The Little Princess Chapter Five

The tea was steeping in the porcelain pot on the table, the smell already easing Christopher's aching head. He'd drank more than he would in a lifetime in under a week. The news of Michelle's passing had hit him hard, and his heart still ached. The past three days he'd been blaming himself for not fighting harder to get to her, to see her again.

Even in his worst nightmares he never thought this would happen. Now he had nothing else. His finger brushed against the ring on his middle finger and his eyes went to it. In the light a tiny pendant shone inside the amber setting, the last present Michelle had given him before he had to leave. His chest tightened as he stared at it, jumping when the teapot crossed his vision, Trevor filling his cup.

"Christopher?" Trevor's voice was soft as he filled the man's cup before doing the same with his own, then his wife's. "Are you all right?"

Out of habit Christopher nodded, but he was far from it. He'd just lost the love of his life for the second time. What was worse, she'd been gone for the last three years. Shouldn't he have felt something was wrong? Maybe he had, but was just too busy. There was so much there that needed to be done. Now he regretted every moment he was away from her.

A noise caught his attention. It was coming from the guest room. Did Susan have a visitor? It sounded again and he sat up straight. It sounded like a scream, a tiny and terrified scream. He partially stood, stopping when a hand grabbed his arm.

"Chris, I wouldn't go in there right now," Trevor stood to block the other man's way, but he was moved with a powerful arm, Christopher stepping past him.

"What in the bloody hells is going on in here?" He pushed the partially open door, expecting to see Susan holding some kind of injured animal, but what he saw was much worse.

She almost blended in with the pillow, she was so small. Her hair was platinum blonde and long, fanning around her as she scurried to get away from Susan. From his position he couldn't see her face clearly, but assumed it was twisted in horror. He stepped further into the room and felt his heart stop. She was terrified, but her face was so familiar.

Stepping closer still he felt the color drain away from his face. The slight body, her heart shaped face, sea-green eyes, so much like his own. "Michelle?" he asked, hope ringing in his voice. No, this couldn't be her. She looked more like...

When he spoke the girl flinched, a whimper coming from her. "N-no," she stuttered. She was pressed into the pillow, half hiding herself, half staring up at him. "That's my mother's name."

Christopher could have sworn his heart went through the floor, and checked just to make sure there wasn't a hole in between his feet. This was Michelle's child? Had she gotten over him and married another?

"Chris, this isn't what you think," Susan began but stopped at a glare from him.
"Not what I think? You bring Michelle's child here to me, after what you told me just three days ago? When it's obvious she met another...I didn't know you were a sadist, Susan." He turned his back on them. "Return her to her family and allow me to grieve in peace." His hand was on the knob when he heard a tiny voice call from the bed.

"Wait," Hannah called, her body trembling. Why was she speaking? It was obvious this man wanted nothing from her, but he looked so familiar. "My mother never met another man. At least not while I've been alive. It was always her and me." She uncurled from her position, keeping an eye on Susan all the while, not trusting the woman. "She told me about my dad a lot, though. She said she loved him more than life itself, but he had to leave before I was born. She always said I had his eyes, eyes that always reminded her of the sea."

She took a deep breath when the man turned, a simple action seeming so much larger to her. But, when she looked into his face, recognition dawned on her. The picture! She squinted her eyes a little. He was older, his hair was a bit darker, but...that was the man in the picture with his mother. This was her father.

She got to her feet in a single shot, shock overtaking her fears. She looked up at Susan, the woman's face holding a smile as she nodded then turned to the man.

"Christopher, meet your daughter."

The world stopped turning in a matter of three words. Christopher's gaze slowly left his sister's to target on the girl standing on the bed. His daughter? No, it was impossible. Michelle would have told him...unless...Realization came to him. She hadn't even known when he left. She must havfe found out later on. And he never went back to even check on her. He left her alone to raise their child alone while he ruled a country, fighting off lady courtiers. Anger bubbled from his stomach for one person in particular. Susan. How could she have done this to him?

He turned his glare on his sister, pleased when she took a step back, her hand going to her throat. "You tell me Michelle died three years ago, and then behind my back bring her child, whom you claim was forged from our love here? And from the looks of it, not preparing her for what was in store?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl had gone back to hiding in the pillow, but he couldn't control himself now. He'd waited too long to let this anger out.

"Look at her!" He pointed a finger toward the bed. "She could have been killed in the portal! You know that!"

Hannah felt her heart about to give out from watching the man rant at Susan. His voice was so loud, it hurt her ears. But, in a way she was glad the woman was getting scolded, since she drugged her, and could have killed her apparently. But, she also felt bad. The man was scary when he was angry. Suddenly his gaze was on her and she froze, feeling like a mouse in the sights of a hawk. He moved and she nearly wet herself when he stomped up to her on the bed, his knees towering over her.

"When were you born?" Christopher asked the girl. He tried softening his voice, but it was obvious when he failed, the girl flinching back and curling into a ball.

"O-October twelfth..nineteen-ninety-nine." Her voice quivered, strained from both fear and the held back tears that shone in her eyes when she tried to look up at the man. Was he mad at her now for something? But she was the victim who'd been drugged and dragged through some portal!

"Nineteen..." Christopher's voice trailed off as he counted the years since he'd left the human realm, digging up the numbers in his head. That day was sixteen years and nine months to the day he'd been called back. His legs buckled and he turned to sit on the bed, not missing the shriek when the girl was thrown off the pillow.

Hannah wasn't expecting the man to flop down next to her, so when she went flying through the air she couldn't hide her terror. She hit the bed again with a small 'oof' and rolled, not stopping until she hit a warm cloth wall, knowing automatically what it was. She struggled to get away from the man's leg, but she was suddenly pinned down by something rough and leathery to the touch. She clenched her eyes shut, her body rigid.

"Were you planning on hiding her from me?" Christopher bit out. He felt the girl stiff under his hand and felt a twinge of regret. "How long would you keep her away from me? Would you even have allowed her to speak to me?" He shook his head when Susan opened her mouth to speak. "No. No more, Susan. I can't even look at you."

Before the woman could even raise her voice, Christopher closed his hand around the girl pressed to his thigh, ignoring her screams when he raised her up. If he were in a better frame of mind he never would have done this, but he was just too angry and hurt. And the thought that girl was the last link left between him and Michelle, that she was something he and the love of his life created, it was too much to get his head around.

He got up from the bed and made his way out of the room, sending Susan a glare when she stepped forward. In his palm he felt the girl squirming, the feeling all too odd for him, and he deposited her into his pants pocket before leaving the home.

Susan had snapped out of her stupor when she saw her brother's actions and ran toward the front door, but she was too late. The door was slammed shut and by the time she'd gotten to it, her brother was already at the carriage waiting to take him home. "Hannah..." she whispered. She'd failed her, and her brother.