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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781546250241 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 08/28/2018 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 392 |
| File size: | 523 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
Kearne
I've got to hurry, I've got to hurry, I've got to hurry ... I think to myself in a panic. Before he realizes what I'm —
"Kearne!" my father yells, and my heart races as I fumble with the buckle on the saddle. "You get back in here right now! I'm not finished with you yet!"
I tug the horse out of the stable with urgency, but it doesn't seem happy to be rushed out in the middle of the night. It stubbornly takes it's own sweet time.
"Ugh! Come on!" I say, desperately pulling at it's reigns with all of my might.
Finally, it's far enough out that I can mount it. I jump on just as I hear my father demanding, "What do you think you're doing?" His voice is frighteningly close as I spur the horse into action. "Kearne, stop! You know what I'll do if you leave!"
But I can't stop now: I'm too afraid. I just had an argument with my father, stole from him — which I'm not sure he's figured out just yet — and disobeyed him all in one night. I'm not about to turn around now. The adrenaline is surging through me as the horse thunders down the path leading towards the forest. I don't know what's more terrifying: leaving, or the idea of ever having to come back. I have never been free before. Eighteen years of living under my father's thumb, and now I've finally worked up the guts to escape. There's no way I'm ever coming back.
I can finally make a different life for myself. No father, no one to disappoint, and no one's demands that I have to live up to. No more living in fear of making him angry.
This time, I really am free.
— Kearne
Anna
"Anna!" says a male voice as I exit the servant's quarters.
"Uncle?" I ask, stopping to stare at the man in confusion as he jogs over to me. "Why aren't you in the kitchens?"
My uncle is the one who does most of the cooking in this castle, along with the help of my aunt. It's anyone's guess as to why he'd be wasting his time jogging down random hallways when there are dozens of mouths to feed: he could get in serious trouble if he's caught. The Royals aren't exactly nice people when they feel that someone has disappointed them, and there is little that they find more displeasing than a servant who doesn't do their chores. My uncle should be working right now: not running around the castle looking for me.
"I figured I could spare a few minutes to come and speak to you," he says.
I shake my head. "Why do you want to talk?"
The look on his face says that he feels deeply concerned for me. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You looked really terrible yesterday. Is there anything you want to tell me about?"
I sigh exasperatedly. This is why he's risking getting in trouble? To ask me how I'm doing? "Uncle, I'm fine —"
"You didn't look fine," he insists. "Come on: tell me what's happening."
"Nothing's happening!" I tell him. "It's the same today as it's been every other day ..."
That last bit, at least, is true. Any problems I have were going on long before last night. In fact, they've been going on for years. There's no point in him suddenly fussing over them now. I'm not even sure what I did to tip him off yesterday ...
He gives me a look that says he clearly doesn't believe me. "Come on, Anna: you always come home late at night looking so exhausted. It's as though you are working twice as hard as you should be. Ever since your mother died you've —"
"Ugh, that was years ago!" I tell him. "I'm fine. Now will you let me go? I need to hurry and do my chores: I'm already late."
I start walking away from him, before he has the chance to stop me.
"Anna ..." he says, but he lets me leave: knowing that I'm not the type to give in and tell him things just because he pries.
I know he hates that I close myself off to him, but none of my problems are things I want to talk to him about. I don't know how I could. Even the half that I would be willing to mention, he's already aware of: he goes through those things, too. Being a servant just really sucks. And the rest, is ... just too humiliating to mention. I don't want him to know what's really going on and pity me for it. And what good would that do? It wouldn't make it stop happening: it would just make me feel embarrassed. And believe me, my life is already bad enough without having to constantly feel like that.
The life of a servant is thankless, not to mention exhausting. He knows that better than anyone. My uncle never gets a break from being the Royal Cook and preparing endless amounts of food for everyone in this castle, and at the end of each day, people like him and I hardly get any of it. He tries to save things for my siblings and cousins whenever he can, but he's gotten in serious trouble for it on several occasions. I told him it wasn't worth his life, and I think he realized how right I am. If I lost him, I don't think I could keep going. And then who would be left to take care of the other children?
I suppose I'm not exactly a child anymore myself: I really haven't been for a long time now. Being the oldest, I had to take over things when my mom died. Her maid duties weren't going to take care of themselves. And the people in charge of this castle don't care if you just lost your mother: they only care if their clothes are washed and their chamber-pots are emptied.
