Nine: Fiona Fallon
1036 Words
Nine
Fiona Fallon
I texted Nan not to pick me up during the weekend.
Declan wanted me to come home with him, so we could present a united front to the King, his grandfather. It would also give me time to think of what I was going to say to her. Declan tried calling his parents too, but the Prince and the Duchess of House Alba were of course busy doing something.
They were coming back from a summer spent on an international tour.
It was the first time in a long time that the whole family, including Declan’s younger siblings, the twins, would be together for a long time. Malcolm and Arabella. They’d been babies when I moved in, and they were now five years-old.
I helped Nan watch them, and they were adorable. Tiny little balls of energy and sweetness with blond hair, and the bluest eyes you’d ever saw.
Declan picked me up at my dorm, and Declan’s driver took us to Faodail. I sat in the back with him, earning some strange looks from Angus but I ignored it.
“So,” said Declan, “we’re goin ta have to tell them. Are you alright with that?”
“I wasn’t sure before,” I said, “but after what happened in the office, I know that you’re genuinely interested. That this isn’t some sick, twisted fantasy of yours. I thought that it was a joke at first.”
“Never,” he said, lacing his fingers through mine, “Fiona, yer the only one I’ve wanted since I first knew what hormones were. I tried fillin’ my time with actresses, models, or what have ya but…nothin’ compares to you.”
“Why?” I asked softly. “Why me?”
“Because,” he said, “I can be anywhere in the world, and if yer there, I’m home. Because for me, that’s what ya are. Home.”
It felt so strange to me. I was being taken to the palace, in the Princes car. I’d kissed the Prince in front of the entire school. I wore his seal around my neck. There’d been plenty of strange things that had happened in my life. But I never thought that this would be one of them. Ever.
But it felt right.
I’d grown up with Declan. He was one of the few constants in my life. I could only hope that his family would accept me.
“Do you think they’ll be okay?” I asked. “With all of this?”
“My family?” Declan said.
“Well, you know you’re beloved around the palace. Mother and father especially think yer wonderful with the children. Arabella, I’m sure, will be asking about how soon she can get her flower girl dress.”
I laughed. “Of course. But I’m not….I’m not what they expected.”
“No,” he said, “but I think that might actually be in our favor. Since The Gullotine made it their mission to get rid of royals, monarchy’s need to make themselves more appealing to the people. Someone like you will probably be our greatest asset, because you’re not part of the monarchy.”
“I’m a servant girl,” I said, “and the Headmaster---”
“I know what The Headmaster said,” Declan told me, stroking my hand, “and I don’t care. There’s always goin’ ta be people around like that. Class does not determine a person’s worth. You are everythin’ ta me, Fiona Fallon.”
I pressed my forehead to his. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear ya say that.”
He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “Well, yer happiness is of upmost importance to me, Miss Fallon.”
“Then, I live to serve, yer majesty.”
There was coughing from up in the front of the car. “Sorry to interrupt, your majesty, but we are here,” said Angus.
The two of us laughed and pulled away. Declan helped me out of the car and together we ran up the steps of the palace, up the stairs of the grand staircase, to the family parlor where everyone should have been waiting.
Or we would have.
But none of that happened.
The moment we entered the palace, my Nan was there waiting for us. There was a solemn look on her face, which seemed to have aged a hundred years overnight.
“Fiona,” said Nan, “go upstairs to our tower. I’ve got ta talk to his majesty alone.”
Declan stiffened. “Nanny Fallon, if this is about what happened with Fiona and I at school---”
Nan shook her head, her eyes welling up with tears. “Oh, my dear, sweet boy. I wish that was what this was about. For both your sakes. No. This is somethin’ graver, and I’m afraid the King wishes to speak to you alone, your highness. I was told to come and get you the minute that you arrived. He thought you’d do well with a familiar face by yer side.”
Declan glanced at me. “Can Fiona---”
Nan shook her head again.
I squeezed Declan’s hand. “It’s fine. Just come find me when everythin’ is over, alright?”
He nodded wordlessly and followed Nan up the stairs. When they were gone, I went after them in the opposite direction going to the tower that I lived in with Nan. It was small, but it was the place I called home.
There were two beds in, there, a window seat, a desk, and a tiny kitchen that had been set up by the Duchess of Scotland for us. Declan’s mother. The walls had pictures of Nan and I plastered over them, and the rafters had been painted to look like the night sky when I was younger.
I sat down on my bed, and I fiddled with the royal seal necklace that Declan had given me. The castle had been my home for years. Now that Declan had chosen me, it would continue to be my home. I would never feel lost ever again. I had a future here, and a life here, and it was going to be so much more than I ever thought that it could be.
- Writer
