The Golden Chalice

✰✦✰ Prologue ✰✦✰

   ✰✦✰ Prologue ✰✦✰

BACK WHEN THE kingdom of the Thirteen Isles was still led by its sovereigns, its infamous princesses, too, lived and thrived. There was a girl with a strong, determined mind, the greenest eyes the world had ever seen, and her name was Scarlett Solaris. She was who girls wished they could be.

As for her younger sister, Euphemia Solaris was impatient and hotheaded. Yet her beauty exceeded that, causing others to entirely forget about her temper in the electric depths of her blue eyes.

And then there was the magical Clara Solaris, who claimed she could speak to animals. Then again, what six year old didn't think that? Her sandy hair resembled that of her father's whilst her grey eyes were nearly exact copies of her mother's.

Although Goldarians never saw the princesses, they knew just how glorious the girls were, solely from fairy tales in which the princesses were even mentioned and portraits spread scarcely across the kingdom.

"Do you really think I'll be a good ruler one day?" Scarlett asked her sisters one day as the three sat in the meadows of their infinitely large gardens. It was a breezy, summer night and the stars shone like never before, as if they knew what the night would bring; as if they wanted to offer the girls one last happy memory. The Guards wouldn't let them leave the castle on the King's orders, meaning they were grateful to have such a big space to explore whenever bored.

Mia shrugged with her pink bottom lip sticking out, her black hair almost camouflaged in the night sky. "I don't know anything about being a Queen."

"Well, you're only eight, so obviously you wouldn't know."

Mia rolled her eyes. Whenever she didn't understand something, Scarlett would incessantly fault her age for it.

"I think it will be easy," claimed Clara with a sure nod.

The sisters chatted on and on about all kinds of things. What Mia loved to talk about the most were the balls that their family hosted every year, for each season. The next ball would take the theme of summer and she simply couldn't wait. There was a pause. A pause in which the princesses stared at the dark sky, lost in their own thoughts. While Mia worried about what she would wear the next day, and Clara wondered if she'd get to see her pony before she was put to bed, Scarlett's thoughts were plagued with the anxiety of how she would lead one day. And the day she turned sixteen, she knew she would have to. Not only were her parents expecting this of her, but so were the people of the Thirteen Isles, the people of Goldaria. She had no choice—that was the scariest part.

"I'm a bit scared of being queen," Scarlett said to her younger sisters, fiddling with her fingers and the chipped pink nail polish from playing dress up with Clara earlier that day.

Clara and Mia laughed. "We know."

"What if I disappoint Father?"

Silence fell over the sisters like a disease.

"It doesn't matter," Mia hugged Scarlett. "As long as you let us dress you up for each ball, I don't care."

Clara's contagious laugh rang over the field. "Yeah."

Scarlett ran a hand over her face. "I don't want a husband."

Clara gasped. "Can I choose him?"

Scarlett grimaced. "No. You'll end up choosing a stuffed animal."

"Who cares about husbands?" Mia stuck her tongue out, disgusted.

The girls chuckled.

Mia jumped up with a squeal, spreading her hands as if she owned the sky above her. "You'll have us. And we care."