Having finished her room, Kenzie was organizing the kitchen area putting away the dishes and pots and pans.

Rommie finishes up on her desk...at least for now...sitting back...she reflects on what has happened over the last three months.  It had been a battle to get her adoptive parents to allow her and Kenzie to come to the academy as planned.  With the realization that their mother was the Queen Regina herself, both Artemis and Hugo had been adamant that both girls keep their distance from the royal court, something that was going to be near impossible at the Academy, given that Rommie had been enrolled in the Junior Political program as an apprentice.  Both twins had undergone intensive training with Hector and Faith to get them ready for Academy.  

She gets up...slipping her phone into her pocket.  She walks out to the main room of their spacious apartment...watching her twin working in the kitchen.  

Kenzie was putting the last of dishes away, having pushed herself over the last 3 months she had surpassed where she was health and strength wise before she had been taken from her village. She turned and looked at Rommie and gave her a small smile "Done. How is your room going?"

"Done for the moment.  Just odds and ends now...you?"

"all done" she says as she puts the last of the silverware away "Kitchen is done now too"

"Good...first class tomorrow is at 9 am..."

There is a knock at the door...

Kenzie straightens at the sound of the knock "Are you expecting anyone?" she asks Rommie, her hand going to the knife hidden in her waistband, as she moves slowly toward the door

"I'm not..."  She says...following her twin to the door...

Duchess Gabrielle Pembrook stood there...holding files in her hands...

Kenzie, staying between Rommie and the door, opens the door, her hand behind her back gripping the knife "Can I help you?" she asks the girl standing there

"I am here to see the Lady Orland."  The Duchess says in a no-nonsense voice.  She sweeps into the room, her gown flowing around her slender body. 

"What exactly can I do for you?...and better yet...who are you?"  Rommie asks...Her hand resting on her back...not yet drawing her weapon.  She had seen this woman at various times during her childhood meeting with her father and mother, but never have been told who she was.  And from what both twins had seen during their astral projection, she was one of the few people who knew their real identities and appeared to know her biological father.  

Kenzie bites her tongue and closes the door, moving so she can see both the woman and the door, just in case. She remains silent and waits.

"I am the 14th Duchess of Jade...Gabrielle Pembrook...Also head Handmaiden in the Queen's Court..."  She says...putting the files down on the breakfast bar of the girls' kitchen.  

"And what business do you have with me?"  

"Officially I am supposed to be your political advisor since you are majoring in Kingdom politics...unofficially...I am to keep you out of trouble..."

"and who gave you that task?" Kenzie asks the duchess

The duchess looks at the twins…”His Grace…and…Hector…”

Kenzie manages to suppress her eyeroll and looks to her sister.

"And if I refused...?"

The Duchess gives them a smirk..."You won't...because your father allowed you to attend school with conditions attached...your training..."...She says...nodding to Kenzie..."Apartment in a private building...protection officers...and me..."

"she is not wrong, lets hear her out before we make a rash decision" Kenzie says diplomatically. 

"As much as the Duke and...Hector...want to see you as children...we all know you are not..."

"So they send you to babysit?"

"Essentually yes..."

"what, exactly, did they outline as your duties?"

The Duchess smiles..."Officially...or unofficially?"

"Whatever gets us to the restrictions faster..."  Rommie says in a cold tone that Kenzie had never heard from her before.  

"You are not going to be going after the Queen...or joining the rebellion..."

Rommie takes a deep breath in...looking at the woman angrily...

Kenzie states "we hadn't planned on doing either of those, so what else it there?" She gave her sister a subtle look to calm down

"Right...and you wouldn't be putting out feelers to Rebel recruiters to join...or making inquiries of how to bypass the Queen's security forces...?"

You have been checking up on...me

"You are a highly motivated young woman...but you haven't learned how to cover your tracks yet...You are not allowed to join the rebellion...who support your father...They are not going to put you in harm's way...And as far as the Queen is concerned, your father doesn't want you to have anything to do with her..."

Kenzie looks at the Duchess "right, so you have affectively blocked this from happening, and have made us aware that you are watching our every move. Anything else?" she asks with a slightly bored tone

The duchess sits down at the twins' breakfast bar...folding her hands together..."Look...I am not your enemy.  My job is to protect you...it always has..."

"We are not little girls anymore..."

"No...you are not...but you also have to understand that I have to appease two sets of parents...who both love you...and both want you to thrive...but have two different points of view on how to achieve those goals.  Hector would rather give you the freedom to reach your goals and ambitions without putting yourselves in harm's way...while the Duke and Duchess would rather shield you from any harm...at the cost of some normal life experiences."

Kenzie goes to the fridge and grabs 3 waters, not seeing a quick end to this "so lets hash this out and see what kind of comprise we can come to"

"We are well past the age where our parents have any say in what we do."

"And under normal circumstances, you would be correct...but you are not normal girls.  You were born to a higher destiny...And you do have someone out there with a vested interest in trying to kill you."

"And why does she want us dead?"  

Gabby sits back...debating what to tell them..."She wants you dead because you can take everything away from her that she has been struggling to build for decades..."

Kenzie is quiet as she thinks on what has been said "Does she know where or even who we are at this point?"

