The Road to Coronation

Beginning to Heal

Chapter 20:

(Sofia POV)

A few days had passed and while all the staff were preparing for the coronation Hugo and I planned a small ceremony for our daughter. We invited both our families, who we made aware about what happened, and knew what we were going to do for her. I dressed in a black velvet dress and put my hair in a braided crown wearing a simple tiara I looked over at Hugo and smiled. He smiled back at me, "I'm happy that we are doing this." "Me too," He said. We walked over to the door and saw my family land in front of the castle and then we saw Axel land as well. I walked over to my family and felt myself get wrapped in James and Amber's arms, "We're so sorry Sofia. You both didn't deserve this." I nodded, "Thank you so much for coming." I turned toward my parents, "Please don't say anything remotely near 'I told you so' or that 'This is Hugo's fault,' I can't deal with that and it is not true." The both rushed toward me and hugged me. "We weren't going to say that. We just want you to be ok" Dad said. "I'm getting there," I whispered in their arms.

(Hugo POV)

We walked to the front of the castle and I saw Sofia's family land and then Axel came in. Sofia walked over to her family and I turned toward Axel. He came out and saw Dad and I there. He approached us not sure of what to say. "Hugo, I'm not sure what to do," He admitted. I came towards him and wrapped my arms around him. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you and Sofia, neither of you deserved this and I am here however you need me." I nodded and I felt Dad wrap his arms around both of us. I then felt Sofia's hand on my shoulder and turned and saw her half smiling at me. "Everything is ready," she was putting the brave face on right now but, I knew that this would not last long. "Let's go then," I said putting my hand on hers.

(Sofia POV)

We walked over to the gazebo and took out the saplings of the flowers. I turned toward our family, "We both wanted to do something in honor of our unborn child, we talked about doing a lot of different things but we both agreed that this felt right." I then turned toward the roses and showed our families, "We had contacted Miss Nettle about creating a new flower in honor of her." They were white roses but at the edge of each petal it looked like they were dipped in blue. 

Hugo then stepped in, "They were designed to survive all temperatures in our kingdom and will be a year round reminder of her." We looked at one another before I said, "A Clararose." We all planted them around the gazebo and used magic to have the roses grow in vines wrapping around the pillars of the gazebo. I leaned into Hugo's side. Our families had left but we stayed in the gazebo a little while longer. "Hugo it wasn't our fault, right? We did everything we could right?" He looked down at me, "Sofia we did everything we could to keep her safe and it is not anyone's fault other than Laurianne Cunningham who took her away."

We walked into the dinning hall with our family. "Sofia do you mind if we each take some Clararoses back to our kingdoms," Amber asked and I looked at her James and Axel and nodded, "Yeah, it'll be nice to have a reminder of her everywhere." Amber smiled at me and I gave it back. We continued to eat and talk about anything and everything and it felt nice to be with family after losing a potential member of ours. It was exactly what Hugo and I needed and I held his hand in mine as we walked out of the dinning hall after dinner.

Garrick stopped us before we reached our suite, "Sofia, Hugo I need to talk to you both." "What is it Dad?" Hugo asked readjusting his grip on my arm pulling me closer. "We got the Cunningham Family, all of them locked up along with their accomplices and all the people that held you captive Sofia." Hugo's grip tightened and I began to rub my hand on his arm. "The question is what kind of punishment you guys want to distribute, because we could banish them again but then they could come back, locking them away could risk escape and execution is so permanent. I don't know where you guys stand but, I am leaving it up to you." "Can we have some time to think about it?" I asked and he nodded, "Of course."

We walked to our room and I sat on the bed, "What do you think Sofia?" "I don't feel safe with them just walking around but, I don't want to kill them. That is stooping to their level and I can't bring myself to do that." He nodded in agreement. We needed to think of something that insured our safety. I then thought of something, "Hugo I have a plan that I believe would work best for all of us."

(Hugo POV)

The next morning I woke up and Sofia wasn't there. I got ready and left my room and saw Sofia walking back. "Where were you?" "I was just arranging things for today," she said as she walked up and wrapped her arms around me. We walked down to breakfast and got ready for the day. After breakfast with our family, we all went down to the sentencing room again. We went to our seats and our families stood in the room. We waited and saw the Cunningham Family walk in. Laurianne and Eliza were smirking at Sofia but she stayed still and didn't flinch as they walked in. I held onto her hand and she interlocked our fingers.

Dad began, "Cunningham Family, you are here due to crimes against the crown. You have repeatedly preformed treasonous acts of tyranny and have been punished yet, you continue to harass and cause harm to the royal only did you kidnap Crown Princess Sofia and cause her physical harm but, Laurianne you purposefully caused the loss of her child." Eliza and her husband looked over at her surprised, they apparently hadn't known about that. 

"Your sentence shall be given and carried our by Princess Sofia and Prince Hugo." He sat down and I turned toward Sofia and she gave me a nod. "Your actions are punishable by death," I started, "but that is not the way my wife and I wish to rule. You shall be banished to the land in which you held my wife captive and will never be able to come back here again."The guards grabbed the Cunningham Family and took them to the carriage that would take them to the mountain range.

Our families looked at us confused and Axel was the first to ask, "Why did you banish them, couldn't they just come back here and do this again." Sofia shook her head, "No, not this time." We all rode along the carriage that had the Cunningham Family locked inside. We arrived at the entrance to the mountain range that was hidden behind the boulder. Sofia then stood next to me as the guards brought them inside. Eliza was feeling arrogant, "Yes banish us to the home we hid to before. We have evaded your guards before and have escaped tougher situations what is to stop us from coming after you again." 

Sofia walked to a member of the riding party who was in the back and came back, "Have you all met Albus, the royal sorcerer of Albuquerque. He will be making sure that you never hurt anyone in our family ever again." Albus began to cast a spell on each member of the family and I saw a mark appear on each of their forearms. I knew Sofia had a plan but, I wasn't sure what those marks meant.

"Guards please come back here," she said to the guards who were holding the Cunningham Family back. Eliza began to run forward trying to escape while the guards were confused when a barrier blocked her escape. Sofia then walked closer, "We are granting you your lives and your freedom to live them however you see fit within the confines of the mountains, but you will never be able to hurt our family ever again. We will send you supplies once a month but other than that you are all on your own." 

Sofia looked back at me and smiled before turning back and looking at Laurianne Cunningham, "After today, I will never think about any of you ever again but, I want to leave you with some parting words. I truly hope that you are able to find some happiness in the remainder of your lives and I hope that one day you will be able to be satisfied with your lives and learn that you are not the victims in some massive plot against you. Myself and Lila, we were never out to get any of you, we are just trying to live our lives with the people we love and at the end of the day that is the gift I am leaving you."

Sofia turned back to me and we walked away together, while everyone else rode back. We needed some time for us even in a small interval. "Sofia," she turned to face me, "I am sorry that you had to go through all of this." She looked up at me, "I would do it again if it lead me here to you." She kissed me and I could feel her smile. When we separated she looked up at me, "So we are going to be King and Queen in a week." I nodded and she sighed. "I guess we have to pencil in another family reunion," she joked. I laughed, "Yeah but, at least you still got me." She smiled, "Yeah at least I still have you.