The Fourteen

Chapter 1: A Royal Welcome

(A/N: Hello there! Thank you so much for taking an interest in my story. This chapter is in Mae's POV. Enjoy!)

"Are you ready for your first day, Princess?" Thomas asked me through the limo's screen.

    My hands shook as the car jolted along the snow barren gravel road, "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

    "Awww. Don't worry, you'll be just fine, you've dealt with worse." The gruff voice of James, Captain of the Northern Royal Guard, promised.

    I suppose I had. Much, much worse.

    In reality, I should be excited for the opportunities that lay ahead. However, enrollment at a Supernatural Boarding School was equal parts blessing and curse. Blessing, as it gave Imperials, like me, a chance to hone our magical abilities at a young age; a chance that the rebels would never receive. It was a curse, because it meant being away from your family.

Boarding School was that time in your awkward years where magic began to manifest in your bloodstream. On the day of your twelfth birthday, you would wake a new person. The Magic Age was instantaneous.

When you hit this age, the government would be demanding that you enter into one of Supernatural Boarding Schools; and before you know it, your parents will have you tagged and shipped off. That was the idea: master the tricks of your trade away from outside influence.

    At fifteen, I was a tad bit late to the party. No, I wasn't a late bloomer. In fact, I got my special skill set two years prior to the designated date.

So what was the reason for my late enrollment? Well, I was royalty. My parents were King and Queen of the Northern Wolf Pack, a title which instilled fear simply through a spoken name. As their eldest child, the title of Crown Princess rested on my shoulders.

I had a brother, Amaro, but he was three years my junior.

My title, however, wasn't a permanent one. If my father thought me unworthy to ascend to the throne, he would gladly hand the crown to my brother.

Such were the rules of the Imperial government: Female heirs may only inherit leadership roles, if their ruling Sovereign deemed them fit for the title.

    "Remember Mae, many of the students here do not know that you are a Princess of the North. It should stay that way. Do you know your cover story?" James instructed.

    I nodded absentmindedly.

    "Good. The headmistress and some of the teachers know who you are. Should others find out as well, call me; I'll take care of it. We don't want students to know, it might compromise your safety, and theirs; we aren't certain who the rebel sympathizers are these days. Also, beware of the other students. Some of them might not agree with the Northerner ways and could use you as a channel for their anger."

My Alphas had purposely delayed my Boarding School arrival, staving off my presence until it would politically benefit them. For three years, my shayman mother and werewolf father had used their influence to keep the government away, as they constantly pestered us for my enrollment. Not that I wasn't getting an education, I was homeschooled for those blasted two years.

Eventually, the government backed off. No one liked the Northerners. To them, we were just a bunch of brutes, barbaric in nature. To them, we bathed in the blood of our enemies and sat upon a throne of corpses. Them, being the other Kingdoms of the East, South, and West.

     But the other Kingdoms were hardly perfect themselves. There was an old saying: "The Four Kingdoms, our blessed country of magic. But the South only cares about their vanity. The West is too quick to take up arms. And the East is as sly as they come."