A/N: And that's Karen and Caspian ya'll!! 

*****

Karen's POV

"What?!"

"This is King Etine.....who did you tell he was?" Caspian asks and I snatch the frame from his hand.

"This was George! He used to drive my dad to work and me to school! What the hell do you mean by saying that this is Etine?" I hiss.

"Katarina, calm down..." he soothes before speaking again. "He mentioned that he found you, Katarina. He hid the Borat in your room. Who else can he be?"

This was George! How can he be.....King Etine?

It can't be. "But....George was....George!"

Iris speaks up. "Think about it, Karen. George was exceptionally sweet to you at all times. Check. He mentioned regretting his decision to abandon you. Check. He hid the Borat in your freaking room. Check. And lastly, he mentioned that he found you!" she explains.

But if George was my real father.....why didn't he take me back right then? Why did he wait for so long?! WHY?!

"Why would a king come and work us, mundane humans, Caspian?" my dad asks.

"Exactly Mr. Hill. Maybe that's what Etine thought would be his rightful punishment. Being with his daughter without actually being able to call her daughter. Working for humans who he believed to be below him." he tells.

I had my real father right next to me while I was calling someone else 'dad'. My real father, who abandoned me, was right next to me, while I was living my wonderful life with two amazing humans. And he stayed and watched it until the day he died. 

"Caspian...." my shaky voice whispers and he rushes to my side. I don't even know when the tears started forming. 

Why am I crying? I hate being weak.

"I'm sorry....." he whispers and I bury my head in his chest. At this point, I don't even care if my parents will see me with a man. I don't even know who to call parents. 

Why did my father do all this? For what? He could have just told me the truth instead of me finding it out like this.

"Let it out...." he voices in my ear, rubbing his warm hand up and down my back.

"Can we go to the lawn?" I choke out and he nods, taking me outside the house and into the lawn behind it. We sit under a tree, my mind clouded with unanswered questions, as Caspian wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his chest.

Thought repeatedly goes in and out of my head, like a never-ending cycle of unanswered questions.

I lie there, listening to his steady heartbeat which contradicts my hyperventilating one. He rubs soothing circles on my back while whispering calming words into my ear.

"Caspian?"

"Hmm..."

"Why do you think he did all that? Why didn't he just tell me?" I ask.

Caspian sighs. "Maybe he thought that was his punishment. Think of it, amare, staying close to your daughter without being actually able to call her your own. What could be a worse punishment?" he asks and I nod, pondering his words for my own. 

Really, what could be a worse punishment?

"And maybe he wanted you to prove your worth by finding the Borat for your own," he adds.

"We found the Borat. Now, what?" I ask, dreading his next words.

"You'll be crowned. I'm sure the scepter back at the palace must be glowing again." he chuckles. "Doesn't High Queen Katarina Silvus Floarea, sound phenomenal!"

I look up at him. "Do you think I, a high school student, can rule an entire nation?" I ask.

"Amare..." he begins. "You are the princess. You are the one from Erad's prophecy. Forget being Queen; you are born to become an Empress!" he tells.

"Oh, lord..." I sigh, earning a chuckle from him.

I silence myself for a moment, my mind racing back all way to the beginning. "It's done, Caspian. We found the Borat and now I'll be crowned. I can never get back to my normal life. I didn't even finish high school."

"You have way too much on your head, Katarina!" he remarks and I giggle.

"You're not rude to me anymore..." I observe. Caspian stares at me for a while, pondering. 

Maybe now he'll think that I preferred him the rude way. Great!

"I was dumb...umm... I was afraid that you'll like me," he tells and I raise an eyebrow. "I knew Darius liked you or rather... pretended to like you... and I didn't want you to like me instead. And besides, the last thing I wanted was another woman in my life."

"What about now?" I ask.

"Now what?"

Here goes nothing.

"Do you like me now?" I ask.

He sighs, staring into nothingness. "I've always wanted you, Katarina. For some reason, my first instinct was always to protect you. Since that first day I met you. But I..." he trails off.

"But you what, Caspian?"

"I don't want you to...to die...like my sister, or mother, or grandmother." he completes.

"I won't die...trust me," I tell.

"Katarina-"

"It's a part of the prophecy, Caspian." I interrupt and he finally gives up trying to push me away.

