The Isle (Chronicles of the Irish Princess Book 1)

It had been about two months since our coronation when I found myself in front of Alex again. This time with an exhausted look and a reluctance to plan my wedding more. Kai's mother had been very patient with me though all of it, thankfully. Usually we did our planning in the afternoon when I was visiting my dad. While I was training in the morning, she had offered to sit with him and after a few visits, I sensed there was more between them. As I sat in the big, comfy chair Alex sent an assistant away for some coffee. He gave me a sad smile and sighed.

"Oh Princess, what am I to do with you. Care to tell me why you didn't rest last night?"

"There was a break in a couple weeks ago. We still don't know much about it, thankfully whoever it was did not make it in the castle, but was on the grounds. The power, it felt wrong, almost evil. Maybe it was evil. I'm not sure. But it knew I was there, like it was looking for me."

"Should I be concerned about your safety Princess?"

"No, not yet. The palace is crawling with soldiers now. We are pretty safe."

"Something tells me you don’t believe that, but I would rather get to work."

Alex picked up the brush and started getting all the knots out of my hair. It seemed unrealistic that I was getting married in less than twelve days, but I was. I smiled to myself because even though things were going the way I had always expected, I was still happy. I got to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. I got to have that one dance with my father and have him walk me down the aisle. Nothing was going wrong.

I had always thought that my brother would be the one to walk me, which was weird considering that I still wanted to marry Kai and he would have also been the best man. I thought about asking Uncle Don at one point when I was around thirteen. But I didn't want to burden him with that.

"Princess, are you ready to look at option one?" Alex's voice drifted over me like a song.

The first option was all curls and an updo. He had my hair pulled up into a fancy ponytail and the extensions he added to my hair cascaded down to my mid back. There were a few short curls that hung by my face framing it to look thinner.

"Alex this is wonderful, but I'm not sure I want it all up. Do you think we could let some of it hang?"

"Of course my lady." He smiled and pulled the pin that was holding up my curls. I watched as they all fell, as if it was slow motion.

When he turned me back around he reached for some other smaller pins and a decorated clip. I recognized the emblem on the back and stopped him.

"Can I look at that?"

He handed me the clip and went back to fixing some loose curls. The emblem was that of a wolf, but it wasn't Irish, or American. I had stayed hidden away one evening in the Spell room looking at other countries origin symbols. Studying them and learning bits about their culture. This particular one came from Serbia.

"Alex, who gave this to you?"

"King Oran, Queen Lily was his great niece. When King Tobias had passed, Oran was by his side and he gave it back to him. He said that the next Queen of wolves was going to be very powerful. He said that she would be a healer and a savior to the people, that she was Meara's doppelgänger."

I sat there stunned, "Me, her doppelganger, Alex you can't be serious."

"You do resemble her, if I may say so."

"Really? My visions, I don't see it, I don’t see how I look like her."

"Maybe you should do some research. Could I have the clip now?" He extended his hand out to me.

I shook off the weird feeling and handed it to him. "Of course, I'm sorry. I guess nothing should surprise me anymore, but it does."

"Don't worry Princess, I completely understand. My reactions to all the new people and other things I was exposed to was probably an over kill of the ordeal. But Brayden was very calm with me and let me take my time processing it all."

"How long have you lived on the isle?"

"This is year three I think. I've been working at the palace almost as long also."

"How old were you when you left home Alex? You don't look much older than me."

He got a little quiet, like it was a tough subject.

"You don’t have to talk if it makes you uncomfortable."

"It's not that. I've just never come into contact with a customer that cared more about me than themselves. All the women in court talk about their boring problems like not knowing what to wear or how their husbands don’t love them enough. It's different, and I like it. It tells me that you're going to be a great leader." He smiled and spun me to face the mirror. "I left home at seventeen, the day I left was the day I told my parents I was gay. The look on their faces was horror mostly, then it turned into self-regret. I couldn't take it. My siblings were happy for me, like they had somehow knew all along, but never said anything. But after that night, I couldn't face my parents. So I left a note and called Brayden. He came and picked me up with the one suitcase I had packed and we left. Our first stop that night we lied to the hotel manager to get a room. I can't even remember where we stayed."

