Chapitre 19: Chapter Nineteen
Raphael was jarred by the inclusion of trumpets as the doors were opened. The people crowded around the stairwell and bowed their heads as a figure approached.
Raphael quickly copied, bowing his head as low as the people around him. Following the trumpets was silence, a silence as someone descended the stairs. Raphael had never been in the presence of the Queen and was daring enough to lift his head early to see her.
She was an older woman with porcelain pale skin, her silver and white streaked hair tied in an extravagant bun which held a tiara of her Royalty. Her dress was a sparkly concoction of light blue and elegant crystals that draped down her skirt. She was styled in a very old-fashioned means, with a bell top design making her skirt appear enormous. Raphael couldn't see her arms, only the long white gloves that stretched up her arm and disappeared under her short sleeves.
In the centre of her chest was a golden broach etched with the Royal Emblem. Similarly, she held a small staff made from polished gold and decorated in priceless jewels. Raphael believed its existence was strictly for appearance rather than functionality.
With the wave of her hand, everyone lifted their head. The Queen took her seat on the throne, as Raphael had heard rumours she never danced at her balls, and there she sat, an intimidating figurehead that cloaked the room in a fear of informality.
The Herald approached the crowd of people, standing before Her Majesty to announce several items from a scroll he held and happily unravelled. Raphael grew bored at the announcements and started moving towards a doorway, noticing the distraction.
Midway through his movement, he felt his ring finger throb. Looking down, the Ring of Liberty was pulsing green. It seemed to be the rhythm of a heartbeat, but it wasn't his own. He scanned the room, finding Maria amongst the people listening to the whispers of Mr Durand. She appeared nervous as her fingers twirled the chain of her pendant, nodding every now and then and speaking to Mr Durand.
Her eyes remained downcast as she took deep breaths. She looked up and found Raphael's eyes, giving him a small smile and a feeble wave. Raphael saw beneath in her hand the pendant, throbbing a dull green.
He forced a smile as he looked from his ring and to the pendant.
Is that her heartbeat? He contemplated, waving. Why does it pulse?
Maria gave a final smile before tucking the necklace back down her dress and looking at the announcer. Confused, Raphael paid attention to the announcer.
"And, with your Lady's permission, I'm pleased to announce that the Lost Royal has finally returned home!"
This caused an uproar of gasps and mutters amongst the audience. Raphael's eyes widened.
The Lost Royal was merely a rumour amongst the laypeople. A conspiracy that the Queen had a child who went missing days after they were born. No one knew the gender, the name or could even begin to fathom where the child had gone. Merely a belief that the Queen had an heir one day, and was gone the next. The Lost Royal was a documented person, titled the 'Lost Royal' to the side of Queen Elizabeth in the family tree, but the Royal Family all but ignored their existence for almost twenty years, never speaking a word of it.
Mr Durand approached the throne and bowed to Her Majesty.
"Your Highness, I present to you, Miss Maria Elle Stephany." He gestured to Maria, who slowly approached the Queen, the crowd parting for her.
Raphael widened his eyes. Maria was the Lost Royal.
Maria stood by Mr Durand and curtsied to the Queen, bowing her head and struggling to lift it again. She looked pale, and Raphael saw her knees begin to tremble, but only slightly.
"This is the girl who claims to be my daughter?" Queen Elizabeth asked rising from her throne.
Raphael pressed his lips together, weaving his way to the front to see.
Maria could scarcely meet Her Majesty's eye.
"Lift your head, Maria," Raphael breathed, "Lift your head."
Maria gulped as she lifted her head, nodding it to her. Mr Durand spoke, however, "Yes, Your Highness."
"Can she speak for herself, Durand?" There was a type of salted tone dedicated for elderly and entitled people, Her Majesty succeeded in both as she spoke. "Speak, girl. Do you claim to be my daughter?" She had circled Maria while she spoke, examining her with a sour expression.
Maria nodded, "Yes. I… I do."
The Queen smirked, completing her circle of Maria before returning to her previous expression. "And what proof do you have?" she asked.
