Queen Of His Heart

Chapter 1

Julianna of Gavaldon was scared. Anyone who tried to deny it would be ignorant or emotionally blind because as she stared out of the thatch window of her little room packed tightly into the furthest corner of her two-story house, there was no attempt to conceal her fear. Her body remained frozen in place, clutching the sheets of her thin blanket to her chest, Julianna couldn't look away from the blood-red eyes that stared not only through the window but seemingly through her soul.

The boards that were once barricading the window lay broken on the dirt path that led to the house. The gray figure with blood-red eyes hovered over the planks, not wishing to hide the fact that it was them who ripped them off the wall. Julianna remained still but refused to quiver under the intense gaze of the stranger, she furrowed her eyebrows and unclenched her hands from the blanket.

The girl knew what the gray fog-like creature was of course, and knew exactly why it was there. Why it was staring at her through the thatch window of her little room packed tightly into the furthest corner of her two-story house.

She turned away from the window and faced the wall, ice-cold stone covered in moss, that was slowly being chipped away with age.

Drawings were hung from string along the wall. Julianna loved sketching, and often was found sitting in the town square drawing whatever and whoever she wanted. She kept her best work and hung it on her walls with string from the storage room.

She smiled slightly at the drawings of her family, and she wondered if they even knew what was happening.

They would in the morning when her mother would call her for breakfast but there would be no sound. No scurrying of feet, no sounds of her rolling out of bed tangled in her blankets. Nothing.

Her family would realise where she was and knew they couldn't do anything about it.

In the beginning, when the children began to disappear, villagers would flood the endless woods in a futile attempt to find any trace of the children of Gavaldon. This was before Julianna was born, and by the time she was, they had given up hope of saving them.

Her family would grieve, but in the end, move on. Attempting to forget about the daughter who was taken. Maybe in a few years, a story would appear, describing to the village about Julianna and her amazing magical adventures. That would be the only sense of closure her family would have. Knowing that she was safe.

Julianna took one last look at her family picture, before closing her eyes and falling onto the bed.

The gray mist with blood-red eyes broke through the window with a noiseless smash and grabbed the girl off of her bed.

Julianna felt herself being lifted and took a deep breath. She felt her body leave the room and felt the cold of autumn nip and pinch at her cheeks.

'Maybe I should have changed first' she thought, keeping her eyes wound shut. She decided it was for the best, a pair of black leggings and a green shirt seemed to be the smartest outfit she could have in this situation.

She was not a lover of heights and was afraid that she would end up feeling ill if she even took a slight look. This was proven pointless because the moment Julianna heard the incoherent babbling of words and squeals of delight. Her eyes opened wide and turned to stare at the owner of the sound.

She knew that voice instantly and rolled her eyes and smiled at the obviousness. Being gripped in the Gray mist's other hand was Sophie Of Gavaldon, a girl Julianna had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times and took actual enjoyment from it.

Unlike most of the girls in Gavaldon, who had their little aspirations, Sophie was too much of a dreamer for anyone's liking. She never truly found a solid place in the grand scheme of the town and was often left to hang around the equally disliked members of Gavaldon.