The Forgotten Princess

We are 28 without a mate

Chapter 3:

I can not remember the last time papa told me he was proud of me. It may have occurred before mama got sick and fell into her deep sleep, but even then, I was always by mama’s side and em was at papa’s. He adored her in every way, and gave her freedoms that I would never have been granted. I was a subject to be taught duty and responsibility. Leisure was not in my job description.

When I married Stephan, he gave me a private speech about the duties of the position and how today I was fulfilling that duty for the sake of our name and for my own children.. I thought he was going to say it then, but he just didn’t

I can not remember the last time he told me he loved me, at least in a way that I felt he had meant it. The last time he said it was on my wedding night, in a speech at the reception, but he was not even looking into my eyes when he said it, he was staring at the back of the room at the chandelier. I had to fake tears for that one.

Marium got me dressed as slowly as possible. We both knew that Arthur was standing outside listening, so we dared not even mumble. We didn’t need to. We both knew what each other was thinking.

Dread filled my stomach, as I tried to keep the bile down my throat. Oh, what an out it would give me if I had suddenly fallen ill.

Has he learned of my recent loss?

Has he brought me in to scold me for the lack of effort in my chambers alone with Stephan?

Marium dressed me in a cream silk dress with powder blue embroidery on the train. It had been mama’s before I was mine, and we silently figured this might help whatever situation I was in. As she pulled the string at the bottom of my corset, I gasped in emotional distress. “Just breathe duckie, it will be alright” she murmurs into my ear, tying a delicate bow at the end.

Nodding in agreement to her words, I felt a single warm tear struggle out of my eye. Turning me around and staring at me, Marium wiped the sole tear away with her thumb and mouthed, “It will be alright”. A rush of calmness hit my skin as she wiped the tear away.

“Thank you.” I mouthed back.

All prepared.

I politely smiled at Arthur who was waiting outside my chamber doors, nodding my head and I was ready. “Dutchess, please follow me”.

Arthur wasn’t a particularly ugly man. He just looked lonely all the time. Sadness had worn on his face harder than stress and sometimes I wondered what type of a man he would have looked like if his days had been spent with the love and affection of a family instead of the stress of his position. His brown hair was peppered with grey at the ends and was cleaned up short around the edges of his ears. He could still find love if he searched for it, but his head was too far up papa’s derriere.

The train of my silk dress dragged behind me as I strolled down the hallways. Careful not to trip over it, I stare at the embroidery every step. How long had it taken for someone to do this? The designs looked like stars with the moon phases woven in a pattern along the back. What a unique design compared to nowadays where it seems they only have flowers along the edges. It contrasted the white marble flooring throughout the palace, showing off how important the person wearing it was. Just how Marium wanted, for me to look like a dutchess.

“Arthur?”

“Yes, Dutchess?”

“Do you know what this meeting is for?” I inquire, playing with my hands in front of me.

I can hear him faintly murmur in response, and I know that is the only sort of acknowledgement of my query that I will be receiving.

As we approached the large dutch doors, I finally looked up to be greeted by two stone-faced guards before me, opening the entrance. The doors towered above their heads, reaching to the top of the almost 15-foot ceiling. They didn’t show any emotion or expressions on their faces, their eyes void of emotion. Did they know what was about to happen? Did they have any understanding of what was going on?

The doors opened to papa standing at the far side of the room, having just risen from his carved wooden throne. Emerald green cloth covered both arms and whatever intricate designs were carved into them. Beside it was another of the same stature, covered completely by a large emerald fabric, under it a design that no one has seen for 15 or more years, Mamas.

I stood at the doorway flattening the creases along the front of my dress, waiting for permission to enter a formality that exists upon any entrance into the duke's gallery, including his own daughter and heir.

“Daphne”

“Yes, papa” i respond, looking up to meet his eyes for the first time..

Eyes blue as paintings of the sea, but on the contrary, emotionless as ever met mine. Papa’s face stiffens as he opens his mouth to speak but then pauses, trying to form the right words on his tongue.

“Come in. We need to discuss a few things”. Taking a step back, he motions his hand to himself, “ Alone.”

A chill from an open window creeps up my back as I step inside the gallery.

I turn back to see the doors behind me slam shut.

And Arthur’s giving me a sympathetic look from the other side.

- - - - - - -

Dimitri:

“I’m sorry sir, I do not have any more information. All information from the palace seems to be locked up, and there is not a lot of information in the village.” A voice quivered from the other side of the phone. His words were drenched with terror of the repercussions.

“How is that possible? I thought you said that you could do this, Charles?” I grumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. She could not have just disappeared. This man was supposed to be the best, but he is turning out to be more of a headache than anything.

“I.. uh.. I am not sure sir. No one recognizes her photo and no one remembers seeing her. I tracked down the front desk agent from when she checked in; they do not recall serving her. Her name just vanished from their records” Charles continues to stammer out a response, none of it particularly pleases me or is helping him. “Sir” he continues as i let out an audible growl, “Uh.. Not a lot of people remember beyond 15 years ago.. I don’t know why that is.. I am looking into it.. I swear I have shown people her picture and they just no one has any idea who she is.. Or uh was..”

