"I hate you!" Aliana screamed.

A thick book was flung across the bedroom, crashing against a wardrobe, and falling to the ground with a thud. Its intended target, a young woman wearing a suit of armor, barely flinched. She reached down, retrieved the book, and calmly brought it back to its owner.

"You must forgive me, Your Highness." Her voice was low, almost a whisper, and she spoke calmly. "You need to understand that I am doing this for your own good. I am here to protect you."

"Get out, Iora!" The irate princess tried to slap her personal guard, who deftly dodged the attack. "I hate you! I never want to see you again!" With those distraught words, Aliana collapsed pitifully onto her bed, buried her face in a pillow, and let out a muffled scream of sadness and anger.

Iora sighed. "Your Highness, I understand that you wish to be left alone. If it weren't for the fact that your life is in peril, I would comply to your wishes. It's just that, at this moment in time, I cannot and will not do that."

Aliana lifted her head and looked at Iora threw tear-stained eyes. When she spoke, her voice had dropped to a defeated whimper. "My father was the only family I had left and now I'm all alone. Can you not understand that I want to be left in peace?" Her eyes were red and puffy and her golden curls were matted together in an unruly clump; she hadn't slept in the two days since her father, the king, was killed.

"I understand, but to leave you alone, even for a second, would make me a failure at my job." Iora stood with her back straight, and her eyes serious and determined. "Until his majesty's assassin is found and you are no longer in danger, I must stay by your side every second of the day. In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you ceased to throw heavy objects at me."

"Go away." The morose princess halfheartedly threw a pillow that was easily avoided. "I want to be left alone."

Iora shook her head sadly and sat down in her chair next to the massive, ornate bed. She unsheathed her blade and began cleaning it, paying little head to sobbing Aliana.

Aliana curled into the fetal position and buried her head in one of her many pillows. Her sobs were muffled and her tears stained the expensive fabric. Twice today she had thrown up. It had been over a day since her last meal. The only thing she wanted was for her wretched, nosy guard to leave her room so she could finally get some peace and quiet.

Aliana's entire life was full of death and it was finally starting to break her. She had been four when her mother died. At the time, she was too young to understand what had happened; it was her father who had suffered greatly. After the death of his beloved queen, the king became withdrawn from his two children, Aliana, and her older brother Jasper. For years, Jasper, who was older by five years, watched over and raised his baby sister. They were as thick as thieves and shared many of the same interests. All her best memories were with her brother.

As he got older though, they were forced to spend more time apart. Being the oldest of the king's children, it was Jasper who was destined to be the next ruler. This meant spending hours learning various subjects-from fencing to botany- from various tutors. Aliana saw these classes as merely a tool to keep them separated, but Jasper insisted that it was for the best. Even though the extensive time spent in class always exhausted him, he never forgot to make time for Aliana.

Life had been good for almost twelve years. Aliana had her beloved brother, her father was gradually recovering from his grief, and her days were spent in lazy luxury. The fact that, most likely, before age twenty, she would be sent off to marry a neighboring prince, barely bothered her. She learned easy tasks like sewing and horseback riding, and even occasionally attended some of her brother's classes. And then, in the blink of an eye, her happy world came crashing down.

Jasper had been sent on a trip to the western region for the biannual inspection of the military defenses. All had gone well and he was on his way home when, passing through the Southern Forest, bandits ambushed his caravan. Everyone was killed.

Aliana had been in the middle of learning how to properly cater an event when a messenger arrived bearing the news. She was only sixteen at the time and his death sent her into hysterics that lasted for almost a month. She refused to eat, sleep, or bathe. She would have died of grief had her father not saved her.

He too was in mourning, and was the only person who understood her pain. After going over a decade of barely interacting with his children, the king sought solace in Aliana and together they shared their pain and slowly mended. By the end of the next month, Aliana had managed to hold a conversation without breaking down in tears.

With Jasper gone, Aliana was suddenly the only heir to the throne. Aerilion law, different than the kingdoms surrounding it, did not forbid a woman from ruling; it was uncommon, but not unheard of. Since the king seemed to be of good health, it was decided by the Council that Aliana would have enough time to learn how to rule a kingdom, as Jasper had learned before her. Suddenly, she was thrust headfirst into the world of kingdom ruling and politics.

That had been less than a year ago. Her studies were going well, but they were nowhere near being completed. So much of her life had spent learning traditional "woman" things, so the sudden shift to political classes was difficult. Though she had been too busy to think about it, she wasn't ready to rule a kingdom.

