the head of the table. He was a very influential and powerful figure to most people, but to his children he was simply a loving father.

His own father had been distant and even cruel at times, so he had made a promise to himself that he would be different.

Opposite to the king sat the queen. Penelope Mason had been a princess of a neighbouring Kingdom, but an arranged marriage had meant that she had to marry Jonathan. It had all turned out well as they had fallen in love, and lived happily ever after.

The children, all 5 of them, were sat along the sides of the table.

Oliver, the youngest boy at 12 years old, was sat in between his two sisters.

Sophia, being just 11 years old, sat closest to her mother, and Rachel at 17, sat closest to her father. Across the table were Daniel and Andrew.

There was an empty seat next to Daniel. It had been Elizabeth's seat, and was now left as an empty reminder of her.

Sophia had been just 2 years old when Eliza, for that was her shortened name, went missing. She had no memories at all of her sister, and found it very difficult when they spoke about her.

She had always been told that she looked just like Eliza. People always said that they had the same dark hair and bright blue eyes. Meeting her sister is something that Sophia had always dreamt about.

Andrew, who was 19, noticed Sophia looking at their sisters' empty chair. He smiled softly at her, but she didn't see him. She was so stuck in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice the sad glance passed between her parents, or the shadow that covered Danny's face.

"Don't worry, Sophia," The king began, "We're still searching for her and we are going to find her."

"What if you don't find her?" Sophia asked, in such a quiet voice that it was difficult to catch.

"I don't know," he replied, his face suddenly looking 20 years older. "I don't even want to think about it."

"What was she like?" Sophia asked. She had been told stories before, but never much. Whenever they talked about Eliza, Sophia was not part of the conversation.

"She looked just like you," The queen said, with a sad smile on her face, "But I think she would have been taller. She was always a tiny bit taller than Danny, even when they were babies."

"She always liked stories. She used to ask me to read her a book almost every day. We actually ran out of stories that I had to start coming up with them myself." Andrew said, chuckling slightly at the memory.

"We always used to go and visit the horses together with Mother. The boys would be running around, but Eliza was much too gentle for their rough play so she always used to drag us to the stables." Rachel added.

The conversation about young Elizabeth continued, and soon they were telling each other memories.

"Do you remember the time that Danny and Eliza were caught sneaking pie out of the kitchen? They must have been about 5 or 6, and they had pie all over their faces," The king said, laughing slightly.

"How could I forget?" The queen asked. "It took so long to clean them up. There was pie in her hair. She never actually said where they were taking the rest of that pie."

"We were taking it to a cat we had found. It had just had kittens and Eliza thought that it looked hungry. We didn't tell you because we were afraid that you would get rid of them." Danny said, still not looking up from the table. He usually remained quiet in these conversations.

"She always wanted to do what was right," The queen said, smiling at Danny. He sent her a very small smile back.

"Was she as naughty as Danny?" Oliver asked.

"No, she was always the quiet and well behaved one."

The talk of Eliza continued for a while, until the representatives from all of the villages arrived back for the night.

Oscar Pavey was the one who brought back the news to the family every evening, after he had spoken with the other men.

"Any news?" the king asked when he walked in.

The hopeful looks on all of the Mason children's faces were heart breaking, and it made it difficult to tell them that there was nothing new.

"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.

"Thank you Oscar," he said and Oscar turned away and left.

"I'm going to bed," Danny said, leaving before he was properly dismissed.

The mood had gotten heavy again, and even the queens' shoulders were drooping.

"There is always tomorrow," she said, a hopeful look on her face.

Their lives had all been filled with hope recently with the new and thorough search going on, and they were getting tired of waiting for something that they all secretly believed wasn't coming back.

"I think I will go and check on Danny," Rachel muttered, as she too got up to leave.

When she had reached Danny's room, she knocked on the door 5 times. It had been their secret knock for years, so he would know that it was her.

"Come in," Danny called. He was sat on the window seat, looking out over the gardens.

Rachel went and sat next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. This was all it took for Danny's tears to begin to fall.

"I just wish they would find her," he cried, hugging his older sister.

"I know," Rachel said, as a few of her own tears had escaped.

Rachel and Danny had become very close after Eliza had disappeared. Danny found it difficult to be around Sophia, as she reminded him so much of Eliza, but Rachel had lighter hair and hazel eyes, which was quite the opposite.

"Thanks Rach," he said, as Rachel pulled away.

"Any time," she replied as she left him to just his thoughts.

He just wanted his twin sister back so badly. It felt like part of him was missing without her there, and he really wanted to get it back. He looked up out of his window and at the stars in the sky.

He waited for a shooting star, and when he saw one he closed his eyes and made a wish.

'I wish for Eliza to come back' he thought, and opened his eyes.

A/N- what do you think?

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