Maria gulped as she fumbled with her violin in her attempt to put it down. After a nervous chuckle, she rested the violin by her leg and fished around her neck for the golden chain. She pulled the pendent out again and held the locket Royal Emblem side forwards to show her.
The Queen didn't hold the necklace, merely leaned forwards, and hummed. Raphael saw a flicker of recognition, and somehow, he felt his own heart flutter in anticipation.
The Queen straightened. "This is it?" she asked gesturing to Maria dismissively, she only addressed Mr Durand.
People murmured to one another. Raphael had never seen someone's face drain of colour faster than Maria's as she slowly dropped her hand.
"You Highness…"
"You come to me with nothing more than a country girl and a pendent of Royalty? That is your speculation? Your grand announcement of finding my child?" The Queen's voice was harsh yet frighteningly calm. "How could you be so stupid as to waste my time with this?"
"My Majesty, this is a situation that's been monitored for almost a decade. Many considerations have been made to assess whether this young lady is your daughter, and she is. She has a unique symbol of the Royal Family from a pendent that disappeared with the Lost Royal," Mr Durand assured, "Your Majesty, she is your child. Trapped in an orphanage her entire life waiting for you to reclaim her."
Raphael's eyes were fixed in a state of shock as Mr Durand assured the Queen if the Lost Royal was still alive, Maria was undoubtedly her.
Queen Elizabeth broke her intimidating façade to make a poignant chuckle.
Raphael sensed heartbreak behind the laughter, a moment of sadness twinged in her voice, only for it to be overpowered by a sudden menacing tone.
"I shall not reclaim a mere stranger. I see what you're doing, do you not think I've seen the worry? The kingdom needs an heir, but plucking some farmgirl from outside of Paris isn't going to make one."
The accusation caused uncomfortable stirs amongst the people, their murmurs turning to shocked gasps and louder outbursts of worry.
When Raphael looked to Maria, he was amazed by how composed she seemed, how well she hid what he could only imagine was sickening anxiety at being spoken to in such a way by the Queen.
Raphael felt he was panicking for her.
"Your Highness now isn't the time for-"
"A mother knows her daughter, Mr Durand," the Queen stated matter-of-factly, "And that girl is not my daughter."
There was a haunting melody hanging in the air, lingering on all those who were forced to listen. A sadness, a sense of sombre lingered in the air, as the culprit of the noise became realised; Maria. She gently swayed, eyes closed, violin against her neck and bow in her hand. Raphael felt something in his chest tighten from the first note, suddenly short of breath and a sudden feeling of heaviness.
No one could speak.
No one, aside from Maria who opened her eyes and said with a fragile tone, "Even if these people just plucked a random farmgirl from the middle of nowhere, they did that all for you, don't be mad at them." She took in a short breath, "But, if you're so sure you're not my mother, then fine. But you're someone's mother. If you're certain about what you say, then I can only hope someday you find her." Maria's arms trembled as the final note of the violin stretched agonisingly in the ballroom, a sudden crippling eeriness washing over her.
"Hollow statements have hollow meaning, child." The Queen's expression turned into a look distraught, "Where did you learn that?"
"It's another of the reasons people believe me to be the Lost Royal, ma'am. I was left at a train station in the middle of the night, with nothing more than sheet music, a blanket and a necklace with your Royal symbol." Raphael could hear her agitation rising, but could do nothing to calm her as she continued. "I learnt that melody from those music sheets I was found with, I've spent years upon years playing it, learning it, as a means to even try to come close to understanding who my family may have been." Maria's reserve hardened as she raised the violin and repeated the fragile piece of music, even as the Queen twirled around and appeared to stomp towards the girl.
The closer she got, the harder Maria's stare became until the Queen retched the bow from her hand to silence the sombre song.
The Queen almost yelled, "How dare you even have the nerve to play such a foul reminder in this palace? In all of Paris?" Raphael raised an eyebrow, mouthing her words as he tried to make sense of them.
The Queen, having realised her moment of strife, straightened herself and handed Maria back the bow, "I will not have the throne seized by an imposter, nor a thief." The Queen snatched the pendent locket in her hand, implying Maria had stolen the pendent.
