A/N:
THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN AND EDITED. This new version is completely different from the original, so I advise that you re-read every chapter marked 'rewritten and edited' as much of the story has changed.
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The meal was wonderful- the duck was cooked to perfection, and the white chocolate and raspberry pavlova was divine. I had been placed at a table with Jamie, William, Adelaide, their cousins and my cousins, Eric and Charles, or Charlie as he preferred. Although Elizabeth had initially wanted William and I to sit on a table with our parents, the King suggested that perhaps we would prefer to sit with people our age. Luckily, she had listened to him.
Harriet was miserable, as Finn had been sat on a table on the opposite side of the room, with his father and the man we had seen him with before, along with five other people I didn't recognise. The conversation at our table was light and easy, all of us having known each other for years. While Charlie and Eric weren't around much, when they were, we would try to spend time together. We were cousins after all, with their father being the younger brother of my father.
"So we leave in a few weeks," Oliver finished explaining about his military service.
It was seen as a traditional for male royals, before they were married, to complete a minimum of 6 months military service, as a way to pay back the public for their support. Blake had completed his service just over a year before, and Charlie, while he was not a royal, did service of his own three years before.
Charlie was the eldest of everyone sat at the table, and at 24, had completed his military service at the ages of 20 and 21. He was tall, at just over 6 feet and was fairly well built, but the look suited him. He had relatively short dark brown hair, that he often gelled at the front to keep it tidy. His eyes were a dark forest green, as was the Thorne trait, and his skin a slightly tanned brown, as he had spent the last six months living in South Africa, with his father.
Eric, on the other hand was just a year older than me, at 21 and was a good three inches shorter than his older brother, at 5 foot 10 inches. He too was well built, but had a much smaller frame than his brother. He had slightly lighter hair than Charlie, and while it was still a dark brown, in the summer it turned to a lighter brown. His eyes too were the Thorne forest green, as was everyone else's in the family, besides Steven's. Eric lived in Kent, not too far from London, but preferred to keep to himself than get involved in public affairs.
"And how long are you doing it for?" Charlie asked, sitting across the table from Oliver, a few seats to my left.
"I'm doing a total of nine months, for the time being anyway," Oliver explained. "We leave at the end of the month, and I'll be gone for five months until early July. I'll be back for three weeks for the wedding, before going back at the end of the month."
"So you'll be home in November?" Eric asked, sitting directly to my left.
Oliver nodded, "Well, that's the plan. I'll see how it goes, but I'm thinking that I might do some extra time within the next few years. I enjoyed my training, so who knows? Maybe I'll be making a career out of it."
Blake laughed, "I too enjoyed the training, brother. But training is totally different from the real thing. I've done my time, and I wouldn't want to go back."
Sitting up straight, Charlie gave Oliver a reassuring grin, "If that is what you want to do, then I think you should go for it. It's a great career, and if it wasn't for-- well, you know... I would probably in the army myself right now."
We all gave Charlie a painful look, remembering the painful events of two years ago that had broken the young man's world. Looking at him, you wouldn't have guessed that he lost the love of his life at just 22 years of age. Caroline was a wonderful girl from a good respectable family, and was just three weeks from turning 22 when she passed away. She was not even ill when she died; she didn't die from an illness. It was a late Thursday evening, when Caroline was stuck by a car as she was driving down a motorway, on her way back to London from her family home in Berkshire. She was pronounced dead at the scene, nobody was given the chance to say goodbye. Charlie became half the man we once was, but over the last two years had built himself back up, and he was almost back to his usual self.
"Anyway..." Harriet broke the awkward silence, "I want to bring all of you to meet Finn, he is really excited to meet you all.'
"I'm sure he is," Blake's eyes met mine, reluctance swimming in them but this disappeared after brief eye contact with me. "Fine, you can bring him over to meet us all. I want to talk to him anyway."
Oliver agreed, "Definitely. Maybe you could leave him with us, while you and the girls go and dance, or whatever it is that you girls do."
Harriet glared at her youngest older brother, "Don't you dare try and scare him away, Oliver Jacob Quentin Kingston!"
"Quentin?!" Jamie started laughing, "Oh boy! I forgot about that!"
"Harriet!" Oliver hissed at his younger sister, "I told you to never mention that awful name ever again!"
"I think it's adorable!" Adelaide laughed, "Be sure to mention that when you introduce him to Finn!"
The table soon broke up, with Eric and Charlie heading off towards some family friends, whom had been travelling around Brazil and Argentina for the last few months. Harriet dragged her brothers, along with Adelaide to go and meet Finn on the other side of the room, while Jamie claimed he had spotted a 'beautiful young woman' from the across the room whom 'he had to meet'.
"We should do our rounds," William said softly into my ear as he helped me stand from my chair. "After that, we should be free to enjoy ourselves."
I nodded, walking by his side, "Do we have to talk to everyone?"
"Oh Jesus, No!" William chuckled, "It's just about who you speak to that matters. Our family is obviously a must, but after that, there are a few figures such a politicians and philanthropists that we will be expected to talk to briefly. It shouldn't take too long."
William then proceeded to lead us around the room, stopping every so often to engage in polite conversation with famous figures. Some of them were familiar to me, having been family friends or people I had met at other social events. Most, however was completely unfamiliar, leaving William to do the introductions, as he seemed to know most people in the room.
