Heir to the Fallen Throne

✰✦✰ Prologue ✰✦✰

A royal massacre.

The king of Goldaria was dying and he knew it.

His wife, Rosalina Solaris, knew it too. She studied the blood spilling from his lips like the Shadow Stealers had emptied him entirely.

"Your Majesty!" a Guard screamed at the top of his lungs.

Rosalina turned her head, feeling her damp neck, soaked with blood. . .whether it was her own or not, she did not know. She no longer found she cared. She had to care for all of her children. She had to—

"YOUR MAJESTY!" the same Guard shouted.

The castle was on fire and her husband was dead.

She did not know if she was lucky or not.

The Guard reached her, his golden uniform painted with the excessive lives of hundreds. A shadow army. How had this happened? They'd kept it under wraps for such a long time. . .

"Ma'am," the Guard panted, holding her shoulders. "The throne room is no longer safe. We must get you ou—"

An entire portion of the golden throne room exploded and the queen screamed, her soul filled with fright as she fell onto the Guard's lap. This wasn't any Guard. No, this was sweetheart Zacrus. He would get her to safety. Perhaps take her to Diamanda Isle—

He swore under his breath and scooped her up into his arms, bridal style. Rosalina realised that she could not move. As alive as she was, the queen was lifeless.

"M-My chi-children—"

"I will find them," Zacrus promised, dodging swords and daggers and fireballs aimed right at the monarch. "I swear it to you."

✰✦✰

Back when the monarchy of The Thirteen Isles persisted, its infamous princesses, too, lived and thrived. The eldest was a girl with a fierce, forgiving heart, possessing eyes a shade of green so identical to the endless forests in Goldaria. Her name was Scarlett Solaris. A role model to young girls across the globe.

Euphemia Solaris, on the other hand, was a middle child. Famous for her impatient outbursts at certain events. 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, schools taught the gloriousness these girls boasted, solely from fairy tales in which the princesses were 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 by the icy fountain in white cloaks.

Snow trickled from the skies like tiny snowflakes offering promises of a heaven these sisters would never find. Not that night, at least. 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.

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.