Prologue
Why did nothing seem right today? Something was amiss and I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
“What are you thinking about?” My oldest sister, Estella said from beside me. She was so beautiful. Everyone in Oakvale agreed. She was the radiant, gentle child of the king.
With her dark brown hair and midnight blue eyes. Her pale, porcelain skin and full lips. That small nose and pointed ears. Our younger sister, Mirabel had mentioned before that she was jealous of Etella’s beauty. Who wouldn’t be?
“I am just thinking about how today seems off somehow. Then again, it’s always off for me.” Estella gave me a pointed look. “It is not, Carissa. Perhaps you have some bad points but not every day is horrible.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “You are not the bastard-born child of the king, are you? I was born out of wedlock. And I’m a half-breed.”
Oakvale was pretty isolated. The people didn’t much care for outsiders and did not like their culture to be tainted with others. And because it was an elf kingdom, humans were outsiders. With me being half human I was a taint.
Estella stood, holding her hands out to me. “Let us make today a good one, then. We will go and sing and sit around fires of the good people of Oakvale. I am sure Lady Imogen is home. She may let us into her fields again. And Mrs. Lorna may let us try some of her delicious cookies.”
When I didn’t take her hand, Estella hauled me to my feet. “Dear sister, you are going to have a good day. I demand it.” A small smile broke across my face. “Stella-”
“There you two are,” Luciana said, marching toward us. She was two years younger than Estella and only one year older than me but she liked to act like she was much older.
Her golden hair gleamed in the sun peaking through the tall trees of Oakvale. Her dark blue eyes narrowed on us, her full lips set into a frown. And her small hands fisted in her purple, satin skirts of her heavy gown as she hiked them up.
“Why do you look so angry, Luce? Careful or your face my stick that way,” Estella joked. Luciana’s scowl deepened.
“When were you going to tell us?” Luciana seethed. Estella looked mildly confused. “Whatever do you mean?”
Luciana shot her next words at me. “Estella was planning to run away with the boy from the bakery. Mrs. Lorna’s son.”
I looked to Estella and she smiled sweetly at me. “You were going to leave?” Her face softened. “Clarissa, we’re all going to go our separate ways one day. We’ll still see each other but we can’t stay here forever. We’re no longer children. We have to live our lives. Perhaps, you can go somewhere where you’re happier. Somewhere you enjoy. You could see the world.”
Of course, she was right. Estella always said the right things to be heard and listened to. Luciana was glaring at Estella but I couldn’t be mad at her. I would have done the same thing.
I didn’t hate Oakvale. It was beautiful and lively with the merriment and music and dancing and fires. Some even lived in the trees of this wooded kingdom. But I would never be truly accepted here. And she was right that I wanted to see more. I didn’t want to be confined to this forest forever.
I took in the luscious greenery, the chirping of the birds, the smells of the forest. Yes, it was lovely but I wanted more.
Estella ignored Luciana. “Carissa, I was going to ask you to come with me.”
I don’t know what I would have told her if I had the chance. Mirabel was running toward us, yelling, our little brother, Aloise and a couple of guards at her heel.
“We have to leave. We have to get out of here!” She was yelling. I noticed a guard moving his hand toward his blade and my feet were moving before I could think.
“Mirabel, Aloise, move!”
Mirabel’s eyes widened and she took Aloise’s hand drawing him away. The guard had just drawn his blade when my body crashed into his, sending us both sprawling. The blade skittered out of his hand and I was scrambling for it. He grabbed my head and slammed it into the ground, climbing over me to reach the sword. The other guard had already drawn his own sword, moving to kill me.
“Carissa, get down!” Someone yelled and I ducked my head as a blade pierced through the chest of the man above me. I nearly gagged as blood sprayed down, coating my ivory dress.
The other guard fell and I looked up at the captain of the guard, Melian. “You haven’t betrayed us, too?” I said.
He gave me a sad smile and helped me to my feet. “Of course not. I am loyal to the crown until I breath my last breath. Now, take a sword and use what I taught you. I will slow down those that I can. You get your sisters to the stables and you leave. Rifthelm can be a very bad place but they’re the neighboring kingdom and the assailants cannot pursue you there. Go.”
I quickly nodded my head and picked up a discarded sword, looking to my sisters and brother. “You heard him. Let’s get to the stables and ride to Rifthelm.”
Aloise took the other sword and we ran, trying to use the trees for cover. Guards ran around trying to find us. We heard shouts of the king and queen dead. That they must find the children. The stables loomed ahead and I nearly cried with relief. We could leave safely.
But we were spotted and guards were running toward us. “Keep running!” I screamed and my sisters all made it to the stable doors as Aloise and I fell back. Perhaps we could buy them some time.
The first of the guards reached us and I was upon him, whipping my blade, stabbing in the weak spot of his armor. He fell by the time the other three guards reached us.
Aloise was slower but he still had good precision. Melian was a good teacher. We had dispatched the guards by the time the girls rode out of the stables, horses for Aloise and I already ready.
The two of us sprinted for them, more guards trailing us. We both swung up easily onto the stallions and immediately pushed them forward, shooting out of the stables behind our sisters.
