*Isla*
Staring at Maddox, I try to understand what it is he’s saying, what he’s just screamed at me, but it’s difficult, and I’m not sure I will be able to comprehend it without some sort of a better explanation.
I wait, hoping he will say more, but all he’s doing is shaking his head, running his fingers through his hair.
I’m going to have to ask him. “What do you mean my birth certificate is fake?” My lips are trembling as I ask the question. I thought this would be the proof he finally needed in order to see that I really am from Maatua, that I am a princess, but he doesn’t even want to accept this government-stamped, issued document.
A loud sigh escapes his lips as he says, “Perhaps we should speak about this another time.”
“What?” I blurt out. “No! You can’t say something like that and not explain yourself. You essentially just told me my entire life is a lie!”
“Your entire life is a lie?” he repeats, his eyes wide and wild as he looks at me. “Isla, if this document were true, your entire life would be a lie! But it’s not. It simply can’t be!”
I hate that my brother is standing there listening to us argue, but I don’t know what to do about this. It pertains to him, too, so I’m not about to dismiss him. “So that’s your great proof that the document isn’t real? Because it can’t be?” I can hear the sarcasm dripping from my own words, and it surprises even me. I shouldn’t speak to him like this. He is the king, after all. Still, he’s also Maddox, my Maddox, and the fact that he still continues to speak to me in such a manner after everything we’ve been through is irritating at least, disheartening at most.
“That’s not the only reason,” he says, and then he makes it clear that he’s also annoyed that we’re not alone. “Ben, why don’t you… go to the kitchen and get something to eat… or something.” He waves at the door, and it’s clear he’s just trying to get my brother to leave.
“He’ll never find the kitchen!” I say. I can barely find the kitchen, and I’ve lived here for months.
“I’ll figure it out,” Ben says, glad to have the reprieve as he darts for the exit. I thought perhaps he’d like to stay here and listen to what the king has to say about his family’s heritage, but it seems clear that Maddox has intimidated him so much, he just wants to run away, and I can’t blame him. I would, too, if I was in Ben’s position, and I kind of want to know, even though this is a battle I have already chosen to fight.
As soon as my brother leaves, closing the door behind him, I sink down onto the bed, trying to clear my mind of everything that’s transpired so we can start over. “I’m just… confused,” I say. “Why would my parents have this document, and all of this other stuff that proves we’re from Maatua if none of it’s real?”
Ben has left his backpack, and I pull out the other things he brought along. I haven’t even seen them myself, but I’m not surprised at what they are. A wedding certificate with the seal of the king, a photograph, crinkled and faded, of my parents on their wedding day, clearly taken in a castle of some sort, a book that appears to be something important–like a family religious record–and the cufflinks.
When Maddox sees them, he inhales so deep, I think the room has gotten smaller. He sinks down next to me. I offer him the box, but he won’t take it. “I thought I… removed those from your room.”
“You mean, you thought you got rid of them?” I ask him, shaking my head in surprise. “You probably did, but this isn’t the same pair. These were my father’s.” I show them to him, and he can see that they’re exactly the same as the pair I found in the village and gifted to him. “I guess there’s more than one pair.”
“You’re telling me that your brother found these in the floorboards at your parents’ house?” he asks me.
“Yes! All of this!” I show him the other items. “Ben said there was more, but these were the things that seemed most important to him as far as proving where we came from is concerned.”
I pick up the photograph and study it. My parents look so happy, and my mom has never been more beautiful. Her white gown fits her so nicely. It flares out at the bottom like a mermaid’s tale. Her hair is pulled up with soft ringlets framing her face.
The room they’re in seems to be a chapel of some sort, and it’s clear that the Moon Goddess is the main focus. There’s a large statue of her far behind them, her silver hands outstretched and lifted to the heavens, like she’s lifting the entire congregation up for a blessing.
Maddox takes the picture from me and studies it. I wait, wondering if he will have anything to say. He makes a small gasping sound, but that’s all I get out of him. So I have to ask, “Do you recognize something?”
He nods slowly, stroking his chin with his free hand as he always does when he’s contemplating something. “The banner behind them.”
