Heir to the Fallen Throne

✰✦✰ Chapter 1 ✰✦✰

Considering it was eight years later, I felt I should've already gotten used to the feeling.

But an experience as formative as your whole family dying gave one the excuse to spend decades mulling it over in one's head.

Just like 2920 days ago, snow blanketed the meadows of Sylva Isle, quieting the noise of nature. Silencing every single memory that came with watching flowers grow and ponds flourish with fish and qualidas chirping in rare corners of the woods.

I wiped my tears away, hugging my legs closer to my chest.

"Gorgeous, gorgeous girl. You're going to be the world's greatest sovereign one day, my angel."

Mum's promises had never come true.

The twentieth of December had haunted me for as long as my mind stretched back.

Of course I had searched for them. Of course I'd gone from isle to isle, city to city asking them if they knew an Iris or a Cynthia. But no one did. Even as I described what they looked like. I had never stopped looking. Forget pictures, I didn't have them. For five whole years my search had led me nowhere. It had only landed me in my bedroom with eyes brimming with tears and choked cries.

Hope was a fickle thing. The strongest thing about humans and yet simultaneously so dangerously fragile. Hope had nearly ripped my soul clean in half.

I stared at the snowy landscape ahead. Life. Olympia, every year, the same thing. Every year, on this day, I would sit and contemplate my life. If anyone besides Sarinne knew that a princess of Goldaria and the heir to the throne, no less, was alive—they'd never stop searching for me. Some would even come to kill me for reasons that linked to my villainous father.

Then there were days where I wished myself not to wake up. Sometimes I wished that Death would sneak up on me in the middle of the night and claim me. Because I felt I had no one.

Then I'd be proven wrong by Rinne, who'd shake me awake with promises of a filling breakfast and a day of each other's company.

As if on cue, my best friend approached me from behind, dropping onto the cold log next to me with a breath. "Hey."

Warmth snuggled within my chest as I met Sarinne's puppy-like, brown eyes. With dainty features that I had once thought only fairies had, her demeanour changed as soon as one approached her, eyes turning into slits with the pledge that she'd be eating your soul in a few seconds. Like the sharp tip of a dagger.

She nudged me as the breeze brushed her rich, jet black waves into her brown, honey skin that was natural to her southern heritage. "Why are you being such a loser all by yourself?"

"I wasn't being a loser," I argued.

Sarinne clicked her tongue. "Except you were."

I chuckled. "I don't know," I lifted a weak shoulder. "As always, today's just hard."

Sarinne didn't need to be told twice. Her silence was enough. The smell of winter wafted through the air and I welcomed the distraction dearly. My gaze raked over the quiet meadows and I inhaled the freshness of the evening.

Rinne knew what had happened all of those years ago—she hadn't exactly lived under a rock. And usually she would comfort me, tell me how grateful she was for me and then we'd drink Sparks before passing out in bed.

I was sure this time wasn't any different. And somehow, I loved it.

"Need I remind you how much I absolutely and completely adore you, Scarlett Solaris?"