Catching Fireflies

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a small chain of islands hidden within the Pacific Ocean. Almoena was the largest island and it was filled with unbearable darkness despite its alluring beauty. Ruled by the greedy Emanuel Donafrio who'd slaughtered his own family to gain such power, Almoena and its people were forced into slavery, poverty, and cruelty the world had never before seen. Young boys grew up in camps, trained to be ruthless killers, and girls were often sold to Almoena's neighboring island, Ruman, where a black market traded them as slaves. Parents grew helpless and all hope was lost throughout the land. What once had been an island full of life and beauty was now a diseased graveyard many feared and all despised.

One day, twelve years after Emanuel Donafrio first sieged control, a young man of only eighteen years challenged the tyrant. Donafrio sent his best men after the boy, expecting them to return to the palace by nightfall where they would celebrate yet another victory.Though they did indeed make it back to the palace doors just before the mood made its appearance, none had been left alive. Unbeknownst to Emanuel, the boy had been putting together his own army of men; men whose vulnerabilities had been replaced by resentment; men whose hope took precedence over fear; and above all else, men who wanted revenge for the death and despair caused by Emanuel and his savage followers.

After the last of Emanuel's men had been run off the island, the people of Almoena crowned the boy, Dimitrius Alexander Aurelius, their king. That day, Dimitrius vowed that his people would no longer live under constant fear. They would lead lives of happiness and prosperity. The women who had been sold would return to their families, the boys trained to kill would be schooled in the honorable ways of true knights, and the island would be restored to its former beauty. He promised that Almoena would enter a new era, one where the people ruled the lands every bit as much as he did, and where no man, woman, or child would ever feel lesser than the next.

It was on the tenth night of his reign as king that Dimitrius and a group of men from the village found Emanuel Donafrio's personal slaves he kept hidden away in a cavern deep within the eastern cliff sides. Each girl was taken to the palace where she was given the care she needed. The next day, all but one woman had been reunited with her family. The last was named Daniella Elizabeth Donafrio. Unwanted by her father, she'd been raised by a maid until her twelfth birthday when her father used her as a trophy to pass between his men for good behavior. Daniella had been abused in more ways than any of the other woman, and yet she continued to hope for a better tomorrow.

It took one glance for the young king to fall madly in love with her. He saw how her bright blue eyes gave way to her emotions, yet her face remained as stony as the walls of his palace. Her long brown hair was knotted from the years without care and her skin was a ghostly pale color. She stood a foot shorter than he, but her defiant stance made up for the physical size she lacked.

With no family to return to, Dimitrius invited Daniella to make his castle her home. She would want for nothing, he promised. Refusing to be kept in her father's home, Daniella fled that night. She made it all the way to the western shores before Dimitrius caught up to her, demanding to know why she would leave when he could provide for her a life of happiness. Unbeknownst to him, she too had fallen in love. But with sad eyes, Daniella refused his offer once again. She didn't understand why he would want her after every horrible thing her father had done. She couldn't bare to rule by his side when her name instilled hate into every mind on the island.

Determined to make her understand his affections, and to prove that it was her father and not her that the Almoenians despised, he arranged for a ball in Daniella's honor in which the entire island was invited to attend. Much to her surprise, everyone invited showed and offered her their apologies for the way she too had been treated. Daniella was able to see just how beautiful Almoena really was, and after two years of continuously proving to her that his people loved her as much as he did, the two were married. Dimitrius spent his years cherishing his wife and ruling over the Almoenian people as justly as he'd promised.

On the twenty-sixth day of March, just three years after their marriage, the king and queen's first son, Xavier Raphael Aurelius, was born. With deep brown eyes like his father and a thick mop of brown hair that resembled his mother's, Xavier grew to be a handsome young prince. Three more years later, the scorching summer brought them an intelligent second son, James Harold Aurelius. Another two years came and went, leaving the Aurelius clan with Elliot William and Nicolai Gabriel, mischievous twins who had a knack for causing trouble around the palace. Queen Daniella, happily surrounded by her boys, desperately wished that her next child, and the last, would be a girl. As it was, a year later Princess Ariadna Evangeline Sophia Aurelius was born. Instantly, King Dimitrius was wrapped around her little pink fingers. With big blue eyes and a bright smile, Ariadna captured the hearts of every living creature who laid eyes on her.
 Twenty-nine years of peace allowed Almoena and its people to blossom into the kingdom Dimitrius always knew it could be. Boys who wished to join the army of their own free will were educated on the island of Kozata and turned into noble knights. Women were given equal opportunities to pursue whatever careers they wished. Almoena's dark past was soon forgotten, and to the people it became a scary story told around camp fires rather than something that had truly happened. Although Emanuel Donafrio still lived, he no longer had control over the people of Almoena, and Dimitrius spent every day ensuring that he never would.

As she grew up, Ariadna fell in love with love. She'd heard her parent's story so often that she could recite it by heart, but she never tired of being reminded how they fell in love. It inspired her and made her hope that one day she too would find that same type of love. As she neared her eighteenth birthday, she began to grow wary and feared that she wouldn't find it on Almoena.