The Dragon Prince

Prologue

Iron City, Sarkin

The morning sun has just begun to show across the horizon when Marina awoke from her sleep, and her wonderful dreams were now at an end. Felix had promised the night before that he would come and wake her, and they will go for a morning picnic to celebrate his birthday. She jumps out of bed and runs to find the perfect dress. Green. It has to be green. Green is his favorite color, as it is hers. She finds it. Leafy green, embroidered with yellow and black thread. Marina isn't like the other royals she knows because she refuses to let anyone else dress her. She can do it herself. She can bathe herself and feed herself, so why can't she dress herself? She quickly puts the dress on and calls for a single maid to assist in doing her hair. It is the one thing Marina actually hates doing. Her long brown hair is a hassle and she debates on cutting it off.

As she stares in the mirror, and the maid begins pulling her hair back into a style, she doesn't much care what it looks like, her mind begins to wonder. Felix. Her Felix. Strong, kind, daring Felix. The Heir Prince of Sarkin is all hers. She had been doubtful for the time they were together if he would actually end up marrying her in the end, but last night he told her something she would never forget. Two years since they had met, two long, wonderful years, and it took him this long to tell her how he really felt. It was last night that Felix shyly said the three words she had longed to hear. "I love you." He had said. She had been so captured and stunned when he said it, that she forgot to say it back. But she wouldn't forget today. No. This is going to be her present to him.

Marina runs out of her chambers, down the long corridor. She is halfway down the steps when she passes little Josie going the same direction, only much slower. It is enough to cause her to halt, and turn back. She looks at her future sister-in-law and her heart goes out the little girl. The sweet and innocent little girl, whose smile can light up the entire kingdom, is gone and it is because of her best friend William who just a few months after Josie's bonding ceremony, had been left an orphan, and was taken to an orphanage who couldn't afford him. Young William had been sold within hours of being there and all of this happened before Josie even knew it. She begged her father to find him, and even though the King of Sarkin sent out a search party to find the boy, he was nowhere to be found at the time. When word finally reached them that the boy had been taken to the Valiant City, it was too late. The letter arrived two weeks ago, and it contained the list of names of soldiers and recruits who had lost their lives when a band of thieves attacked the training facility. Sadly, Josie's best friend's name was on the list.

"Still can't sleep?" Marina asks Josie, who shakes her head without speaking. "Come here, little one." She says to the child, and sits on the steps as the girl sits down beside her. "It may not seem like it now, and it may not be today, or tomorrow, or even years from now but one day there will be someone who pulls you out of your sadness. He will be there to catch you when you fall, Josie. I promise you that." Princess Jocelyne Andry looks up at Princess Marina Fairmore, with sadness and hope. "Someone like Felix." I smiles to her. "He is always there for you, is he not?" The girl nods. "You can't lose your happiness, Josie. I won't let you. You will find it, and I will help you. I promise."

"I miss William." Josie sniffs.

"I know you do. We all miss him. But he wouldn't want you to be sad." Marina says softly to the girl. "Everything happens for a reason, little one. Sometimes you need to be sad, to appreciate the good. I am not saying to forget William Owin. I am saying not to look back on his memory with sadness. Find the happy memories. Like when we all went to the lake and William slipped and fell into the water, and when you tried to help him up, he pulled you in as well. Find those memories. Promise me you will at least try."