downfall

Chapter One: Comatose

Quinn awoke to an assault of sunlight and being promptly tossed out of bed. Her mother gave the tanned girl a strained smile. The small woman then frowned. This woman was only the queen. "Must you sleep in so late?" The Queen inquired the sixteen year old princess. "Must you throw me out of bed?" Quinn snapped in response.

The queen glared down at the girl who was picking herself off of the floor, her temple throbbing. Quinn rubbed her forehead, and then her eyes. Then she pushed caramel colored strands of hair from her face and over her shoulder. "Get ready, Quinn. Either be a musician or who you truly are, the third princess of this kingdom. Either way, you are attending the coronation."

Alert, azure irises clashed with deep, cool, and sleepy cerulean ones. Then the tanned princess stood, towering over her mother. "I'm not wearing those stupid veils or gloves. Father never made me wear them," Quinn said. Her mother frowned. "Fine, be a musician then," she said, almost cruelly. Quinn snorted. "I'm dressing like the princess I am. I'm not wearing that stupid amount of fabric. Unless you want me to die of a heat stroke."

The queen finally consented when Quinn said she'd wear long gloves and a hood. Then she was told to get ready and meet them for the ceremony. Quinn brushed her teeth and stepped into the shower, letting hot beads of water roll down her thin and willowy form. She sighed blissfully, knowing this would be the sole bit of peace she got before she left her room.

"QUINN!"

The sixteen year old recognized that shriek from anywhere. It was the second child of the queen, Thalia. Her older sister. Sighing, the youngest child shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself in a towel. The blonde child scowled at the sight of her sister. Thalia was the perfect princess in their mother's eyes. Fair skin that was unfreckled(still quite unlike Quinn's tan, freckled skin), golden haired with jade irises. Quinn hated comparing body types when it came to her and Thalia.

"You need to hurry. You've already missed breakfast and the coronation is in an hour. Get moving," her sister ordered. Quinn bit back a habitual retort. She nodded numbly. Her sister's cold, icy stare softened. Although Thalia was often hugely sarcastic and entirely obsessed with looks, and quite shallow overall, there were moments of kindness.

"Mom getting on you because of your skin again?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry. Dad's death is really stressing her out, that's all."

"Not the coronation?"

"That too."

Quinn laughed. Charles was cold and calculating, but seemed kind and innocent to those who didn't truly know him. Thalia was shallow, but a good person at heart, and Quinn... was nothing compared to the pair. She was unimportant. And yet, her mother always seemed frantic to keep her skin, eyes and hair covered.

Thalia helped Quinn into her dress of choice, a violet thing that reached mid thigh in the front and fanned out in back, past her ankles. It covered her neck and had a hood attached. Then she got into a pair of white leggings and lilac boots. Her hood itself was white, as were her lace gloves. Her shoulders were exposed, revealing tanned skin, dotted with freckled like dim stars at night. Thalia clapped and squealed in excitement as she did her sister's hair and makeup.

"You're so pretty!" Thalia squeaked.

"Mom is going to kill us," Quinn laughed in response.

Thalia only shrugged and patted her sister's shoulder. "Well, after today, hopefully you'll have some suitors finally lined up," her sister laughed, waggling her eyebrows. Quinn rolled her eyes. "Please," she snorted.

All of this seemed so... so normal. It all seemed so wrong. To Quinn, this situation had seemed forbidden in the mere days since her father had passed. She wanted to cling to the sad and bitter feelings, but knew it was no time to mourn. Her brother was being crowned king.

Too much was happening at once. Thalia was kind enough to give the sixteen year old her space. Thalia decided to play her cello, a song her father particularly loved. She didn't even need to think of the notes, she just played it from memory.

"Your highness! I'm coming in," came an unfamiliar voice. "Don't!" The princess responded, doing her best to flick her hood onto her head. She didn't make it. A beautiful male, with wonderfully smooth looking skin peered at the tanned girl with blue eyes and caramel colored hair. He had wonderfully brown eyes, and seemed Asian from the looks of things. One of her father's advisors had a son her she, and was Asian in lineage.

Quinn did the first thing that came to reflexes. She pinned him to the wall by his throat and revealed a dagger hidden in the folds of her skirt. Her cerulean eyes narrowed and her face hardened. "Don't you dare reveal you've seen me unveiled and without being covered from head to toe before the coronation. Ever," she growled.

The boy nodded slowly, fearfully. She unpinned him from the wall and sheathed the dagger. The boy was surprised. "Where did you get that, your highness?" He she'd curiously. "'Twas a gift. What did you need?" The girl asked this without hesitation.

"My name is Kian. My father sent me to tell you you aught to leave the castle, in a hurry," the boy said coolly, now that the dagger was away. Quinn narrowed her eyes once more. "I recommend you leave my quarters," she replied in a low, angry tone.

Thankfully, the boy left. Truthfully, she'd thought of running away several times before, but couldn't for the sake of her father. But her father was no longer present, not physically anyways. She was still hesitant about it. What about Thalia, her mother? Quinn knew Charles cared as much about her as one stranger to another.

The girl packed a bag, filling it mainly with camping supplies and practical clothing. Just in case. She stuffed a book with information on edible plants and herbal medicine in her bag. Quinn wasn't stupid. Looking longingly at her cello, she put it in its bag as well, feeling it to painful an item to leave behind. If she even did leave.

"Your Highness! The coronation is happening soon," came the voice of one of her mother's attendants.