"That is amazing, do you ever wonder what would have happened if you had stayed?"

"No, I already know. I would have been exorcised, drowned in holy water and forced to be someone I wasn’t. While my siblings would have accepted me, but my parents are deeply religious. If I would have stayed I would probably be dead right now."

"Suicide?"

He nodded, "I still struggle with depression, the trauma that came from that night. But I have Brayden and when I'm with him nothing else matters."

"That's how I feel with Malakai. Like nothing can hurt me. Though the other day I for sure though I had made myself wolf bait. These representatives, they... they don’t take well to female authority."

"No, no they don't. I worked with Queen Arianna a few times. She is quite simple and quiet, though she spoke a lot about fashion. Always has been very stylish."

I took a look at myself in the mirror and smiled. "Alex, this is perfect. The curls and the style, everything."

"I'll remember it for the big day. Don't worry about makeup today, Eliza and you can perfect that later. Go and take some time with what is really on your mind."

"Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."

He smiled and waved as I left, my hair still curly, I gave him the clip to hold on to until the wedding, I felt like I could trust him.

I didn't realize how long I had been in the library until Luca came and found me. My nose was deep in a book, like usual, and I didn't see him come in.

"Leah, did you find something that peaks your interest?" His voice floated over me. "Leah?"

"What?" I looked up, "Oh, hi Luca. Alex told me today about something our Uncle Tobias said. I came here looking for an answer. I haven't found anything that helps my case, but I found something on the war between Aideen and Meara."

"Do you think it could help us," he asked.

"Maybe, I'm going to take it into the spell room for us to look over."

He sat next to me, "So what was it that Alex told you?"

I looked at him as I wrung my hands together in my lap. "Do you believe in doppelgangers, or reincarnation, any of that?"

"At this rate I think anything is possible, why?"

"Apparently, Uncle Tobias had said on his death bed that the next queen of wolves, would be Meara's doppelganger. That she would be very powerful, a savior and a healer to the people. Do you really think that could be me?"

"Does she look like you in the visions you have shared?"

"Not that I can tell. But I trust Alex, he had Great Aunt Lily's hair pin. It's Oran's gift to me from her and Uncle Tobias. I think he is trying to guide me, that they both are. Maybe Meara has more ties to the Serbian Pack than I thought."

"Well, the packs will be here next Friday. I think maybe we could talk to Milos about all of it. If you are, it could explain all your power, how you are able to figure things out with all this so much. Maybe you two share a link that allows Meara to guide you through it all? I'm grasping for straws here sis, but at least all these clues are going in the same direction."

I looked back at the book and to Luca, "I suppose. How were things with Oran and Kai today?"

The look on his face screamed his frustrations. "Wolves are stubborn creatures. Those two are also very opinionated. But not as much as the pack representatives. Good God, how has father done this for so long."

"Have you seen him today?"

"No, I will tomorrow. He needs his rest, the doctor said that much before leaving. But tomorrow all us guys will be going over some wedding stuff and getting fitted for our tuxes, so he will be there and I'll sit with him. Leah, how is it that a few months ago you were ready to kill this man for leaving and lying to us and now you act like that never happened?"

"Our father is dying Luca. I was mad at him for lying, but knowing he did all that to protect us, I can't just ignore him. As upset as I was and still am, he is our father, loving and caring and protecting, as he always has been. But I can't let him die thinking I hate him for what he did. We came here expecting to find a power crazed King that was in over his head and had no clue what was coming. We found something much different. We found our father, the same father who raised us, protected us, always wanted the best for us. We found him sick, dying and trying to rule a nation that is on the brink of war with a force that hasn't been seen in over a thousand years."

"That nation, the war, it will be ours Leah. Not his."

I looked the other way, through the window and over the wall into the town. "I think you'll find that this war will be as much his as ours."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that the forces of Aideen never really left our people. More that it snuck away into the shadows. The shadows that father has been battling since he arrived."

Sarah appeared in the doorway, it was time to go talk flowers and tables with Liz, Kai's mom and the palace staff. "Leah, we gotta go."

"Coming," I stood and faced Luca, "Find out what you can from father about who Meera really was, and what she looked like. Visit him, please."

"Ok."