•Elia
"Leon?" I whisper.
I should have known from the moment he called me Princess.
Is that why he looked familiar?
Because apparently, my mom's descriptions of him in her journals were very vivid. His chestnut hair, amber eyes and warm smile.
"You remember me now?" He asks me again.
According to what I know so far, he was one of the closest people to mom.
Now, how do I break the truth to him?
The king didn't really take the news well, and I haven't even seen a trace of him in mom's journals.
How would Leon react?
I sigh, "I'm not Ella."
He shoots me a confused look.
"I'm her daughter." I continue, gaining an even more confused look from him.
This whole being my mom's doppelgänger thing is only going to get much more frustrating, isn't it?
"Her..daughter." He says it more like a statement than a question.
"You don't believe me, do you?" I let out another sigh, then turn my gaze to the ground.
I feel drained right now. Haven't even been in Anodohra for up to a day, and I've encountered more drama than I have in my nineteen years on earth.
Am I even still on earth?
"I belive you." He says in a low, defeated tone.
Huh?!
My head rises up to meet his gaze so quickly.
He is smiling. Not the happy kind, the sad kind.
"You do? Just like that? No further interrogations?" I question.
I didn't expect it to be so easy to convince anyone that I wasn't my mom. If I was them, I wouldn't believe me either.
"I know Ella more than anyone. Enough to know that you are not her. Just call it my sixth sense." He answers, right before his smile turns into a sad frown.
I've heard of smiles being contagious, but that frown just broke my heart.
"Ella's daughter," he mutters, "That means she found someone." He says in the most depressed tone I've ever heard.
He sounds sad about the fact that she found someone.
There really was something going on between them?
I need to find out more from her journals. The journals- Oh shit, Lita!
"Is she hap-" he starts, but I interrupt.
"Lita! Where did they take my sister?" I demand.
I called her sister out of nowhere, it was what came to me in the moment.
"You have a sister?" His eyebrows rise up in surprise.
"They took her captive. I want to see her."
I will explain everything to him later.
He looks at me with concern before giving a slight nod, "Come with me."
He leads me further down more dark hallways.
But on our way there, we meet Kyron.
He bows slightly in front of Leon. A sign of respect I see.
But Leon flicks his forehead and says
"Stop this nonsense. Take me to her sister."
Kyron looks up and narrows his eyes at me, "Your sister?"
I just nod in answer.
He lifts an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything else. Instead he just struts ahead, while we follow behind.
The setting finally changes when we pass through one of the many doors.
Instead of dark walls and candles, there are prison bars. This must be what they call a dungeon.
I look up expecting it to be illuminated by torches or the same candles, but I see lilies hanging from the ceiling. Really bright lilies, being used as a light source.
Interesting.
I increase my pace when I hear Lita's voice.
She is babbling something about aliens to a poor soul.
"Lia! You're okay!" She stops talking to the guard, turning her attention to me.
"Oh thank goodness!" The guard that had to listen to her blabbering cries out in relief.
I rush over to her and grip her hand through the iron bars. "Lita, Did they do anything to you?"
She shakes her head, indicating no.
I turn to Leon, "Could you-"
"Release her." He orders, like he had read my mind.
"But she-" Kyron starts but gets intervened.
"Has no reason to stay locked up. Free her."
After a few seconds of reluctance from Kyron, he finally releases her. And she immediately jumps on me, holding me tightly.
I return her hug.
After pulling away from the hug, I find Leon and Kyron observing us with bemused expressions.
"She is… your sister?" Leon points at Lita.
I understand where he's coming from. Her features contrast mine; Honey brown skin, emerald eyes, dark brown hair.
Whereas I have a lighter skin tone, sapphire blue eyes and Auburn hair.
At least, we're both five foot five inches.
"Hi, I'm Lalita Grandey, Elia's sworn sister. Nice to meet you." Lita grins, emphasizing the 'sworn' part.
"I see." He replies, nodding slowly.
"I'm responsible for these two, no need to worry about them." He turns to Kyron, who nods in response.
"Follow me." He gestures to us.
•••
After leading us through another survey of the dark halls, we stop in front of a door.
Two doors actually.
"These are your rooms. I assume you would like them next to each other." He gestures towards the doors.
Lita folds her arms like she is annoyed, "You assumed we'd want to stay in separate rooms?"
"I can arrange for it to be one roo-"
"No need." She cuts in, "sleepover in your room tonight." She turns to me.
I smile, stifling a laugh "Sleepover in yours tomorrow."
I reply, before turning to him.
"I need to tell you something." I employ a serious tone.
"I need to ask you quite a few questions as well." He applies the same tone, "but we will talk properly another time. I suggest you girls get some rest."
I nod in answer. We'll talk later.
Lita and I both go into our separate rooms, but before I completely enter I turn back around and pop my head through the door,
"Thank you," Lita and I both echo.
We then look at each other, expecting that the other had already gone in.
When I look back at Leon, he has a smile on his face. Then he just walks away without saying anything.
Lita and I exchange glances again, before shrugging and returning to our rooms.
This time I actually register what's in front of me.
I thought my room was huge. I thought wrong.
This one is even bigger, with a master sized bed in the middle.
Everything here is velvet red ;The walls, the fluffy soft carpet, the bed, blankets and pillows.
Except the ceiling—it's white.
And hanging from it are the same kind of lilies I saw in the dungeon room. They are arranged just like chandeliers.
