Royal shuffle: Vampire's mate

ANDREA

The next few days that followed saw some sort of strain in I and Leo's relationship. We didn't talk like we used to. The few times we spoke, it always ended up in a fight. I was adamant on going back to werewolf territory, and he was hellbent on not letting me leave. I sighed, and lowered Leovanni into his swing and strapped him in. He was super energetic today, and had managed to wear me out. I yawned as tiredness made my body feel sore. "Hey..." Leo said, as he came into the room bearing flowers.

"Hi."

He walked over to me, and we both just stood there, looking at each other. As though confused on how to begin the conversation.

"Are those for me?" I asked, pointing at the flowers.

He handed the flowers to me. "Yes, they are. Sorry..."

I smiled. "It's okay." I lifted the flowers to my nose, and sniffed them. "They smell so amazing..."

Leo smiled. "Thanks. I picked them from the garden myself."

He seemed proud of his achievement with the way he smiled, and the way his chest puffed out just a little bit. I leaned up and kissed him on the lips. The highest form of intimacy we've had in days. "They're beautiful. I love them," I said, holding the flowers to my chest.

He leaned down and kissed me, gathering me into his arms, and deepening the kiss. Our tongues met and fought. Our breaths mingled and almost became one, and the gentle and not so gentle bites we gave each other adding to the heat of the moment. We finally pulled away and smiled at each other.

"I've been thinking..." Leo took a deep breath, and swore. "If you're going back to that place, you'll need all the help you can get."

My eyes lit up. Was he saying what I'm thinking. "Okay..."

"I'm coming with you. I and Leopold."

I screamed, and jumped into his arms, wrapping my hands right around his neck.

I kissed him again. "Thank you!!!"

"Don't thank me yet," He gently placed me down on my feet. "We still have the blueprint from when we came to get you. We'll leave our son in the hands of my father."

"So, when do we leave?" I asked.

"Must you come along?"

"Yes!"

"You know we can just go and get those things for you."

"I know, but I want to be there."

Leo swore and sighed. "Fine. I and Leopold already made the plans. We'll leave in three days."

He rubbed his forehead, leaning down to kiss our son on his head. I smiled as our baby cooed, and reached out his hands to his father.

"Thank you..."

He smiled and kissed me again, and headed for the door. "I have to go."

I smiled and watched him walk away, happy with the new development. The day came, and I thought to myself how I didn't miss maneuvering the forest.

"Watch your step..." Leo whispered to me as we maneuvered the rough terrain of the forest.

We had masked our scents with various herbs and coffee so as to not attract attention as we waded through the woods. There was a team stealthily waiting for us at the very end of the forest should things go south. I hope it doesn't. I was tired of wars at this point. I was even more tired of causing the wars. Leopold led the way, while Leo held on to my hand and guided me through the forest.

"How are we going to scale the palace walls?" I whispered to Leo as we neared the back fence of the palace.

"Sshhh..."

I could see only one wolf at the back fence, and I frowned. This was quite careless, and I wasn't even a security expert. Who leaves one wolf on guard for a whole palace. I shook my head. "Stay here..." Leopold whispered to us as he left the cover of the woods, and began to creep up on the wolf from behind.

My brows furrowed as I watched in concentration, thinking that he was just going to knock him over the head. The wolf sensed his presence but wasn't quick enough to stop him. In no time, he was dead, bleeding from the neck, and his body hidden under bushes.

"Let's go."

Leo held on to my hand really tight as we crept up to the fence. Leonard opened the gate and we ran across the backyard until we got to the other side where there was a door in the floor. Leopold picked the lock, and we were in. The place was dark and smelt of mold, but our eyes were built to adapt to the darkness. This place smelt of rotted bodies, and death.

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"What are we looking for?" Leopold asked.

"A basement under the dungeons..." I replied.

They both looked at me in confusion. "What?"

I shrugged. "That's what she said."

They looked at each other, and sighed. "Fine. This place you're talking about isn't on the blueprint."

"It won't be if they're trying to hide it."

We began to journey and navigate the narrow passageways, the low hanging ceilings adding to the claustrophobic feel of the place.

"Who keeps a dungeon in a palace?" I muttered to myself.

Shivers ran down my spine as we walked down the dreary walkway. We got to the end of the hallway with no basement in sight. We began to look around for a means to get down. "Found something," Leopold said.

He went down on his knees, and pulled up the handle of a door on the floor. We all gathered the square opening and looked in.

"There's a ladder," he declared after investigating. "Who's going in first?"

Leo signed, and went down the ladder first. We waited while he surveyed the room, and waited for him to give us the clear before we went down. As soon as my feet touched the ladder, Leo grabbed me by the waist, and carried me down. "Thanks..."

I turned around and my breath caught in my throat as my eyes consumed what was in front of me. Portraits. There were a lot of large portraits of my supposed mother. The woman I had seen in my dreams, and in some of those portraits, my mother -the woman I knew from birth- was standing behind her.

"My goodness..."

I walked around the large expanse surveying it's contents. I traced my hands across the dust gathered painting of her, and lingered on the paintings from when she was much younger. It felt like I was looking at myself. There was no doubt that she indeed birthed me. One of the painting stood out the most to me. She was wearing the same necklace that she had given to me in my dream. She looked so beautiful. So regal. So royal. "Shit..."

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I wasn't the only one in shock. I took a deep breath, and blinked severally, trying to reconnect to reality.

I turned to the men. "Search everywhere."

"What are we looking for?"

I shrugged. I wasn't sure myself. "Documents. Marriage documents, birth certificates, that sort of thing."

We began opening and closing drawers, opening up boxes, and rummaging through them. We found boxes of jewelry, we could only assume that they belonged to my mother. We found her dresses, her shoes. Basically, everything that belonged to her. We found her birth certificate. Mirabelle...even her name sounded royal.

And then we found something peculiar. We found her wedding photograph, and all our mouths fell open. She had married King Jacob Brown. The king before King Alexander Brown; William's father. King Jacob was King Alexander's brother. His reign was short, and he had died a mysterious death. It was the belief of everyone that he didn't leave behind an heir, and so his brother -the present king- took the throne. That was until now...until me. If I was their child, I'm next in line to be Queen.

"My goodness..." I swallowed heavily. "How did I end up with...what exactly happened?"

That was the million dollar question.

"We have to keep looking. There could be more," I declared, and continued my search.

We turned the 'basement' upside down, and found more jaw dropping information. Their birth certificates. MY birth certificate. My baby pictures, a family picture from when I was a newborn. Tears gathered in my eyes, and I let them drop freely.

"Babe..."

"I wondered if they knew about me..." I thought to myself.

"I doubt it. They would have killed you," Leo said, and Leopold nodded in agreement.

"We have to leave. We've been here for a while," Leopold added.

I nodded, and began to gather the things that we would need. Thankfully, Leopold and Leo had the good sense to bring backpacks. I just stood there processing the information, and what it could mean for our future. For the future of my son. "Let's go," I said, after making sure I gathered all important documents.

We sneakily made our way back to the backyard, and successfully made our way to the group waiting for us at the edge of the forest. I jumped into the SUV, and throughout the ride home, my mind was filled with possibilities. And hope. Possibilities of wars ended forever, of no one afraid of the other. If this worked, it would mean that my son would be the first ever to have a joint territory. Where no one is afraid of the other. Where he and any other child we may have will flourish.

I smiled. The future seemed bright.