Return of the Crown

Her finger tips grazed against the crowns’ golden rims. Ivah’s sapphire eyes gazed at the shiny big crown that she desired, or rather, everyone desired. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud slam of the two large doors that entered into the king and queen throne room. Two rather annoyed people stormed into the room, they saw Ivah standing there touching the crown. She quickly held her hands behind her back and bowed. 

“Your highnesses.” She greeted the two princes. It seemed they both didn’t really notice that she was touching the crown, they quickly swiped it away. The tall, slim prince looked Ivah up and down, then he proceeded to his destination ignoring her comment. The other prince sighed lightly then walked over to Ivah.

“I’m sorry about him. He’s always like this. Today has been a rough day for us.” The prince answers back to Ivah, who nodded knowing not to speak. The prince, Revin, laughed, noticing this. He ran his large hand through his short nice undercut dark brown hair. He was curious why she was in the throne room, only certain people were allowed in there.

“Why are you here? Did mother appoint you here?” Revin asked, raising an eyebrow. Ivah gasped for a moment realizing she wasn’t supposed to be in this room, she was appointed to another room. She looked around the room, to see if she could come up with something but Revin nodded knowing what was going on. Ivah was a new maid that just got this job, he knew that by judging her actions.

“Go, I’ll come up with something if they find out.” Revin looked at Ivah with his golden charming eyes. Ivah smiled gratefully up to him then ran off the back way to the throne room to go to the actual appointed position. He watched her small figure run off chuckling at her mistake. 

As time went on, Revin and Ivah began to talk more and more, Revin’s brother was distant from Ivah but always observed everything. The queen and king grew fond of Ivah and her polite manners as a maid since the other maids were usually just there for the gold, so was Ivah but she also tried to make a relationship close to the royal family. Ivah didn’t have many family members near her, so this was the only thing to keep her going.

Ivah was walking down the long hall of the castle holding some linen to fix the beds in all the castle, of course she had one of her friends that was a maid as well to help her. They split up to help each other out, which the queen had no problem with. As she was dazed out, she didn’t realize she dropped a piece of linen, which in result of that action, she heard a loud yell from behind her. Oh boy. She thought then she turned around with a polite smile. It was the king, king Amaris saw that she had dropped the linen, he picked it up and shook it in front of her face. She stood still, not even flinching. 

“Oh yea, I definitely want this piece of dirty sheet on my bed!” He sarcastically yelled in her face as she stood there. He continued the lecture until he finally threw the piece of linen in her face, making her sigh. She felt as if she couldn’t do anything right, but this was the family, right? She continued on to fix the beds, but little did she know, the other prince, Colton, was watching from the side.

Time went on, until a festival was being planned for the two princes' birthdays. They both were twins, so they both would get a birthday on the same day together, everyone in the kingdom would come bearing gifts. Some people even pleading to the king and queen for their daughter to marry one of the princes, it was chaotic yet fun at the same time for the royal family and it has always stayed the same.

Ivah and Revin walked through the halls side by side together, Ivah was wearing a knee length black dress with a white apron above it, the dress was slightly fluffy but not too much. Revin wore his uniform with a dark blue sash that was wrapped over his shoulders, going down to his chest. The sash wore tons of medals that he earned from either helping out the kingdom or during battle. As they both were talking with each other, they finally came to a stop, Ivah stopped in her tracks having her hands placed on her stomach gently in stance. 

“This is the farthest I can go… My highness.” She smiled, she bowed after that to him making him laugh but realized his father was standing there. No wonder she acted so professional, she’s afraid of the king. Revin rolled his eyes at his father. His father coughed then averted his attention to Ivah.

“Ivah… I need to have a word with you, alone.” He mumbled as he made a motion with his gloved large hand to go away. Revin huffed in annoyance and gave Ivah a look of reassurance then he walked off to find his mother. Ivah fidgeted nervously, she wasn’t sure what Amaris wanted, but she stood there still, looking up at him. Amaris sighed then he pinched the bridge of his nose irritated at what he was going to say. 

“I found your parents.” Amaris finally stopped the tension that was between them both. Her heart dropped to her feet, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Ivah’s face started to burn in heat, as she was trying to think even a little bit. She clasped her hands together and looked at Amaris with her now glossy sapphire eyes.

“W… What? How? I saw them d… die!” She whispered to him, she was purely confused, she didn’t know how to react to this. She started to shake her head, she couldn’t believe it.

