Forbidden

Rivalry

The castle stood tall at the top of the hill, thousands of homes filled with healthy, and well fed people surrounded it. The community thrived under the rule of Queen Thea, King Fillip, and their daughter Cora.
Cora stood at her window admiring the gorgeous fields leading to the forbidden Forrest. She heard dreadful story's about the rival kingdom that was only on the other side of the thick green land. Her family had a long history with the rulers of the Flamma kingdom which is why Cora had never met anyone from the other side. Even with all of the bad history and violent wars, her parents had arranged for Cora to meet with the daughter of the kingdoms royal family to bring the peace and end the wars. Her and the daughter of the Feared King and Queen would join to befriend one another.
"Are you ready my love" Cora's mother, Queen Thea said as she opened her bedroom door. "Yes mother" she replied staring at her reflection in the mirror "Now start getting ready, we want you to look presentable when we get down to the meeting spot" Cora's mother said before she turned around and walked out of the room. Her mother always wore a dress that flowed down to her ankles, she wore bright red lipstick and her crown sat proudly on top of her grey hair. She had few wrinkles covering her face but she always used some sort of cream to prevent them.
Cora turned around and went to pick out something to wear. She wore a blue satin dress that went down to her ankles and put a corset over top. One that only wrapped around her her stomach. She wore proper corsets on special occasions. She then put on some black boots and a plain black bandana that went over top of her silky blonde hair. Her mother had always told her "lady's do not cut their hair short" so it flowed down to the bottom of her back. Cora always found it difficult to maintain it so long, she always desired going against her mothers wishes but she loved her too much to disobey.
Down at the bottom of the staircase stood Cora's parents waiting for her. "Don't be nervous, I know you might not like the idea of befriending the daughter of such monsters, but it will be worth the safety of our kingdom." Cora's father said after taking hold of her hand. She could only imagine the things that these people must have done to her family to make them so worrisome.
The three of them walked out to the carriage that met them at the door of the kingdom. The large crowd of people stood awaiting their royals who they loved so dearly. They seemed so happy to be apart of the community, and that's all Cora wanted, her peoples happiness. Her heart started pounding and her head began filling with millions of questions . What if the other kingdom is as viscous as people say, what if this "peace" meeting was a trap for the other kingdom to get rid of their rivals for good. She loved her family and kingdom so much she couldn't stand the thought of loosing them. Cora's hopeless thinking and rapidly increasing worry was interrupted "kill them when you get the chance!" one of the men in the crowd said. Cora was flustered, but she brushed it off assuming the people were mad at the history between the Flamma kingdom and theirs, the Potentia kingdom.
They entered the carriage and began to take off into the trail of the thick Forrest. When they did Cora saw all of the beautiful creatures and fascinating plants. Vines that grew up trees and small fairies that flew around tending to the colourful flowers. Cora's particular favourite though was something most people would think of as unflattering. The mushrooms that grew on the sides of damp logs. There was something poetic in the way they formed.
Every time Cora glanced somewhere new she was just as amazed as she was before. She looked to the left to see the glistening lake where the deer stood and drank. When she looked to the right she spotted the small critters carrying the bits and pieces that they had found on their adventurous scavenges. The carriage came to a holt when Cora looked forward again. The meeting spot was just as gorgeous as anything else in the Forrest. The sun glistened in slightly through the trees and created pillars of light down onto a grassy spot surrounded by green trees and flowers.
When Cora took the hand of her father she looked over to the other family. Her nerves had calmed as she began walking over and just as Cora thought she had seen the most amazing things in the world she saw the girl she was meant to befriend. Her hair was black but when the sun hit her curls they had hints of light brown and gold. Her eyes were the same dark brown and felt like they could ease pain when you looked into them long enough. In Cora's kingdom, eyes that are as blue as an ocean on a sunny day were considered most desirable but this girl's eyes were the most beautiful that Cora had ever seen. Her skin looked silky and smooth, it was dark and soft. She looked like a goddess, like she could bring peace.
"Arthur, we meet again." Cora's father said bringing her back to reality "that's what it seems" King Arthur said before adding "I'm only here because my daughter, Fay wanted to meet yours, I'm not looking for trouble."
"Now, honey" Cora's father said bringing his attention back to her "you know how important this is to the family, I understand you may be scared, terrified even. But I assure you my daughter, you only have to stay for a few hours". "It's ok father, they don't seem so scary, I think I'll be okay". Cora said looking at Fay, her father looked almost disappointed and slightly scared at her words which made Cora feel uncomfortable again, had she left her guard down to early?