"Are we done yet?" I groaned, suddenly feeling the strain of the evening in my feet.
William rolled his eyes, "You're so impatient!"
"My feet are hurting," I admitted, saying it a little quieter.
He glanced down at my heel clad feet before meeting my eyes once more, "Why do you girls insist on wearing such ridiculous shoes?! Fine, there is just one more from what I can see in the crowd. Are you familiar with George Blackwell?"
The name was somewhat familiar, knowing the man who held that name was an elderly lord, with no wife, children or siblings. He was a man who had engaged in politics in his earlier years, but after ten years holding a political seat in Kent, he had given up politics for a quieter, more private life.
"I know who he is," I admitted, "I don't recall ever meeting him."
William nodded, "He's a nice man, a little odd but good nonetheless. He's a good friend of my father, so I'm sure he'll be happy for us to talk to him. He's sat at the back."
We dodged between the tables, making our way to the table to the right of where Calvin Mitchell was still sat, still muttering quietly to his friend. A silver haired man, with a medium build was sat alone on the round table, all of the other seats having been vacated a while back.
"George?" William called, catching the attention of the far older man.
His head snapped up, and a small grin found a way onto his lips on the site of the prince, "William, my boy! It's wonderful to see you, Wonderful!"
William sat down next to the man, pulling me to sit on his other side. They gave either a firm hug and handshake, obviously knowing each other fairly well. They spoke for a few minutes, completely forgetting I was even there, but I didn't mind, the conversation was enjoyable.
George was talking, when he suddenly stopped, having caught my eye. "Oh, my dear, I'm sorry! I didn't realise you were there! How are you dear? I'm George, you must be Lilliana, am I right?"
"You are," I beamed at the man. "It's fantastic to meet you, George! Are you enjoying yourself?"
He waved me off, "It's not about me, dear. It's your evening, after all! It's all a bit busy for me, but it's nice to see all of you young ones have a lovely time."
William patted the old man on the shoulder, "As humble as ever, George. You know you can always come and find mine if you are feeling, lonely, don't you?"
"Of course I do, my boy." He smiled, "Oh, your father is waving you over, you should go and see what he needs. I'll keep the lovely Lilliana here company."
William glanced over at his father, and then to me, "Is that okay?"
"Of course!" I smiled at the old man, "I'm sure we can keep each other entertained for a while!"
With that said, William got up and made his way over to his father, leaving George and I sat at the far back of the room.
"Lilliana, dear," George gained my attention. "I was actually wondering if I could ask you something."
Puzzled, I slipped into the seat that William had been occupying, "Of course you can."
"Well I've been hearing rumours, well more like stories around the room tonight, and I was wondering if you could confirm if they were true or not," George admitted. " I'm sorry if I appear nosey, but I'm an lonely old man, who's ears are always burning."
I laughed, "It's fine George, really. What did you hear?"
His glazed blue eyes glanced around the room, before he turned back to me, "It's just, while I was sat here alone a while ago, I heard two men mumbling about your family.
I frowned, "Who? What were they saying?"
"Look to the left," He directed with a barely noticeable nod. "Do you recognise them? Calvin Mitchell and Robert Walsh. I heard them talking earlier, regarding your brother."
"They were talking about Steven?" He nodded. "What were they saying about him?"
George frowned, "Well, your brother has been away for a few years, hasn't he? Well, they were saying he was coming back."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"Apparently someone who works for Calvin saw him arriving at Heathrow this morning," George explained. "I was just curious, seeing as I wasn't aware he was coming back."
"Neither was I..." I muttered, "Would you excuse me?"
Without waiting for a reply, I jumped to my feet and sprinted across the room, in search of my father. When I couldn't see him, I stopped in the middle of the room, spinning around, trying to locate him.
I wanted answers.
I needed answers.
"Lily?!" Jamie voice, caused me to spin around 180 degrees, "What's wrong? Why are you running around like a headless chicken?"
"Have you seen my father?!"
Jamie looked around quickly, and then turned to me, "No, he must have stepped out for a minute. Why, what's wrong?"
I frowned, "I really need to talk to him. It's important, Jamie! I need to find him!"
He gripped my shoulders, firmly, "Calm down. Right, you need to tell me what's wrong. Why do you need to speak to him so badly?"
"I can't tell you, I need to speak to him right now!" I tried to push him away, but he wouldn't let me.
"Okay, okay!" He said, "I'll help you find him, all right?"
"Fine," I pulled away. "But I need to find him now, Jamie."
"Hey!" A voice interrupted my hastiness, "What's going on?!"
William pushed passed Jamie and pulled me away. He checked me over, and when he saw my expression he frowned.
"What happened, Lilliana?"
"Have you seen my father?"
He looked confused but nodded, "Yeah, he received a message at the front gate a few minutes ago. He has just stepped out to retrieve it."
"See I told you," Jamie butted in. "He'll be back in a minute."
My face paled, "I don't suppose you know what the message was?"
"No, of course not!" William looked appalled, "How would I? Look, what on earth is going on?!"
"I'll tell you later!" I called, as I began to walk away, "I need to go and find my father."
But I walked for all of ten metres, before I came to a sudden halt. My father slipped in the main door, almost as if he knew I was looking for him. I began to walk over to him, until I halted once again.
Because my father wasn't alone.
Because slipping in behind him was the one who was the cause of my panic.
Steven Royale.
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