Ezra

1. The Eris

Vanessa looked out the window of the carriage to the rolling hills. A sea of grass waved with every gust of wind, creating the illusion of a sea. Gold on green blades bounced back sunlight and shadowed brown when the breeze made them bend.

The sun must've been in a good mood today, because it shone brightly and here weren't any clouds as far as the eye could see.

She could hear the sounds gravel crunching under wheels and the lazy clopping of hooves

She was riding a carriage into the country side to get some fresh air. She and her eldest brother had yet another fight and her father made her take a carriage ride to cool off while separating her from her brother.

She stewed in her anger for her brother and father. It may seem like she was sent out of the castle to cool off, but she knew that her father had basically given her a time out. Her face furrowed in distaste at the fact that her father still treated her like a child.

He'd never send Uriel out like this, to wander the road feeling like you'd been sent from your own home. Just because he was the Crown Prince it didn't mean that Uriel was worth more than her. Did it?

The ego of that man was something else. He'd never allow anything to be done a different way. No, that wasn't quite right. He'd never allow her to do anything in a different way.

Ever since their mother died, things just got worse for her. Not in the Cinderella type of situation though. She knew her father loved her. Maybe he was a tad overprotective because of the fact that she was the only duaghter he had compared to his other three sons, but she knew that he loved her. The problem lie in her eldest brother.

After their mother died, she felt like he always blamed her for it because he made her life miserable. He'd always criticise the things she did and never gave her any leeway in her own choices. Nothing seemed to please him. He'd always have something to say about her behaviour. Just because she felt like not being a shallow, depthless princess whose only purpose was to look pretty. In her opinion anyway.

It didn't start out like that though. After their mother's death, Uriel was a great older brother when she was younger. Around that time, the twins, Alec and Evan, went to military camp. She never saw them much, and even Uriel was busy with his duties as Crown Prince while her father was busy with being King. So that meant that she was all alone. There would be times over the years when Alec and Evan would come home to visit, but since they were apart for months or years on end, it was like they didn't even know each other anymore.

Without any siblings or their father to keep some semblance of balance, that meant that the youngest and eldest were left to each others own devices. They couldn't stand each other at all and they fought every other week.

Maybe her father's intervention was inevitable, but she hated it nontheless.

Vanessa plopped her head on the carriage seat and closed her eyes, trying her best to match her breathing to the carriage's repetitive bumps as it traversed the coarse graveled road. She liked the days when the clouds were never present in the sky and the sun took the spotlight. It wasn't hot though, and a cool breeze blew. So even if it was, you'd atleast be cool.

'It's so BORING!' she thought to herself. She began to think about the fight earlier. Did she really blow things out of proportion? Maybe she did, but Uriel had it coming. So what if she didn't want to act like a princess. She hated going to balls and galas only to be treated like a lesser being. She'd rather stay locked up in her library or staying in the castle garden. Anything that wouldn't involve the ridicule she'd experience from the snooty men and women who'd frequent the castle.