Chapter 5 Princess unmasked

Lyra's POV

We resemble each other and are bestowed with the same power. Our accent indicates that we were raised in different countries. No matter what, a wolf can't change the accent he grew up with and it has affected my kids as they have both a mix of Genovia and Oceania accents.

I wasn't ready to deal with this fact but I just couldn't erase the curiosity building up in me. Is it possible for two people to look so much alike?

"Can't you answer the Princess?" The maid scoffed. "See...your Highness she is an imposter" she continues to accuse me.

"Ok. Where is your son?" The Princess asked calmly.

I bowed while on my knees wishing for nothing but to go back to the life I used to live a few days back.

"Back in the village, we could barely make ends meet. My seven-year-old son was able to practice severally to go hunting to assist me financially. This made him quest like an adult. Then yesterday, some soldiers roaming in the village suddenly took him away without my permission." I explained, anger dripping at the tip of my words.

God knows that I would tear those soldiers apart if I should set my eyes on them.

"Royal soldiers taking your kids to present to the Alpha who would recognize his skill is a dream come through for every mother. Why is yours an exception?"

"It's my personal life, your Highness. I do not wish to give details..."

"So rude! How dare you talk...." the maid was saying but was probably shunned by her princess as she murmured an apology.

There was a dead silence.

I shut my eyes in regret for not being able to control my fury. Then I felt a soothing hand placed on my shoulder as I was urged to stand up. The Princess accompanied me to sit on the massive bed.

The maid and I stared at each other in shock at the Princess's weird behaviour. She then turned to the maid who bowed her head with a slight shiver, "Tell Grey to secretly summon one of the Genovian soldiers that were allowed to tour the villages. He should sneak the boy they seized here. Secretly, Tiana" She ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness" her voice shook in response.

Immediately the maid was gone, the Princess settled beside me and clasped her hands in mine. "You know...it never crossed my mind that you will be somewhere in Oceania. I had prayed day and night to the moon-goddess to make me meet you before I die" Her voice broke as she stared at me lovingly.

"I know how much you loathe the Alpha of Genovia. You are his mate, Lyra aren't you?" She smiled, looking at me through her blurry eyes.

I tried to yank my hand out of her grip but she she held on tightly."Why would I put my sister's life in danger after searching for her throughout my life?" She sighed.

"It's the truth." She nodded her head as another wave of tears welled up in her eyes. "Our mother's personal maid told me when she was on the verge of death a few years back that mother had given birth to twins, but when she went to the priest to check our destiny, she was told that we, the two daughters with mighty powers from the moon goddess, would cause a disaster when the time comes. She was also told that one of us would die before the age of thirty." She choked.

"Mother was left with no other option but to abandon one, especially at that time when the palace was in chaos. She lied to our father, the Alpha that you were dead. Years later, my mother died out of depression after she found out that she had mistaken me for you and left you on a ship going to Genovia. I was the sick one whom she was supposed to dispose of. I only knew about this a few years ago and after the Genovian Alpha insisted that I was Lyra, I knew it was you. My hatred for him doubled after investigating what he did to you," She wailed.

A cold shiver ran down my spine at her revelation. Of course, I should be able to pick tiny pieces of information and link them. There was surely a possibility that I was her sister, but I wasn't ready to acknowledge the fact. I was regarded as a Volcovna until disaster befell me for my foolishness. She cut through my thoughts when she hugged me tightly. " I'm so sorry for letting you suffer when I was supposed to be the one in your place!" She cried louder.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched her beautiful face now claimed by extreme sorrow and sadness. I raised my hand to her face and wiped the tears in her eyes. She gasped and looked at me in shock, "You don't hate me?"

I nodded my head, feeling reluctant to speak. Damn, I just need to wake up from the things happening. "I still think there is a misunderstanding somewhere. my mother...I mean the woman who raised me personally instructed me not to tell anyone about my Lunar invisibility and treated me like her child before she died," I said.

She loosened her grip away from me a bit. "The power is a bit hard to control when the child is an infant. There is a possibility that she noticed your weird attitude and found out. God bless her for taking care of you,"

"I still can't accept the deceased Luna as a mother. The Genovians kill any normal wolf with such power. What if I had gotten into the wrong hands? How could she expose me to such cruelty?" I shifted away, reality hit me like a bomb.

Those good-for-nothing people treated me like a slave after my foster mother's death without knowing that I had more influence than them. The one I had trusted the most ruined my life because of power. How can I easily accept my fate? I was on the verge of crying when a manly baritone voice announced his arrival.

