Paralyzed. Ashlynn Dee

      Life was pretty good for me after that. I was alone for the good part of a month, but I always had something to do. Amily and James came and visited whenever they were allowed to. But I hadn’t seen Camilla or the Queen since. Nor had I seen any of the other children. I wondered if they had orders not to visit me, it made sense considering the ruckus I had caused only a few days after my arrival. Maybe they were just shy, or too busy to bother. Perhaps they were visiting family, or in foreign countries as ambassadors. I guess I would find out later if I lasted that long here.

      I knew that my adoption was supposed to be official. But I couldn’t help but think that maybe this was like Annie, the old movie, where the little girl stays with the man long enough to improve his picture, and then she goes back to the orphanage. Maybe this was all a joke, a big prank being played by the King and Queen or somebody who hated kids. I just hoped that wherever I went afterward was nicer than the Matchen's house. Living in a cardboard box would have been better than living with them, even if it meant having nothing to eat. Maybe I was going actually to stay here, for good. I could only hope.

      ************

      Later that day, I was introduced to the rest of the family. They all had long names, but they said I could call them whatever I wanted since I was their new sister. The oldest was Camilla, whom I had already met; she was twenty-one and took her responsibilities very seriously. Next was Jaerid, who was almost eighteen, out of all the royal children he was the most regal. Symon was thirteen, and he had that mischievous look in his eyes and an impish grin that seemed always to be present. There was a set of triplets named Fyiona, Francyne, and Felycia. They were all ten and very much like their mother. Amily was next at age six, James was three years younger than her. They all had the same reddish-blond hair except for Symon, who had light brown hair.

      That night was the first night I had dinner with almost all of the family. The king was busy and wasn’t having dinner until later.

      “We don’t see him very much” Fyiona informed me.

      I understood. He was the king; it wasn’t like he could just abandon his job running the country, and spend time with his family. I used to know a family that had a similar problem; the mom was always working, she never stopped not even to eat. The dad stayed home with the kids. And the sad thing was, the mom’s job wasn’t important; she worked as a manager at a small boutique. Compared to being the King of Aurica, that was small.