What Lies Beneath

Chapter 1

 The knock at the door made me jump, but it was only Dax. "Hello, sweetheart," he greeted me. "It's time for breakfast. Your brother sent me to get you."

"Coming, Dax," I replied, standing up from the seat at my vanity. He placed his hand on the small of my back, and led me downstairs to the grand hall.

"Astra, there you are," Callum called. My brother, prince of this kingdom, was five years older then me, at age twenty-one. He liked to use this to his advantage a lot of the time.

"Sorry," I mumbled, taking my seat across from them. Dax smiled lovingly at Callum, and pressed a kiss to my brother's cheek. They had been involved for a long time. I was happy that they'd found each other, but they made it very clear that no one would ever find me.

"You're not to leave the palace today," Callum declared.

"I'm not to leave the palace any day," I reminded him. That was one of his many rules for me. I had been allowed outside when our parents were alive, but when Callum begun his reign he stripped me of that freedom.

"Don't be smart with your brother, Astra," Dax said sternly. I looked down at my food, ashamed. I always felt like that when he chastised me.

"We're having a ball tonight," Callum announced. "Dax is going to cut your hair, and he can pick your mask later."

"Yes, sir," I said quietly. I always had to wear a mask. We always had masquerade balls, but for a reason. There was this saying I'd heard going around.

The princes only threw masquerade balls. No one had ever seen their sister's face.

As I said, they made it very clear no one would ever find me. No one outside the palace had any idea what I looked like anymore, since the last time I'd been out there, I was nine years old and had the longest hair in the village. But that was gone now, and they'd made it very clear it wasn't coming back.

After breakfast, I headed back upstairs, not able to take much more of my brother's presence. I wasn't scared of him, but I knew not to fight him. I could never win that. So I backed down and obeyed him, because I didn't know what he would do if I didn't. And I didn't plan to find out.

"Astra, are you alright?" Dax called, opening my door without knocking this time.

"I'm fine," I replied. "Did you need something?"

"I came to do your hair, and pick your mask," he told me. "Is there any particular dress you'd like to wear tonight?"

I thought for a moment, and then decided I would fair a lot better if I was actually looking at my dresses. So I bounced over to my closet, and began rooting through it. "Today, sweetheart," Dax chuckled.

"Won't Callum be mad if you don't pick my mask first?" I asked. "It is supposed to be the other way around, you know." Normally Dax chose my mask, and I matched the dress to it.

"Yeah, well, I'm cutting off your hair, so I figured this would make up for it," he said, pressing a kiss to my head. I sighed, knowing what was to come.

"This one," I decided. I wanted to wear black, but I knew Dax and Callum would never allow that, so I pulled out a light grey dress instead.

"Perfect," Dax chuckled. "Sit, please."

I made a face. "Can you just pretend to cut it?"

"No, sweetheart," he laughed. "Your brother will be livid if he doesn't see a significant difference. You know that."

"Yeah," I mumbled, sitting down at my vanity. My mousy brown hair fell a bit past my chin at the moment, but I knew that would be gone soon. Dax pulled out the scissors, and ran a comb through my hair. He placed the scissors just above my jawline, and snipped off the first strand. "Dax, that's too short."