Zariya

Taking a risk

I grew up in a family where love and affection isn't shown. I don’t mean family love; my mum and dad love me too bits. I more so mean romantic love. See my parents were an arranged marriage, therefore I've never really seen them get along. Plus, I have a rising suspicion my mother has a lover in the village, she often leaves the palace for night errands.... though I don’t know what a future queen would possibly have to do in a village, other than order around and be given everything on a silver platter. My father on the other hand is never at the palace as he is a merman, he can only survive on land for about 5 minutes before he begins to fade away. Luckily, I didn't pick up that gene from my father, I simply just need to stay hydrated otherwise I get really weak. I kinda struggle with this mermaid thing...the transformation is really hard without my pendant. Without the pendant I can only breathe underwater and do a bit of water manipulation. With it I can do all that plus communicate with sea creatures and have a tail making it much easier to swim. I live most of my life in the palace unless I'm visiting dad, many think being a princess is great but for me.... It's boring. Sure, I can have really yummy meals and spend gold till I drop, but I never really got that normal teenage experience. All the friends I've made all used me for my riches...well except for Yuri.
 Yuri is like a brother to me; he was left at the palace as a baby. The head guard found him and decided to take him in as he and his wife recently had a miscarriage. Yuri grew up to be the next head guard in line. Me and him are always causing mischief around the palace, like playing pranks on the other guards, or playing tag in the massive halls. He has made everything in my life a little less boring. Lately I’ve been teasing him about a new girl in the palace, Shes an assassin and he has seemed to have taken a liking to her. Her name's Vivian, she seems nice but very dedicated and focused on her job.  Now I've done a small introduction let's get into my story...
 
I hear a door slam which wakes me from my slumber
“Rongamai get up, and quit that drooling girl you are a lady not a dog” I hear my step grandma snap
 
Oh, how could I forget to talk about her.... My grandma died 17 years ago, so of course my grandfather just had to remarry, so he married Darlia the queen of a kingdom I've never even heard of. Shortly after the marriage my grandfather died, now Darlia has complete control of Zariya. I'm getting distracted, let's continue with the story.
 
I feel the sheets above me get torn off, and a cold breeze hits my legs.
“You are going to be a queen one day Rogamai, Infact you're marrying the elf prince at the end of the week! You really need to get your life together!” I hear her shriek again
I open my eyes to see her picking out a dress from my wardrobe
“We will start off with more formal clothing, a simple dress is certainly not acceptable”
“No thank you” I mumble
“Excuse me” She scoffs
“I think I'm at the age where I can choose my own clothing” I get up to pick out my own dress
“You did that yesterday; you had a taste of freedom. Stop being greedy”
“Well maybe I want to do it again today” I pick up a basic A dark gray like green dress out of my closet
Darlia clenches her teeth and sighs
“Fine but at the end of this week, everything is changing. Enjoy your freedom while you can” she storms out.
A smile spreads across my face and I begin to giggle a bit
 
I was making my way down to the dining hall when I bumped into Yuri who began to tease me
“The elf prince aye? I mean Hes not ugly but....”
“His hairs longer than mine, He always looks constipated and I'm not into blondes!”
“What's wrong with blondes?” Yuri looks offended
“No, you're cool, but I'm not romantically into you, am I? I'm more into a guy with brown hair and mysterious eyes” I begin to daydream
“I'm pretty sure the elf prince is the opposite of all of that” Yuri trails off
“Exactly! I don’t even know his name! I can't marry him, I simply can't” I whine
“Well, the only way to escape him is to escape your grandma” Yuri suggests
“Step-grandma” I scoff and continue
“Like I can get rid of her anyway, Shes has so much power! By the end of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if she owns the whole Island.”
“I mean Shes already halfway there” Yuri sighs
We stand in silence
The moping is killing me so I decide to tag him and run off, I can hear him running behind me and I start to laugh. This...This is where I belong. I belong with friends; I belong in a world where I feel free. It's so hard to believe it will all be over by the end of the week, I'm not ready
 
We sit by the castle's fountain puffed
“I won that” Yuri smirks, still out of breath
“How can one win tag! Even it was possible I obviously won” I punched his arm lightly but instantly regretted it when my fists met his metal plate.
He laughs at me well I shake my hand in pain
“What are you two doing?” Vivian says approaching us
“We just finished playing tag” I speak up, Yuri goes quiet
“Oh...can royalty do that?” she questions
“I mean...it isn’t advised but as long as I stay clean and don’t mess up my dress or hair its fine” I say getting up, and wipe dust off my dress
Yuri gets up also
“You're the head guard's son, right? I'm Vivi-”
“Vivian, yeah I know...the new assassin, right?” Yuri stutters
She goes a bit red but manages to answer
“Uh yeah...yeah I am” She smiles and looks away
Yuri has always been good at getting maidens, Hes just not the best at keeping them.
Though...I can really see these two working out
I smile to myself and say goodbye to the two, I should let them have some alone time.
 