The implication prompted a forceful act in Maria as Raphael watched her snatch at the wrist of the Royal. Everyone gasped, some women so frightened they retreated while some men had to be held back. Mr Durand made a move to detach them, but Maria's words halted him.
"You can insult my town, call me a liar, a traitor for all I care, but I will not be called a thief, and if you touch my only memory of any kind of happiness, I don't care whose mother you are or if you lock me away for life in your dungeons, I will respond with violence. Now let it go."
Raphael, unsure whether to be impressed or surprised, stared in silence. He never thought Maria would threaten violence like this.
The Queen and the girl shared a glare thick with tension, but also an agreement of sadness that soothed their strain. The Queen released the locket, allowing Maria to release the Queen.
Maria stared at the locket in her palm, whatever aggression she displayed evaporated as her hands betrayed the slightest shake.
The Queen didn't appear mad, but rather upset, as if something within her had just been extinguished, as she instructed, "Leave." She turned her back on Maria and began walking away, "You are no longer welcome in this castle, child."
The ballroom fell silent as Maria stumbled slowly as if she had been pushed, one hand clutching the pendent, the other tightening around her violin and bow. She closed her eyes, a quiet whimper escaping her as she pressed her lips together.
Maria released her breath, upon opening her eyes showing tears. She forced a small laugh, "I waited my entire life to meet you… my, what a waste."
The Queen's people gasped again as Maria thanked a stunned Mr Durand and walked through the parting crowd, smothering her sobs as she walked to a side door and into the outside garden.
Raphael looked from the Queen to Maria, shaking his head as he pursued Maria, following her out into the garden while everyone started gossiping and gasping.
Unlike the ballroom, the outside was cold from the night air and, by Raphael's standards, was far more beautiful. The windows were bordered by a stone patio that stretched out to the stylised bushes which made up the garden. Many were shaped into tidy rectangles, providing a maze-like look. In the night time, the leaves were coated in a cold dew that gleamed like diamonds on the leaves.
Raphael heard quiet sobs as he approached the stone stairwell that led the garden. Maria was sitting on the bottom step in the lower corner, attempting to hide her tears as she held her head in her hands. His presence initially surprised Maria, but she didn't object as he sat beside her in silence. He sighed as he looked up to the dark sky, seeing the dull glimmer of stars. Being separated from the ballroom made the air much quieter, but Raphael could hear the very distant hum of commoners enjoying Fete de Paris.
"I hate to see such a nice person unhappy during Fete de Paris," Raphael informed, "It's a time of fun, of culture. Not sadness and tears." He made a daring move of comfort by placing an arm around her. She leaned into his embrace to cry. Raphael pulled her close as she wrapped her arms around him. He said nothing, only waited.
Raphael knew sometimes presence was stronger than words, that a need for hugs sometimes outdid the need to speak. His Mother had been adept at this, being nothing more then a comforting presence when nightmares plagued him in the evening because she knew if Raphael wanted to speak he would.
Similarly, Raphael held Maria as she wept, occasionally running his hand up and down her back.
"Thank you," she said lifting her head, still leaning into him.
"No worries," Raphael assured looking back to the dull stars. "So, a princess? Never would've pegged you to be hiding something like that. Anita might get jealous."
"Anita wants to be a princess?" Maria sniffed wiping her eyes.
Raphael chuckled, shaking his head. "No, I think she wants to be a knight. But to be related to the Royal Family, she would be excited."
Maria scoffed, standing up hugging herself. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not the Lost Royal."
"Hey," Raphael stood up after her, "Don't let the Queen of all people worry you. She isn't worth it."
Maria chuckled, "But Raphael, she is worth it. To be a princess, to live in a palace in Paris is an orphan's dream! A wish come true for so many people." Maria wiped her eyes. "And more so that anger? Why was I so suddenly angry at her? Why did I grab her like that?"
Raphael didn't know whether to be relieved or surprised by her words. To him, the outburst in there was rather out of character, but he was more occupied by her motives to address that. "Is all that mattered to you? Being a princess?"
Maria shook her head again. "No, of course not. She was all that mattered to me. My entire life had been put on hold to wait for her, to have the chance to be a part of a family. Her family." Maria hung her head and sighed, "But it doesn't matter anyway, she's right. A mother knows her daughter, and that's not me."
