Chapter Three

Opening the door and seeing who is on the other side has me in shock. I see my high school sewing teacher Mrs. Donovan and her husband. Stepping forward, Mr. Donovan takes my hand, bowing and kisses it. “Princess Lascher, what a pleasure to meet you,” He tells me stepping aside for Mrs. Donovan to greet me.

“Princess Lascher,” she says with a curtsy.

“I ask that you don’t call me Princess tonight, please call me by my first name,” I say gesturing for them to come in and shutting the door behind them. “Steven doesn’t know he is too young and I have not gotten used to the news yet myself. If you follow me, I’ll show you to the dining room. And if you’ll please not mention it at the dinner table I would appreciate it.”

Walking into the dining room, everyone says hello and takes their seats around the table. “ No, you sit at the head of the table, Kayla, ” Dad tells me as I go to sit in my normal seat across from Steven.

“Okay,” I say taking the seat my father has pulled out for me.

“Okay, everyone serve up your dinner and start eating,” my mother tells everyone.

Reaching over I serve myself some chicken, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, peas, corn, zucchini and put some gravy on my food. I grab my cutlery and start eating. While we’re eating, my mother and Mrs. Donovan start up a conversation concerning someone I’ve never heard of and about their wedding to someone else I’ve never heard of.

“Mum, may I go get a drink?” Steven asks when they finish talking.

“Sure, Steven,” Mum tells him.

“Would anyone else like a drink?” Steven asks getting up from the table.

“Yes, please, would you like any help?” I ask starting to get up.

“No, I’ve got it, ” Steven says. “Would you like anything, Mr. and Mrs. Donovan?”

“Yes, please, do you any wine in the house?” asks Mrs. Donovan.

“Yes, I believe we do. Steven, I believe it’s in the cupboard with the wine glasses. Can you get Mrs. Donovan a glass of it, please, then stick it in the fridge,” Mum tells Steven.

“Yes, Mum,” he says turning and walking to the kitchen.

“Okay, so I have some big news for you. Gwendolyn and Mark, you got permission to tell Steven that Kayla is a RoyalThe RRoyal Council notified me today and asked me to tell you, however, there is a catch. It'It’s only because they need a sibling to crown Kayla and Steven is the closest thing Kayla has to a sibling,” Mrs. Donovan tells us.

“Okay, well that’s a good thing we were worried about that part of the ceremony. We’ll tell Steven after dinner.” Mum says.

Just then Steven walks in with a tray of drinks. “Here you go, Kayla, I got your favourite mineral water. Mrs. Donovan, I brought you the glass of wine, Mum, Dad, Mr. Donovan I also brought you each a glass.” He says, handing out the glasses of drink as he says it and then sits down with his glass. “I hope you don’t mind Kayla I got a glass of your mineral water for myself.”

“That’s fine, I know how nice it is, ” I tell him before taking a sip.

“So may I ask what’s for dessert?” asks Mrs. Donovan.

“Kayla made a lemon raspberry cheesecake yesterday. It has to set in the fridge overnight.” Mum tells her proudly. She has always been proud of my cooking.

“If everyone is ready for dessert I can grab it from the fridge while Steven quickly clears the dirty plates.” I offer.

“Sure, yes please, ” Mr. Donovan says while everyone else nods in agreement.

“It’ll take me a minute though I have a couple of last touches to make to it,” I tell everyone.

“That’s fine,” Mum says. “We’ll move to the lounge room for a less formal setting to have dessert. Steven, can you please clear the table?”

“Yes, Mum,” Steven says getting up and grabbing plates. I stand up and start helping clear the table.

“Kayla, go on, go start decorating your cheesecake, I know what you’re like with the presentation of your desserts.” He says to me.

“Okay, Thank you, I have to melt the chocolate to go on top,” I say walking into the kitchen.

