Finding A Prince

Chapter 1

"Good afternoon, Aunt Philippa," Princess Kiera greeted, curtseying gracefully. Her tiara rested gently on her beautiful brown hair and she could see the desire in her aunt's eyes to have that tiara for herself.

"Good afternoon, my dear niece," her aunt said, striding over to her to give her a forceful hug.

"How do you do?" Kiera asked, trying to regain her breath from the tight hug she received. As much as she despised her aunt, she needed to exchange pleasantries. After all, to the rest of Atlantis, the royal family had to be perfect and its members had to always love and take care of each other.

If the servants did not hear them exchange pleasantries every morning, they would spread rumors about a possible turmoil within the royal family and the entire kingdom would go into chaos. It had happened before, a long time ago, and there was no doubt that it could happen again.

"I'm fine, beautiful niece. What about you?" Her aunt replied, even though the greed in her eyes told Kiera that she'd rather gouge her eyes out than sit through the pleasantries.

"Perfect," Kiera said, before a wicked smile came over her face. "I can't wait to become Queen. Mother's death must have surely hit the kingdom hard. If only these six months went by quickly enough before I could become Queen. I am sure Mother would be really proud of me by the way I would rule this kingdom."

A scowl formed on her aunt's face and Kiera smiled in victory. Every time she mentioned becoming Queen of Atlantis, her aunt would get annoyed and frustrated. After all, she didn't want the throne that was rightfully hers to be passed down to her niece.

Aunt Philippa was the eldest child of her family. She was smart and beautiful, the perfect combination that the people of Atlantis wanted to see in their Queen. However, she was not ready for the huge responsibility of becoming queen.

She wanted to live life at her own pace and she did not want the burden of an entire kingdom to rest on her shoulders at the young age of nineteen. Few days before she was going to be crowned, she backed out. Since it was too late to cancel the ceremony, Kiera's mother, who was the next in line, got crowned.

The kingdom was speculative whether a sixteen year old girl could continue to rule them and lead them to prosperity like the previous Kings and Queens. However, Kiera's mother, Queen Vanesca, was the best Queen the kingdom could ask for.

She was the most compassionate yet intelligent ruler the kingdom had ever seen. Granted, she was not as beautiful as her elder sister, yet she still captured the hearts of even the most toughest warriors in Atlantis.

After a few years, Philippa returned, realising that despite the responsibility of the kingdom, the power that came with it was more appealing. She wanted Queen Vanesca to step down and let her, the rightful heir, to take up the throne instead.

Vanesca realised that her sister wanted the throne in greed of power and not because she loved the kingdom. She came up with plans to delay her sister from trying to take over the throne.

When she gave birth to Kiera, the Council Of Atlantis, that was once agreeing with allowing Philippa to take up the throne, refused to do so anymore. They accepted Kiera to be the next heir to the throne and if anything were to occur to Kiera or Vanesca, only then, the throne would be handed over to Philippa.

Throughout the eighteen years of her life, Kiera and her mother were subjected to quite a number of attempts to end their life. It was not difficult to guess who was behind this but since there were no evidences of Philippa being involved, Kiera and her mother could do nothing about it.

Six months ago, though, Aunt Philippa had gone out of Atlantis for a trip. When she came back, she seemed extremely cheerful and no longer made snide remarks about being the rightful heir. Kiera's mother thought that her aunt had finally given up and became extremely close to her, like how they used to be when they were younger.

Little did she know, that Philippa had brought back a poison that had been proved to kill within a day of ingestion. Few days after she came back, she sneaked into the kitchen and dumped the poison in Vanesca's food. Oblivious to danger in her meal, Queen Vanesca sat down on the dining table for the last time and had a good time with her family.

By the next day, she was dead.

It had always puzzled Kiera why she was not killed that night. Maybe it was because her aunt felt guilty and could not take the burden of two deaths on herself. Maybe her aunt wanted to kill Kiera in another, more painful, method. Or maybe, it was fate, that had kept her alive so that she could avenge her mother's death.

Whatever it was though, Kiera was happy that she was not dead yet, because the only day she would be truly ready to die, was the day when she had killed her Aunt Philippa.

How did you like it? I know not much happened in this chapter but it was meant to give you a bit of a background to this story.

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