It's now 5:00 at night and I have a scheduled dinner with the elf prince at 6. I roam the castle halls, feeling like I'm going to break down. I look out the window and see Yuri waiting by the castle fountain.... probably for Vivan...I let out a huge sigh as I hopelessly fell to the ground in defeat. Tears begin to fall as I feel my world slowly crumble. I decide to make my way back to my room to tidy up.
As I make my way to my closet, I hear a bang from my balcony. A part of me wants to hide but deep within I want to investigate. I slowly approach my balcony doors, When I open the curtains, I see a tall man standing there. He has brown hair and light blue eyes that pierce into the soul. He has a bow and arrows and is staring directly at me. I quickly shut the curtains and began to panic.
“Please let me in, I honestly don’t want to hurt you” I hear the man say
“W-what do you want” I manage to squeak
“I can explain better inside...please just trust me!”
I have to think about it for a second
“o-okay...but if you try to hurt me...I'm going to scream! Very loud” I bargain
“Thats fine but please let me in before I'm seen!” He says desperately.
As I reopen the curtains, I rethink everything...what are you doing Rongamai...
When I see his face and he give me a small smile
I smile back and open the door, a part of me is ready to get smacked but to my surprise nothing hits me except a cold breeze.
He closes the door behind me as I fidget with my hands, I decide to break the silence
“So... what do you want?!” I demand
“I'm from the land of thieves, the queens' choices have been running villages all around us to poverty. The more land she owns the more things get taken away from us. I'm here to steal from her, take some jewelry that’s all...though if you’re the princess I'm not sure this will be easy” He slowly takes out his bow as a guilty look appears on his face
“I-I'm not!” I yelp
He puts it away with caution
“Then why are you in her room?” He questions
“I'm her maid! I came in here to prepare her dress as she has dinner with the elf prince tonight” What am I saying? I should just report him, what makes him any better than other thieves?!
“Oh, I see....so I assume we have a lot in common then, both living under royalties' control. Would you be so kind to help me? Perhaps take me to the queen's room?” He asks politely
This could be my chance...my chance to stand up too Darlia
“Of course!” I smile, he smiles back.
 
As we make our way to Darlia's room, the man begins to speak
“I'm Finn by the way”
My mind thinks of a random name
“I'm Opal” I can't face him...I'm not the best liar.
“So, what brings you to this place? Good money?” he asks
“Yeah, and the princess is actually quite nice. She helps me with chores and does rely on me for everything...unlike the queen...”
“Are you sure Shes a princess?” He chuckles to himself
I feel a bit of anger boil
“of course! Not all royalty's stuck up, just misunderstood...Princess Rongamai has struggles too” I ramble
Finn looks confused
“Like what? she can't have it that bad! Shes rich she can have anything she wants!” I can feel tensions rising but I can't stop myself from talking
“She may be rich, but she has no freedom, Shes just a kid and expected to marry a man she barely knows at the end of this week. Her parents are constantly arguing, Shes never known what real love is like only fake love. Her whole life has been spent within these castle walls. She doesn’t have as much rights as you think” I can feel tears fall down my face
He gives another confused look
I looked away and by now we had made it to Darlia's room
I take out my key and unlock the door
“Go ahead” I say
The man walks in and goes straight for a strange box beside her cabinet
“Her jewelry is in her closet” I approach him
“Opal I would stay back” He practically hisses
“What...” I feel like a knife was just put in my back
“Opal...there's something about the queen you don’t know...with this box we can shut her down for good” He opens the box and takes out a piece of paper, just then we hear marching
“Opal come with me; you don’t have to work for this son of a b*tch. You can come with me, live your life!” Finn takes his hand out
I hesitate...maybe for a bit too long because suddenly the door busts open
“Rongamai?!” Darlia shrieks
“Rongamai?” Finn takes his hand back and looks at me both confused and disappointed
I turn to face Darlia and three knights behind her are holding Yuri and Vivian
“Let me go, I didn’t do anything wrong it was Yuri not me!” Vivan yells
Yuri looks down ashamed
“Seize him” Darlia snaps
Finn tries to run but one of the knights grabs him
“Throne room” she snaps once again
The guards lead the three down and Darlia storms towards me
She grabs me by the ear and drags me down to the throne room
 
“It is a violation and illegal to break and enter” She snarls at Finn
She faces me Yuri and Vivan
“Helping a thief is also a violation and Illegal”
We all stand in silence, she continues
“Any illegal act means banishment”
“NO!” Vivian pleads
Yuri again looks down ashamed
My heart skips a beat...banished...can they even banish a princess?
“There for you three are banished” She snaps, and the knights begin to drag them away
Anger boils within my body, why wasn’t I banished?! This isn't fair, how can I live without Yuri...live with betraying Finn....live without getting to know Vivian. My mouth works faster than my brain and I blurt something I might later regret
“BANISH ME TOO” All heads to face me
“Oh, don’t be absurd” Darlia rolls her eyes
“I broke the law too, so you should banish me” I stand my ground
“Rongamai seriously, go to your room” Darlia hisses
“Yeah, I'll go to my room, to pack my stuff and leave” I glare the old wrinkly woman down
“And how would you survive out there Rongamai? No fancy dinners, no money. Just danger...VAMPIRES! You would die out there” Darlia smirks
“I feel like I'm dying here” I stutter, holding back tears
Darlia thinks for a second
“Fine then” she snaps, and a guard grabs me
 everyone gasps
“But you're not packing anything, if you no longer want to be a princess technically nothing here belongs to you”
“Fine!” I snarl
“Well take them, would you?!” Darlia puts her palm on her head, shaking it