Chapter 13 Portrait
1871 Words
"Follow me please." The maid said politely then she quickly led us down a few halls then up a case of stairs, and through some morebhalls before she stopped at double oak doors.
She pushed them open before stepping aside to let is on.
"Please make yourself comfortable." She says with a bow, she then closes the doors and left.
"What hell was all that about was all that about,?" I ask Celia and Eric furiously.
"Stay quiet, I think he's hiding you from someone." Before I can say another word his hand clams over my mouth.
Me? Why would he be hiding me.
Soon we hear muffled voices outside the office. And we stay quiet trying to listen in on it.
"Lord Alvern, you do know the king cares for you dearly. And it saddens him when you do not come to visit." A soft spoken man says.
"We both know how the king really feels about me." Alvern says in serious tone. "But he is the king, if he wishes to see me I will make an appearance at the castle."
"He would much rather it be sooner than later."The man's soft tone suddenly becomes serious.
Then there was just a moment of silence.
"Well, I must take my leave. I have much work to be done."
"Before you go, when is the coronation for princess again? It seems to have slipped my mind."
"Hmmm, I see." He pauses for a moment before speaking again. " it is in five days, I hope your not waiting until then to come see the king." The man finished suspiciously.
Alvern let's out a hearty laugh before speaking, " you know me all to well old friend, I will make an appearance before then."
"I hope you do for your sake. And bring you son's, the princess hasn't stopped asking for them. Well one in particular."
Eric finally let's go of my mouth and I waste no time shoving him off me. After awhile the doors opened and Alvern walked in.
"Tell me what's going on right now or else!" I demand.
"Be quiet." Is all he says in booming tone and I stop talking. Something about the way he said it, and the way he was looking at me made me stay quiet.
He was looking at me as if he couldn't believe I was real. He slowly walks up to stoping about two feet away from me.
He was taller than me so I had to look up at him and what i saw shocked me. His eyes were welling up with unshed tears. He slowly lifted his left hand to lightly squeezing my right shoulder and I tensed up.
A warm smile took over his features and he let gone went over to the desk in his office then pulled out a key, he then went to a closed door to the right and opened it, he headed inside without a word.
He then emerged with a painting and held it up for us to see.
It was a girl.... no it was me?
"Is that.....?"Eric asks trailing off.
"Yes, on her 16th birthday I painted this portrait of her. I told her it was my birthday gift to her but she refused it and said I should keep it."
"Is that our mom?" I ask with a strained voice.
"Our?" Alvern questions my choice of words.
"Yes, she had twins." Celia says motioning to Alison.
"Twins?" He asks in disbelief. He walks over the Alison examimning her as well. "Forgive my behavior. Give me a few moments get my bearings."
Without another word he walked back into he back room along with the portrait. He closed the door behind him and we all just stood there.
I was in shock form seeing that portrait.
The girl on it looked exactly like, there was no doubt in anyone's mind about that part.
For some reason everything suddenly felt real. Realer than before. And that's when reality hit me like a tone of bricks.
There was no going back........ever.
A lone tear slips down my cheek from the tought of never seeing the people I grew up calling mom and dad ever again.
I'll never graduate from high school, never go to college, get a job. I'll never experience like as a normal human being.
I warm hand wipes the lone tear away, my eyes followed the hand and I saw Julia smiling warmly at me. Thank God she was here with me, at least I'll have her.
The door suddenly opens Lord Alvern steps out empty handed.
"Please be seated." He waves his hand to the large leather couch by the oversized window.
"Eric tell me what's going on and how are these two alive." He demands as a knock sounds on the door.
He told the person to enter and it was the maid, she served tea and told us dinner would be ready shortly.
He thanked her then sent her on her way quickly telling her not to disturb us again.
He nodded at Eric speak when she was out the door and he started to tell him the story of how we were sent to another dimension.
So it turns out one of the maids took us because a certain bastard wanted to kill us. And she thought that the safest place to hide us was in a different dimension.
After a few years Celia and Julia were assigned to keep us safe and bring us back when the time was right or if they ever found us.
