Rogues and Royals never mixed. It was only normal in our world ever since a rogue attack killed the only daughter of the Royal family.
We'd been tortured for years, hiding in small villages, barely surviving off of what we had and fearing the day t...
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• EVERLEIGH •
There was only one person I knew in this world who never failed to see the beauty in life, even through all the pain.
My mama
She was the strongest woman I knew, she didn't let those involved with the royal family get to her head. She'd never let anyone control her feelings, let alone her choices.
It brought unwanted attention to our family, but she didn't care, because she knew in the end her kids would grow up just like herself, strong.
Mama always said a strong heart will be your strongest weapon, and a weak mind your greatest enemy.
My heart was strong, until she left us.
I was twelve when my mother was taken from my life. She was murdered by the royal army after we'd started heading back to the village from the flower fields.
I could still remember that day, the way the field smelled, filled with endless arrays of purple irises, filled with my mama's beautiful smile as she sang songs and made us crowns full of flower's.
It was a hot summer day, and mama was growing weaker by the day yet she'd still found the strength to take us to the fields, our favorite place.
Mama's mate, my father I'd never met had died, leaving her body weak.
I didn't understand when I was younger, how awful the effect of her mate dying had on her body. She couldn't run from the royal guards, she couldn't even fight back from how weak she'd gotten.
It's all that goes through my head when I hear her screams from that day haunting me in my sleep. The screams of my helpless mother, the fact that she'd been alive for thirty four years before they'd killed her in a matter of just seconds.
And still, the world moved on as if it never happened, as if she was nothing, as if my whole world was nothing.
The birds still sang, the sun still shone over the flower fields, the water still flowed a beautiful blue color, and I never understood why. I never understood how the world could be so cruel, to be so beautiful, when my world ended.
I was twelve when I had to rebuild the same world that ended right before my eyes, I was also twelve when I had to become an adult.
I raised Ethan. I taught him everything he needed to know, I made sure he ate before me, washed before me, slept before me. I raised him just how mama would have.
If mama were here, she'd have taken us someplace else to hide a long time ago. But I wasn't mama, I was a coward compared to her.
I was ignorant on the paths around the land, I had no connections or any idea what direction to even go. I was afraid I'd lead Ethan and I straight to the grounds of the royal army.
