Chapter 35 - Power Lust

"Stop messing around" I stared my sister hard in the eyes.  "I know you really hate Jay but we don't need to push this too far.  She's right where I want her." 

I stepped closer to the bookshelves, examining the contents closely.  What I wanted had to be here somewhere...

"I love toying with her emotions" I heard Raven say from somewhere in front of  me.  "She has so many it's ridiculous. "

I heard a pause but I knew she was going to continue.

"Like I care who she's dating, it doesn't matter anyways, you know we all have arranged marriages planned."

"Except  for me" I said, smiling. I couldn't help that I already held so much power over my parents. Weak. They were all weak.

"And what do you and Brittany have planned?" Raven asked, opening a book titled "History of Our Royal Ancestors."
I closed my eyes to imagine everything I had planned.  I would reveal it soon enough... as soon as Jay was out of the way.

"We," I said now turning to my sister, "have something planned that is beyond any of us. "
"And I get a cut of the pie?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If you follow through with the instructions I gave you" I said, running my hand down the spine of an old pink book.

"I know, I know" she sighed, moving around a table.  "I have to get her to feel as everything that is happening to her is a direct cause of our unruly parents"

I opened the book to the title page, "That is exactly it".

"Is there anything else you want, your highness?"
I smiled at the last word. "Get rid of the boy you saw in the library. I can handle Brenton Myself."
"As you wish" She said with a sarcastic courtesy, and walked off.

I flipped through the pink book a couple of pages.  It had everything I needed. 

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A death in the family. A death that lead my mother to tears, many tears.

My grandmother died and no one knew the cause.

Her death left grief and sadness, and it took a hold of my family by the hand and dragged us to the ground. It wasn't the only thing she left - 

The royal castle, and everything with it.

 We silently moved in and grasped sudden change of environment.

It was so big, and it made me feel so small.

With its grand corridors and courtyard I easily felt lost.

But this wasn't the worst of it.

The fear of what happened to my grandmother grew bigger as my mom took her first step into the courtyard.

"Family meeting in an hour" She pronounced slowly, stepping toward the pond. "Meet in the study"

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I was the last one to walk in. The turning halls and endless stairways caused me to take the long way around. I was greeted, of course, by a death stare from my sister.

I sat down next to Ryan who had been awfully quiet since we moved into the castle. He acknowledged me with a nod and a half smile.

The room shifted its attention to my mother.

"As you know your Grandmothers recent death has effected this family greatly.  The unknown cause of her death makes this more of a problem.  How could she pass away when she was the healthiest she could have been?  I believe someone is behind this. I believe it was murder."

She paused to closer her eyes, no doubt trying to hold back the tears.

"I admit that is scares me," She continued, "as I feel someone is trying to target our family once again."

Unsure how I felt, I looked at my brothers and sister. Ryan looked scared, his eye wide in anticipation for my mother to continue, and for her reassurance that everything in the end would be all right.

I glanced at Raven who was examining her nails in a bored manner. It struck me odd that she had no care into what my mother was saying... but then again it was Raven.

I chanced a glance at Remus. To my surprise my eyes met his like he was watching me the whole time, a smirk spread across his face.

 My mother gave us more than enough time to soak in everything we had just heard, and she continued on, and my eyes traveled back onto her; my mind swimming.

"Me and your father feel that if there is someone out against us, their next target will be us" She looked at my father and he nodded - an approval to continue.

"For extra safety there will be more guards, and enchantments to protect the castle. You will also be home schooled for now on and can only leave with security."
I was expecting an outburst cry from Raven to proclaim how unfair this was and how unlikely that someone would want to kill us, but there wasn't one.

That's when Remus spoke up.

"Why should I have to be worried?" He asked, his voice bored. "Yes I am of royal blood but I haven't been passed down the royal bond, am I correct?"

I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

He continued on, "If I'm not mistaken, there was a time in our childhood where you said  you would explain more of our royalty to us when we were older. We're older now, mother."

His face was cold and hard.

"Not now, Remus" My mother hardly whispered. "Not now"

"But please, I insist!" He shouted, now standing up. "Please tell me why you were letting us live a normal life when we aren't, when we can't! This is the perfect time! A perfect time to get your act together, to show Ulaysia we can do better. Show them I can do better."

He tossed an old pink book at my mother, she caught it with shaky hands.

My mother looked down at the book, tears filling her eyes. " I just wanted what was best for you".

My brother looked at Raven, then Ryan, and finally to me.

"What you're about to hear might be a shock on you, Jay. So please, be a big girl until mommy is finished reading".

He nodded at our mother, who now had tears gliding down her face.  She opened the pink book to a mark page as a tear streamed down the tip of her nose and landed softly on the book.

She began to read...

"Royal families are often broken up due to the common misunderstanding on heirs and heiresses to the throne.  In many families the eldest will inherit everything left by their mother/father. This is different in Manicorn society.

                With royal manicorn blood, a special bond will be made with the parents of the heir/heiress who will inquire the throne.  This special bond is normally very hard to detect. To avoid this situation families of Royal blood opt to have one child instead of many.

                Families with multiple children have found ways around this bond.  In the earliest centuries battles were held for the children who were of age (17), who fought to the death. The winner of this battle inherited the bond from their dead brother/sister and became heir/heiress  (Notable figures of these types of battles were Alexana Manicorn, Priv  Manicorn, and Shellus Manicorn) . As time went on more civil and practical ways have came around for this 'bond problem'. These parents of Royal blood found that the bonds could easily be broken by sending off their children to other worlds. Doing so had perks. In case of a dead line in Royal blood the children can be called back to assume the throne of their fallen brother/sister(Notable figures of these happenings were Sarah Manicorn and Man Manicorn).  Although this is the safest bet, it doesn't grant full power even when the throne is already inherited.

                The last and least common way is the 'sharing of the bond'. In this we assume that the eldest will want full inheritance of the throne. With mutual agreement from all the children this can be used.

All children below the eldest must marry another kind of royal blood. These marriages will ensure that the bond will travel to the eldest child.  The eldest child is then ensured with the throne when comes time."

She finished reading and looked up at Remus.

"That's what I want" He said sitting back down. " I want to be ensured with the throne."

I was horror struck. I looked at everyone else and to my amazement I realized that I was the only one who had just heard about this.

"Why d-didn't anyone tell m-me" I stammered, not trying to hide the fact I was totally shocked.  Brenton was running through my mind the whole time. I could never be anything with him because of Remus.

"No one told you because mom told us not to." Raven drawled from where she sat. " 'Jay would be so heartbroken if she found out, she really likes Brenton so much,' exact words from our mother." She snickered.

Remus walked to the dooway. "I have places to be, so I'm calling this to a close." He looked back at my mother. "You might want to start calling up those Royal Families I mentioned to you the other day seeing that graduation is just around the corner. "

him

My mom went around toward my new twin brothers. She picked up Ross and held him tightly in her arms. I followed behind and picked up Regan.

"What about them?" I questioned, fearing for my little brothers.
"They're too young for magic, the bond won't work on them."

I silently prayed that it was true.