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“Betrothed?” I paled. “This is the first time I’m hearing about any of this. It has to be a mistake.”

The king stood up and walked to the window and looked out. “There is no mistake. Tell me, do you remember anything before the age of six?”

I frowned. How did he know about that? The only persons who knew about my memory loss were my parents and my best friends.

“I’ll take it that you don’t. Ashton was supposed to explain this to you.”

Ashton glared at me. “You don’t remember anything before you turned six?”

I shook my head, still confused.

He stiffened and his eyes narrowed. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that?”

“You didn’t ask,” I defended. “And it would have been weird if you did.”

“I didn’t know you had memory loss!”

“It’s not something I tell everyone. You didn’t tell me you were the prince either.”

He ran an exasperated hand through his hair and turned to the king. “This doesn’t prove anything.” he stated hotly.

“Are you saying it’s a coincidence?”

“I’m saying it doesn’t prove that she’s the girl you’re looking for.”

“You’re right,” the king admitted, but his calm expression made me uneasy. He turned to me. “It doesn’t prove that. But she is the girl we’re looking for. You’ve seen the bracelet, haven’t you?”

Ashton paled and I instinctively touched my bag at the sound of my bracelet. I always carried it with me, but I only wore it on special occasions.

The king extended his palm to me. “The bracelet, please.”

I stared at him in shock and then glanced at the queen who nodded reassuringly at me. I removed the bracelet from my bag and carefully handed it to the king. A large smile spread across his face as he turned it over in his hands.

“Yes. This is proof enough.”

“It’s nothing more than a copy,” Ashton sneered.

“Is there something important about my bracelet?” I asked the king.

He nodded. “This is more than just a jewelry item.”

“It’s a good luck charm for me,” I explained. “My parents said I was wearing that when they found me in the accident.”

The king nodded. “It was your mother’s.”

“Your majesty,” Ashton pressed. He was standing up now.

The king ignored him. “I know it’s you, Elizabeth. I’ve been keeping an eye on you.”

Okay? Let me just pretend that didn’t sound weird. Why would the king be keeping an eye on me? What did he even mean by that? And how did he know that the bracelet belonged to my mom?

“You see, Elizabeth. I was there the night they found you.”

Both Ashton and the queen looked surprised at this. I was surprised too. Was he talking about the accident I was in?

“I got word that there was going to be an attack on you and your mother. I ended up getting to the scene too late, but you were still alive. I made sure that you got to the hospital in time.”

My confusion deepened as I listened to his version of events. I guess it was written all over my face because he continued.

“You see, Elizabeth, unfortunately, your mother didn’t make it. The bracelet that you carry with you belonged to her. It was unscathed.”

I tried to control my breathing as the room seemed to blur a little. I felt my anxiety rising, but I didn’t even know why. What he was saying didn’t make sense to me.

“My mom’s at work,” I managed to choke out.

The queen took my hands in hers. Her expression was one of pity. “I am sorry, Elizabeth.”

I turned to Ashton, but he looked about as clueless as I felt.

“Your parents… they are not your biological parents,” she explained softly. She let that sink in for a moment.

My parents weren’t… Then I was adopted?

No, that couldn’t be it. When I woke up, my parents were there with me. They told me I was in a very bad accident and then they took me to our new home. There was no way I was adopted. I had baby pictures.

I shook my head. “Your majesty, I’m afraid you must be mistake-”

“I’m not,” he cut me off. “You are Elizabeth. I made sure you kept that name.”

“I have pictures of when I was a baby,” I said, standing up. My head hurt and tears were beginning to form in my eyes. “I have pictures and videos with my parents from when I was a baby.”

“They will have to explain those to you,” he stated. “It’s better for you to hear it from them.”

I breathed in and tried to hold on to something… anything. The queen caught me and held me to her as I struggled to understand what was happening.

There was no way my entire life was a lie. It couldn’t be…

“What about the mother you said I had? “ I asked incredulously. “The one who…”

I choked back a sob, unable to say the word. He nodded regretfully.

“I will tell you what I can of her.”

I sniffed and tried to blink back the tears. The queen stroked my hair comfortingly. But I refused to be comforted.

“Why was she attacked?”

