The Northern King

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Chapter One

          I WATCHED MY FAMILY DIE WHEN I WAS SIX. I watched them from a hidden passageway as their throats were pierced and their blood was fed on. I watched as their body was torn apart by ravenous monsters. I watched the library be painted crimson. I watched my entire world be stolen and changed before I could blink. I watched. And I survived.

They said love was the death of duty. The destruction of realms. The salvation of creatures. I often found myself wondering whether that was true. It was love that drove the War of the Four Kingdoms. Love that had killed my family. Love that had me locked up in this large castle for fifteen years, never to see the searing sun hit the freshly trimmed grass or the blooming flowers during the Spring Zenith.

They claimed to do it in the name of love.

Love was the reason I was to be crowned Queen, as the heir to the throne. The only living heir to Aurelian. It was too bad that I didn't believe in such a thing.

With a sigh, my head held in my hand in boredom, I watched my lady-in-waiting, and most trusted peer, pace up and down my study whilst she ranted about the latest complaints the nobles of Aurelian had for me. There was a gentle breeze that wafted into the room, capturing my attention, from the opened window. Beside it was another window, a stained glass that released a kaleidoscope of colour when the sunlight reflected off it. There weren't many windows in this castle. For my protection, they claimed, but I knew better. It was to hide me from visitors, from my people, from the realm, but only until I was of age.

"Your Highness," Genevieve called out, my eyes flickering away from the windows. There was only two in this room - it was the only request I made. "Are you listening to me?"

I nodded my head and she continued speaking but I couldn't hear her, watching her lips move as she continued pacing. She was angry. Upset. Frustrated. Then again, I didn't blame her. Aurelian nobles often left me in a state of annoyance. I invited the thought of asking my nobles to add more windows throughout the fortress, but quickly dismissed the idea when I knew they would also complain about that matter too. I didn't have the energy to argue with them over minor concerns that meant more to me than they'd ever know.

"And then they said that..." Genevieve continued to speak, her voice raising which only meant she was getting angrier. I feared to ask her to start again, knowing she'd bite my head off, so I pursed my lips together and bobbed my head in absent agreement.

The spring air kissed my arms, my body shuddering at the frosty sensation. Although it wasn't wintering in Aurelian, the weather during the Spring often fluctuated between searing sunshine and thundering monsoon rain. However, many centuries, my predecessors tracked these changes in the weather until they knew exactly when it would rain and when the sun would appear from behind the grey clouds. Grandclain claimed that the Divine Celestials blessed my ancestors with the knowledge and gifts to rule a kingdom fairly; he said we were the lucky ones.