“ENOUGH” I finally snapped, holding the receiver in my hand with the bottom half-pressed close against my mouth, “I have listened week after week to your excuses, I did not hire you to listen to your excuses and your lack of a lustre squeaky voice. I hired you because you said you could do this. I am starting to doubt that you can”.

“Sir.. maybe..” nothing more came out of the receiver before I slammed the phone on the solid oak desk. I could feel Juniper coming to the surface, and I didn’t want to stop him; he was angry and I was angry. Within moments, the phone was rendered broken beyond repair, and the desk was almost in two separate pieces. Juniper had used the phone as a fully functional hammer, his strength forcing it deeper into the desk, splintering and cracking the wood apart.

I needed that desk, you imbecile.

Juniper didn’t respond. He didn’t need to respond. He just curled up in a grey ball and looked to the side, no longer acknowledging the other existence in this body. He was getting restless, and it was not as though we had a mate to calm us.

Whatever.

I pressed my fingers into my temples and groaned in frustration. How does no one know what happened to her?

‘Well, we should of been protecting her, or this wouldn’t have happened.’ Juniper snarls.

I roll my eyes so far I can see the cosmos. Oh, look, who is talking to me now? Which was met with a small grunt and then silence.

Jerk.

“Sir?” A voice crept from the other side of the door accompanied by a knock.

“LEAVE ME ALONE” I growl. Can I not have a minute of peace?

“I apologize for the interruption sir, it is just that your appointment with the Dowager Dutchess is in 15 minutes, and if we leave now, we may arrive just on time. I have come with your jacket”.

Looking up at the clock above the door frame, I realized that Juniper’s little hissy fit took more time than I had thought.

“Okay, I am coming”, opening the door just slightly enough to pass through. Jas, the curious man I know he was, peaked his head to the side to look into the office. “Dimitri..” his eyes widen the longer he looks at my now destroyed desk.

“Juniper.”

“Ah” Jas acknowledges as he steps back and holds out the jacket to me. Jas has been my best friend and by my side, since we were children. Next to me, he knows juniper second best.

‘Let’s go juniper. That’s enough sulking. We have work to do.’

The grey wolf starts stirring, upset about the lack of acknowledgement and appreciation for his work in my office, and turns his back against me. Fine, be miserable.

Upon sliding into the black wool coat he has prepared for me, Jas smooths the creases on my back, “You look excellent your highness” he affirms.

My brows furrow at the sound of Highness, “Jas, please, you know how I feel about formalities”. My stomach lurches at the sound of Highness, and it has been the same way since my mother disappeared 15 years ago. For me, that name is reserved for my father, my stepmother or for my younger brothers. I came to this world to find out what happened to my mother, and then Juniper and I would avenge her. I loathed the idea of the title following me, especially here.

We took a carriage silently through town to an older part of the village. Jas and I spent most of the time staring out the window at the ladies frolicking in summer dresses, holding their trains up to prevent stepping in puddles crossing the street. Juniper is stirring at the sight, restless at the reminder that we have yet to meet our mate.

The carriage abruptly stops before a set of steel iron gates-behind it is a long pathway leading to a small brick cottage on the water. Rounded stained oak archways circle the white-painted veranda, showing small peek-a-boos of the white brick the house is recognized by. Groundskeepers are cleaning up the flowerbeds along the pathway and the smell of fresh-cut roses excites Juniper into sitting up and wagging his tail.

I hope our mate smells like this.

Jas hops out and walks to the doorman at the front of the gate, shares light conversation and then walks back to the carriage, “She is expecting you, and her granddaughter too”.

“Granddaughter? Someone for her to try to set me up with?” I groan.

Maybe she will be our mate. Juniper beams, panting at the thought.

‘Jun, you know I have no desire to find our mate’

‘We are 28 without a mate, you need to get over that’ Juniper taunts. He knows I have no interest in a mate. Look how that worked out for my father the first time, but juniper would love nothing more than a mate.

Without a mate, we won't reach immortality; but immortality doesn’t mean that you can’t die, it just means you won’t die from natural causes.

‘Natural causes except for a broken heart.’

“Shut up juniper!” I push my thumbs into the middle of my forehead in annoyance.

“Juniper?”

“Yeah, you don’t have to say what you think, he agrees with you” I groan, opening the carriage door and walking down the stone steps leading up the entrance.

“Oscar does that too, unfortunately”, Jas calls from behind, as he jogs forward and grabs the large knocking handle and slams it against the door. The handle has a silver wolf’s head with its tongue panting out attached.

A wolf. Interesting.

It only takes a few moments before a young woman appearing to be about 18 or 19 opens the door. “You're late” she grumbles as she motions with her hand towards the inside of the cottage. Her blonde hair is neatly wrapped up in a bun and pinned at the back of her head, a few pieces fanning the front of her face. She is tall for a woman, 5'9 or so, but still small compared to my 6'4 frame.

“Hello, you must be Dimitri’. She looks up and stretches out her hand, no ring.

‘And this must be the granddaughter,’ juniper intrudes in my head, ‘I know jun’.

Noticing that I am not responding, the woman hums and wiggles her hand, reminding me of the protocol of a commoner and a dutchess’s granddaughter.

“My apologizes” I murmur into her hand before softly kissing it, “ You must be Dutchess Claudia’s Granddaughter”.

“It’s Emilia. Come in.”