Chapter 1

      Princess Azure gazed out the bay window of her tower bedroom. The first rays of sunlight were turning the horizon gray. Last night had been a fiasco, and the fifteen-year-old hadn’t slept a wink. She had tossed and turned all night, dreading the dawn. But now she was watching it, a twisted feeling in her stomach.

     Just as the first sliver of the shining orb emerged to the east, there came an urgent knock at the door. Azure hastened to answer the summons. A burly palace guard was standing just outside her room. "The king would like to see you immediately. He is waiting in the throne room." The princess thanked the guard, closed the door after him, and leaned against it, sighing.

     Maybe a good presentation would help her case. She crossed the room and stepped into her closet. It was the size of a small bedroom, and filled to the brim with clothes of every sort. Azure surveyed her clothes closely. She needed something proper, but not too dressy. Shifting aside a rack of ball gowns, Azure selected a pretty but casual blue sun dress with a green and gold trim. The color set off her dark blue eyes, making them seem even deeper.

     Azure slipped it on, pulled her auburn hair into a bun, and headed for the throne room.

King Gandeon was sitting on his high-backed, golden throne. When the princess entered, he stood. Azure bowed."Daughter, your behavior last night was despicable." said the King. Lord Maredy was only trying to be-"

     "No! He wasn’t trying to be courteous, or kind, or whatever else you were going to say! He’s a stuck-up, vain, evil fool who only cares about himself!"

     "Azure, he cares for his country, and for you." contradicted the King quietly.

     "Lord Maredy only courts me in hopes he will one day become king of our land and his!"

     "Azure-"

     "He just wants me to sit in the in the castle all day, acting as a figure head, a pretty face! I believe a true ruler fights along side her people!"

     "Daughter, if that is so, it is a precaution, meant to protect you!"

     "But I don’t want protection, I want to be a good ruler for my people! I will never marry a man like him, never!" Princess Azure stormed from the room.

     When she left her father’s private quarters, the princess was careful to arrange her face into a strained smile. A princess could not display her true feelings to her people. She had to look optimistic. With the war going on, people may assume the worst.

     Azure acknowledged the bowing servants and citizens with a graceful nod of her head. She didn’t relax until the door of her bedroom was closed behind her. The Princess threw herself onto her bed and savagely punched her pillow. Anger spent, Azure returned to her window seat, cupped her chin in her hands, and observed the land of Anaria..