Chapter 13: What About the Crazy Luna?

I took a moment to try and digest everything that Julie said. But, I only felt more lost and confused by the information.

“I still don‘t understand. The king that eliminated my family wants me to marry his son. If he isn’t trying to kill me then who is?”

Julie extracted her phone and swiped through images until she came to a picture of a face that had haunted me since Tennessee.

My eyes widened dramatically as anger and fear filled my heart. It was the crazy Luna.

“Who is she?”

“She is a very powerful Luna in Tairia. She was a palace royal that betrayed your family for the current king. For the last decade, she has groomed her daughter to marry the prince and now…”

“She wants me dead because she thinks I will marry this prince? Just explain to her that I’m not interested.”

Ms. Julie shook her head. “Marriage or not, you are the rightful heir. With or without the king’s decree, it is your born destiny to take the throne. Believe me when I say she is only one of many that would rather see you not take the throne.”

“There are more? Why didn’t you tell me all of this while I was growing up?” I couldn’t keep the betrayal I felt from creeping into my voice.

“We didn’t want to burden you. The scholarship was to help keep you undercover and prepare you for leadership. We didn’t know how you would take the throne, but we never thought the king would make such a decree and put you at risk with your family’s past enemies.”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“No only has one meaning. You lie to me my entire life and then expect me to just trust you with my future? You basically just told me that I’m a dead princess walking.”

It wasn’t my intention to be this rude, but it was getting harder and harder to keep my cool with everything she was telling me.

“Just put me back in hiding. Everyone thinks I’m dead. Let’s keep it that way. I’ll stay lowkey and live a long happy boring life.”

“We tried that already. You were in hiding and trouble found you. You weren’t prepared and that is my fault. But next time, whoever comes for you, won’t be facing a little girl. They will be facing a woman destined to be queen prepared to fight.”

“I don’t believe in destiny, I don’t want to be a queen, and I don’t want to fight.”

I hurried away from the dining room before I started crying. I wanted to be angry but I was just sad and scared. Telling me sooner would not have made any difference other than I would have spent my childhood looking over my shoulder and being as afraid as I felt now.

I got into bed and buried myself under the covers and extracted my burner phone from beneath the pillow. I powered it up to find a string of emotional text messages from Tessa asking me where the h*ll I was.

I called her immediately.

“Kayleigh, you scared me half to death. I thought you ran away from us. Then Cole explained you had to start some super secret initiation for your scholarship. But if it’s so secret, how did he know about it?”

That was a good question.

“He also said you would have to take some preclasses and wouldn't be back to the penthouse… Is it true you get to stay at the St. Vincent castle?”

Wow… Cole did seem to know an awful lot about me and this program.

“Yes, it’s true,” I said smiling. I was happy and relieved to hear from her.

“Sweet! Think of the orgies they used to have there.”

I busted out laughing.

“So, how was the initiation?”

“Piece of cake,” I said. “I passed.” It was difficult to say more than that.

“Yay! We still get to be roomies.”

I didn’t respond. Just a moment ago, I was ready to throw this whole thing in the trash and just hide out on my own. But there was something about Tessa’s warmth and friendship that made me want to go to school to at least keep hanging out with her.

A knock came on the door.

“Tessa, I have to go but I will call you back once I’m free.”

“Sounds good,” she said and we hung up.

I got out of bed slowly and opened the door to see Ms. Julie with a tray of food.

“You didn’t eat.”

“I am not hungry,” I assured her, but then my stomach growled.

I opened the door so she could carry the tray to my table. We both took a seat and I began to eat.

I felt that mother-daughter dynamic take over the atmosphere as she sat patiently to make sure I ate enough. Then a thought occurred to me.

“If you’re my bodyguard, doesn’t that make me like your boss?”

“No…” she said flatly.

“It was worth a shot,” I muttered. “I was wondering if I could have friends over to the castle.”

“Yes, visits must be scheduled in advance and they must pass background checks.”

There was a small pause of silence and then I asked, “My mother was like me?”

Ms. Julie smiled warmly. “Yes, you two share the same beautiful spirit. She was warm and kind. She was always so nice to me when we were growing up, even though I was a child of a palace servant. She was smart and funny and she loved getting out in nature.”

“What did she look like?”

Ms. Julie took out her phone and searched for images of Tairia’s history. She handed me the phone and I scrolled over images of the family that had been taken from me.

I only had that one brief memory of her holding me and laughing. In the images on the internet, she looked beautiful and regal. The first ones were of her growing up in the palace, daughter of the King and Queen.

Her face was so much like mine, but her clothes were so fine. Her hair was polished, and even her posture was pristine.

If my mother could see me now, I wondered what she would think of her orphaned daughter. I touched her face on the screen, imagining what her skin would feel like.

I scrolled to pictures of her engagement to my father. He was tall, dark, and handsome. I smiled realizing my lanky height and strong legs must have come from him. He was everything a fairytale princess father should look like.

I scrolled to a family portrait and my smile faded. My mother and father were seated and surrounded by four children.

“I had siblings…” I looked up at Ms. Julie hoping she would tell me that one or all of them had been saved as well. But, logically, if that had been the case, she would have told me already, right?

Ms. Julie wiped away a tear. “You were the smallest. Your mother put you in my arms and told me to get you to safety.”

“They were all so small too…” My breath caught in my throat and a tear rolled down my cheek as the memory of laughter seeped into my mind.

I handed the phone back to her as I wiped another tear from my eyes. I wasn’t sure about prophecies or destinies. But I was sure about one thing, justice. I needed to face this murderous king and make him pay for what he’d done.

“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll complete these Rogue Trials and finish Alpha Academy and I will reclaim my throne… for them.”