After breathing in the fresh air for some time, we go back inside. I assure my parents to come back once everything is fixed back in Eponine. But to my surprise, they wish me the best of luck before we take the Borat and the mirror outside, to transfer back to the long-forgotten royal palace. With the help of the newly found gem, of course.

*****

Iris' POV

"My daughter...." Entonia voices and engulfs Karen in a big hug. "You look, famished dear. All of you!" she adds, looking back at us. "Caspian, my dear!" and Caspian is wrapped in another hug. "Where's Darius?" she asks, the question that all of us were dreading.

"Your highness, there is a lot to talk about. But first, we all need to freshen up." Caspian tells.

Karen's, now permanently golden eyes, plead at her confused mother, who nods and signals the maids to escort us to our respective bedrooms. I missed the comfort and luxury of this place. 

Heavens, the sheets are so soft!

"You need to bath, darling!" Kevin states and I scowl at him.

"I need to swim, darling!" I say back and he chuckles.

"How about we take a shower before that? I'll swim with you, my mermaid!" he tells, pecking me lightly on my lips. Karen jumps in between us.

"We'll just say it straight to her, or be vague?"

"Tell straight." both I and Kevin, answer simultaneously.

As said, the three of us take turns showering and dressing up in fresh, clean clothes. It feels surreal to be inside fresh smelling clothes. I'm never touching the previous clothes again. I wear a knee-length floral dress like Karen, and Kevin dresses up in a dress shirt and trousers. I jog down the familiar grand stairs and into the dining hall, where I almost faint seeing the food arranged for us.

I forgot what fresh food is.

Sizzling, juicy steaks of meat, different sorts of rice, spicy and non-spicy curries, continental salads, and drinks sit on the table, waiting to be devoured by all of our hungry ass stomachs. I am getting a foodgasm just by looking at them. I survived on cookies, beef strips, and bitter, preserved, orange juice for god sake.

The smell overwhelms me, and it takes everything inside me to stay decent.

"You can eat, Iris." Caspian smirks from behind me.

"Don't act like your mouth isn't watering either!" I hiss back.

"That it is..." he shrugs.

Caspian shares a hug with his father while Entonia and Karen share small talk about how the journey went, omitting out everything about Darius. We don't even know where to start. 

How we found the Borat or how Darius died?

We take our seats, me right in between Caspian and Kevin. An awkward silence surrounds the table in front of me, which was just a little noisy, a moment ago. Thankfully, Cornelia breaks the silence.

"Where's my son?" she asks, her voice sort of weary with worry. For some reason, this woman makes my blood boil. But once she hears about what I did to her son, I'm sure she won't hesitate to rip my heart out.

Caspian answers the question tactfully before any of our dumb asses open our mouths to blurt out shit.

"The princess was attempted to be murdered by Darius when we were in the Mystery caves," he states, and an array of gasps are heard around me. I don't dare to look at Cornelia's face.

"What?!" chokes out Entonia.

"We found King Etine's letter where the Borat was originally found. As you all know....it was in one of the deepest parts in the caves and on our way back, Darius attempted to murder the princess." he explains.

The awkwardness of the silence around us is suffocating me.

"Where. Is. My. Son. Now?" Cornelia asks through gritted teeth, the golden fork in her hand looking like it would bend right now.

"Your son....is dead." Karen announces, and her lips trembling don't miss my eye. A warm strong hand grips my fingers and it was only then that I realize that my own hands were trembling. Cornelia breathes heavily, and for a second, I feel pity for her but then realize that she indeed deserves it.

"He was jeopardizing everyone, Cornelia. We were at the edge of the stairs and he first began with strangling Iris, then me, and Karen, until....until Iris shot the arrow." Caspian completes.

I look down.

I feel the table shaking and footsteps stomping towards me before I feel a rough hand on my collar pull me up forcefully.

"You.....you killed my son!" Cornelia yells in my damn face. I whimper before her, unable to form any words to say that it was an accident. But to my sheer bad luck, water decides to shoot out of my palms in thin streams, straight into her eyes, leading her to growl and huff in rage. She swears her guts out.

Caspian is quick to shield me from Cornelia's clawing hands, as I hear Karen yelling at her about what her son actually did to us.

"My son did nothing wrong, you bitch!" she screams at Karen who doesn't even flinch at the loudness of her voice whereas me, I flinch a mile back.

