Page 1 of The Lost Princess

ChapterOne

KAIDA

The music from the harp was a comforting presence, just as much as the lady who wielded it. Selena had been not only one of my ladies-in-waiting my whole life, but also my closest friend. The lime green silk draped artfully around her as she daintily plucked the strings. The golden lace at the edge of her cuffs glinted here and there from the many scones that lit the audience chamber. My own dress was pure gold, the fabric much stiffer and difficult to move in. But I only needed to be able to sing, not cavort.

My hair was gathered in an intricate updo today, held in place with gold pins to match my dress. People always remarked on my hair’s color, which was such a pale blonde it was practically white. My eyes were a mix of indigo and bright blue, my skin as devoid of color as the snow caps on the distant mountains. Under the right candles, it sometimes shimmered. No one else in my father’s court looked remotely like me. My father didn’t even look like me.

I was special.

Gold bracelets clanked quietly from my wrists and neck. My sandals were gold too and twined between my toes and up my thighs.

The courtiers that had gathered to hear my performance watched me with glazed eyes as they always did. The singing calmed men when they were angry and soothed the worry from anxious brows. My voice along with my features were gifts straight from the gods, according to how my father told it.

I didn’t quite agree, but I admitted I was rather good at singing. People traveled from other kingdoms to hear me and more than one man had gone to his knees in the middle of a song to confess his dying love and ask for my hand in marriage.

Father would have none of it, of course.

The song ended, Selena plucking the last note with a flourish of her pinky. The sound reverberated around the grand audience chambers, ricocheting off marble and glass. The silence was absolute until my father broke it.

“Well done! Well done!” His booming voice broke the crowd out of their reverie, and they immediately burst into applause.

My cheeks colored as they always did when such large crowds gathered. I bowed my head modestly and reached my arms out to recognize Selena. Her long, black hair tumbled over her shoulders as she curtseyed, a broad grin on her face. She’d always enjoyed the attention in a way I could never quite manage.

“A splendid performance, to be sure,” a voice called, strong and confident, cutting effortlessly through the crowd.

I smiled tightly as the audience parted around a well-dressed man, his scarlet tunic with silver-lined edges marking him as a member of another court. Cilla’s court, to be precise. He held a goblet in one hand, gesturing upwards toward me and the king as if toasting us.

My father stood abruptly from his gilded throne in the center of the room. “As always,” he replied gruffly, a hard challenge in his eye.

People rarely spoke openly in my father’s court. Outsiders weren’t here often. The fact that this Cillian man was here now only brought unease into the hall.

The man in scarlet bent low, deferring to my father. “Your majesty, I am here at the behest of King Werris.” He paused, taking a deep breath. Everyone in the room gave him their immediate focus. He continued, though wary. “He demands satisfaction.”

My father blanched. “Satisfaction? For what?”

I glanced at Selena, but she looked just as confused as the rest of the court. King Werris’s kingdom wasn’t far from ours, but we didn’t have much to do with each other outside of normal trade.

The man in scarlet raised a mocking eyebrow. “Have you not told your people about the aid we’ve been providing to you, and about your promise to help us with our monster scourge?”

The audience halls exploded in mutters and whispers, and my father banged his fist on the armrest of his chair.

The Cillian man smirked. “Ah, I see your king hasn’t seen fit to enlighten you.” His shoulders straightened, relishing his captive audience. “There has been a drought for the past decade. Of course, all of you already know that.” He paused dramatically, puffing out his chest to deliver the big news. “To keep you all at your currentlevelof comfortability, your king has been borrowing the difference on the cost of goods from us. In turn, he pledged to pay us back. He is three years overdue.”

Silence descended once more.

My father grit his teeth, hands balled into fists at his side. “What is the price?”

The man merely raised his eyebrows. “My king is generous and merciful. He has agreed to cancel all the debt if you follow through on your last promise: helping us with our …. Monster problem.”

One glance around the hall at our confused looks and he scoffed.

“Oh surely you told your court about that?” He eyed the noble next to him. “Not even your counselors?”

The man sighed heavily. “No matter. King Werris will consider all debts repaid if you give us one thing to help combat a monster who is stealing and killing our farmlands and ravaging the countryside. Not the best thing to have going on during the drought, is it?”

My father was fast losing patience with this man. I could tell by the way his coloring changed from red to purple. I shot a glance at Selena, but she shrugged helplessly.

“What is your price?” my father demanded again.

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