ABDUCTED: HOW THEY MET (bwwm)(completed)(EDITING)

CHAPTER 34 * Wedding bells

XERIS' POV

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked her.

"How long were you going to keep it hidden from me? Were you ever going to tell me?"

I looked at the face of the woman in front of me. The face that I had long forgotten. She still looked the same, save for a few grey strands in her hair. I sat in her office, Bulba's office.

No, Anala's office.

My Nala.

She had on her signature poker face, not saying anything.

"For years, I thought they had killed you because of me. And then I heard you were sent to the southern lands. How are you here?"

Still she wouldn't talk to me. She kept on looking at me.

"I do not know what you are talking about, your highness. Maybe you have me confused for someone else."

Why won't she admit she's Nala?

"Are you being watched? Has mother put someone to monitor you? Is that why you cannot talk freely?" I gave suggestions.

"Your highness, I am not..."

"I know it is you," I stood up and approached her with tears in my eyes. "No one else calls me Leb." I knelt before her and grabbed her hand and lay it on my cheek.

"Your highness, please get up."

She didn't pull her hand back.

"Do you hate me for what happened to you? Is that why you won't talk to me?" my voice cracked.

"I could never hate you, Leb," she finally admitted it, even if she did not say who she was.

When Victoria was missing and we found her, she shouted my name, Leb. She did the same to reassure me that she would wake up. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time because I was so worried about Victoria. But after, I started thinking about and couldn't stop until I knew the truth.

The tears that had been gathering finally spewed over, "then why didn't you tell me? All these years, I forgot what you looked like. I'm sorry I forgot what you looked like. I couldn't find any portrait of you, mother destroyed everything of you. I tried to keep you in my memory, but I failed. I'm so sorry Nala." I was sobbing now, her with me.

"Hush now, Leb. A prince should never show his tears to anyone," she softly reprimanded.

"You are not just anyone," I reminded her as another sob escaped me.

She got up and knelt down before me and gathered me in her arms.

"You're so small now. You used to be much bigger than me. When did you get so small?" I asked.

"You grew up while I stayed the same."

"Where have you been Nala?" I had to know, "what happened after you left me? How are you here, and as a doctor?"

"I will tell you everything, let us get off the floor first."

We stood up and she reached up to wipe my tears away but more replaced them, "it really is you."

She smiled at me lovingly and then led me to a seat. She sat next to me.

"When her majesty caught on, she approached me and reprimanded me for breaking the rules, but not too harshly. She wanted to see for herself. So, she hid in your chambers and waited for you to come back from your lessons. I thought I could somehow get you aware of the situation, but you were too young."