I open my eyes as the limo door is being opened and hand awaits mine to help me out. I have to blink and let my eyes adjust to the biggest castle I ever seen in front of me. The tan building goes seemingly up into the clouds and stretches out in each direction almost for what appears to be miles. Red and black banners with golden a golden dragon on them hang from the towers. There is a row of guards leading up to the massive golden doors which swing open and reveal a smart looking man next to a matching woman. With Rodrick and Vivienne on either side of me we make our way up the stairs.
Once we get to the top they both bow deeply. "Welcome home your majesties." They say in unison. "Wilfred, Miriam." Rodrick addresses them respectfully, "It is my greatest joy to reintroduce you to our daughter princess Victoria." Rodrick beams joyfully and full of pride. Both of their head shoot up in surprise as they fix their eyes upon me.
"Your highness has finally returned to us." Wilfred breathes out. "Thank Ro your majesty is back unharmed." Miriam bows even deeper. "Uh um thank you." I stutter out, slightly startled by their response.
"Wilfred fetch the other children and have them meet us in the royal family room please. It is time for them to meet their sister." Rodrick then looks toward Miriam. "Miriam can you instruct the royal advisors to meet us in the throne room in two hours. I wish to announce the return of our beloved daughter to them and discuss what this means for the future of Roemtall." Wilfred and Miriam both nod and bow once more before going their separate ways to complete the tasks given to them.
"Victoria dear please follow us to the royal family wing of the castle." Vivienne loops her arm with mine gently and they begin to guide me. As we walk down the halls they explain that the castle is mainly comprised of three wings, the royal family wing where the royal family stays of course. The guest wing where visiting dignitaries and royal guests stay during their visits. Then finally there's royal business wing where the throne room along with a conference room, smaller meeting rooms, and the ballroom are.
The halls are a designed with a beautiful golden panel that's splits halfway through with the top half adorned with black fleur-de-lis and the bottom half left plain except for the the image of a dragon twisting right above the baseboards. The carpet is a soft, lush, deep red with long grey runner in the middle of the floor. Portraits of previous kings, queens, and their families hang on the walls with plaques under each so you know exactly who is who. We finally come to a stop in front of two large oak doors with a guard on each side of the doors. There is a plaque on the wall next to it that reads "Royal Family Foyer".
"This leads to the royal family wing of the castle." Rodrick explains. "This is where we sleep and have more intimate family meals when we can." He gives a lopsided smile which tells me that it doesn't happen often. The guards put one fist to their chest in a show of respect to us then open the doors so we can pass through.
The foyer is not as large as I was expecting and has three archways, one to the right leads to the kitchen where our personal family chef awaits to make anything we want. The one directly in the middle leads towards the royal family bedrooms. The one the left leads to the sitting and media rooms and that is the one we go through. In the sitting are a boy and a girl that appear to be just a bit younger than me and small boy that looks to be no older than six. The older boy's face is similar to Rodrick's in almost every way. They have the same caramel complexion, light brown almond eyes, straight nose, and dimpled cheeks. While Rodricks hair is cut short and wavy the boy's is longer as if he's been growing it out for quite sometime. He also appears to have some slight stubble as if is trying to grow some facial hair but is not quite there yet but his face is a bit leaner and younger looking, not that Rodrick looks to be old himself.
The girl on the couch looks almost similar to the boy except she has the same dark brown eyes and nose and as Vivienne and myself. Her hair is in long locs that she currently has put up into a bun. The younger boy also appears to favor Vivienne more with the same nose and full cheeks but his eyes are round and wide with curiosity as he looks towards us.
"Dad what's going on? I was in the middle of studying for my nations exam coming up." The older boy stood to address Rodrick and was every bit as tall as him with a voice that was almost as deep as his fathers.
"Guys do you remember the story we told you about your lost sister?" Rodrick asks and the older ones nod as the younger one tilts his head to the side before also nodding vigorously.
"Well we've found her, she's finally come home to us. Meet your big sister Victoria." He says gently grabbing my hand and pulling me forward for their inspection. They all stare between me and Rodrick and Vivienne examine how much alike we look. The older boy breaks out into a huge smile before coming a sweeping me up in a gigantic hug.
"Thank Ro you've returned sister! This means I no longer have to be king!" He exclaimed joyfully. Vivienne cleared her throat and he put me down with a bashful smile.
"Excuse me where are the manners our parents supposedly taught me. I am prince Rodrick Matthew Roemtall the second. But you can call me R.J." He smiled cheekily and turned toward his siblings.
"I'm Cassandra." The girl stands from the couch. "That ball of energy is Jackson." She points to the little boy who dashes from the couch to behind Rodrick and peaks at me from behind his legs.
R.J. laughs at his brothers shyness "I promise he is usually a lot more vocal, it's just you were a ghost to us until just then." he explains. "Cassandra and I are twins if you couldn't tell and if I remember correct I think we're just three years younger than you? We're nineteen."
"I'm twenty-two so yeah just three years, and I'm sorry for you not becoming king." I apologize and he throws his hands up.
"Hey no give backs, the kingdom is yours now. I get to live a regular royal life and not be responsible for everyone. You can have it hahaha." He laughs.