The Princess or would I say my sister permitted them an entrance inside. My heart swelled with joy when Julian walked in. He was looking a bit sad. "My son!" I jumped up happily and swirled him around.

"Mother!" his face lightened up. "I'm sorry for not listening to you. I was forced by those men in the village who wanted meat. I didn't know I would catch a boar!" he cried and hugged me tightly. I looked at his body for any bruises and sighed in relief when I couldn't find any.

I raised my head to the military men that came in with my son. The Oceanian soldier who seemed to be the Princess's personal guard gasped in shock at probably my resemblance with her. Then my eyes met with the Genovian soldier who looked drunk.

"Face the other side, Julian!" I commanded.

The moment I was sure that he was not looking, I moved to the nitwit. He wasn't expecting me to kick him on his leg as he fell to his knees. "Who the hell are you?" he asked rudely, not intimidated by the presence of the Princess.

"Is it your Buffon Alpha that gave you the audacity to capture people's children!" my eyes rolled to a darker shade as I pulled his chin up, pressing his jaws tightly. I wanted to inflict the pain he had caused me and probably together with what his master had done to me.

He tried to fight back, but I was quick to land a heavy punch on him. He spat out blood, and stood up, staggering to me but I hit him harder on his stomach. He was wasted for me to be able to take him down easily. The moment I was about to dash him another satisfying punch, the Princess's personal guard held my hand.

My eyes met with hers and she used her eyes to communicate with me that my son was shivering. I reluctantly moved away and she instructed them to leave the room for a while. The Genovian soldier was stubborn but he was easily dragged away by the Princess's guard.

The princess's face was stunned as she pulled Julian to herself. "He is the Alpha's...." she gasped and I nodded in response. "He has a twin, Juliana," I said.

"Oh, gracious! You are blessed, Lyra" She smiled merrily, hugged and caressed Julian's arm affectionately. "I'm your aunt Aurora. No one would dare to touch you" She pecks his forehead, and he leans into her.

I felt peaceful as I looked at them and suddenly wished Juliana was here too. I always try to change the topic whenever they ask about their relatives. They've suffered more than enough but I hope one day they realize that I was doing it for their sake. There was nothing to hide from her after knowing that she was my sister.

"You guys need to wash up and eat something..." Aurora was saying but I cut her off.

"We need to leave now before someone suspects" I raised pleading eyes at her.

"This boy is his father's copy. Anyone with good eyes can see that. Do you think they wouldn't come for you? You were able to survive in the village all these years because they thought you were dead. We just have to shut those soldiers off with favors after all their Alpha has not seen Julian," She tries to convince me.

She sighed at my reaction and summoned her maid from outside to take care of Julian and feed him with enough food in another room. He didn't want to go until I reassured him that I was still there.

Aurora turned to me and clasped my hands in reassurance, bit her lips, and looked at me in my eyes, "You still have one more battle to fight, my dearest sister. I have just six months to live according to the Doctor." She gulps.

Despair struck through me. "How can you trust the person? They are not God" I winced, but she held my hands tightly.

"You still have one more battle to fight. A tougher one, probably for the next six months." she began. "We have a day left before the hunting festival. Grey will go and get Juliana. You will wait for her at a place I will send you to spend time with your kids. No one knows there except my former mate"

"I told you..."

"My father does not know about my sickness neither about you Lyra, I had lived all my life obeying the rules of royalty without sincere happiness. The moon goddess might have sent you because she knows the disaster that was about to befall Oceania. The Royal Family legacy scroll, The Royal War plans and the Royal scepters were recently missing and my suspect is Ragnar. The Alpha of Genovia wants to take our land at all cost and he had lay low because he thought I was a mystical reborn of the mate he betrayed. I know that Father is intimidated, he had once tried to commit suicide all because of this disaster and I can't imagine his situation when one day he finds me dead." She gulps and squeezes my hand tighter.

"The Royal responsibility is on you, Lyra. Use this opportunity to punish those who wronged you, to save Oceania, and to grab your children's freedom. I would go and live the life I had always wanted together with your kids for the next six months. You can always come to visit..."

"I surely would do anything for the sake of those things you mentioned but how? I am new to all this. I still need to rest my head before I can accept the drastic change in my life."

"There is a way which is hard" She looked away, guilt outweighed her expression.

"You will be Aurora from now on. You will stand as Princess Aurora and get married to the Alpha Ragnar of Genovia" She said.

Anger surged through me, a raw heat in my veins, stoked by a fresh flame of betrayal.