Aliana laid on her bed sobbing for so long that she quickly lost track of time. Her eyes stung from salty tears and her throat was cracked. In the days since her father's death, she struggled immensely to hold back the tears; they made her feel weak. The only thing Aliana wanted was to be left alone in peace, but that had been impossible ever since she had the misfortune of getting a personal guard.

Iora was like a raven, sitting dark and brooding in the corner, and occasionally fussing at her. Things might not have been so bad if Iora had at least attempted to feign sympathy or give her the occasional encouraging pat on the back. She was a shadow Aliana couldn't shake and it was making her increasingly frustrated. And, ever since she was a child, immense frustration brought her to tears. She couldn't help it; when she experienced strong, unpleasant emotions, it was like a dam broke. Iora's constant watching over her for two days had stirred her up. Once she began to cry, she couldn't help it.

Finally, she heard Iora sigh. "Your Highness, I did not mean to make you cry. Please, stop."

Aliana weakly lifted her head and said, in a shaky voice, "I wish you would leave me alone." There was no malice in her words, just desperation.

"You know I can't."

"Can you at least give me a hug?"

"You know I can't."

"Oh, right." She had momentarily forgotten the rule that all palace guards were taught: never touch a member of the royal family. Aliana had always that rule to be silly and unneeded, but it was created for a reason. Many years ago, not too long after the castle was created, a guard assaulted the queen of an ancient king. The king was so infuriated that he killed the guard and made a law stating no palace guard would hence fore be allowed to touch a member of the royal family; in the centuries since, no one had ever bothered to revoke it. Normally this rule never concerned her, but today it was annoying her. All she wanted was a hug.

"May I offer some advice instead?" Iora asked.

Aliana looked the young woman up and down skeptically. "You are barely older than me. What advice could you have?"

"More than you think," she said, matter-of-factly. "Let me just say that crying all day does nothing to solve your problems. You must get up and leave your room. Trust me when I say that it helps."

Aliana gritted her teeth. "Do you want to know why I am crying?"

"Enlighten me."

The princess reached out and snatched another book from the pile next to her bed. "Because of you!" she cried as she hurtled it towards her guard.

Iora snatched it out of the air, looking almost bored as she did so. "Please, refrain from throwing sharp and/or heavy objects at me."

"Then get out of my room!"

"Only if you come with me."

"Would it be so unreasonable for you to simply go stand outside the door? I doubt someone would be able to kill me."

Iora traversed the room to stand by the massive, open window directly opposite Aliana's bed. She pointed to it. "Your Highness, please tell me what this is."

"A window?" Her tone was a mixture of confused and sarcastic.

"And is this window open?"

Aliana knew where this was heading. "I am too high off the ground for an assassin to stealthily climb up the wall and through the open window. My room is perfectly safe."

"I agree. It would be very difficult for someone to climb the wall, but-" she pointed out the window, across the open courtyard below, to an opposite tower, "someone could very easily fire an arrow from there."

The princess rapidly dropped her calm façade and rushed to the open window. She shut it as quickly as she could. Then, she turned to Iora with a clenched jaw. "Why did you not tell me that earlier?"

"Because I have been in here the whole time with you, watching the window. I know you prefer open, so I was only going to have you close it if I thought you were in immediate danger."

"Oh, yes?" Aliana secured the window latch firmly. "Well, I think I am going to keep it closed from now on."

Iora shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"I am also going for a walk before I must attend the council meeting." She slipped on her leather castle shoes and made for the doorway.

As expected, Iora followed. "I ask that we not wander too far away. I feel as if your room is the safest place for you at the moment."

"Bite me, Iora," she grumbled. With defiant strength, she gripped the door handle and flung open her heavy wooden door. The two guards positioned outside, who were slouching over, jumped to attention, and saluted the princess. Without paying them any heed, she stormed off down the hallway, her dark blue dress train swishing behind her.

"At least bring your cloak!" Iora walked briskly after her, the cloak in her arms. "I would not want you to catch a cold!"

"My window has been open all day. If I am going to catch a cold, then I have already caught it. Stop trying to act like you actually care about my well-being."

"If I did not care about your well-being, then I would not have put up with you for the past two days." Although her words were said with casual ease, Aliana could feel the pent-up stress and anger that was behind them.

She ground her heels to a halt and whirled around. In one deft swoop, she snatched the cloak out of Iora's hands and put in on. Her nimble fingers quickly tied the string around her neck and she pulled the hood over her head. She twirled again and resumed walking angrily. Her footsteps echoed loudly down the stone corridor.

"Now you are just being overdramatic," Iora sighed. She followed Aliana, albeit it more quietly.