“Because you were betrothed to the prince.” He stated. "People wanted to end the arrangement between you and Ashton. Most likely the government."

I collapsed onto the couch. This was too much to take in so suddenly. The queen wanted to request for someone to get me a drink, but I shook my head.

“Let me tell you your history,” the king said, sitting across from me. “It started with your great, great grandmother and Ashton’s great, great grandfather. She was from another kingdom. They met and fell in love and wanted to marry, but he was the king and she was a mere commoner. Because of the royal rules they couldn’t be together because royals were forbidden to marry commoners. So he tried to change the rules, but eventually he had to get married to someone else.

“Your great, great grandmother passed away, but not before he gave her a bracelet and they signed a vow that their children would marry. The rules were finally changed by my father and when CaVaughn was born, he was to marry the next daughter born in your family which would have been you.

"However, Ashton and you were born months apart and it was suggested that you two marry instead. To fulfil the vow, you were betrothed to Ashton, but that same night, you were attacked and your memories were lost.

“Now thirteen years later, we are gathered here to make this right. You see, I knew where you were all along. I made sure you and Ashton would meet again, and you turned out to be his soulmate. That makes it doubly better. I was hoping he would realize who you are, but we'd be here for another decade if I left it up to him."

I stared at him; my head was spinning. First of all Ashton was a part of the royal family. And not just a part of the royal family, he was the prince. Second of all, I was adopted. My whole life was a lie and my biological mother had died. Third of all, I was engaged to Ashton.

“What about my father?” I asked.

“He is unknown. Your mother raised you herself,” the king paused and then continued with a clap. “So, now that things have been straightened out,” he gestured to Ashton. “We can have an official engagement now, since the first betrothal was secret to the general public.”

I shook my head. “This is a lot to take in, your majesty. I can’t agree to that.”

“Me either,” Ashton chimed in. “Just nullify the betrothal contract and let’s get on with our lives.”

“That will never happen,” the king declared. “You have both signed it.”

“I was seven!” Ashton protested.

“And you are the prince,” the king reminded him. “You have a duty to follow through with your decisions. This is more than just some tradition. When you signed that contract, it forged an alliance between our kingdom and Elizabeth’s kingdom, Meryllia."

“Then just pretend you never found her,” he pleaded.

“If that was the case, you would still have an arranged marriage. But we’re not getting into that. Elizabeth is back now and that’s all that matters.”

“But-” I started, but he raised a hand.

“Think it over, dear Elizabeth. We already consider you as part of the family.”

There goes my headache again. I focused on breathing in and out and tried not to panic. This was a nightmare.

“But why me?”

“Why not you?”

“Prince Ashton is already in a relationship.”

The king’s expression soured. “That relationship was not permitted by me or the queen. And it does not hold an alliance between our kingdoms at stake.” He turned to Ashton. “That relationship will be terminated.”

I didn’t turn to see Ashton’s expression, but I could feel the anger radiating off of him.

“I’m sure someone else could do this,” I pressed. “It can’t be hard to find someone else willing to marry the prince.”

“Your mother had one other sister, and she has no children. Furthermore, she’s gone into hiding. You are the only one left to fulfil the vow. The only way you can avoid it, is to allow your future child to marry one of my future grandchildren. And that will take years. It’s time to put an end to this.”

There was no way I’d doom my child to something like that. I sighed and stood up shakily. The queen watched me with a worried expression.

“Please let me think about it.”

“Of course,” the king smiled. “Son, escort her home.”

That put Ashton in an even darker mood than he was in before.

He grabbed my hand and towed me through the door into the hallway. He roughly rubbed his jaw before transferring his dark gaze to me. I shifted uncomfortably under his glare.

I didn’t know what to say to him. Today had been a wild day and my mind was a puddle of confusion. It was a good thing I’d done my homework in detention because there was no way I’d be able to focus on anything tonight.

This couldn’t be real. It didn’t feel real.

“I think I need to sit down,” I said, suddenly feeling exhausted.

I felt myself sway and felt the panic resurfacing. Ashton continued to glare at me, but I didn’t even care. I was just concerned that everything was going dark.

I tried to blink back the darkness, but the last thing I heard was the echo of my name and everything went black.

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