The Carnelian Legacy (40 page)

Marisa’s head was swimming. She opened her eyes to find she was lying in a large antechamber with Princess Adalina next to her, holding her hand. She heard the muffled sounds of music, people and laughter in the adjacent room.

“Oh, Marisa, I am so glad you’re all right. Please don’t move while I go fetch my brother.”

Adalina ran from the room, returning a couple moments later with Darian, her uncle, Cinzia, Arrie, and Mark. Uncle Al was the first to reach her.

“There you are, my darlin’ Risa. Are you feeling a little bit better now?” he asked, stroking her hair. “This must all be pretty overwhelming for you.”

“Uncle Al, how did you get here?” she whimpered.

“Shhh—just be quiet now. You need to relax so you can go back to the party.”

“Hey, sis! Just what have you managed to get yourself into here?” Mark asked, grinning at her.

“But
how
did you two get here?”

“Celino came and got us,” Mark said. “I was freakin’ the day you disappeared, but Uncle Al kept sayin’ things would be okay and that we would find you.”

“I’m so glad to see you,” Marisa said. “You have no idea.”

She leaned around Mark and saw Darian standing at the back of the room, quietly listening to the conversation. She looked at him knowingly. “How did you do it?”

Sensing it was a private moment, the others quietly slipped out.

Darian shrugged. “It wasn’t me—Celino brought them here. He deserves all the credit. But Marisa, are you ready to return to the ball? There are many people out there who have come a long way to meet you,” he said.

“Darian, is this really true?”

He leaned in close to her. “Everything I said out there is the truth. You are the Princess Maraya Fiore.”

“Why can’t I remember any of it?”

He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. But you were very young when it happened. Perhaps you simply purged it from your memory.”

“But why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Marisa demanded. “All this time we’ve been together, and you never said a word. Why?”

Darian softly caressed her hand. “The timing wasn’t right, and you weren’t ready to hear the truth. You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d told you.”

“How long have you known?”

“Mmm, probably since the day we met. I thought I recognized you that first day on the road—you looked so much like your mother. And that same evening at the inn when I saw the ring, I figured it couldn’t be a coincidence. There were so many added clues along the way—your father, Uncle Al, Mark, and of course, your mother’s royal diary.”

“The book was my mother’s?”

His eyes sparkled. “Do you remember the morning we broke camp with the warriors? I was in your tent and found your mother’s diary. When I saw your Crocine record of royal birth stuck between the pages, it confirmed what I already knew to be true—that you were indeed Maraya.”

“But why would you—”

“Marisa, although I would love to keep you all to myself right now, I’m afraid we must rejoin our guests at
your
birthday party.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

She got up and moved toward the door but he pulled her back into his arms. He tilted her chin to face him and his eyes were serious.

“Maraya, you were born a princess and shall one day become queen. But just so there is never any doubt, I would love you forever if you simply remained Marisa MacCallum for the rest of your life.”

He pulled her to him and pressed his lips firmly against hers with such depth and passion until she was finally convinced it wasn’t a dream. As they slowly parted, she noticed tears in his eyes.

“I’ve wanted to tell you for so long now,” he said softly.

“I just can’t believe this is happening.”

“Yes, I know—another surreal moment.” He grinned. “I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve getting you back again.”

“Darian, what happens now?”

“Well, after the proper training, you become queen.”

“No, no—I mean—are we still engaged?”

His face was serious. “Only if you want to be. There is no law against you ruling as queen without a husband.”

“There isn’t?”

A mischievous grin spread across his face. “You could banish me from your sight if you wanted to. But you would break my heart forever if you chose that option.”

She punched his arm playfully. “Do you have any idea how often I’ve beat myself up over you? You knew I loved you and yet you never said a word.”

“You are mistaken, my dear. Although I confessed my love for you not only in words but in actions, you did not do the same for me. In fact, your words and actions seemed to confirm the opposite. I had no way of knowing what was going on in that pretty little head of yours.”

“I still don’t get it—why didn’t you just tell me about our engagement?”

“Two words: free will. You expressed to me almost as soon as we met that you could never marry someone out of an arranged marriage. It was then I knew I would have to fight to win you.

“Patiently, agonizingly, I waited for you to discover if you could ever feel anything for me. The last thing I ever wanted was to force you into marrying me out of some sense of duty or obligation.”

“So I guess I can eat my own words now.”

He chuckled. “Are you ready to go back in?”

“Do I even have a choice?” They laughed as he hoisted her to her feet. He put his arm around her and steered her through the door leading to the Knights’ Hall.

As the subjects bowed and curtseyed to their new princess, she mumbled softly so that only Darian could hear.

“I don’t think I will ever get used to this.”

“Yes, you will,” he whispered. “I will help you. And now, Your Supreme Highness, may I have the honor and extreme pleasure of the next dance?”

“Only if you promise not to call me that again tonight.”

As they clung to each other in a romantic, slow dance, the guests gathered around to catch a glimpse of their soon-to-be king and queen. Marisa savored the night as one she’d never forget for the rest of her life.

As she pressed her cheek against Darian’s chest, Marisa noticed that Uncle Al, Mark, Cinzia, Arrie, Helena, Tino and Adalina were all chatting and watching the two of them together. Uncle Al had one arm around Cinzia and her head was resting on his shoulder.

“So how do my uncle and Cinzia know each other?”