"Which maid did this?" Alvern asks.
"We're not sure, she always remains anonymous." Julia tells him.
She was like a secret angel pulling their strings.
"What's going on in the castle these day?"Eric asks ."We need to know if we want to get it. And we need to do it before the coronation."
Alvern stayed quiet as if pondering of he should tell us something or not.
"The truth is...." he trails off lowering his voice, " the current king is not the true air to the throne neither are is kids. But he will do anything to make sure the kingdom stays under the rule of his family." Lord Alvern informs us.
"I've suspected he's behind the death of the late king and queen. Ever since we were all kids all he could talk about was becoming king one day." Alvern tells us.
"Even though he and Alice were cousins he tried asking for her hand in marriage many times. The last time she said no he got furious with her and was ready to resort to violence and blackmail." He continues.
"That is treason against the kingdom!" Eric whispers harshly.
"Yes, and I had to stop him. Because the truth is he was my best friend and I couldn't bare to see him executed, so I put a plan in motion to stop him and to this day he still hates me for it."
"What kind of plan did you put in motion?" I ask curiously.
"I forced him to get engaged to my sister." He hung his head in shame. "But he still found away to get on the throne. Sneaky bastard, I know he has something to do with the queens death." He says through gritted teeth.
"So why haven't you done anything yet?" Alison asks loudly.
"He kicked me out of the castle in the most subtle way." Alvern says with a smirk on his face.
"How so?" Celia asks.
"He appointed me Lord of this estate when the family met in accident, there was no air left to take over. But I know he probably liked that family just to get rid of me." His hand fisted with anger as he spoke.
"We need to get rid of him before things get worst." I pipe in.
"The truth is I gave up on trying to get rid of him for awhile now, because he has too many at his disposal and I...." he trails off looking out the window, " I'm worried he'll come after my boys. But seeing all of you, here now I know I have to do the right thing."
"At cost of your own kids!? No way am I agreeing to that!" I shout at him.
"Ofcourse not, I'll send my boys into hiding to make sure they are safe. I would never forgive myself if I let anything happen to them." He says sadly.
"If we approach this wrongly he might have all of us killed swiftly." Eric interjects " So we are all in danger."
"What do we do?" I ask helplessly.
"For now the both of you have to stay in hiding." He warns in serious tone. " One glance from the wrong person and you would be killed in the blink of an eye."
"And the rest of us?" Celia asks .
"I'll be sending you out on different missions, while I work on getting all of you into the castle."
"We have a lot more to discuss but you should get some rest. Let us have dinner then the maid shall show you all to your quarters.
After dinner we were shown to the hall we would all be staying in.
"The two of you will stay here until a proper plan has been devised.'Julia instructs.
"Stay out of sight as much as possible while your here." Celia adds in a scolding tone.
"Not a word to anyone about anything." Eric adds before entering the room he was given.
"Is it safe to sleep alone?" Alison asks Celia.
"I'm sleeping with you." Celia says in a duh tone so I just assume Julia would be sleeping with me.
Just as I guessed. She entered the room and started stripping her clothes off her clothes.
I scanned the room and it looked like something out of a movie. It walls were a beautiful blue, the entire room was clean it was almost as if it was glowing. The beg was a canopy before covered in white sheets that looked soft and silky.
There where old fashioned settees strategically placed around a table in the room.
"I guess it must be weird for you to be in a room like this." Julia says smiling at me.
She comes over to help me out of my dress.
"Yeah." Is all I can say.
"If all goes well you'll get used to it over time. And you'll get used to this type is dressing soon." She says and she unties the corset.
"What about you?" I ask curious about her answer.
"I'm happy to be back, I've missed this place more than I'd like to admit." She let's out a light laugh as she spoke.
As soon the dress falls to my feet I step out of it.
"So you don't want to go back? Ever?"
"I don't have a reason to." She tells me.
"What about Robert?" I ask angrily.
"He's dead." She says in a monotone, all emotion gone from her face and eyes.
She walks over to the bed and gets in before me turning her back.
And with that I knew the conversation was over.
- Writer