"Guards, please escort her out of the room." I hear Entonia softly order to her guards, who grabs a very mad and protesting Cornelia by her arms and literally, drag her out of the room as I stare at the scene in shock.

That just happened.

She must have cursed me so bad. I killed her son. She was a mother, after all.

"No, her curse won't affect you, if that's what you're thinking, Iris!" Karen says angrily as she huffs and drops down on her seat. 

How is she even able to read my freaking mind?

I look back at my food.

Well, at least there is something good to look forward to.

We eat in silence but I can't enjoy the food as much as I wanted to. Events of the previous minute haunt my mind. I absentmindedly eat the food, only thankful that I can still eat good stuff like this.

"Have you found it dears?" Entonia asks, breaking the silence.

Karen nods, whispering, "Yes.... Mother."

If I heard that right, that was the first time she ever addressed Entonia as 'mother'. And to prove it right, a heavenly smile spreads across her face. I see her mouth a little thank you at Karen, who smiles back softly.

"I knew my father. I was with him when he died. Just that I didn't know he was my 'father'." she begins. "He worked for my dad. I don't know why he did what he did, but I am sure he regretted every decision he made, mother."

Entonia sighs.

"He hid it right next to me. In my room, actually." she laughs, but I can see her pain in that very laugh.

"How did you know it was there?" asks Entonia.

"At the Caves. He wrote a letter for me, apologizing for everything he did, and left the location of the Borat," she explains.

We continue eating in silence until Entonia pops yet another question, but this time, it was for me.

"How did you do the water thing, dear?" she asks. I look around at my friends' faces, which encourage me to start my tale.

I begin.

********

{A month later}

Karen's POV

"Caspian!" I shout, watching the guy check his hair when I working my ass off, trying to find appropriate makeup for the goddamn big day.

He comes rushing to me and to my annoyance, bows down.

"Yes, your majesty...." he voices.

"I'll kill you!" I threaten and he chuckles, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind me and kissing my temple.

"Why are you wasting your time on this when we have people to do it for you?" he asks, looking at me through the mirror.

"I don't want others to do it. I'll do it myself. The dress is made by them anyway."

"Or what, you'll stitch it up yourself?" he jokes, earning a glare from me.

"I designed it," I argue.

"You're pretty without these paints. Why are you putting it on your already gorgeous face?" he asks.

"If you know me, then you know flattery doesn't work with me, Caspian. And FYI, this is called makeup, not paint."

He murmurs under his breath. "It looks like paint though!"

I turn around, sighing.

"It's so stressful already...." I whine, resting my head on his chest.

"You're simply stressing yourself. There is nothing stressful about a coronation, love!" he shrugs.

"Yeah, right!" I huff and he chuckles.

"We'll have Delmar. Iris is gonna have so much fun!"

We talked to both Kevin's and Iris's parents about whatever happened the next day we arrived. Iris was scared out of her wits to approach her parents, and we were grateful that her mom didn't slap her for leaving the house for a whole week without informing. They were all worried out of their minds. Apparently, all three parties had approached the police to file missing person reports for me, Iris, and Kevin.

We dealt with some legal issues, but now....it's all cool.

Now, they are all familiar with Eponine and have visited twice in total, spending three days here each time. My mom is hella excited for the coronation and so is dad. Surprisingly, mother and mom get together pretty well. It's funny, actually. I have a mom and a mother!

I go back and forth pretty often, and I visited Peter as well. I didn't tell him about Eponine and all that, just that I was moving to San Francisco. He didn't like Caspian though.

Speaking of Caspian and me, yeah....as you guessed, we're together now. None of us wanted to stay away from each other and then it just....happened. Only when I got to know him more did I realize, how fake my previous relationships were. Especially the one with Darius.

With Peter and Darius, I always felt nervous and giddy. But with Caspian....I feel calm and safe.

Just like how you should feel.

And he is never rude to me now, and he gives the best kisses!

As for Iris, she lives both here in Eponine and back in New York, since she now blessed with the magic of being a hybrid. The same applies to Kevin as well.

The Borat is currently kept at the vault, safe and sound with cutting edge, Eponian magic. The people were beyond glad to meet me, and knowing that I am the one predicted in the Prophecy, only made them happier. And it feels great to be accepted by the people you are about to rule.

So, life is great!

And next week is my coronation!

********

A/N: I'm so emotional right now!