Happily Ever After?

Chapter 1: Dragon's Gift

Eight years had gone by faster than Princess Aubrey had expected. She woke up bright and early one morning expecting everything to be the same as usual. She was 16 years old soon to be 17 and had grown up to be a beautiful fair maiden. She had long, straight, copper brown hair with eyes as blue as the sky and a smile that would warm her people's hearts. She got out of bed wearing her blue, silky gown. She went over to a bowl with warm water in it and a wet rag. She ringed most of the water out of the rag then washed her face and hands. She got into her morning gown which was also blue and simple; she didn't like to wear anything to fancy unlike her older sister Scarlet who wore everything fancy. She walked up to her window which shown the perfect view of her small yet perfect kingdom. It wasn't exactly perfect for it was missing a Queen, a princess, and a prince or princess. Aubrey wished she at least knew what her new sibling was going to be; she was forbidden to talk about them to her father or really anyone, but Scarlet was always there when she needed her. Aubrey looked beyond her kingdom to see the Dark Forest; she use to go in there all the time until her father forbade it. She looked back down at the kingdom below her and notice someone out of the ordinary, a boy with curly brown hair and dark chocolate eyes. She was curious to know what the boy was doing there for he didn't live in her kingdom. She ran out of her room and down the steep steps and exited the castle.

Princess Aubrey searched for the curly haired, dark chocolate eyes, boy. She found him behind a stand that was selling fruits and it looked like he was eyeing the apples. Near by was the baker, John Barcaroli or Mr. Barcaroli, carrying a bag full of flour. He tripped over a rotten apple and the flour went flying everywhere. With all the flour in the air, it tickled the tip of Aubrey's nose and made her sneeze but she wasn't the only one who sneezed. The boy that she was so curious to know about had gotten some flour on him as well; he tried to hold in his sneeze but he couldn't. He had sneeze but that wasn't the only thing that came out, fire had come out which made Aubrey realize that he wasn't just a boy but a dragon as well. The fruit stand was in flames burning to a crisp and everyone was in panic. The boy ran off trying to escape the kingdom but the guards were too fast for him, they caught him. Aubrey tried to put down the fire but there was just too much; smoke was filling the air and it was getting hard to breathe. The rest of the guards that didn't go after the boy helped put out the fire. The citizens cheered and while they did so, King Charles came out. "What is the meaning of this? Who started the fire?" he questioned in rage. One of the guards came up to him and said, "Your majesty, this young fellow has a mighty gift, the gift of the dragon." The King's eyes widened and looked at the boy who tried to avoid eye contact. He sent the guards and the boy into the throne room while Aubrey followed.

"Tell me exactly, what were you doing in my kingdom?!" The King roared at the boy. Princess Aubrey had been hiding behind one of the throne room's pillars. Aubrey couldn't take it anymore; she could see that the poor boy was terrified for he never meant to set the whole stand in flames. She came out of hiding and ran up next to the boy, "Father! Please, this boy never meant to do any harm. All he did was sneeze! If it wasn't for Mr. Barcaroli..."
"Enough! Aubrey, go to your room, this dragon will be sent to the dungeon for what he's done. His punishment will be decided later."
Th boy's eyes grew at those words, he did not want to be locked up. He turned to look at Aubrey who was about to bawl out. He transformed his hand into a dragon's claw and scratched her arm. She screamed out in pain and all the guards turned to her to see what was wrong; while the guards were distracted, the boy ran to the window and jumped transforming into a dragon before he could reach the ground. King Charles got off of his throne furious with his daughter, "Why did you come in here? If it wasn't for you, we would still have the dragon boy!"
"I'm sorry, father, but I saw what happened. He got flour on his nose just like me because Mr. Barcaroli spilled the flour. We both sneezed and his so happened to spit fire out..."
"Aubrey, I know you want to believe that everyone is innocent but you have to learn that there are some terrible people in this world. Please, just go to your room, I'll send the guards to find him."
Princess Aubrey was in tears running out of the throne room to her room. King Charles sat back down on his throne and sent the guards after the dragon boy. The King sighed, it was not easy ruling a kingdom and taking care of his own kids, especially with no Queen to help. He had thought about re-marrying but he didn't want to give his own daughters a step-mother, he wanted them to have their own mother. King Charles looked down at his neck which had a Ruby necklace around it; it was a gift he had given his Queen but she wanted him to protect it while she went to the Kingdom of Ocelia. He wished that they had never gone to help that kingdom, that the letter was never sent to them in the first place.