The Hunted Royalty

Chapter 7

I stare out my window, as the ground comes into view below me. "Landing in 10 minutes." calls the pilot over the intercom. Earlier today Aunt Katelyn texted me instructions for after I land. She told me to go and act like I'm part of a tour group for the palace, then when they go inside and ask for a idea tag, to show them a text from Aunt K, and they'll let me in. Then she will meet me upstairs in the 3rd room to the right. When we land I cruize through security again and the second I walk outside the castle is so near that I can walk it. So I decide to walk instead of paying for a cab. As I'm walking, my hands start to shake and my lower lip quivers. This is it, I think to myself, this is the moment where I find out the truth. The tour group seems to look like it's already in the middle and it seems fairly large so I run up and quietly stand in the back. Today I decided to wear jeans, a white shirt, and a leather jacket. My brown blonde hair lays long down my back. As people start to line up at the front door of the palace, I pull out my phone and bring up the text. Let's hope this work. When I put my phone where the guy can see, he looks me dead in the eye, and waves to of his fingers the opposite way he waved the others in the tour group. I duck my head and quickly walk up the stairs and count off the doors. One. Two. Three. I take a second and stair at the door in disbelief, I take one deep breath and push down on the handle. Aunt Katelyn is pacing back and forth, and lifts her head when she sees me come in. I close the door behind me and before walking two steps, Aunt Katelyn runs over to me and hugs me so tight. Some tears fall down her face and she says "I love you" over and over again. We finally pull back from our embrace and walk over to sit on the bed.

She takes a deep breath, "Okay, lets get this started." I nod, and she starts, "I was already married when you were born. Around that time I was told it would be impossible to have any children, so your mother made an agreement, the first child she had would count as my own. That child would be destined to take the throne when they come of age. Which so happens to be you. When your uncle, not my husband, found out, he left a note. Threatening to kill the entire royal family if you would were not killed. When my mother in law was near him, he decided to take his chance at killing her. He succeeded and used her as a warning to everyone else. So when your mother died in the car crash when you were 13, your dad used that as a way to tell you other uncle that both you and Darian were dead. He believed that for a little while be he later sent a letter to me and he told that he saw you walking down the street and that he was searching for you."

"Well he must be getting real close because he found my dad." My eyes start to tear up.

"Melina, I'm so sorry about that. Trust me, if I could go back in time and never make that agreement with your mother to save you from an awful life, trust me I would."

I swallow. "Aunt K, what age is, 'come of age' mean?" I have a bad feeling.

She swallows and takes a deep breath "16."

"I turn 16 in 6 days." What am I supposed to do.

"Well there's two choices. Either we hide you until your coronation and not be able to guarantee your safety for the rest of you life, or," she trails off.

I whisper, "or what?"

"Or you could find him and kill him yourself."

I take a deep breath as I say,

"I'll do it, for my mother."

She nods.