“I know. They were taken in by a nearby village when that battle had happened, they put you in a basket wanting someone to find you… You’re also not going to be a maid anymore.” Great, Ivah finds out she has parents that are alive but also now she is losing her job. Amaris could see the anger fueling in her when he said that, he sighed deeply then spoke once again.

“You’re not a maid anymore because you’re a princess. Your mother and father are a royal family to the Elmis kingdom. We will continue this conversation later, but for now, we will continue to act as if you’re not a princess. Understood?” He hushed in a low tone so only the two could hear. Ivah nodded in response, she was still in clear shock. Me, a princess? What is happening?! She thought to herself, her face burning hot red and heart rate to where she could hear it drumming in her ears. Amaris dismissed himself leaving her by herself, in her own thoughts. 

The festival finally began to start, Amaris and the queen Elisia, were both presenting their two pride and joys, their sons, the princes. They stood on a parade boat as a family going through the kingdom, with many citizens cheering for them or other citizens minding their own business not caring in the world of them. Ivah was in the crowd watching the boat pass by her, she looked at how Revin looked uncomfortable, she’s learned that he’s very timid, and not really fit for the king title just yet. However, Colton had the leadership personality. He was smiling and waving to the crowd of people that had joined the celebration of their twentieth birthdays. Colton and Ivah made eye contact, making Ivah squeak then squirm off somewhere deep into the crowd. Colton raised an eyebrow but then went back to paying attention to the crowd of people.

Ivah was walking back to her own house, she didn’t have time to continue watching the celebration, she had too much on her mind. She ran her petite hands through her long blonde hair then put it into a high messy bun. Ivah inserted the key into the lock of the door and unlocked the door. There then revealed two people sitting down at the kitchen dining table. Her heart stopped as she saw them. 

“W… Who are you both? Please get out!” She yelled to the two people that sat there, but they instead sat there with smiles on their faces. 

“Ivah… It’s you! We’re your mom and dad.” What?!

Time flew by as they all three spoke. However, Ivah stopped in her tracks once she heard her parents' request. 

“Get out.” She mumbled to them, darkness filled her eyes. She didn’t want to see them. They tried to tell her otherwise, but she yelled at them to get out and go to their kingdom. They shrunk into the seats but then went out of her house, slamming the door on their way out. 

She fell to the ground, in shock. 

They asked me to kill the king. I can’t. She looked over to see the hot tea she made for her mother was still steaming hot and not touched yet. She went over to the table and sat down. The silence filled her ears, she took a sip of the tea, it tasted bitter. She put sugar in it, she wasn’t sure why it was bitter but she wasn’t paying attention to it at that moment. 

The next day came, Ivah was at the castle in the throne room with Amaris and Elisia. They both were sitting in their thrones, Elisia wore her jet-black hair in a neat bun with her shiny golden crown on top of her head. She had a long silky dark blue dress on, and she held her husbands’ hand, Amaris. 

“Please, I don’t want to have anything to do with my parents, I am not a princess. They don’t even act like royalty!” Ivah raised her voice as she took a step forward, her face flushed in anger, then she felt like her hands were on fire. She ignored the pain.

Amaris shook his head.

“Whether you like it or not, you are a princess by blood. You have to understand that your parents probably lost the ability to act like a queen and king, teach them.”

“So, what are you saying?” Ivah asked, her fists curling harder, digging into her skin.

“I’m saying you’re not allowed here, back in kingdom Aurora until you get your parents together. It’s for the best, your parents are the greatest, just need guidance.” Amaris replied in a deep demanding tone. Ivah only nodded in response, she looked over to see Revin standing there, cowardly. She averted her eyes to the door.

“Fine. But, you are going to have to watch out for your karma.” From there, she walked out, to her so-called parents. The king and queen laughed, thinking what she was saying was a joke and waved it off then went about their day. Revin felt an off vibe from her comment and was always on the lookout for her.

The kingdom of Elmis wasn’t so bad for Ivah, she ruled as the queen because both of her parents gave her the position. They made it clear what was to happen if she received the crown, to prepare war with kingdom Aurora. So, she did.

She made the position of queen her own title, everyone bowed to her in her own kingdom. Once Amaris got word that she was a queen, he got shivers. His army was shrinking while hers was growing. She treated her maids like friends, not servants. She obviously had to give many punishments but, only a true queen knows how to do that. 

Ivah hasn’t tried going back to kingdom Aurora, she knows her kingdom is much more powerful than theirs, so she wasn’t going to waste her energy on them.