The Silver Eyed Prince (Highest Royal Coven of Europe) (8 page)

“It is a small favor compared to your family's ge
nerosity in supporting Darian Hall,” Sir Henry replied.

A shadow of sadness crossed the woman’s face. “Darian Hall deserved it, and I'm glad m-my husband and I could be of service before catastrophe struck.”

Sir Henry regarded the trace of sadness that tinged the visage of the former Queen of the Highest Royal Coven of Europe. Four years after her disappearance in the spring of 1994, the Supreme Royal Council declared the forfeiture of her crown and relegated her to the title of Duchess.

“I am in awe of your success in evading our search parties, Your Grace. The European Royal Army combed the planet for you for four years.”

“I didn't want to be found,” she replied quietly.

“But why didn't you choose to return to the throne after you escaped from—”

“Would you risk war for the reason of wanting to come home?” She looked him in the eyes.

Sir Henry sat back in his chair. The pieces of the puzzle that had my
stified and haunted the hierarchy for the past seventeen years began to come together in his mind. “You are aware of the risks you are taking—yes?” he asked with concern.

“I am prepared to face them with your aid for my daughter's sake,” she replied. “All I ask is utmost secr
ecy. No one knows who she is, not even her. And no one must find out she is my daughter, especially the Highest Royal Coven of Europe.”

Her eyes grew cold. “John Drake, the Duke of Northern Peninsula, still thinks I am the Pure One and is still after me. He knew I bore a child, but he doesn't know who she is. If he learns of her whereabouts and finds out she is my daughter, he will use her to get to me. All my efforts in protecting Elizabeth and preven
ting conflict for the past seventeen years would be in vain.”

“My councilors and I have taken that into account.” Sir Henry leaned forward and clasped his hands. “But you are aware, are you not, that the Highest Royal Co
ven will know that she will be at Darian Hall? This is unavoidable. I have to solicit the King to send his son here, so he can meet your daughter.”

“Yes, I'm aware.” She took a ragged breath. “I u
nderstand what you have to do.”

“Rest assured, that is all they will know,” Sir Henry said with confidence. “Both your real identities will r
emain undisclosed. But I cannot guarantee how long we can keep your connection with your daughter a secret, especially with the Prince here at Darian. He is most perceptive.” 

“My daughter needs time to adjust and understand her fate,” the Duchess said with fortitude. “She needs to comprehend the significance of being the bearer of hope in the way it should come to pass—full of happiness, love, and anticipation. I don't want this stolen from her because of me.”

Sir Henry sighed heavily. “I shall see what I can do about the Prince.”

“This means everything to me, Sir Henry,” she said with imploring eyes. “My daughter's future relies on your vigilance. She must not be associated with me in any way.”

“We understand, Your Grace. As far as we are concerned, we don't have any knowledge of you.” Sir Henry glanced at his councilors.

“Your daughter will simply be one of the one tho
usand students at Darian Hall. We will treat her no differently than the others. The less fuss we make, the less attention she gets and the safer she is. She will attend the primary class for the Tainted, where she will easily blend in and use the human name you have given her, Elizabeth Hamilton. However, she will not be listed in the official roster of students attending Darian Hall.”

“Thank you for your diligent attention in the ma
tter.”

Sir Henry leaned back in his chair. “The only prov
ision we must insist upon as a safety measure is the presence of an officer from the European Royal Army. He will watch over her under the guise of being one of her classmates.”

She stiffened. “Wouldn't that compromise her true identity? How do we know we can trust this officer?”

“It is not uncommon for schools to request the assistance of the Royal Army for protection,” Sir Henry said with a tone of reassurance. “But in your daughter's case, I shall have to beg General Bradford to send one of his best men. No pertinent information will be revealed to the General, except for the fact that a citizen of the Prince's acquaintance is in need of temporary protection. I'm fairly certain that General Bradford will accommodate our request—especially with the implication of a Royal connection.”

“I can see that you have given careful thought to this situation.”

“Absolutely,” Sir Henry replied, thankful that his councilors had suggested he consult the Wise Historians as soon as they learned of her daughter. The crucial information he gathered from the Historians was the very thing that set everything in motion.

“I shall fly to England tomorrow to make an urgent appeal to the King to allow his son to come to Darian Hall,” Sir Henry said evenly, hiding his apprehension on the possible ou
tcome of his mission. “Bear in mind, the Prince will know that his Pure One is here, but he will not know who she is. My councilors and I will bring them together at Darian Hall, but we won't interfere. If they are meant to be, they will recognize each other.”

The Duchess’s expression relaxed and her blue eyes glistened. “I am grateful to all of you.” She switched her gaze from Sir Henry to each of the other gentlemen at the table. “All we have to do now is wait for destiny to take its course.”

And for the first time, Sir Henry saw her gloomy countenance brighten with a hopeful smile.

Elizabeth Adeline Hamilton:

At First Sight

Monday,

January 10, 2011

       E
lizabeth drove into the dark woods on her way to Darian Hall with a tight knot in her belly. She had been dreading the first day of school, not knowing what awaited her. Yes, she'd been to orientation, but that environment was controlled under the watchful eyes of the school administrator and his staff. Today, the entire school population would be present without constant supervision.

What if the other students were hostile?

Her apprehension peaked as she turned into the parking lot. She slowed the car to a crawl and glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Half hour before midnight. She looked nervously at the crowd, debating if she should leave the safety of her vehicle.

“Yoohoo! Yoohoo! Elizabeth!” She recognized Ben's voice and saw him bobbing his head over the crowd. “Over here!” He gestured at a vacant space.

Elizabeth waved at him with tremendous relief. She maneuvered to park next to where he was chatting with Carlos, Lela, and a bunch of other kids.

