Prologue

A beautiful young girl, aged nearly eighteen years, runs down a hill, away from the lonely castle as fast as her legs will carry her.

She hopes that the royal guards will not catch her and thwart her plans as she makes her daring and rather dangerous escape from the fiercely protected castle grounds.

She holds the hood of her black velvet cloak up over her head, so as not to be recognized by any of the local commoners she hopes she will have the pleasure of encountering on her journey. The harsh wind blows against her face, increasing in speed and making it harder and harder for her to conceal her identity under the cloak as she runs against it.

Smiling and laughing, she hides behind a tree just outside the little village her castle overlooks. Her escape has been nothing but successful- this time around.

She tightens the knot on her cloak. The last thing she wants is for it to fall off while browsing some of the many interesting shops in the town.

Not many people here know who she is. But the few who do, will recognize her instantly and her cover will be blown. She would have to flee.

She looks around, making sure she was not followed. Luckily, she discovers that she was not. Smirking to herself, she walks around the tree and straight up to the intriguingly busy market just a few dozen feet in front of her.

She has always wanted to see what the village looks like. She's heard stories of the magic that goes on down there. Servants share tales of the shops and of their old lives down in their home village before they moved into the castle to work for their king and queen.

But the girl's overly strict mother and protective father have rarely ever allowed her to leave their sight nor would they ever consider letting her leave the safety of the castle grounds. Not even for a moment.

That is why she had to escape. The closest she has ever come to seeing the village in all of its glory was when she slipped outside the castle gates at the tender age of seven. The guards captured her and sent her straight to her chambers after that. They never allowed her to be left alone ever again. This morning though, things were just crazy enough for her to slip away from the chaos, virtually unnoticed.

Things are crazy within the castle right now. The King died tragically, just a few weeks ago. That means somethings very special for the girl. Whether she likes it or not, it will happen.

She is to become queen.

Yes, a queen. The Queen.

Young princess Raeanne Victoria Elizabeth Bronson of the Kingdom Hathen, is to be crowned queen on her eighteenth birthday.

Which just so happens to be tomorrow.

With the coronation looming over everyone's heads, Raeanne has been under close surveillance at all hours of the day and even closer watch at night.

For, no one wants anything bad to happen to the future queen before she can even be crowned. That would be utterly catastrophic!

Her mother you ask? What about her as queen? Why can she not rule the kingdom? All good questions.

As tradition has it, once widowed, Queen is nothing but a title for the poor woman. The heir to the throne must be named supreme ruler of the kingdom. But only after their eighteenth year of life. No one underaged shall rule an entire country at such a young age.

The queen then rules as a temporary monarch until the heir can be crowned. Poor mother dearest will be dethroned, yes, but she will carry a new title as Queen Mother: advisor to the new queen who steps in her place.

The current Queen will lose her ultimate power over this nation but she will still be powerful within the kingdom in many ways.

Princess Rae knows that after becoming queen, she would never be allowed down in the village. She would never get the chance to experience life as a normal girl. Come tomorrow, she will have new and demanding duties as the queen and will get no time to be just a girl anymore.

She knows that today was her only chance to thrive. Her only chance to truly live. Maybe she will even get a chance at a normal life, even if it is only for the day.

After today, she will be queen and will soon be forced to marry to produce an heir to her throne in order to keep her family bloodline in power. She will need to do all of this: quickly.

Her childhood will be over in a matter of hours and her new life as an adult will mean nothing close to what she would deem remotely interesting.

But today, she will not have that long to do as she pleases. With all of the preparations for the coronation tomorrow morning, guards and servants are running around crazy, trying to make everything perfect for this very special day that comes once in a lifetime.

This means that they will soon realize that the princess is missing from the castle, nowhere to be seen or heard. They will panic. Guards will be sent out in to the village and the forest to find the absent princess immediately after she is officially declared missing.

She hopes the plain colored cloak will better help her blend in to her surroundings and keep her hidden as long as possible.

As for her mother, The Queen, she is completely grief stricken over her late husband, yet tomorrow is going to be the happiest day of her life. Normal girls dream of their wedding day. The queen? She dreams of her daughter's coronation. Of course she forgot the fact that her husband would have to die in order to see that day.

Or did she?

After all, the king was stabbed to death.

The young princess walks around the village market, silently wondering why her parents have never let her come down here. It is so beautiful. So interesting. She loves it here.

"Madame," A boy, not much older than her, holds a piece of jewelry out for the princess to see. He is trying to sell it to her. "A bracelet as beautiful as yourself."

Flattered, the princess begins to blush. She has never met anyone her age before. Well, besides a few boring princes. But they are always quite a bit older than her and terrifyingly adult-like. This boy seems to be her age. Not any older or any younger than she.

She holds her wrist out and allows him to place it on her, the jewels shining in the light as she moves her wrist slowly to admire it.

She holds her other hand out for him to shake. "I am Rae." She speaks without thinking. She did not even have time to think of a fake name to keep her true identity a secret.

Will he recognize her by her name?

The boy shakes her hand. "Michael. Pleasure to meet you, my lady."

Knowing she has at least temporarily fooled the boy, she smiles to herself. He has no idea who she is. She must keep it that way if she wants to have any chance at being normal for today.

"I was just going out to take a swim. Care to join me?" He asks, kissing her hand, causing her to blush. She is taken back by his fantastic display of manners.

The princess nods. "Why, I would love to."

A mischievous smile lurks behind the Princess and her new friend. His eyes mysterious and greedy, preying on the unaware princess as she walks through the village with her new friend.

He and his crew follow her, slithering behind her as she weaves through the rundown shops that crowd the village. Sneaking around another way, they plan to ambush her. They have numbers against her. Five against two are good odds for the greedy man and his gang of thieves. He knows he can easily get what he wants from her. She will be an easy victim.

The group of dangerous and money hungry thieves surrounds the princess and the common boy, noticing the shiny and most likely expensive piece of jewelry on her wrist as she rolls the sleeve of her cloak down.

They want it. And they will do anything to get it off of her. Even if it means killing her.

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First chapter. Hope you like it so far!

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