I look at it. The camera is far away from the banner that hangs above their heads in the distance, and I can’t read it, though I think I do see a capital M, but most of what it says appears to be written in another language. The documents I have are in the same language I speak, but I know that Maatua has an ancient language as well, and I wonder if that’s what is on the banner. Mystica spoke a bit of it. That’s how she was able to tell me my true last name.
“Is the banner from Maatua?” I ask him.
Again, Maddox just nods. It’s like he thinks if he doesn’t speak of this, it can’t be true. If he just ignores it, pretends it’s all fake.
But I don’t understand why. He must truly believe that not only are the cufflinks cursed but anything and everything that comes from Maatua is cursed–including me.
I need him to explain his thinking to me, so I set the cufflinks and the documents aside, and he gives me the picture to place on top of them. I reach for his hands, and he gives them to me. “Why is it so bad that I’m a princess?” I ask him. Maddox scoffs quietly and shakes his head. “Why can’t you just accept that I am who Mystica says I am?”
“It’s not that I don’t want you to be a princess, baby,” he says sweetly. “It’s not even that I don’t think you could be or already are as much of a princess as anyone ever could be. It’s simply… you don’t know much about this place you’re… apparently from. And it’s not the best place to be from, that’s all.”
“Because of the curse?” I ask him. “Maddox, you don’t seem like the kind of person who believes in curses.”
He scoffs at me quietly. “No, you’re right. I don’t. I usually would have no time for that sort of thinking. But in this case, the curse is so widespread, so dangerous, that I simply don’t want to take a chance on letting it infiltrate my kingdom, that’s all.”
“So… you don’t want me to infiltrate your kingdom?” I hear the sadness in my own voice as I ask the question.
He shakes his head slowly. “That’s not what I’m saying, Isla. If this is truly who you are, if you really are the princess from Maatua who disappeared with her parents all those years ago, then I will embrace it, and we will do what needs to be done to make sure that you are well hidden here. But… I wouldn’t wish that sort of existence on anyone.”
His words settle into my thoughts, and I have to stop and ponder what he’s saying for a long moment before I ask, “Well hidden?”
“Yes. It won’t be easy. I mean, Mystica and a few others seem to already know the truth, but the fact that your parents were able to blend into Willow pack undetected for so long gives me hope that we can make it work. We will find a way.” He pats my hand, and I can tell he’s trying to be reassuring, but he’s completely missing the mark.
“Maddox, I don’t want to stay hidden,” I tell him. “That’s the last thing I want to do. I want to… figure out what happened. I want to help my people. I want to break whatever curse there is that has brought us to this situation.”
“What?” He is looking at me like I have two heads as his forehead crinkles with confusion. “Isla, don’t be stupid. You can’t do any of that.”
“Stupid?” I repeat, offended. I pull my hands away from him, but he grabs them again, not willing to let me get so mad. “It’s not stupid. They’re my people. How would you feel if you were in my position?”
“That’s different,” he says. “My kingdom isn’t cursed, and I’m the king. You’re just–”
“Just what?” I ask, my eyes doubling in size. “Just a princess? A princess who could be queen someday, under the right circumstances. I know that you’ve always felt that you were better than me because of our stations, Maddox, and I can’t blame you for that, not really, but you don’t have to talk down to me.”
“I have never treated you with anything but respect,” he snaps, and while I can think of plenty of times when that hasn’t been the case, I’m not going to list them now. “You’re third in line for the throne, Isla. And that’s assuming your father wouldn’t want one of your brothers instead of you. Really, you’re turning this into a problem that doesn’t have to be yours.”
“It is my problem!” This time, I shoot up off of the bed. “It’s my problem, they’re my people, and I intend to help them!”
“By doing what?” he wants to know, also standing, towering over me in what seems like an attempt to intimidate me.
“By going back!” I say. “By going there and figuring out what the hell happened!”
The room goes silent as he continues to stare at me, his eyes boring into my soul, but I refuse to retreat. I refuse to blink.
And then he says the one word that makes my insides crumble into a thousand pieces.
“No.”