The Secrets of the Throne (sequel to The Girl behind the Throne) - ON HOLD

Chapter 9.

I was walking down the street,
When out the corner of my eye
I saw a pretty little thing approaching me.
She said "I've never seen a man
Who looks so all alone,
Could you use a little company?

"Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Money don't grow on trees.
I got bills to pay,
I got mouths to feed,
There ain't nothing in this world for free.
I know I can't slow down,
I can't hold back,
Though you know, I wish I could.
No there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good".

Freya’s head was drooping into her peas at dinner the next day when a loud bang of a door woke her up with a splutter.

She watched as Tess squealed happily looking more like an eighteen year old that the thirty nine she was supposed to be. Jamie threw his napkin down on his plate and walked/ran alongside Tess to the large foyer.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, eventually Freya regained enough strength in her sleep deprived limbs to follow them, the noises of crying and laughter ringing along the hallway to meet her.

There was a teenage boy in the foyer when she finally caught up, taller than her and still in the gawky stage of growth to look lanky and permanently embarrassed. His eyes were more violet than silver- unlike Freya’s, his messy brown hair the same near black colour of their mothers.

She watched as Tess nitpicked at his clothes, how long his hair had gotten and finally just settled on hugging him so tight, Freya thought she could hear bones breaking.

“My son”. Jamie said with a wide smile, hugging him in the manly way- one armed with the other clapping his back- when Tess eventually let go of him.

“Hi dad”.  The boy said with a wide smile, blushing slightly when he noticed the girl in the room. “Who’s that?” he whispered to Jamie who looked awkward. They obviously weren’t ok telling their son that his ‘dead’ older sister was here to stay over the phone Freya reasoned feeling more than a little jealous of how well they interacted with each other.

“This is Freya”. Tess said walking over to her, placing on hand on the arch of her back.

“Hi Rupert”. Freya said softly, smiling slightly. It had always been her wish to have a brother when she was back at Meredith’s so why did she seem so awkward now when she had one, she wondered.

“Um hey”. He said blushing like mad scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“You look thin; they are feeding you in school aren’t they? Nobody is being mean to you or anything”. Tess said nervously, fluttering around him, easily outnumbered in the height department by all three of them despite her heels.

“Mum, chill. And everything’s cool, nobody is going to be mean to the next in line to the throne, it’s the ass licking that annoys me”. He said laughing and hugging her again.

Suddenly Freya, Tess and Jamie all looked at each other, Freya knew that with her miracle survival he wasn’t going to be king, in fact it was her that was going to be queen one day.

One day in the very distant future she hoped.

“Listen baby, Dad and I want to talk to you in the library”. Tess said kissing her son on the forehead.

He just nodded looking both curious and scared, like a rabbit caught in headlights stopping only when he walked past Freya in the direction of the library. “Hey you look like Mum, are you related to her?” He asked looking at her face.