"Maria, you can't just let her say that. So many people think that you-"
"The Lost Royal already has a family!" Maria blurted out, "She has mine, I thought I could have hers."
Raphael was at a loss for words, attempting to speak but having only noise come out of him. "What?"
Maria walked away from Raphael to hide her crying as she spoke with a weak voice. "The Queen is right, I'm not her daughter. I'm a fraud! A liar! Nothing more than a selfish orphan!"
"Maria, don't say that about yourself!" Raphael ran to her and forced her to face him. "You are none of those things. You're kind and polite and a little reserved, but not selfish."
Maria took in shaky breaths and continued to shake her head, a motion that seemed to be her answer for everything. "You don't know me very well at all if you say that."
Raphael gulped as he waited for her to continue.
"I… I don't think I want to talk about this right now," she confessed sitting back down on the steps. She had stopped crying, but Raphael saw she was pale as a ghost.
"I can tell you want to talk to me," Raphael informed sitting beside he again. She was jittery, constantly rubbing her hands either together or up and down her arms, her eyes remained glassy and based on her outburst, this was something she had bottled up for a while. Something in her head was unravelling and Raphael didn't want it pressing on her conscious.
"Tell you what," he took off his hat and messed his hair, "I tell you a secret, you tell me what's wrong. That way you aren't the only one putting something personal in the air."
Maria didn't react, just hugged her knees and stared at one spot in the grass. Raphael leaned back on his hands and took a moment to think, before saying, "I'm a gambler."
Maria lifted her head, her voice a croak. "What?"
"I am a gambler," Raphael repeated resting his hat against his chest, "I tell the truth." He put his hat back on his head and explained himself. His father had taught him how to gamble, any game, any risk, any type of currency. When his father disappeared, Raphael's relied on gambling to get by. His logical mindset and his charismatic nature got him kicked out of four taverns and three gambling bars for being accused of cheating. The only place that would accept him was the criminal world of gambling; thieves, heisters, assassins, fighters. They would gamble on anything and for anything; money, women, jewels, land, information.
Maria paused after hearing this. "What stopped you?" she asked.
Raphael smiled and nodded, "Anita stopped me."
"Anita?"
"She's the reason I don't gamble anymore, because if I kept going I could've lost everything, including her. I finally had something to lose again." He was very absent as he spoke. He hadn't ever spoken to someone about this, perhaps aside from Sam. Hearing those words, he was convinced they were coming from someone else. "So, I stopped."
"Just like that?" Maria asked, "You just stopped?"
"When you have a good enough reason, sometimes it's easy enough to." Raphael started playing with his fingers, stretching them awkwardly to suppress his discomfort in sharing this part about him. "It was harder at the start, but every day it became easier. Anita was there, and somehow pulled me out of this dark hole." He looked at Maria and forced a smile, "It's still there sometimes. Sitting in the back of my mind, waiting for me to slip up." Maria's attention went to his flexing hands.
"I'm glad you told me," Maria informed nudging him with her shoulder, "It makes me feel a bit better."
"Didn't think you were an ex-gambler," Raphael countered half-heartedly.
She scoffed, "No. But it does put it in some sort of perspective I suppose," she confessed hugging her knees. "I know I'm not the Lost Royal, that's my secret."
"How?"
She smirked, pulling out the pendent and staring upside down at the symbol of the Royal Family. "Because this wasn't originally mine, it was my friend Addison's," she explained, "We got to the orphanage at the same time. Neither had a name, a family, but she had some music sheets and this necklace." Raphael watched her eyes soften, becoming shinier but no tears. "We became friends quickly, growing up together, playing hide-and-seek and kickball with the older kids even though we weren't any good at it. She would tell me stories and play her music and how one day would become a princess." Maria's eyes traced the outline of the beetle symbol on the opposite end. "It's like she knew."
She paused, breathing shakily as she tried to compose herself.