"She hasn't seen either of you since you were six months old...Since the night she believed she succeeded in murdering you and your father..."  She hesitates...as if recalling memories of her own.  "Your nanny was loyal to your father, unbeknownst to your mother.  She was ordered to smother you in your cribs...She warned your father...who worked with the alliance to get you out...while the plan was for him to stay behind and cover your escape...but things didn't go according to plan."

"What happened?"

"The men guarding your father that night were supposed to protect him with their lives.  Instead they tried to kill him...They nearly killed him...and did kill several of those who did try to protect him...Your nanny was caught in the crossfire.  Once the assassins were dead...the Alliance had to act fast.  They staged the scene to appear that your father died trying to save you girls...the wing where the family lived was set ablaze...When the Queen returned from her trip...she was shone two caskets with human remains.  I dont know why she never questioned it at the time.  Mages used magic to make it appear that there were bodies in those caskets.  At some point she must have suspected that the Alliance tricked her...which is why she exhumed  your caskets...and saw for herself they were empty."

"So, you don't know if she knows where we are. She can figure out what we look like" Kenzie says, she takes a deep breath "we are going to be late for a training session. Keep our heads down, study, stay out of trouble, don't go after the Queen. is there anything else?" she asks briskly. 

"At this point...she has no idea what you look like...but you are both dead ringers for her...The goal for now is to keep you both under the radar...while the Alliance works to get her off the throne and restore your father..."

"That is why mom is going to her as a handmaiden...to keep her focus off me."  

"Exactly...She wants to keep the Duke under her thumb.  Letting her have access to you is too risky.  The Duke and Duchess kept her at a distance to you growing up...You are both a lot like her...physically and mentally.  You both have her intelligence and her strength...and her physical attributes...dark hair and eyes...pale skin..."

Kenzie listened, quietly keeping a lid on her irritation as the duchess listed all the ways she was like a woman she did not know and despised. She walked to the sink and set her water down before turning to look at her sister the duchess, done with the conversation she states "if that is everything, I am heading to gym" she says and heads to her room and grabs her gym bag.

"We are nothing like her...what the hell...are you part of her adoration fan club or something?...That woman tried to kill us...tried to kill Hector...for what reason...why does she want us dead that she had to try to murder to helpless infants?!?"

As Kenzie heads to the front door she used her telekensis and the folders the Duchess had brought with her fell off the counter and topple to the floor

The duchess quickly tries to pick up the files...which are lesson plans, schedules and whatnot related to the twins..."I can't answer that..."

"Cant???...or won't?"

"Look...All I know about that night is what I was told later on.  I was only a child myself when all this happened.  "

"How old were you?"

"I was seven...and I was devastated that mommy wasn't coming home..."  She says in a softer voice...

Kenzie stops at the door and listens to the conversation, still not trusting the Duchess. She still didn't trust a lot of people.

"Mommy?"  Rommie asks...looking over at her twin...

Kenzie set her gym bag down and stepped back into the room "who was your mother?" she asked quietly

"My mother was your nanny...For generations...before the Queen...it was customary for young noble men and women to hold household places within the royal court.  Some would hold the positions they got for life...others until they married...and started families of their own...or others still...until they assumed their peerage...at which time they would move into the political sector.  My mother had only just became the Duchess of Jade when the two of you were born.  The Queen considered her an ally...hence she kept her around until her death.  She believed that my mother would obey her orders without hesitation.  She had no idea my mother was firmly allied with the Resistance."

"That's how Hector knew Justin and Dad.  Justin was the great nephew of a Lord...while Dad wasn't yet the Duke.  They both joined the military...which is where they met the Crowned Prince."

"

"Lillian had worked within the royal household as a maid, who just happened to be assigned to the Crowned Prince.  Artemis was doing her internship in Queen Mary's court.  The star aligned as they all became friendly, which eventually turned into love matches."

Kenzie stood and listened silently as the Duchess relived the story

She is never going to stop.  She is going to continue to kill innocent people.  Hector's plan isnt working...more people are dying.

Hector has no idea just how out of time he really is.  He firmly believes he has the upper hand, but I don't think he does...

"why do you think that is?" Kenzie asked

Because I think in some ways...Hector still sees her as his wife...as the beautiful maiden he married with the adorable little boy...He still...mistakenly thinks...she is loyal to the Kingdom...but she isnt...Her goal since day one was to achieve high political power to get her son on the throne...To take revenge on the women she feels wronged her, namely the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Mother...

Rommie looks over at her twin...facial expression confused..."Why would she want revenge on them?"

Because before she married into the royal family...She was the late Emperor's mistress...From what I overheard her telling her general, she was the Emperor's favorite...and he had promised to marry her if she could give him what he needed most...a son...that once he claimed the boy...She would become the Empress...but the Emperor died before she gave birth to her son...his son...He never claimed him...the boy was labeled a bastard and she was forced to leave the palace...by the Emperor's wife and mother...Now the Emperor's daughter sits on the throne as Empress...

"So why not go after the Empress and her mother instead of us?" Kenzie softly wondered out loud

As Kenzie says that...a lightbulb goes off in Rommie's head..."By the gods...He has no claim to a throne..."

"Exactly...she had to manufacture a royal claim in order to give him royal rights..."