Neville had never seen his likeness before in a mirror. So familiar, yet also so alien. He gazed at the dress clad image of himself, perfectly reflected in the polished bronze plate, touching his face in wonder. "I'm so clean." Then turned to face Elizabeth's guardians. "I look just like her!"

Lady Kat murmured her agreement. "Yes, your Highness, you do. The illusion is perfect." She had had a gentle, yet firm touch handling Elizabeth. She now employed the same nurturing skills with Neville. In her mind, he was already their Princess.

Sir Parry was more curt. "Enough preening lad. We have precious little time to teach you court manners. You will learn how to walk, talk, and more importantly, what not to say or do."

By the time they were done with him, Neville's head was spinning. He was exhausted. At a certain point while running the gauntlet of royal etiquette, his mind had simply stopped absorbing information. How do they expect me to remember all of this by tonight. I'll have to rely on my own observations of how royalty behaves. He had been aggrieved and shocked when Lady Kat and Thomas Parry had told him Elizabeth had perished. He was more horrified when they told him he would be her replacement in meeting with the King. "I'm sure her father will see right through me. I'm not the Princess."

Anticipating Neville's reluctance to be an imposter, the two former guardians had used a combination of bribery and subtle threats to coerce him. Lady Ashby had pressed especially hard, "I implore you to think of your mother, Neville. She will be kept comfortable in her final days, cared for by our own servants."

Eventually, Thomas Parry, begrudgingly admitted the boy had a sharp intelligence. "We will give you a monthly stipend so you won't have to work. You'll be free to take care of your mother, sit and read by her bedside all day, comforting her." When he saw the boy's eyes light up at the word "read", he smoothly added, "You can have access to any books you like in the manor library."

With the weight of his mother's wellbeing taken from his shoulders, Neville rapidly changed before their eyes. Some inner resolve seemed to strengthen him. Pulling his shoulders erect, he stood as regal and tall as the Princess Elizabeth had carried herself. "Alright, if that's what I have to do, so be it. I'm ready to meet the King."