"When we were about ten, there was an older couple who wanted to adopt some daughters. And… they chose Addison and I. We were so excited to become sisters and to be adopted after ten years. But something happened back at home and it turned out they could only afford to adopt one of us. Addison was so devastated and didn't want to get adopted without me. I overheard they were considering adopting me over Addison." Maria attempted to laugh at it, but her body shook, her voice getting caught in her throat. "I begged them to adopt Addison over me because I wanted her to be happy, she deserved to be happy. So… they did. They adopted her, and she packed her bags and was off, no longer an orphan." Maria gestured the necklace at Raphael, "She gave me this, one of her treasured keepsakes of who her family was, and told me to keep it safe. I've had this for almost eight years, cherishing it." She blinked, a small stream of tears running down her cheeks.
"A couple of months after she left, another family came to the town looking for a daughter, and low and behold they inquired about me. I was excited but… someone saw the emblem on this necklace and… assumed I was related to the Royal Family." She was able to laugh at this, but it was still choked. "People asked me, 'Where did you get it? How long have you had it? Was there anything else?' and I lied, I told them 'it was mine. I was abandoned at a train station, this was all me family had left me.' I took Addison's story." Words were spilling out, Maria unable to stop. "The lies kept coming and coming, and I couldn't stop it, I felt I couldn't take back what I had said. The family moved on, unable to adopt me because of them attempting to authenticate the pendent, and the whole time I kept lying, and lying, and lying so that they wouldn't drag Addison out of her adoption."
"Why would they take her out of her adoption?" Raphael asked quietly.
Maria held the locket with a tight fist. "Because the blood of a Royal could not belong to a family of mere peasants." Maria sounded like she was quoting someone, making Raphael wonder how often she must've heard it growing up.
His mind started thinking darker, how many adoptions was she passed over for? How long did this necklace thing take? And was Addison even aware today?
"I loved her, Raphael. I wasn't going to take her away from her chance at a family," Maria sobbed, "And now…" she made a short sigh, "It would be cruel to rip her apart from it now. She had a mother and a father who cherished her, a family and friends that adored her. A life that replaced the orphanage we grew up in." Despite her words, Maria didn't appear hurt by them, rather she smiled as she stared at the dull stars. "The stars in Paris are dreary."
Raphael smiled looking up to them as well, "I don't have anything to compare it to." Raphael's eyes stared up at the sparkles, but did not acknowledge them, his mind was lost in thought over what Maria had just told him.
They switched lives… he thought. Now an entire life of planning and lies was for nothing.
Maria was focused on the stars, her cheeks and eyes twitching from her attempts not to cry.
Raphael shook his head, "Nope," he verbalised, "nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." He stood up and before Maria, "It is completely unacceptable for a gentleman to be in the presence of a distressed young lady." He held a hand out to her, "This is quite a special case, I'll have to pull out all the stocks to brighten your mood."
Maria wiped her eyes on the back of her hand, "I'm sorry?"
"You're upset. I don't like to see my friends upset." He took both her hands and urged her to stand. "I'm going to cheer you up. Make you forget, just for an evening, about the Lost Royal, the Unknown Royals, the Queen, the pendent, your past, everything! Tonight, it is just you and me and a city that never sleeps."
Maria took back her hands and shook her head, "Raphael, just talking to you has made me feel better. I should talk to Mr Durand, see about me getting home before the nuns get worried."
"Nonsense," Raphael declared. "You need to get away from this. Far away. Somewhere where nothing can find you. And I know the perfect place if you'll allow me to take you there." Raphael had taken a step back and extended a hand out for Maria to take, finding a moment of flair and showmanship may be required to perk up this evening.
The orphan hesitated, glancing back at the lights inside the ballroom filled with the muffled chatter of people. She took a wobbly, but deep, breath and held it before nodding. "Okay. I'll go with you."
She picked at the pearls in her hair, allowing them to clatter on the ground as she released her hair. She dropped her shawl and pulled the fancy cloth off her skirt, dropping both to the ground amongst her plastic pearls. She ruffled up her hair, "Already feel better."
She picked up her violin and took his hand, Raphael guiding her through the garden to the front gate, farewelling the guard out the front and strolling down the street with Maria on his arm, completely forgetting about Anita who was still inside.
*
Lie eleven.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone