Crown of Shadows

Chapter 22

"Raven?" The nurse looked into my eyes, a warm smile on her lips. "I'm sorry to wake you. I told the Queen she should wait but she insisted."

I blinked my eyes open, groaning. My entire body was stiff and a sharp pain shot through my neck when I turned to face her. "Huh?"

The Queen turned to Nancy. "Leave us. I must speak with myself." The nurse nodded silently and shuffled out of the room.

"You couldn't have just let me sleep for a few more minutes?" I complained.

"You've nearly slept the whole day away!" the Queen exclaimed. She nodded at my arm. "Twenty four hours. Does it feel better?"

I looked down at my arm. The bubble was gone and so was my wound. In its place was a long, crooked scar. I curled my fingers, blinking. "Yeah... it doesn't hurt at all." I supposed I should thank her, but I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"That's good," said the Queen. "Are you ready, then? To listen?"

"I have a feeling you'll tell me either way."

The Queen frowned at that, but said nothing of it. "Well, then I should first explain your... royal blood. And please know, I am very sorry to tell you this. Especially after everything. I remember this feeling, I am aware that you won't believe it. You'll try to argue with me, but that won't change the fact that it is positively the truth. Do you think I would lie to myself?"

"It wouldn't really make sense, but I wouldn't say it's impossible, knowing who I become," I said dryly.

"We're adopted," the Queen said bluntly. She kept a mask over her face, eyes perfectly void of emotion.

"Come again?" I blinked, sure that I had misheard.

"I said," she repeated, "that we're adopted."

"You're lying," I snarled without hesitation.

"What reason would I have to lie to myself?" She tilted her head.

"You're an evil murdering queen, I wouldn't be surprised if you were a liar, too," I hissed.

"I understand what you're feeling, but I promise I can explain. We were raised by our parents, obviously, but they weren't our real parents," the Queen explained.

"They are my real parents," I insisted.

The Queen sighed. "I was really quite difficult when I was young." She looked down at me, tsking. Like she was better than me. Like she was older, and therefore wiser, and I was just somebody to be ashamed of. Because she was the Queen, and I was just a younger her, after all.

I was fuming. "Why don't you get off your high horse and take a look around you, Your Highness. You're the one who messed everything up."

"I didn't mean to offend you," the Queen told me. "Look, I'm sorry. I really just want you to understand. I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth. Our parents aren't our parents. They found us in the woods when they were taking a hike. We were abandoned there, in hopes that we would perish. Be eaten by the creatures in the woods, but we were saved."

"Laila... she would have told me!" I protested.

The Queen shook her head. "She didn't know. She was only five at the time, and our parents left her back at the house with a babysitter."

"Assuming this could even be true," I began, "why were we abandoned?"

"We are Queen Sparrow's second daughter," the Queen informed me. "She only needed one daughter to be heir of the throne. A second would only complicate things."