I take off my shoes before stepping further inside, not wanting to dirty the carpet. I then notice a dresser at the corner of the room, right opposite the bed. It's velvet as well, and has a circular mirror right above it. A mirror that has something like tree vines around it's borders.
"I almost thought everywhere in this palace would be dark and depressing." I say to myself.
I also notice two doors, which I survey and discover that one is the bathroom, the other is a walk-in closet—something I'm not new to.
•••
I actually have no idea what he means by 'rest'. I don't know how long it has been since we arrived here, but it's almost dark out.
All I've been doing is pacing the room back and forth, thinking about everything that has happened, that might happen, and that I should know should happen but I don't.
Why was the king so devastated earlier? What was his relationship with mom? Why is he letting me stay?
*knock* *knock*
"Who is it?" I call to whoever could be knocking on the door.
Instead of answering, the person just opens the door and walks in.
"What's up?" Lita grins.
She pauses when she sees my shoes at the corner of the room, and proceeds to remove hers become walking any further.
I notice she wearing something different from before. Instead of the denim shorts and cotton t-shirt she had on earlier, she is wearing a dress—a plain silk black dress that's ankle length at the back but knee length in front, with translucent looking long sleeves, and a tiny belt at the waist that looks like a rose. It fits perfectly like it was custom made for her.
She drops her bag on the bed, as well as herself, "I love the aesthetics of this place, it's really classy."
I sit beside her, finally letting myself on the bed since I entered the room, "I'm surprised they didn't take that bag from you. It's either it didn't cross their minds…"
"Or it didn't matter." She shrugs, "so, wanna tell me what happened with the king?"
"First, you tell me what happened to you while we were separated." I demand.
"Nothing much. Even that dungeon wasn't all that bad, because what's fantasy without dungeons?" She grins, "The only part that bothered me was that commander dude who kept telling me to apologize. I didn't want to." She shrugs again.
Sometimes I wished I had her optimism.
She gives me a look, signaling her part is over and it's my turn now.
I also tell her everything that happened—from finding out about my mom's murder, to speaking with the king, to finding Leon. Which caused me to have to further elaborate on everything I have read so far in the journals.
After hearing everything, her expressions changing from shocked, to excited, to surprised, to confused, she lets out a loud gasp.
"I know Leon! He's that guy Ella wrote about in one of her novels— 'If only'."
"You read another one?"
"Since the night I left your house I've read three. I'm in love with her writing style, it's magnificent."
That's three books in less than two days. I'm not even surprised.
She then goes on describing the books.
'If only'— one where the male lead, called Leon, falls in love with a girl named Emerson, the female lead. But at the end she wakes up, realizing it was all just a dream. She later gets married to a man named Harrison and has a daughter with him. But she never got over Leon.
Mom didn't even bother changing the names except her own.
The second novel: Never again'— Set in the same world of Anodohra— A girl, keoni, has to choose between marrying the prince, or death. She decides to marry him, but regrets it as the whole relationship went downhill. They end up parting ways, but on good terms.
All these stories are related to mom's life?
Before she starts explaining the third one, I interrupt her.
"How many of her novels did you bring?" I ask, picking up the bag and realizing it is extremely heavy.
"I brought all of them. They all seemed important." She answers.
That explains why she finished so quickly.
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose with a sigh.
"Is something wrong?" She questions.
I meet her gaze.
She looks so chill, and excited even. Like this is home or something. Whereas, I am anxious and overthinking everything. I wish I had her calm demeanour.
"No, it's nothing. I'm just thinking of where to go from here. What to do next? Where to start?" I once again fail to say what I was really thinking.
"Right.." she looks up like she's pondering that as well. "ACA. That's the school she attended right?" She's still staring at the wall.
"You know, college is a place where people learn more about themselves. You want to know more about her? Start in the place where she discovered herself." She says that like it's just a suggestion and not a good idea.
"That's actually a really good idea. But do we just go in there and start investigating?" I stare up as well.
That wouldn't be easy.
But then, there's also Option B.
"We get the experience first hand, by attending it ourselves." She finally looks at me with an exited smile on her face.
That was option B.
As I open my mouth to say something, a knock interrupts me.
"Miss Elia?" A woman wearing a plain black gown, with dark hair that is packed up in a neat bun enters.
"That's me, yes?" I answer.
"The king has requested that you join them for dinner, along with your sworn sister. I will be waiting in front of the door, ready to escort you when you are ready." She informs.
Now I feel stupid for going along with the sworn sister stuff.
But will I take it back? Certainly not.
Lita and I both stare at her with confused faces.
"You would like to eat here instead?" She smiles a little, and I want to nod a yes, until I realize that isn't an option.
"We would like that, yes." Lita answers quickly, earning her a look from the woman.
"Oh…you were being sarcastic." She presses her lips together.
"We'll be right there, umm.." I pause, realizing I don't know how to address her. Would she be offended if I call her ma'am? She looks like she is in her mid thirties.
She stares at me blankly, then she just exits.
Wow.
"Well, that was rude." Lita stands up from the bed. So do I.
"Are you going to a royal dinner dressed in jeans?" She scans me with her eyes, before placing her hands on her hips.
I subconsciously look down at my outfit, before looking up with a smile, "This is vintage. Of course I am."
Lita laughs at my comment, then nods in agreement.
Before stepping out, she stops me
"About attending ACA… I was wondering, if you plan on returning home soon?" She questions.
"Nope. Not anytime soon." I answer.
At least, not until I uncover the truth.