I pull the cheesecake out of the fridge and stick it on the bench. I pull a punnet of raspberries and a punnet of strawberries out of the crisper. Turning to the cupboard, I pull out my decorating chocolate. Turning to the cheesecake, I unclasp the side on the spring-form pan and carefully slide it from around the cake. I sigh in relief when I see the cake is intact and that the raspberries are all still in place around the edge of the cake. I see Steven walk in and start stacking dishes carefully in the sink. I start placing raspberries on top carefully only placing them around the edge. The next thing I do is pull out a baking tray and line it with baking paper. I put a pot on the stove that is half filled with water with a glass bowl on top so that I can melt the chocolate when the water starts steaming. I put the raspberries away while I wait for the water to heat up.

“Steven, could you please grab me the white chocolate out of the cupboard?” I ask.

“Sure,” he says, turning to the cupboard and grabbing the chocolate.

“What are you melting the chocolate for?” he asks passing me the packet of chocolate.

Just then the pot starts steaming. “Well, I thought it would be nice to have some chocolate strawberries with the cheesecake and I know how much you love chocolate strawberries,” I tell him while putting the chocolate chips in the pot.

“ Well, I’m going to sit down,” He tells me.

“Wait; please don’t tell them about the strawberries. I want to surprise them,” I tell him.

“I’ll keep your secret,” He says conspiratorially heading to the dining.

Walking into the lounge room ten minutes later, I have the cheesecake on a cake platter, the strawberries in a bowl, a stack of plates, the serving knife and forks for everyone sitting on a serving tray.

“There’s lemon raspberry cheesecake with a milk chocolate drizzle on top In the bowl there’s strawberries covered in chocolate. Some dipped in milk chocolate and, some dipped in white chocolate and some are dipped in both,” I tell everyone, placing the tray on the coffee table. “Who would like some cheesecake?”

There’s a chorus of “Me, please,” so I start cutting it up and handing out plates with pieces on them.

“Dig in everyone, grab some strawberries they’re fresh,” I say starting to eat my own.

Everyone sits quietly eating their cheesecake and has a few strawberries.

“Okay, so I think we need to start talking about what Kate and Mitchell come here for because it isn’t simply for dinner,” Dad says putting his plate down on the coffee table when his finished eating.

“I suppose we should,” Mum says to Steven, “First thing first, Steven, we have to tell you something.”

“Yeah, Mum, what is it?” Steven asks.

“Kayla is a Princess,” Mum tells Steven.

“What do you mean a Princess?” Steven asks looking at everyone confused.

“Steven, I’m a succubus Princess of the Lascher family. I’m the last remaining member of the Lascher family bloodline. My Crowning ceremony is on the day of my eighteenth. The issue is I need a sibling to be part of the ceremony and I only have you,” I tell him. “You know I was adopted before you were born well you’re the only sibling I have left.”

“Kayla, how long ago did you find out?” he asks me.

“I found out today when I got home,” I tell him. “I haven’t even been told the whole story myself.”

“Haven’t you read the letter yet?” Mum asks me.

“No, I was too overwhelmed, so I had sleep ,” I tell her.

“Well, you should read that tonight, however, right now we have other things to discuss. Now that we’ve told Steven, we have to start organizing your ceremony. We already have the guest list and the location organized and we don’t need to send out invitations because this has been on the calendars of all the people who need to be there. We do however have to organize your dress and crown,” Mum tells me.

“The dress is the reason I’m here, Kayla, as you know, I can see what you don’t know is that I’ve been designing dresses for the Lascher family for thirty years. I made your mother's Crowning dress and her wedding dress. So when she was pregnant with you, she organized for me to design your Crowning dress for you,” Kate tells me.

“I would appreciate that, thank you, Kate,” I tell her gratefully that it is someone I know who is making my dress.

“There are some things we don’t have control over for the dress. It has to be a ball gown, and it has to cover your shoulders, but we can choose what type of sleeves, the length of the sleeves, the color and the type of fabric we use,” she tells me. “Is there anything in particular you would like in the dress?”

