"Say cheese!" the photographer yelled far too jubilantly for my liking, drawing out the second word infinitely as he positioned himself behind his cumbersome Auraview camera. 

I groaned as my mom shoved me closer to the middle of the family, placing her hands on my shoulders. 

"Get in there, Swan, or you won't be in the picture!" she chirped. 

"Alright," I sighed. Being of medium height, I was forced to stand in the second row of the family photo. This resulted in constant pushing and pulling from both in front of and behind me. Not to mention the fact we, as the royal family of Lessaenes, were expected to have perfect photos. This meant being constantly rearranged into various formations, in order to produce the best possible effect. 

The current arrangement had my Uncle Thorel and Aunt Tara, also known as the King and Queen of the Lessaenite Empire, in the very back. My parents, Prince Aron and Princess Viviana, stood on either side of them. In front of them, on my row, were Uncle Justin and Aunt Iveya along with Great Uncle Airel. Uncle Justin wasn't my mother's biological brother- he was a human, and the Chief of the Earthen clan- but they had been brought up as siblings and still acted like they were. My cousins, Sparrow and Lerrel, daughter and son of Uncle Justin and Aunt Tara respectively, stood in the front due to the fact that they were the youngest and most difficult ones to be seen.

And, of course, in front of them, getting a whole row to herself, was Lessaenes' favorite girl: the gorgeous, Gifted, scheming, wicked Crown Princess Lillae Arystenn. She stood with one hand on her hip and the other raised in the air, as if she was posing for yet another magazine cover. 

Finally, after standing there for what felt like a million years, I heard the satisfying click of the camera. 

It was over.

"Oh, Your Highness, you look absolutely stunning!" Chief Soren gushed, peering over the photographer's shoulder in order to view the picture. "If this photo was a face, you'd be the eyes. You're the vibrance, the uniqueness, and the life!"

We all knew which one of us she was talking to. 

"Thank you very much, Your Excellency," Lillae giggled, before walking elegantly over to me. Slinging her purse effortlessly over one shoulder, she began to whisper discreetly in my ear. 

"I think we both know who would be the pimple," she snickered. "Filthy half-breed." 

I turned my head away, ignoring the words of my heartless cousin just as I had done every day for the past fourteen years. You would think that, in the new age of the Empire, with modifications in Rhenan-related legislation being announced almost every day, racism would've come to a much-deserved end. 

This was the opposite of the truth. 

In fact, people's inner prejudice only grew when its voice was silenced, finding its way into secret AuraNet messages, and threatening CT's. 

My only hope of a reprieve from Lillae's verbal torture came with the fact that, in just two days, her final year of high school at the Imperial Academy for Young Nobles would begin. This meant that, soon, she would be off to college, hopefully somewhere far away. I wouldn't have to deal with her for at least four years. 

Four whole years of bliss. 

"Swan? Are you alright?" 

I jumped, hearing my mother's concerned voice behind me. 

"Yes, why?" I sighed. 

"You're still here," she laughed, gesturing to the newly renovated Council Chamber around us. "Usually, you're one of the first ones to leave after a family meeting." 

"Mom," I whispered. 

"Yes, honey?" 

It was time to confront the label that the world had bestowed on me once and for all. "Am I a filthy half-breed?" 

My mother froze, shock registering in her violet eyes as she approached me, taking my hand. By this time, all the kids had left to go pack their bags for the IAYN. The adults had wandered out into either the foyer or the garden to discuss whatever it was that Royals and Chiefs discussed on Friday evenings. This left me and my mom completely alone in the middle of the spacious chamber. 

"Swan," she said seriously, giving me a measured look. Slowly, she led me over to the back wall, plated with ornamental mirrors. "Look at yourself, and answer your own question. Are you what they tell you that you are?" 

I studied my reflection, trying to find meaning in her words. Yet, I saw myself no differently than I always had. My tangled black hair was swept into a lazy ponytail, and my full lips were chapped from the cold. As much as I tried to focus on something else, my attention kept returning to my eyes. 

My horrible, hideous, unnatural eyes. 

To them, I owed the torture I had faced at the hands of my classmates for all eight years of my school career. The left one was a deep, Lessaenite violet, with a pupil much larger than that of the right, which was a dull, Rhenan gray. 

I might as well have had "half-breed" written across my forehead. 

"I am exactly what they tell me I am," I shook my head. 

"Yes, you are," my mom smiled. "You are half Rhenan and half Lessaenite. You are the first of your kind- a piece of history in the making. Anyone who thinks that makes you any less of a princess, or any less of a person, is wrong. Do you understand me?" 

"Yeah," I nodded. 

"Are you going to go to school tomorrow and let those bullies walk all over you?" my mother raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. 

If only she knew that the "bullies" were none other than my perfect cousin and her plastic friends. 

"No," I grinned, feigning enthusiasm. 

"That's the spirit," my mom smiled, before proceeding to exit through the garden gate. "I know you're going to do great in high school." 

I would be lucky if I survived my freshman year.