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I try not to look at the television cameras or Thomas and his father I don’t want to notice how there are representatives from every royal family in Europe and the Middle East--presidents and prime ministers from many others
I don’t want the world to see me, know me--to have verified once and for all that I a died, he and I had a conversation He was a really nice ood man And when he found out I was in trouble, he wanted to help me, and …" I choke back a sob and try to find the words "I suppose everyone kno that the king isn’t alone here today You’ve all no doubt heard the news that we recently found the lost to Alexander the Second and his wife and sons What you hter, too And the daughter’s rehter lived"
A shocked h the crowd, but I can’t stop now If I stop, I enerations, some people have believed that there would always be a threat to Adria so long as A never believed that No He knew there would always be a threat so long as Amelia’s descendants remained a secret And so I stand before you today …"
I take a deep breath
"My name is Grace Olivia Blakely, and I arow louder just as, at the back of the cathedral, doors open "And I’m not the only one"
My heart is indown the center aisle toward --only a faint trace of a limp remains And I want to cry because my brother is alive and well and here and so handsome he is like the sun and it almost hurts to look at him
But, most of all, my brother is not alone
A parade of men and women follow Sorown men and women in the prime of life I’ve never met them, but I know them And I know exactly why they’re here and what they want
Freedom
We don’t want the throne We don’t want fadom
"There are sixty-three of us," I say into thedescendants of the king and queen e lay to rest today" Megan inches up beside me and slips me a stack of papers They’re cool and almost heavy in ive you sixty-three signed docu that we have, every one of us, chosen to abdicate the throne"
A kind of gasp goes through the crowd--a ripple through the world Then I find Thomas and his father where they sit on the front row "Your father was a goodAnd you and Prince Thoacy The rest of us?" I can’t help h "We want to earn our own"