“Is there any chance we could do a cream satin dress with a layer of chiffon over the skirt with a split down the middle that gets bigger as it gets further down the dress?” I ask hopefully. “I’ll leave the neckline to you.”

“We can do whatever you would like within the guidelines set for us. Let’s get your measurements so I can start making it straight away,” Kate tells me happily.

“Sure,” I say standing up while Kate grabs a tape measure, paper and a pen from her bag and gets to work taking my measurements.

“Okay, well now that you have some idea for the dress. Kayla, I believe you have your last exam tomorrow morning. So I’ll pick you up after you finish and we can do some shopping. We have some things we need to get you for the Crowning ceremony,” Mum tells me.

“Okay, thank you, Mum,” I say gratefully that I won’t have to stay after my final exam.

“Okay, now Steven, we need to discuss what you are going to wear since you’re part of the ceremony. You have to wear a suit that matches the dress Kayla is wearing,” Mum tells him.

“Okay, I can get a cream-colored vest and tie to match her dress,” he says.

“Okay, good, your father can take you tomorrow after school and you’ll need to get a black suit jacket too,” Mum tells him. “Now, Kayla, this is the hard part. The person that is being crowned knows other Incubi and Succubi. This hasn’t been an issue before, but the person who is being crowned has to be escorted into the ceremony by their significant other half. This means that Michael has to be the one to escort you into the ceremony. Kate was telling me while you were fixing dessert that we have permission for you to tell Michael but you must not tell anyone else. Do you understand me?” she asks me very seriously. “It’s for your safety that we can’t tell anyone else.”

“I understand, if you don’t mind, I would like to invite Michael over to go with us tomorrow. I can tell him then and could he come to dinner too please,” I tell Mum, taking my seat since Kate is finished measuring me.

“Sure, I think it would be best if you weren’t alone when you told him,” She says. “You’ll also need to learn a special dance they will have you dance at the celebration after the ceremony.”

“That’s fine by me,” I say. “Now if you don’t mind it’s getting late and I need to study for my exam tomorrow.”

“That’s fine. We’ve talked about everything we needed,” Mum says getting up to give me a hug.

“Thank you, Kate and Mitchell, for coming over for dinner and I am sorry if I seem rude,” I say.

“That’s fine,” Kate says politely.

Sitting on my bed later, I look at the envelope containing a letter from my biological Mother. I struggle to summon the courage to open the envelope and read the letter inside. After about five minutes sitting and staring at the envelope in my hands, I finally open it and start reading.

Dear Kayla,

My sweet, beautiful daughter, I’m writing this letter in case something should happen to me. First of all my darling daughter, know that I love you with my whole heart. Second, I know what a hard time this will be for you. It has been agreed upon that you wouldn’t be told you are a royal until you are older. We agreed to protect you. If something should happen to me, my best friend, Gwendolyn, and her husband, Mark, have agreed to adopt you and raise you as one of their children. I trust Gwendolyn and Mark with my life and indeed they are my Guardians and now they are your Guardians. It has been chosen that if this should happen they will live in a town with no other Incubi or Succubi other than yourself, your adopted parents, Kate and Mitchell. I have also organized for Kate Donovan, a close family friend, to do your Crowning ceremony dress. She knows that you are a Princess and she and her husband, Mitchell, have been sworn to secrecy. I want you to remember to trust them. They are protecting you and never that no matter what happens to me I will always love you. Remember no matter what happens that even though I may not be there I am always watching over you, my darling baby girl.

From your biological Mother,

Kirra

After reading the letter my biological Mother wrote to me, I look at the photos I was given. The first one I see is a photo of a young couple in their late twenties holding a young baby. The young woman has gray eyes, brown hair and is short, while the young man has hazel eyes, black hair is medium height. I turn it over to see that someone has written on the back. It says Princess Kirra Lascher and her husband, Lord Harry Lascher. I burst out crying all I wanted after reading the letter was to cry because she took care of me even after she passed away. She made sure I would be safe no matter what happened to her. I lay there crying for several hours after reading the letter and looking at the photo.