• Chapter 1

    This kingdom… it had many problems. Lies, betrayal and pain haunted the streets of my home. It was sometime deep in the night, the moon had risen up high into the black night casting an eerie glimmer over everything. I stood out on my palace’s balcony watching the streets. “It’s not your job,” A sentenced that replayed on the lips of many people.
    A knock on the door woke me from my dazed trance and I turned expecting to see one of my nurses. “Miss Katria, Lady Evia requested me to tell you it’s late.” I gazed at her and smiled. These nurses, so innocent… They never did anything outside of what they were told to. “Thank you Ma’am,” I replied, my voice soft and lifeless. I knew it must have been as bad as I believed because I saw her eyes cloud with worry and her arms began to shake gently. She turned and called a good evening before the door closed and loneliness came over.
    I returned to my dazed trance staring out my balcony. “Goodnight Mother…” I reached into my decorated chest and brought forth a hooded cloak and soon was covered climbing out my balcony’s railings and down the cherry tree.
    This was considered traitorous since the royal families weren’t suppose to leave after sundown, but I couldn’t stay locked in a room with no life.
    The moons glistening light lit up the gray path of the street I walked on. Silence from all directions except the pitter patter of my heels on the pavement. These streets were so cold and deserted when no one was around. I held my hands close to my heart, fearing that if I wasn’t careful it would fall out and I would fall onto the pavement with my soul being lifted up into the heavens and lay down on the moon.
    Down the path I walked until I heard the sounds of men laughing and the sound of glass shattering. Curiosity took over my body and I walked carefully around the corner to see what was causing the commotion of this silent night. A set of barrels filled with burgundy were piled high. I slipped in between them and peered over the tops to find four men sitting there playing something that looked like paper, with something scrawled on them and laughing chugging jugs of alcohol.
    They looked like they were enjoying themselves and a hint of something flared inside my chest scaring me, causing me to fall back making a barrel fall and burgundy to spill everywhere. “What in God’s name was th-,” the man was caught off guard when he caught sight of a young me standing there terrified of what had happened. “I..I’m sorry! I’ll pay it back… I was…Curious… What were you doing…?” I don’t really know what it was, I was the princess of one of the most major kingdoms in Russia, yet here I was scared and rambling to a group of peasants.
    The man looked amused by what was going on and his broad figure hoisted itself up and lumbered over to my much smaller frame. There was a tug at the hood and soon I was staring up at this man’s face. Light from the moon was lighting up behind him causing his face to grow darker and look more sinister then what he probably meant.
    His rough, dirty fingers began running through my hair and I realized my hood was down. If he caught sight of my eye color it could be over. “NO!!” With much force, a lot more then I thought I possessed, I shoved the man back words. It hadn’t been a great deal of strength but it had caught him off guard enough for me to squeeze past him and try to run.
    My efforts soon were in vain when he flew through the air and the wind was knocked right out of me. I was soon caught in between the pavement and this large man. I had never been so scared in my life. Panicking I tried screaming for all my life was worth. “Help me! Someone Plea-“ I had been cut off by his large hand covering my mouth and his massive hands holding down my small body.
    Tears fled my eyes and I tried helplessly to flail around. Unfortunalty for me this just caused him to press harder making it even more difficult for me to breath. I was running out of air and I looked up at the other men trying to see what they had been doing. Two of the other men were laughing, slinging more burgundy into their throats. Anger flared inside and I wanted to have them thrown into prison for ever letting a female be treated as if she was a toy for them.
    Then I noticed the other man, head tilted down fist balled up and looking the other way. I didn’t know whether to be angry or confused. He looked at me and I saw his eyes. They pierced me and I heard a million of apologies. Scared, knowing what was going to happen to me, I gave up and fell down seeing red through glassy tears.