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CHAPTER 22
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I'm a princess.

I, Scarlett Grace Ambrose, am a princess.

Never in my life had ever thought I would ever hear those words.

"What? Are you serious?" I questioned in shock, surprise on my face.

I looked over at Liam, who looked just as shocked as I was.

"Did you know this?"

He shook his head. "I didn't, I swear."

"Is this what you guys have been keeping from me? That I'm a princess?!" I yelled, angrily.

"No! It was- it was-..." He cut himself, looking at the elder for approval.

'Don't Tell A Witch That She's A Witch.' " That's the first rule of the Elders rule book, and must always be followed whenever a magical person comes back through the portal." He answered.

I'm- a witch?

No, absolutely not.

"No, I can't be; and I can't be a princess, either." I denied.

"Scarlett, I'm sure you know the story of one of my daughters who was sent away for breaking the rules."

My mom...

"Mom...no, I refuse to believe this. You're telling me that my whole life has been a lie? That I've been a princess this whole time?!"

"Not exactly a lie. You see Scarlett, we send babies who are born with dangerous powers to earth, because many years ago, there was a war with people with those exact powers. Those powers are so powerful, that the people used them to show off so much, and harmed others with them when they didn't get their way. When we ruled in the new law to strip anyone of those powers who uses them for harm, chaos broke. They attacked everyone and everything that came in their way. They even unleashed the Harpies, which we had held hostage for centuries before to protect us. We ruled in the law as we know now, to prevent another war." She finished explaining.

"The war answers a lot of questions you don't want to hear." Asra's words ran through my mind. It all made sense now. One of those people had my powers, or the powers I would have, and harmed innocent people with them.

"Also, this isn't exactly a rule, but anyone who was sent to earth and is in danger, the portal to them opens up automatically. That's why you were sent here; to be safe." She added.

Well, that didn't go so well now, did it?

"I still feel lied to. Especially since you lied to me all these 5 months about Cassandra." Who I now know to be my aunt. No wonder I barely had any family back home on my mom's side. It seemed like a new family member turned up every time, and me not knowing who they were. They must've had the same courage as my mother, and left, while some probably don't even know that they're royal witches, and are probably still out there somewhere.

"I'm so sorry, Scarlett, but I had to make sure. That's why I sent Niall to find out for us."

You have got to be kidding me.

"Niall? Niall was sent to you to spy on me?!"

"We only had to make sure. Then he came to me one day to confirm. We just didn't know how to tell you after a while." She explained.

That day at the hotel when he asked me to go to the museum with him and asked me those personal questions, now made sense. I should have known since the first time I realized he was spying on me. Then again, I didn't know at the time that I was a friggin Princess.

"But how did you get Niall to do that?" I questioned.

Did they find some random elf in their backyard forest or something?

"He's our house elf." She answered.

"Listen, Scarlett, I know this is a lot to take in."

You think?

"But – even though this might be risky considering the circumstances – we would love for you to stay here with us. You have no idea how much this guilt of sending you and your mother away, felt. It hurt so much, but I know for her, it hurt much more." She said, her eyes filled with sorrow.

"But I don't have any powers." I reminded her.

"And wouldn't they be dangerous if I did?"

"Actually Kara, you do have powers." Liam chimed in.

I looked at him confused. "What?"

"You used them the day of the first attack. That pain you felt? Was the pain of a witch being attacked by a Harpy." He stated. I was even more confused after he said that.

"Kara, you're an Empath."

As if anything else could make sense, that did.

"And, well, you almost burnt my house down yesterday when Chaz got confronted by Zayn and you threw him down." He added, chuckling lightly.

"You're saying that I already have my powers?" He nods.

"You do. When someone born here comes back through the portal, their powers are automatically given back to them. This whole world is surrounded with nothing but magic. No power actually leaves after being stripped of them." The elder explained.

"But what if I stay here and don't know how to control them?" I asked.

"That's what magic school is for. They teach all magical youngsters how to control and use their powers properly. Since you're the first witch ever to come back with forbidden powers, you'll need a lot of practice." She answered.

"And Kara, you don't have to stay if you don't want to." The queen, my grandmother, stated.

"I already contacted your mother that day at the hotel, and while she was very upset, she said if I were to tell you who you're, to have you make a choice; stay here in this world and become an official working royal member of the family, or go back home."

I gave her an, 'Are you kidding?'." look, and said, "I just found out that I'm a witch, and not only that, but that I'm royalty, and you're telling me that I now have to choose between going back home, or staying here? Have you completely lost your mind!?"

"I know how hard this is for you to process. If you want to take some more time to think, that's completely fine." She replied.

I scoffed in disbelief. This can not be happening right now. This has got to be a dream.

Make a choice? I hate making choices. How does she expect me to make a choice like that?

This would be the most hardest one I could ever make.

Not realizing that I had already started thinking, the choices appeared in my mind.

I do miss my family. A lot; but I also have always dreamed of being a princess since I was just a young child.

I was also still upset about being lied to all this time.

Is being a princess something that I really want? Or is seeing my family again something that I really want?

Finally making my decision, I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply, before breathing out.

"I would like to stay here."

However, that's not what I meant to say.

ஐ〰ฺ･:*:･✿ฺ ஐ〰･:*:･･:*:･✿ฺ ஐ〰･:*:･･:*:･✿ฺ ஐ〰･:*:･

And that's the end of book 1!

I hope you guys liked this book! There's so much more to come😁

If you're confused by this ending, she chose to go home, but had one of those slip-up moments and said the wrong answer. Though, she doesn't realize that the answer was just her mind being honest itself. This will be mentioned in the second book.

Also, this book was originally planned to be 47 chapters (99 at first), but because I added the chapters I had planned in the same chapter, I didn't realise it had shortened them, which also led to other main characters being excluded and will have to appear in book 2; and some other important characters were excluded as well that were also supposed to play major roles, so they will have to be mentioned in the second book as well.

It got even shorter when I also excluded some chapters that I felt were rushing or were too cliche. Basically, there was supposed to be more to the attacks, which was going to lead to another war, which is why those characters, and the characters that appeared in chapter 18, are so important and powerful. But in hindsight, it saves the plot for what I have planned for book 3, so I guess it was probably supposed to happen like this.

I just hope I prevented those cliches good enough though.

Anyway, until next time!.xX❤️