I used to be royalty. Now I’m just a rumor.
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My name was Prince Alaric Thornwell of the Kingdom of Virelia.
Born into silk, raised in silence. Every step choreographed, every emotion trained out of me. I wasn’t raised to feel — I was raised to rule.
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But no one ever asked me if I wanted to.
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Behind the marble walls and golden crowns was a nightmare no one saw. My father’s fury was always loud, my mother’s indifference even louder. My bruises were carefully placed where robes would hide them. My smiles were rehearsed in front of mirrors. My identity was a cage.
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So I ran.
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I left everything behind the title, the legacy, the lies. I took a forged passport, a duffel bag, and a name that wasn’t mine. Now, I’m just “Riley Thorne,” a nobody at Brookville High, a public school in a town small enough to be ignored by Google Maps.
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And here, without my crown, I’m nothing.
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No one talks to me. People think I’m weird the pale, silent new kid who flinches when lockers slam too hard. I eat lunch alone. I keep my hood up. I speak when spoken to. I’ve learned how to be invisible.
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Until Juniper Vale shattered that.
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Juniper was all sunlight and sarcasm, loud in a world that tried to mute her. She wore paint-stained jeans and carried a sketchbook like it was a diary. The first time she spoke to me, it was because I dropped my notebook, and she picked it up.
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“You draw?” she asked, flipping through a page I’d forgotten I’d scribbled on a rough sketch of a castle.
“Not really,” I said, snatching it back.
She smirked. “Then ‘not really’ is better than most people’s masterpieces.”
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I should’ve walked away. Instead, I stayed.
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For the first time in my life, someone looked at me and didn’t see what I was hiding. She saw what I was. And somehow, that terrified me more.
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Juniper made it impossible to be numb. Her laugh made me want to hear more. Her questions made me want to answer. Every time I pushed her away, she stayed. Every time I built a wall, she climbed over it.
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And slowly, she became the only person who made me feel like me — not a prince, not a lie. Just... Riley.
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But secrets rot if you keep them buried.
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It was just a stupid dare. A guy in our chemistry class, Jason, tried to mess with me by dumping soda on my head during lunch. People laughed. Phones came out. One picture. That’s all it took.
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Within hours, my face was all over the internet.
“Missing Prince of Virelia Found?”
“Is Riley Thorne Actually Prince Alaric?”
“Royal Heir Hiding in U.S. Public School?”
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I panicked. I deleted everything. I tried to vanish again, but Juniper found me before I could run.
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She didn’t say anything at first. She just held out her phone, showing me the headline.
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“You lied to me,” she whispered. Not accusing. Not angry. Just... hurt.
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“I had to,” I said. “You don’t know what they’d do if they found me.”
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“But I’m not them, Alaric.”
It was the first time she said my real name. It hurt more than anything.
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“I didn’t want you to look at me like I was someone else.”
“I don’t,” she said, stepping closer. “I look at you like someone I fell for. And that hasn’t changed. What hurts is that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
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There were a million things I wanted to say. None of them felt right.
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“I’m not going back,” I finally said. “I’d rather disappear than wear that crown again.”
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Juniper took my hand. “Then don’t go back. But stop running, Alaric. Stay. Fight for the life you want, not the one they built for you.”
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I didn’t deserve her. But I wanted her more than I ever wanted a throne.
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A week later, the media died down. The school got bored. Another scandal came along.
My real name became just another internet conspiracy.
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Now, I still go by Riley. But I don’t hide anymore.
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I sit next to Juniper in art class. I laugh. I live.
Sometimes, people still whisper when I walk by. “Is that really him?”
I don’t answer. I don’t need to.
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Because I don’t need a crown to know who I am.
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I’m not a prince.
I’m not a secret.
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I’m just a boy who ran from everything and found something better.
