Exiled

Josephine held her youngest child closer to her in the small confines of the car. Her two older girls held onto her and her only boy was in the front next to his father. They were safe now. She was now breathing more freely. They were out of Rhodes and were now safe. She wanted to cry tears of relief but she held them in. She had to be calm and not scare the children. Later they would know they were exiled, but now they needed normalcy.

She stroked her toddler's hair. The child snuggled closer extending her foot to be more comfortable, and kicking her older sister in the process. The offended sister made a complaining noise and kept on sleeping.

Her husband looked at her through the rearview mirror and she met his reassuring gaze. She could see his body relax a little. His father had let him go and for that, Josephine was grateful. She was also upset because they had clearly been framed. Dominique loved his father and would have never tried to kill him. She felt for her husband he had been so heartbroken she had had to plan where to go and how to get there while he sat there in shock.

What stung even more was that her babies were stripped of their birthright. Children of the crown prince of Rhodes were now commoners hiding away in a foreign country. Vershia was where she had grown up but her children and husband had never been here before.

She looked at her little girls in sadness. She would make them royals again. An idea was forming in her head. This would be her mission as their mother. She wanted her girls to have their statuses restored and she saw no other way. Her friend was the future queen of Vershia and had two little boys the right age for her girls. She swore in her heart she would make it right for them.

"We're here," her husband told her as he slowed down the car.

They were in front of what had been initially built to be their vacation home once their youngest was a little older. It was a stone house built just outside the capital city. It was surrounded by a lot of land and had a pond where they could fish and swim. There was also an indoor pool for the winter and the house itself had twelve ensuite rooms in addition to the nursery and adjoined master bedrooms. There was a playroom for the kids, a library, a tea room, and a dining room, to name a few of the other rooms. It was a huge house built completely for comfort. They could afford it as Dominique was a wise man who had built businesses in his name in other countries.

Dominique turned off the engine and turned around to look at his wife and daughters in the back seat.

"I will take the bags," He told her, "You take the children inside."

Josephine nodded and started gently shaking her two older girls awake.

"I will help father," her ten-year-old son and oldest child said softly and went after Dominique.

"Wake up, Adela," she said softly. "Caroline, get up. We're here."

It took a couple of tries but the girls eventually woke up. The girls groggily looked around as their mother got out of the car with her two-year-old in her arms.

"Come on girls," her voice was low.

She ushered her children carefully in the dark. The wind blew at them and the toddler in her arms shivered and clung more tightly to her mother.

She managed to open the front door and turn on the light. Her children whined a little but she hushed them. She led them to the nursery where she deposited her daughters and went outside to help her husband with the bags.

"That's the last of it," her husband told her exhaustedly.

He had been up for most of the night driving.

"Okay," she said and looked at her little boy.

She suspected he knew more of what was going on than she'd like him to.

"Come, Leroy," She said as she took him by the shoulder, "Let me show you your room so you can get some sleep."

She marched the boy to a room close to the master bedroom and left when he was in bed. When she got to her room, she found her husband bent forward sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. The sight pained her heart.

"We'll be fine," she assured as she hugged him, "We'll be fine, you'll see."

She wanted to cry but her family needed her. She could not break down now.

Maybe when her husband and children could not see or hear her.

"We are going to be fine… I promise."