Cinderbraid

The great oak double doors creaked and were thrown open upon the arrival of her highness, the royal princess of Esthéere, Iva Esther Melanie Sanders.

Or more fondly referred to as Iva. Iva Cinderbraid.

With her wide, liquid green eyes, high aristocratic nose and dark ginger hair that caressed the waistline of her gown, she was considered to be one of the most beautiful maidens in the kingdom. Her hair resembled the colour of cinders, thus the name-Cinderbraid.

Iva sprinted through the wide corridors, her wide lavender skirts sweeping the floor. Clutching the satiny fabric in a delicate fist, she ran, her dainty feet determined.

Throwing a panicked look behind, which sent her exaggeratedly styled hair into a wild disarray, she yelled at the guards as loudly as her overworked lungs allowed.

"You shall not dare to block my path," she warned, her voice authoritative. "Move out of my way for this is a matter of life and death."

The gaurds, overwhelmed by the sudden change in the princess' temperament, silently exchanged looks amongst themselves-ones that Iva realized she needn't be wary of-and obediently moved out of the princess' path.

What was happening inside the palace was no secret for the four gatekeepers. Even if the happenings of the royal palace were kept a secret from the subjects, the gaurds, the court ladies, the soldiers and the ministers-the so called 'ears and eyes' of the palace, knew everything.

It was a pity that the beautiful princess who was an epitome of flourishing youth was being offered as a sacrifice to Catalass.

The gaurds, a few nameless protectors of the palace gates had known the princess-Iva since she had been an infant. It broke their hearts to see the delicate young woman run for her life to protect herself from the evil schemings of the Prime Minister of the State. The King was long dead and the queen, a mere pawn in the dirty game of politics being played in the palace.

Catalass was a huge kingdom adjoining Esthéere, ruled by the Lass, a wrinkly old queen who had everything except the one thing she most desired.

Beauty.

Every six months, a sacrificial maiden was sent to Catalass so that their queen could replenish her fading youth for her rapidly diminishing beauty was a source of great concern to her. The queen Lass was anything but a lass.

Lass had promised her aid to the Prime Minister to help him usurp the throne and it was also a way to remove the only obstacle in his path-the princess.

The deal was simple. Give Iva Sanders. Take the Esthéerean throne.

But Iva wasn't exactly going to let the evil Prime Minister have his way. He could very well have the throne. She didn't care about the throne. She knew enough about it to know that the throne was the cause of the downfall of anyone who sat on it and she did not want any part it, but she was concerned about the people of Esthéere who had trusted their lives with their princess in beliefs that the secret power that had ran through generations of the royal family, would one day make its appearance in Iva.

But Iva, despite being the fiercely independent woman that she was, had trusted her life with someone else.

Arvin. The prince of Vestonia and a decorated warrior who had won over several kingdoms and...Iva's heart.

She had met him three summers ago while she had been practising archery in the palace grounds. He had been visiting on orders from the king of Vestonia and what a sight he had been.

Standing in the palace balcony that overlooked the grounds, wearing his dark blue service uniform as the impudent wind ruffled his long honey blonde tresses, his piercing grey eyes had looked at her and she had found herself quivering, struggling to hold the bow straight.