Friends laugh nearby home
Winter snow hovers above
Water flows blissful
Layton:
"I think I know who your mother is."
Hearing those words come out of Amani's lips had me stunned almost immediately the minute she told me; I was surprised that even despite what she was going through right now with her own family and contesting the crown, something that I knew was stressing her out tremendously...
She was still thinking about my problems.
I had to know it then and there, she was absolutely truthful in what she was saying about being unaware of who she really was and what her family has been hiding from her. I wish I could've stayed longer with her and just talk, just like we used to when everything was calmer but I knew that was impossible especially with her father counting down the thirty minutes he had allowed us.
I was so deeply in love with her it was so scary, but to hear her say those words back to me after months of us just sneaking around with each other like a dirty little secret made my heart feel light; this was all new to me and I think the same rang true for her as well, but I was glad we could get through it together.
No matter the results of the contestation hanging over our heads.
I knew she loved me.
Before leaving, Amani showed me a huge album that she said her mother carried for decades, all filled with pictures documenting their young childhood in the palace; I think it was safe to say after seeing all these distinct photos of Amani's mother and brother with Empress Zenaida in tiaras and such, they very much had full claim to the throne that they were seeking.
I don't think it bothered me much mainly for two reasons, one, my brother and I weren't legitimate heirs to the throne and two, I loved Amani; I had already envisioned her beside me as Empress and although it wouldn't be by consort like initially thought, she would still fit the role well in my opinion; that was of course if she would have me when that time came. But before I could think of any of the future plans I had for myself as well as her, I still had to uncover the true identity of my mother. I had so many questions such as: Why did she leave? What kind of relationship did she have with my father exactly? Why didn't she ever try to come back?
My father was absolutely useless when it came to figuring anything out, he refused to speak on the subject, stating that he was feeling "ganged up" on by everyone concerning this topic; I was finding it very difficult to believe that someone would be attracted and in love with him just by the way he was behaving at this time, it's funny how personalities changed quickly when faced with adversity; both my "mother" and father both exhibiting defensive behavior now that their royalty was being challenged.
Regardless of it all, I was still on the hunt for answers and Amani somehow still in her PR mode was an amazing detective putting pieces together for me. In the album, flickering through the pictures stopped on a distinct one and pointed at it. She named her off as the "Mukami" woman that Alan had mentioned was our supposed mother. I couldn't lie the minute she pointed out the photograph, I knew it had to be her because the picture itself resembled the same woman that Alan had showed my brother and I.
The striking red hair and prominent blue eyes that Fionn seemed to carry effortlessly were the traits I immediately pulled together as pointers regarding her identity with the one other thing that also made me raise my brow... the two distinct dimples sinking into her warm sand-colored skin.
Both my brother and I had dimples, with me having both on each side of my face and my brother having just one located on his left cheek. This had to be the woman that gave birth to all of us! It just had to be. And funny enough, it turns out Amani's mother—Princess Liya was best friends with her alongside former Empress Odette; all of them being conjoined at the hip since they were in diapers.
It's a wonder what happened to them after all these years.
"Layton, I did some more digging and asked my mother if Mukami had any siblings of the sort and she told me she had three brothers, one older and the rest younger." She said to me.
I pursed my lips, "Do you think they're still around?" I remember asking her.
She nodded, "I know they are... they carry the surname Mellan, can you believe that?" She pushed back her coily large hair away from her face and pulled something out a small card for me and handed it to me.
I looked down at the contents of the business-like card.
Representative Joran Mellan—House of Doves, the card read.
I flipped it around and there in gold lettering was a phone number to reach out too.
I shook my head, "You think this Joran Mellan in parliament is our uncle?" I asked her.
She nodded quickly, "I do! My uncle introduced me to him after the first hearing and the resemblance is uncanny... although he does have brown eyes, his features are reminiscent of Mukami herself! Anyways, I got down his information for you, maybe you and your brothers can go speak to him to get answers since your dad doesn't want to tell you."
So here I sat in the car on the way back to the palace flickering the card back and forth debating if I wanted to trouble this man Amani found with this information; after all, we had to be careful who we told this too. We were in the middle of contestation, this kind of information leaking would not do well with what was already happening; granted it was clear Amani's family had the advantage, this wouldn't look on my family and hell...
They were all about appearance.
"Something troubling you, your majesty?" Gerald asked me, his gaze quickly checking over me on the rearview mirror. I sighed deeply, how crazy how I found myself comfortable having Gerald drive me around and such, he was such a great person to chat with and get advice from; I wouldn't have known this had Amani never introduced me to him the many times we had stepped out of the palace together.
I was realizing more and more as the days went by that I knew very little of the staff that took daily care of me and my family and all our needs constantly; but Amani herself seemed to know everyone by their full names and always stopped shorty to see how they were doing. I was picking up little habits from her as they came, wanting to exhibit the same kind of passion that I seemed to lack in my own life.
I wanted this not to just impress her, it was way beyond that.
I recognized that probably the main reason my family's reign was overlooked was because of how we interacted with the public, how we treated our staff, the way we carried ourselves; there was always a sense of entitlement that I'm sure many normal people didn't take a liking too. It was way the press loved to find me in comprising situations, it favored their idea that the former Royal Family had something ours failed to grasp.
