Crumbling Crown

Prologue

    Alys knew everyone thought she was insane. She wasn't stupid. Apparently her father, the King of Xalia, agreed with them, so he sent her off to school when she turned twelve. Imagine what a spectacular gift that was. It was a boarding school for troubled kids, but that barely served as an adequate description.

    She didn't care what the world thought, but she did care what her father thought. Knowing that he didn't trust her was the worst part of him sending her hundreds of miles away. The school was located down south in the Kingdom of Travellis. It was blisteringly hot and the temperature never reached anything below lukewarm. Even during the middle of winter.

    Her father said that it was for her own good and that she needed professional help, but she knew the true reason behind her disappearance. She caused unwanted publicity. Anyone and everyone knew about Princess Alysiana of Xalia, the insane twelve-year-old who talked to animals and invisible people. It wasn't her fault that no one understood.

    She'd been gone for nearly six years at school, only visiting for the religious winter holiday. Sometimes she couldn't even visit then, for Xalia would commonly be blocked off by snow due to its altitude high up in the North-East mountains. But that was fine, she supposed. If he wanted to see her often, then her father would have sent her to a closer school. Or not sent her away at all.

    Now that she was nearly eighteen, her father had sent for her to come back home.

    Hopefully, she was more mature.

    Hopefully, she had grown into a proper young woman.

    Hopefully, she didn't talk to walls anymore.

    She didn't count how many times her father had written hopefully in his letter.

    But she did know that nothing had changed. She was still just as crazy as her twelve-year-old self. And she was going to release hell once she returned.

    Hopefully, indeed.