But that's the life of a servant, I suppose: you have to do what you're told, and never expect any sympathy from anyone. I really had to grow up fast, and I've learned that the adult world is much worse than the child's one: where my biggest worry was staying out of everyone's way all the time, and making sure that I took care of the other children.
Now, my long list of chores are the least of my worries, despite how exhausting and disgusting they might be. Because the worst parts of my day are the ones that no body told me were a part of the job: the ones I could never have prepared myself for.
The things I will never speak about.
Just when you think life is hard, you find out that it can get much, much harder.
— Anna
Baline
I sigh, turning to the final page in my book and knowing before even reading the words exactly what they are going to say. I've read this story so many times, but what else is there to do in this castle? The only alternative is leaving my bedroom and actually interacting with my family, but we really don't get along that well. I suppose I could go and ride my horse, but ... I've been doing that a lot lately. I think she deserves a break from all the "adventures" we've been having along the forest paths. And besides, it's not like I could really go that far, anyways: as the next in line for the throne, I'm kind of stuck with this castle, even if I don't want any part of it.
It's no secret around here that I'm a bitter disappointment to my father. He doesn't bother trying to hide anymore that my sister is his favorite. If he has it his way, I'm sure he'll make her Queen somehow, and honestly? I'd be glad to hand the throne over. I have no interest in being the kind of ruler that my father wants me to be, and my sister, Belle, seems perfectly fit for it. Fighting wars with our southern neighbors? Having petty power-struggles with vicious nobles who just want to be mean to everyone? Who would want to inherit that?
Well, Belle would, apparently. I think I would much prefer sitting here in my nice, quiet bedroom and reading my books.
Admittedly, I'm probably a little too old to be reading these fairytales, but because it ticks my father off so much, I kind of enjoy doing it. Honestly, I don't know why he hates them so much anyways: they're actually really nice stories. I mean, sure, they're a little fanciful, but ... I kind of like it. It makes me feel like it might actually be possible for the world to be a better place.
Because it really isn't such a great one. And my father and sister only seem to want to make it worse. They torture their enemies in the dungeons and plot to conquer our neighboring kingdom, as though the people in it — who's lives would be taken or destroyed — don't even matter. And meanwhile our own people suffer. Of course, that's one of the reasons why they want to conquer Lightwood so badly: Blackwood is suffering; its people slowly starving to death, and our southern neighbors are the only ones with lands fertile enough to support us. Though my father has his own reasons for hating them ...
We've been at war for centuries, really. Once upon a time, we were all one kingdom, but our ancestors came up here to escape the tyranny that ruled over us. I guess there was a lot of racism, and the people also had to conform to one religion, or else they'd be executed. Our ancestors just wanted freedom from that, so they traveled past the Great River that now separates our two kingdoms. We've hated each other ever since. Though it became personal for my father long before my sister and I were even born: when his first son died in an attack by the Lightwoods. He now thinks that all Lightwoods are evil and deserve to be exterminated. I really feel like that assessment is a little drastic.
I'm sure a lot of them are perfectly nice people: just living out their lives, not even realizing that there is a king plotting to take their farms and destroy their homes in order to hurt the Royal Family that he believes to be responsible. Their former king, who killed my dad's first son, however, isn't even alive anymore to suffer from any revenge that my father tries to take upon his family. That's how many decades ago this happened. Though my father will not rest until he at least kills the man's own children, like that's somehow going to bring back the one he lost.
Why is he such a terrible person?
I shake my head. People like him shouldn't be given charge of an entire country: they focus more on their own selfish desires than on the needs of others. Though our family has been on the throne for generations, and that's apparently not about to change now.
The only people allowed to take the throne are people with seriously pure bloodlines. There's this old belief that we're descended from gods or angels or some other nonsense like that. Although it's not really that hard to believe when some of us have abnormal abilities, like telepathy, or telekinesis, and quite a number of nobles and royals have an abnormal coloring: blue eyes. Skin-colors vary from person to person in this kingdom, and hair and eye-colors are usually shades of brown or black, but amongst the nobility there is a tendency to have blue eyes, as though we really are descended from some strange beings that had very funny colors.
The Lightwoods have something similar. A lot of their nobles, from what I hear, have yellow hair, and their King and one of his daughters even have orange hair. I've never seen this for myself, but it sounds really bizarre. Though I suppose it's no stranger than my eye-coloring. I just wish that our colors and our bloodlines didn't have to mean that we get to treat everyone like we're better than they are. I mean, sure, not every noble family is a bunch of pale, blue-eyed people: as far as that goes, we're perfectly diverse, because at the start of our kingdom they created new noble families from those who contributed the most to the rebellion. But the problem from there going forward is that noble families are expected to marry into noble families, therefor preventing the common people from ever rising in station. It was like our country started off with good intentions: abolishing slavery, giving freedom of religion and all that, and then it just built up another class-system in which certain people will never get a chance to prosper, just because of what family they were born into.
