The Doppelganger

Reyna and I sat outside. Everyone had agreed to give us time. My father – no, the king, was throwing a tantrum and my mother – no, the queen, had locked him in their room. It was amazing, the amount of power she held over him.

“Do you love him?” she asked me suddenly.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Malachi,” she said. “Do you love him?”

“Not yet,” I said honestly.

We sighed in unison.

“My head hurts,” I said and she laughed.

“What do you want to do?” she asked, looking at me. “Do you want to stay here or at the bar?”

I held her hand. “I want to spend more time with you,” I said. “I mean, I always suspected we were sisters but now that I know it’s true….”

She nodded and we hugged each other. “I want to spend more time with you, too. But I don’t want to come back to the palace. Not after what the king said.”

“I can’t believe he’s been using us,” I said, shaking my head. “But it explains why he hates me.” I sighed. “I don’t want to leave the kingdom, though.”

“Because of Malachi?” she asked.

“And our father,” I said. “I have more questions for him.”

“So do I,” she said. “A lot, actually; especially about this magic.” She looked at her hands. “I don’t feel like I have any magic in me.”

“Neither do I,” I said, doing the same. “What did you mean about a story the queen told you?”

“The first night I was here, the king had slapped me. She came to comfort me and told me a story about a man who had to split up his babies so that they would survive. I should have known she knew.”

“Why did he slap you?” I asked.

“I spoke against him,” I admitted.

“Think there’ll still be a rebellion?” she asked as we stood up.

“Yes,” I said. “That or the king won’t be an idiot and will give in now.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “Rey, is wrong to call the queen my mother?”

“No,” she said immediately. “Not at all. She raised you. She basically adopted you.”

I hugged her. “I’m sorry you had the tough life.”

“He didn’t like doing it,” she said hesitantly. “But it does feel like he deserted me….”

“You two have a lot of healing to do,” I nodded. “First, I have a suggestion.”

“What?”

“Let’s find a house,” I said.

“What if… our father has one?”

I shrugged. “He can move in with us.”

She nodded and we linked arms, walking back into the palace. Constantin was still in the tea room, staring at his hands. The queen was there, too. She was speaking words of comfort to him until we came in then she stopped. We pulled the couch closer so there was a foot between us.

“We want to stay in the kingdom,” I said and our father covered his face to cry.

“But neither of us want to be in the palace,” Reyna said and the queen’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, holding her hands.

“No,” she said, wiping her tears away. “You’re not my daughter; I have no right to-”

“Don’t be stupid,” Constantin said. “Of course she’s your daughter!”

“You raised me,” I said.

“I should have raised Reyna, too,” she sobbed. “But I didn’t have any influence over her until she left the orphanage and came back here.”

Reyna held her other hand. “It’s okay,” she said. “You protected me; fed me when my biological mother wasn’t there to do so. You saved my life.”

“Do you have a house?” I asked our father.

“No,” he sighed. “I haven’t gotten to save enough. After the king wouldn’t let you go, I started planning the rebellion. The rebellion that waits outside these doors, Louise,” he added and she sighed.

“Is there anything we can do to avoid bloodshed?” she asked.

“Your husband is to relinquish control to you,” he said immediately, spitting out the word husband. “I have been able to tell over the years that you have been the main influence but his word is final. If he doesn’t agree, then we’ll use force.”

Louise nodded. “I agree to the terms. He will step down, whether he likes it or not.”

“I’m hungry,” the two of us said in unison and we smiled at each other then I gasped.

“Andreea!” I said, completely forgetting about the little girl.

“N-Nicky,” a voice said and I jumped to my feet.

I ran and embraced the little girl. Malachi smiled, letting Andreaa’s hand go so that she could hug me back.

“We went back to go get her,” he said. “I thought you might like to see her.”

I smiled and stood back up, standing on my toes to kiss him.

“Nicky?”

Andreea was pointing at Reyna and I giggled.

“No, Andreea. Reyna,” I said in a slow voice as Reyna came over.

The little girl’s face was incredibly confused and I laughed again.

“You’ll understand soon,” Reyna said and held out her hand. “Andreea?”

“Andreea,” she said proudly.

“Let’s get some food,” Andrei said, smiling, too.

~Six Months Later~

“I like it,” Reyna said, walking along the bottom floor. “It’s not too big, not too small.”

“You’re going to turn me into an old man, aren’t you?” our father asked with a wrinkled nose as he walked in.

“Yep,” we said and giggled.

He smiled. “You two look just like your mother,” he said with a sigh and we hugged him. He held us tightly. “I’m so glad we get to be a family again.”

“Me too,” I said.

Reyna didn’t answer but she didn’t need to. The two of them had disappeared into the forest for two days to talk about what happened. I don’t know what they said but that was between them. Already he’s been spoiling her and I was glad for it.

“Good God,” Malachi groaned. “How many dresses do you own, Nicky?”

I laughed as he heaved my trunk in, getting help from Andrei.

“They’re not all mine. Reyna’s are in there, too!”

Malachi just rolled his eyes and gave me a quick kiss before going upstairs with it.

“Now, you’re not stealin’ my daughter just yet!” our father called up the stairs after Malachi.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he called back. “I’ve seen what happens when you’re in a temper.”

Everyone laughed and I sat down on the couch, jumping a little to test it out. It was going to be weird but exciting to live as a villager all the time instead of just four days. My mother had sent us with her blessing and Jacobi was, of all places, in the dungeons.

After my mother made him step down, he tried to kill her. Our father wasn’t going to let that happen, though, and stopped him before he could. Our father was all for executing him but my mother put him in the dungeons. She wanted him to learn and maybe change.

“He’ll never sit on that throne again,” she promised.

So, those who were going to rebel separated. They kept an eye on everything, though. They always would.

I lay out and stretched, shutting my eyes. I grunted as a body flopped on top of mine and we both laughed as Reyna snuggled on her back.

“You’re squashing me,” I said dramatically.

“Deal with it.”

We had become best friends over the time we spent together. For the first two months, we spent every day together as true siblings should. We found out all the different things we had in common with each other. We even turned it into a game. I remembered the night we got drunk, taking a gulp of ale for each trait we had in common. Oh, the men were so angry with us.

Andreea was now living in the palace, adopted by my mother. She was always with Andrei and I was shocked she wasn’t here.

“She’s in class,” Reyna said suddenly. “Her speech is getting better.”

“She still has trouble telling us apart, though. Now get off, you fat brat.”

She stretched and hit my face – which I knew was on purpose – and rolled onto the floor.

Our father sat in the room with us and I made room for Reyna on the couch.

“Will you tell us more about her?” Reyna whispered and he smiled.

“I’d love to,” he said quietly and we got more comfortable as the men finished moving everything in.