She turned off the ignition, grabbed her phone from the console, and checked it. Several messages were from Bryan and the rest were from Anne, Charlie, Vanessa, and Sue.

She felt a stab of guilt. She hadn’t gone to her high school since that day in the cafeteria and hadn't returned anyone's call, not knowing what to say. Bryan stopped by multiple times to see her, but her mom had made up some excuse that she was visiting her Aunt Karen in Rhode Island—a make-believe relative they'd invented for convenience.

Elizabeth sighed.
God, she missed Bryan!
She sent a quick “miss you” text to him and stared longingly at his picture on her phone, wishing he was there with her.

“Haloo-Haloo?” Ben tapped on her window. “Are you going to come out of your bat cave or what?” 

Elizabeth tossed the phone in her bag. “Hi Ben!” She stepped out of the car and stumbled when she saw his outfit.

“I knew you'd love it!” Ben twirled in his ballerina shoes, skinny pants, pink leotard, and fluffy white tutu. “This is my modern take on
Swan Lake.
” He danced around Carlos.

“Oh, I thought you were a flamingo,” Carlos said dryly, ducking in time to miss Ben's foot as he attemp
ted a side leap.

“Don't mind them,” Lela said to her. “They forgot to take their A.D.D. medication today.”

“They're hilarious!” Elizabeth giggled. “Are they always like this?” She glanced at Ben who took off chasing Carlos like a crazed bird on a mating call. They were an unlikely pair. While Ben was openly gay, Carlos was straight through and through.

“Pretty much,” Lela rolled her eyes. “They're both from California and have been really good friends for a long time before I came, so you'll just have to get used to it.”

They both laughed and started towards the entrance.

“How did you meet them?” Elizabeth asked.

“Prep school orientation.” Lela shrugged. “My family moved from Pasadena and I didn't know anyone at the New England Progressive Academy. When Ben and Carlos found out that I, too, was from California, they decided to adopt me. So here we are, five years later. What about you? Where are you from?”

“Mansfield.”

“That's not too far. How come you don't know anyone here at Darian? I'm sure most of your prep school classmates chose to go here. It's pretty popular, you know.”

“I, um—didn't go to any prep school around here.” Elizabeth looked around to change the subject. “Shoul
dn't we wait for Ben and Carlos?”

“Oh, yeah. Come on. Let's hang out over there so they can see us.” Lela led Elizabeth towards the spraw
ling concrete stairs in front of the building. 

Halfway through the steps leading up to the e
ntrance of the main foyer, they paused on the landing to wait for Ben and Carlos.

Some kids came over to chat. Lela introduced her to Ishmael Johnson, the boy in dreadlocks with a guitar strapped on his back, and Jared Crowe, a cute Amer-asian guy with spiky hair. His pretty, petite girlfriend, Julie Anne Riggs, joined the group a minute later.

“And this is Bret Kline.” Lela gestured towards the tall, quiet guy with long, straight black hair dressed in gothic fashion—a black trench coat, army boots, and fingerless leather gloves.

He gazed at Elizabeth with incre
dible pale blue eyes rimmed with black eyeliner. “Hi,” he seemed about to say something more, but then hesitated with a quick glance at Lela, a red tint spreading on his cheeks. “I—uh—gotta go. Bye.”

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Lela as Bret disa
ppeared into the crowd. “What's up with him?”

Lela grinned. “He's just super shy, that’s all. With the way he dresses, you’d never think he's whip-smart and a really nice guy–but he is. Personally, I think he's waayy cute.”

“I agree.” Elizabeth gave her a high five and they both laughed.

“Oh, look! There's Debbie Parks.” Lela pointed at the girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was big-boned and had severe-looking features—a large nose, bushy eyebrows, and thin lips. ”Don't mess with that one,” she said as they watched the girl muscle her way up the steps with a frown. “She's as friendly as Attila the Hun.”

Lela craned her neck over the crowd and waved at a slender girl with copper-colored hair walking along the opposite side of the landing. “Jill! Oh, darn! She couldn't see me. Stay here, okay? I'll be right back.” She pushed into the crush of students.

Elizabeth took the opportunity to take in her su
rroundings. The parking lot was now a madhouse of cars and kids. At the far side of the stairs some boys launched themselves from the bottom step, somersaulted in the air, and landed on their feet at the top landing.

High above them, a cluster of girls clapped from the edge of the roof. A few of them balanced precar
iously on a narrow ledge.

Another group sat higher up on the clock tower, swinging their feet as they observed the activity below.

If not for these unusual displays Elizabeth would have thought she was in a regular high school, except of course, classes started at midnight.

“I'm back!” Lela said next to her just as a sudden hush invaded the me
rry atmosphere.

As if on cue, everyone around her stood still and turned towards the r
eserved parking spaces across the building entrance. A silver Mercedes Benz sports car pulled up into one of the spaces, followed by a yellow BMW convertible.

The car doors opened simultaneously. Two guys stepped out of the Me
rcedes and three girls slid from the BMW. They were an eye-catching group. The guys were tall, dark-haired, and handsome, and the girls were gorgeous and fashionable. Out of the three girls, the black-haired one stood out. Elizabeth thought she'd never seen anyone so stunning.

“Did we miss anything?” Ben poked his head b
etween her and Lela, who was also engrossed in watching the group.

“Who are they?” Elizabeth nodded in their dire
ction.

“European Royalty!” Ben clapped excitedly. “See the two cute guys?” He pointed at the men from the Mercedes.  

“Uh-huh.”

“The one i
n blue is Prince David of Belgium, and the one in gray is Prince Philippe of Spain.” Ben sighed dreamily.

“What about the girls?”