That's really stupid if you ask me.
I sigh, staring at the book in front of me and wishing that I could solve these kinds of problems as easily as the people in the story did. Isn't there some way that I can help stop this conflict, and fight for more equal rights while I'm at it? I'm sick of walking around and seeing my family and all the nobles treat servants like they're trash and talk about the peasants like their lives don't matter: like it's a nuisance that they even exist. We're supposed to be in these positions of power so that we can solve their problems and make their lives better: not treat them like tools to use whenever we want something.
At least that's how it should be, in my opinion. Why can't the world just see things my way? Why can't my father and sister be better people, and better rulers?
Unlike my sister, I am not about to just go along with whatever daddy says. I want to at least try to make things better. Though it makes me wonder ... if I were to try and change things: stop this war with the Lightwoods, for a start ... would the Lightwoods be so willing to go along with it and create peace as I am ...?
Or are their royalty really just as bad as my father and sister are?
— Baline
Lily
"Princess Lillian!" I hear the maid yelling behind us as we dash down the hallway. "You get back here this instant!"
"Quick: hide in here!" I say to Treadway, pulling him into a wardrobe and signaling him to keep quiet. We hold our breath as the maid comes running into the room.
"Lillian! Where are you? I know you're in here!" she yells, sounding livid. I feel my heart beating quickly in my chest.
I can hear her footsteps growing rapidly closer, and I know that we're about to be caught, when —
"What are you doing?" I hear a familiar voice ask from the doorway. I'd know that voice anywhere: it's my mother.
"That girl!" the maid yells, and I cringe at the thought of how much trouble I'm about to get into. "She set the curtains on fire, ma'am!" she continues in an outraged tone, then seems to realize that she's yelling at her Queen. "'N sorry for shoutin', ma'am."
"It's alright," I hear my mother say, although her tone suggests that she is trying hard to be patient. "Is the fire put out?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then I'll deal with her when she's found," she tells the maid, and I gulp. "For now, I need you to help me downstairs."
"Yes, ma'am."
I listen to their footsteps fade away before letting out a long breath.
"Was the young man with her?" I hear my mother asking as they disappear down the hallway.
"Aye," the maid responds. "She was with a boy, and I don't know what they were up to ..." Her voice fades too quickly for me to hear the rest.
I roll my eyes in annoyance: it's because of my mother that I am hanging out with this boy, anyway. I know what she's doing, and I'm not falling for it: I'm not interested in boys. Although I have to admit that I've actually enjoyed this one's company a lot more than I would have imagined so far. We've gotten up to a considerable amount of mischief in such a short amount of time that I think he's helped me break my own record. And that's saying something.
And it's all thanks to my mom for introducing us.
Treadway laughs, looking down at me. "Is your life always like this?" he asks.
"More or less," I tell him, pushing open the door to the wardrobe and shuffling out.
"So ... did you really do that with your mind? Catch the curtains on fire, I mean?"
I shrug. "Yeah. I've sort of always been able to do it."
"You know, I heard rumors that you could do that, but I thought they were just stories."
"Yeah. I guess Dad tries to keep it quiet. He doesn't want everyone else to know what a trouble-maker I am."
He laughs. "So ... how much trouble do you think we're going to be in?"
"Don't worry about it," I tell him. "I'll just say it was all me."
"Won't you get punished for it, though?"
"I'm the next in line for the throne: what are they going to do?" I ask.
"Mum can scold me all she wants: she'll never do anything. It's always the same thing." I adopt a stern voice, wagging my finger and furrowing my eyebrows: imitating the way my mother always looks when she's angry. "'You need to stop messing around and act like a mature young lady!'" I mimic.
Treadway laughs. "That sounds like a pretty good imitation." Then he shrugs. "Well, from what little I've heard her say."
"Trust me, it's all the same," I tell him.
"Do you think other princesses get away with the things you do?" he asks, sounding doubtful.
"I don't know," I reply, staring at a shelf of books against the far wall as I think about it.
What are other princesses like?
— Lily
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "A Test of Loyalty"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Aislee Greenwood.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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