Darian burst into laughter. “Do you mean Baron Alessio? Why, they’re married, of course!”

“Married!”

“Yes! Years ago, the baroness was too ill to travel with your family on the voyage aboard the
Carnelian
. Since Alessio disappeared along with the rest of the ship, those two have been separated until today.”

“It’s so strange to hear you call him that.”

“You’ll be hearing a lot of strange things from now on.”

Her eyes widened. “The painting!”

“The painting?”

She nodded. “When Cinzia took me upstairs to the guest chambers for the first time, I saw the portrait of she and her husband and I knew I recognized his face. But I just assumed it was because he looked like Arrie. But the young man in the painting is Uncle Al!”

He laughed. “Indeed.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner,” she muttered, shaking her head. “But how did all of us get from here to Earth?”

“I shall allow your uncle the privilege of telling you
that
one.”

“How do you know so much?”

“Patience, my darling. You don’t need to know everything all at once. In fact, it would be much better if you received the news in little bits,” he said.

“Little bits?”

“You’ve already had so much to process in recent days, and there will be plenty more in the days to come. We wouldn’t wish you to suffer from—what do you call it again? Ah, yes—sensory overload.”

“Too late for that!”

When the dance ended, Darian and Marisa rejoined their families. She was surprised to hear her uncle speaking fluent Crocine.

“Uncle Al, why didn’t you tell us sooner?” she chided him.

His eyes glistened with tears. “Oh, Marisa, believe me, I wanted to so badly. But your father made us all promise never to reveal anything about Carnelia to either you or Mark.”

“But why?”

Uncle Al sighed. “I don’t exactly know. Perhaps he didn’t want you to go through life always feeling as if you didn’t fit in.”

“But I’ve always felt different.”

“You were different.
Are
different.”

“And now you’ve broken your promise?”

Uncle Al sighed. “Your father felt it was best if you never found out about this past since you would never get to see it anyway. Or at least, that’s what he thought. In light of what’s happened, I feel duty-bound to tell you anything you want to know. It’s what he would have wanted.”

She turned to her brother. “And why aren’t you freaking out like I did when I first got here?”

Mark shrugged. “Uncle Al told me what had happened to you the very first night.”

“You already knew where I was?” she asked her uncle.

“When Mike Stevens called to tell me that your Mustang was parked up at the stables but there was no sign of you or Siena, I knew something was up,” said Uncle Al. He nudged her gently. “Why do you think we always warned you to stay out of those woods?”

“Anyhow,” Mark continued, “I kept asking questions—like why weren’t we calling the police. Finally, he spilled the whole story. At first I didn’t buy it. And I still didn’t believe it right up until the time that Celino brought us back—”

She interrupted. “He told me he was working on something in the testing phase. Where is Celino, anyway?”

“He was so excited about it all that he wanted to go home to write up his notes while they were still fresh in his mind,” said Uncle Al.

She turned to Darian. “So you probably paid Celino a king’s ransom to go back and pick up Uncle Al and Mark and bring them here. Why would you do that?”

“The reason should be obvious, Marisa. You are the rightful heir to the throne. I could not in clear conscience keep this knowledge to myself. That plus the fact that I might have an extremely difficult time proving your identity without your uncle’s help,” he chuckled.

Marisa decided to drop all the questions and just enjoy the rest of the evening. There was still plenty of time to ask questions and Darian was right about taking the time to absorb the information.

Everyone danced late into the night, and when the last guests had finally left, Darian escorted Marisa back to her room. He hadn’t let go of her since making the big announcement.

They climbed the grand staircase and Marisa noticed the missing portraits had been hung back up on the walls. In a prominent spot, there was a magnificent, life-sized portrait of a young woman. She gasped when she recognized the face.

“That’s me!” she exclaimed, pointing at the painting.

“It’s your mother,” he said softly.

The beautiful young monarch was dressed in a luxurious cream satin dress. Except for her hair which was nearly black, the woman bore an uncanny resemblance to Marisa.

She studied the painting in awe, noticing the subtle details such as the glints of light sparkling in her diamond tiara and the graceful curve of her hand as it rested on a marble stand. Tears formed in her eyes as she stood face-to-face with the mother she had lost so long ago.

“This portrait was commissioned for your mother’s eighteenth birthday, just before she ascended the throne,” Darian said. “She was about the same age as you are now when it was completed. Of course, I had to order the staff to remove it when we arrived so you wouldn’t see it.”

“I don’t think I can take anymore,” she said weakly.

He put an arm around her. “Come, let’s go have a cup of tea and calm you down so you can sleep tonight.”

Once they entered her room, Darian asked Anna to bring them some tea. He grabbed her cloak, slipped it around her shoulders, and led her outside onto the balcony. Gently he pulled her towards him and rested her head against his chest.

“Darian?”

“Yes?”

“There’s something I still don’t understand. Why did you tell Arrie that you were engaged to Lady Matilda? I overheard you talking that night after I fell in the cave.”

“Did you hear me state plainly that I was engaged to Matilda?”

She looked him in the eye. “Well, no—but it was implied…”

A smile spread across his face. “Yes, you see, the inherent danger in eavesdropping is that you can almost always be certain you will misinterpret the true meaning of the words spoken.”

“Say what?”

“Indeed I
was
speaking to Arrie about being engaged to a young woman, but that woman wasn’t Lady Matilda.”