“My poor niece! You have had to live by yourself all these years. My poor sister died in a strange land. How come you did not come home sooner?” he asked his voice a tumult of emotions.
“I was not aware of my mother's home until quite recently. A woman who claims to have been best friends with my mother told me about this place,” was my reply. I wondered if Camille too was a native of this place.
“Lady Camille? It must be her. She was Marilyn's best friend,” said the king fondly.
“You are right, Your Majesty,” although I did not know her as Lady Camille but simply Camille.
“I believe you were in comfortable circumstances where you lived?” he asked me and I was not certain how to answer the question nor did I know how I was going to broach the topic of my pregnancy. Seeing that my family was royalty, they may not welcome a bastard in the palace. It was not my intention to tell them about Alpha Dagen. I intended to keep the identity of my baby's father a secret until absolutely necessary.
“Your Majesty, I have a confession to make,” I said in a small voice. It was best to get it out of the way quickly.
“That you are pregnant? I knew the moment I looked into your eyes,” he said with a deep laugh. I looked at him stupefied. How could one know that another was pregnant by merely gazing into their eyes?
“I will be grateful if my child can grow up in your kingdom. I do not wish to burden you with my problems though. I am resourceful, I intend to take full responsibility for my child,” I said once I had recovered from my slight shock.
“Nonsense. The child is my grandchild. He will be raised in the palace as a prince. If I do not end up with an heir, he is the nearest in line to my throne. Never speak like that again, princess,” he said, warmly.
“Your Majesty, I do not yet know the gender of the child,” I replied, taking note that he had referred to the child with male pronouns.
“It is a boy, I know that and I can sense that he has a strong Royal blood within him. I also sense that you want to keep his father a secret so I shall not ask you of him,” I looked at him with wide eyes. How did he know these things?
Did he have the ability to read minds?
“I cannot read minds, princess but I can read your body. Your body betrays what you feel and what you feel tells me what you think. Do not worry princess, you will begin your royal education soon so that you will learn our ways. You will understand better what I speak of only then,” he said.
After breakfast, I paid a visit to my horse Tristan. I was happy to see that he was doing very well. He seemed relaxed in his new home.
“If you keep up eating like this, Tristan, you will grow fat,” I said, patting him affectionately.
“Who dares utter my name like that?” a stern voice made me turn my back quite suddenly. It belonged to an old woman whose head was a mass of white.
“I am the Queen Dowager, who are you child?” asked the woman.
“I am Regina, niece to the king,” that was the best introduction I could… then it struck me at once. She was my grandmother!
“Your Imperial Highness, forgive me for not recognising you,” I said while bowing my head to her.
“Is this the girl you speak of Sandra?” asked the old lady and for the first time I noticed Sandra standing behind the old woman.
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
“So you are my daughter's child,” she said, eyeing me from head to toe as though analyzing me. Perhaps she was trying to read me like the king had earlier.
“I cannot imagine Napoleon would keep you from meeting me. You had breakfast with him this morning, no?” she asked.
“If you mean with His Majesty, yes, I did.”
“And he did not speak of me?”
“No, my lady.”
“Imagine that. What are you doing here anyway? Your mother left us a long time ago. She has guts telling her daughter about this place,” the old lady said. She had the same aura as Lord Edvin, it was hard to tell if she was friendly or dismissive.
“That is why I did not introduce her to you, Mother. Must you be like this?” questioned the king whose name I was now aware was Napoleon. I had been too nervous to ask for his name all this while as I did not want to offend him.
“How am I like? You sent your sister away and now you pretend like you love her daughter,” the old Lady's voice was harsh. I looked at my uncle to see his reaction to this news. Was it true? However, he was good at hiding his feelings because I could read nothing from his expression.
“I did not send my sister away, she left because we had a misunderstanding. And her daughter is more than welcome to stay,” my uncle responded with a smile.
“Aha! Did you tell her the truth then? That you…”
“Take Mother inside. She has had enough fresh air,” it was an order to Sandra who bowed her head to the king and did as she was told.
“Mother is a bit ill; her memories are all muddled up. She is quite old, do not believe anything she tells you,” said the king. But now I was intrigued. What had grandmother had to say that he had shut her up? And why had he not told me of her existence when he had told me of his daughters?
“I understand, Your Majesty but I would still love to make her an acquaintance,” I replied with a smile like I suspected nothing.
“You will have lots of opportunities to know her but you need to have the physician examine you, how far along are you?”