The Royal Journey

Chapter 2

The last thing I remember was falling asleep in the courtyard while watching the stars. I remember feeling the cool air hit my exposed skin. I remember hearing the beautiful sounds of crickets and knowing fireflies were lighting the dark around me.

So why is it I'm in a bed.

When I got up I noticed my clothes were changed and my hair was taken out of my bun. "Father."

Father would always put me back in bed and have the maids ready me for bed. For once I would like to wake up where I decided to sleep.

A knock on my door snapped me away from my train of thought. "Zaria?"

Only one person ever called me by my name and my name only. "Reya?"

I jumped out of bed and threw my silk robe around me. Swinging open the door I was faced with a childhood friend. "Omg." She covered her mouth and ran at me.

We embraced each other in a huge hug. "Reya where have you been?" When I was little my bestfriend was Reya. She was from another kingdom but always visited ours. Unfortunately she wasn't royalty. Just a child of a soldier. That fact didn't stop me from making her my bestfriend.

"Well after the war broke out I had to train to hold my own ground." Reya was a real fighter. She was always rough when we played together, almost like a boy.

"Well then shall we have a welcoming spar?" I pulled her into my room so I could change into some appropriate clothing.

We sat and talked and caught up on life while I changed. It didn't take me long to get together, so we went down to the training room.

"So let's see how good little miss royalty has got."

I took the first swing. All one could hear was the collision between two beautifully crafted metal.

As we fought for dominance our swords flew out our hands.

Now we was faced with hand to hand combat, which I was very skilled in. Sometimes.

She kicked high to my left. I blocked her kick, but I grabbed it swung around and threw her to the ground. I put my hand on the base of her neck.

"That's how good I got"

She chucked and I let her up.

"It's good you got good princess, but wait until you turn 18"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you'll have a man to take care of you, you won't need to fight."

"I don't want to get married Reya."

She put our swords up and shook her head. "I know how it feels to be forced to do something, but this isn't bad Zaria, you don't have to love him."

I walked up to Reya and looked her in her eyes. I felt like she was just like everyone else in that moment.

"I want to love who I marry and that's final."

Walking away I could feel her eyes watching me walk to wherever I was going. The first place that popped into my mind was the kitchen.

Walking threw the marble halls with the glass ceilings and white pillars made me even madder. This life I was living wasn't my ideal life. I like simplicity, and a down-low living.

As I approached the kitchen all the maids and butlers were setting up for our formal meeting. Unfortunately.

"Princess.....you....smell." The maid looked at me confused as she eyed my particular clothing.