The Exiled King

Chapter 1 - Outside the Castle Walls

The human kingdom, more commonly known as Sanobar, was ruled by the Blackrose family. Serving directly under them were the Whiteroses, the branch family of the royal Blackroses. The Whiteroses controlled about a third of the kingdom and held tremendous power. Second in power were the Ravenstorms, followed by the Throeyns family. Minor lords of small fiefs served under the great houses, but it was within Throeyns castle that things were not as they seemed.

A girl stood in the waiting chambers outside the lord's room. She had stood there everyday, hoping to finally be admitted. She waited dutifully for a full hour, before turning to leave.

"Lirya Throeyns. Only daughter and heir to the Throeyns empire, the third most powerful noble house in Sanobar! So why won't father see me?" she muttered, leaving the room with defeat in her eyes.

It had been gradual at first. Moments when he would not look her in the eye, or when he excused himself and left her quickly. Then one day, with no explanation whatsoever, he simply refused to see her at all. It had been many months now. She knew he was there, but no one opened the door. No one told her why he had suddenly disappeared.

She walked out into the hall and tripped over the hem of her dress, but was caught by one of the guards stationed outside the waiting room. He picked her up, set her upright and gave her a sympathetic look. All the guards were aware of her attempts to see her father.

"Thank you, Reylous," she said gratefully.

He bowed to her. "No problem, m'lady."

Grumbling about how dresses were an inconvenience to everyone, Lirya recalled her brief conversation with her mother, concerning the extravagant piece of lace. That had been before she fell sick and Lirya was forbidden to see her.

"Why, in the name of Pelos, must I wear this?" she had asked her mother that day, many months ago.

"As the only daughter of Lord Rowan, you have a reputation to uphold, just as I have mine. So you will wear that dress, Lirya Elena Aylusa Throeyns," was the stern reply.

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Hours later, when she was momentarily freed of her duties as the heir to the House, Lirya changed her attire. Dresses, though pretty, were an inconvenience to anyone who wished to do anything other than sit around all day. Instead, she wore plain leggings and a loose tunic. If not for her long auburn hair that she had braided down her back, she could easily have been mistaken for a boy. Her mother would have thrown a fit if she had seen how her daughter was dressed. Not that Lirya particularly cared about her mother's opinions anymore.

Lirya descended the spiral stairs quickly, but caught her foot on a step. Before she knew it, she was falling. At that height, it would certainly hurt, but she grabbed the hand rail and twisted— slamming into the unfortunate who had been climbing the stairs at that moment. They both tumbled down the stairs and landed in an undignified heap. She'd been lucky because she had been shielded by the person she crashed into. Lirya sat up and marveled at how everything was working as it should. She'd gotten away with a slight headache and a few minor scrapes. The other person had been knocked out from the impact, and she looked closer. He wore the uniform of a squire at Throeyns castle and had pale gold hair that reached his shoulders. Bangs brushed his eyebrows and nearly obscured his vision.

Lirya shook him gently at first, but when he didn't respond she shook him harder. Then she lightly slapped him across the face, to which he gave a small groan. His eyes fluttered open, a bronze shade of brown that looked at her own dusky ones. He frowned and squinted at the figure above him.

"Who...?" He groaned, wondering why he'd never seen that face before.

"You're awake!" Lirya exclaimed, "Can you stand?"