The Cursed Kingdom

Chapter 1:Grand Introductions

 "Time to wake up," someone calls. I roll over and smush a pillow on top of my head.

"Aurelia. You have to get up or you'll be late for your meeting." The voice gets closer. I groan and swing out of bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My door opens and my handmaiden Greta slips inside.

"Good morning Your Majesty. Did you sleep well?" She asks. I nod, still groggy. I shuffle over to my bathroom to wash my face while Greta chooses some dress options from my closet. When I come back out, she is waiting by a chair with my corset and shoes.

The dress I choose is sapphire blue with flowy sleeves and a skirt that brushes the ground when I walk, making a soft swish when I step. Greta and I are walking down the corridor, my hair done and my tiara shining in the sunlight. I have a meeting with possible suitors to get to and I'm already running late from an unwarranted stop in the kitchens. According to Greta, I need food to live. I disagree, but it was a losing battle on my part.

"Who am I meeting today Greta?" I ask. She looks at her list.

"Their highnesses Bastian, Cassian, and Achilleus." She says. I roll my eyes at the last one. I met Achilleus when I was 10 and he was a jerk. He pushed me around and constantly told me I would never be good enough to rule the kingdom. I know some people change, but Achilleus just isn't one of them. He's one of those people who you can just look at and you know that attempting to have an intelligent conversation with him will be a waste of your time.

My father used to do the same to my mother. As a little girl, that was hard to watch. When I turned 11, I resolved to never let a man treat me the way my father treated my mother. I used to take the bullying from Achilleus.. Not anymore. If he wants to pick a fight, I'll start a war.

With his kingdom.

We push through the doors to the council chamber and Prince Bastian is waiting for us. He looks up as the door opens and his jaw drops, a sandwich halfway to his mouth.

"You're beautiful!" he says. I sigh. That's what nearly every man says when they meet me. So far, it seems like he's taken the basic approach. I despise men. They stink, they're loud, and they have no organizational skills whatsoever.

I am perfectly capable of running my kingdom as I have been since my parents died, but my people disagree.

They love me of course, but they are also very traditional and still accustomed to my parent's rule. They believe that it is beneficial for us to have a king and for me to have a husband. I reluctantly agreed in order to keep them happy. My subjects are everything to me. I sit down across from Bastian and Greta sits next to me.

"What can you do for my kingdom?" I ask Bastian. He stares blankly at me. I ask a few more questions that get the same reaction. I'm definitely not marrying him. I nod at Greta and she stands up, grabbing Bastian's arm to escort him out. I have at least an hour until my next meeting, so I decide to go for a walk in the gardens. I slip outside the door into the hallway, and start towards the courtyard.

The gardens are my favorite place in my whole palace. Every single flower you could ever want to find is planted there. The air is sweet and perfumy with a slight breeze that ruffles my hair and toys with my long skirt.

I take a breath, slipping my shoes off, and walk barefoot through the rows of roses, petunias, and morning glories. My favorite flower isn't a flower at all, but an herb with soft sage green leaves. The technical term for it is Stachys byzantina or something, but I like Lamb's Ear much better. I lift my face to the sun, enjoying its warmth. It was a cold winter and I know all my people are happy it's spring now.

"It's nice, isn't it." says a voice, startling me. I whip around to find a knight sitting on a bench. His broad shoulders, strong jawline, and ice blue eyes make him look intimidating but when he smiles his whole face lights up. He brushes wavy brown hair out of his eyes.

"I'm Cassian. You must be Aurelia." he says, his voice kind. I smile back, nodding.

"I've never seen you around here before," I say. "Are you new?"

"Something like that." He replies, laughing.

"Ah." I say, sitting down next to him.