Chapter 14: Eira’s Beginnings

Melia felt awfully guilty for what she did. To hurt someone’s feelings so bad – only a truly horrible person could do that.

She was too ashamed to talk about it with her family. What would Mom think of her if she knew? She would be so dissapointed  that her daughter turned out to be such a dishonest egoistical dummy, easily blinded by  money.

She didn’t really know what to do with her misery. And so she just did, what she knew best.

She cooked.

And cleaned.

And worked in her garden.

It was exhausting and boring life, but at least she didn’t have to think about her horrible life choices. According to her, she didn’t deserve anything better anyway.

Maybe she would go on like that forever.

But Eira noticed that her daughter was neglecting herself. She stopped using makeup, she only left the house to go to work and she didn’t even use the shower very often.

But the most alarming thing was that she refused to celebrate her birthday and she rather aged up alone in her room.

“Am I middle-aged already?”

So she stopped her on day before work and she made her talk.

“You’re not leaving here until you tell me what’s going on.”

M: “Uhm? Nothing? Literally nothing, Mom.”

M: “My life is as boring as ever right now.”

E: “Yes. And why is that? Because you broke up with the rich guy? C’mon, Melia.”

M: “No, Mom. That’s not it…”

But Eira didn’t let her finish the sentence and she continued with confident tone: “I know you think I was being irresponsible when I had so many kids with so little money. But believe me, I had my reasons. And I think that maybe it’s time to tell you.”

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“As you probably know, I come from a far away place.”

“My family was not only rich – we were actual royalty. My father was a prince, a second born prince, which meant he was not the heir to the throne, but his blood was unquestionably royal.

Before I was born, my parents moved from the capital to much humbler country mansion, allegedly similar to the manor my mother grew up in. “

“She was also highborn, my mama. But she was different than the rest of them. My father – and pretty much everyone from the family – was strict and reserved. Polite, of course, well-educated and with wonderful manners. But somehow… distant. And cold.”

  “I’ve never seen much of him as a child. 

But my mother, she was nothing like that. She was kind and caring. She had a gentle heart. Not to mention that she was a true beauty. Not only on the outside – she had this glow about her, the beauty from within.”

“My birth was a big event – everyone was excited to have a princess finally, after my two older brothers.

Calvin and Marcus took after my father – appearance-wise and personality-wise, too. And just like him, I don’t remember them being around much.”

“But what I do remember is my mama. She was my favourite person in the world and my best friend. I remember how she always stayed with me in my room until it was really late and we’d just chat for hours in our pyjamas.”

“She was telling me silly stories about her teenage years, about gowns and balls and about all the handsome gentlemen she danced with and she always laughed even more than I did. I remember the sound of her laughter to this day.”

“From time to time, we stayed up so late that I fell asleep. Sometimes Mom stayed for awhile and sang to me. Sometimes she fell asleep, too, and she slept with me in my bed until the morning came.”

“I also remember her library. She loved it there. It was her room. All the other rooms in that house belonged to my father but that one, that one was hers. She could spent hours there and I was usually with her.

We had music lessons every day – she was teaching me how to hold my violin and how to play scales. Or she just played the piano and sang while I listened.”

“And when I didn’t feel like playing, mama would read fairytales and fantasy stories to me. Some books were so adored by both of us, that she read them to me multiple times, over and over again until I could recite them by heart.”

“But most of the time, I was just sitting on the floor next to her, playing with my toys while she painted. Those were my favourite moments.”

“And hers, too, I guess. She was spending every spare minute of her day with me. She was keen to help me with my homework…

...or to just play with the dolls.”

“She was a hero to me. I remember that I used to say ‘I want to become my Mom, when I grow up.’ when I was a kid. She made my childhood truly magical and I loved my princess life. And I loved her, more than anything.”

“She died when I was seven.”

“I was too young to properly understand what happened. But I remember the terror I felt when I realized my mama was not coming back.”

“And with her gone, life was never the same again. Ever.”