Finding The Queen

Chapter Four

Once the duo arrived in the capital it was starting to get dark and they needed to find a place to stay. Luckily one of the pubs just down the hill from the palace had some vacancies.

"We will be needing two rooms and dinner if you please." Her father requested to the owner, who strangely enough was a woman. Rosa had never seen a woman such as this one. All the woman she knew were polite, well kept and proper, but then again they didn't own anything. The only things that they had were because their husbands let them have them. It was true, the capital was a very different and strange place to be.

"That'll be thirty desos." The woman said as she held out her hand expectantly for her father to drop the money into her waiting palm.

"Thirty? That's a little bit expensive for two rooms and a meal. No, I think we will go somewhere else." He said as he turned and started to guide Rosa. Rosa knew instantly what he was doing, he was trying to haggle down the price. In reality there was no where else for them to go, all the inns and pubs were full, but this woman didn't know that.

"Wait! I suppose I can throw in some wine and then a small breakfast tomorrow." The woman called to their backs somewhat reluctantly. She was torn between losing paying customers and giving them too much for their price.

"Excellent!" Her father cried as he whirled around, pulling Rosa with him and picked up what little luggage they had. "Lead the way!" He exclaimed as he followed the woman, relieved that they had somewhere to rest their heads for the night.

Once the lady had showed her and her father to two separate rooms that were luckily right next to each other before they headed down to the bar front for dinner. They ate pretty quickly and quietly, it had been a long day and all they really wanted was to go to sleep and be fresh for tomorrow and after a nice relaxing bath that's exactly what Rosa did.

When morning came, Rosa dressed in her best attire and met her father for breakfast, whilst being incredibly careful not to spill anything. "Are you ready to go Rosalind?" Isaac asked her gently as the woman cleaned up after them. Rosa replied with a little nod, not able to trust her voice. Was she truly ready? How could anyone be ready for this?

The pair walked the fairly short distance to the palace. Rosa's first glimpse of the palace was when she walked over the top of the tiny hill that was in front of the pub. The palace was mostly all white, with a dark grey roof and many silver windows. The size of the palace was outstanding, Rosa had never seen anything so big, you could fit five towns in there she thought. Her eyes tried to take in every little detail, but it was impossible. Her eyes flittered from turret to turret until they rest on the ever growing line of people queuing from the gates.

Rosa and Isaac joined the queue and many more families joined behind them. Rosa could hear some of the girls complaining about how their feet hurt and that the sun was burning them, but Rosa didn't care about any of that.

"Excuse me, do you know how far this line goes?" Rosa asked the girl in front of her as they moved one pace forward. The girl had long blonde hair, was a little bit shorter than Rosa, and had big blue eyes.

"It goes all the way into the throne room." The girl smiled. Rosa looked up at her father with a mixture of shock and amazement. She couldn't believe that so many people had turned up, it seemed the whole of Doreland was here, hoping that they would be its next queen.

As the day grew on Rosa and Isaac continued to move closer onto the palace grounds. As the day turned to night, they reached the main door where four guards stood. Rosa looked at their silver armour and watched as the moonlight bounced off of their chestplates and glinted the hilts of their swords. Just as she was admiring them she caught a flurry of activity out of the corner of her eye and felt her father pull her closer.

"Everyone from here onwards can you please return tomorrow. The King's mother will not see anyone after here." A squire called as he stood behind Rosa. It seems that she would be the last girl seen today. At least their long wait wasn't for nothing, like the thousands of girls behind her. And so, very slowly, they continue to walk forward until they are stood at the entrance of the throne room. Rosa watched, her mouth slightly open, as the girl before her fled the room in tears.

"Enter..." I tired and bored voice called from beyond the rich mahogany doors. Rosa gulped, this was it. Her life could change or it could go back to the way it was before all of this, but she would only know if she stepped through those doors. With her head held high, Rosa strode into the room, a small smile on her face.

In front of Rosa were two women. Rosa instantly recognised the first woman as the King's mother and the King. Her blonde hair was slowly turning grey, whilst her blue eyes still looked youthful. The second woman was someone who Rosa couldn't place, yet she still looked familiar. Her long dark hair and dark brown eyes that were boring into Rosa's. She watched as the brunette leaned into the King's mother to whisper something.

"Not now Lilla." The King mother snapped. "Child, please tell us your name please."

"Rosa... Rosalind Lowther." Rosa choked out. The two women's faces paled.

"You kept the name I gave her?" The woman, Lilla questioned.

"Of course, my wife and I thought that it was a beautiful name. Fitting for a beautiful girl." Isaac smiled, he knew that Lilla recognised him from twenty years ago.

"Dad?" Rosa asked, looking between all of them confused.

"Honey, I'm not your dad... not biologically. You already knew that." Isaac said softly.

"No. You are the daughter of Nelson Saville, you are the new sovereign queen of Doreland." Helena Saville proclaimed as she stood from her throne and bowed, showing the top of her head to Rosa, Lilla and Isaac followed her as they bowed down to their new queen.