The Royal Demon

Chapter One

 The grass felt amazing under my feet. I wiggled my toes and breathed out a sigh of relief. This was the life. The sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky. I leaned back and laid down, closing my eyes.

I felt a shadow cross over my face.

Ugh.

I was never alone for too long.

"Yes?" I said, without opening my eyes, hoping whoever it was would go away quicker.

"Your majesty, your father wants you inside soon."

"What? I just got outside? He said I could have thirty minutes today." I sat up, angry now.

"I'm sorry, Your majesty." The guard gave me a pitying shrug.

"Kevin, how many times have I told you to stop calling me that." I gave him my hand so he could help me up.

"Of course, I'm sorry Your Majesty." He smiled at me.

Kevin has been my guard since for as long as I can remember. He was more like my father than, well, my actual father. He took my hand and hoisted me up.

"One day you'll slip up, and it will be the happiest day of my life." He laughed and led me inside.

Once inside I tried to turn right, towards the backstairs that would lead me unseen up to my room, but Kevin lightly grabbed my arm.

"He wants to see you." I groaned, letting Kevin practically drag me to the throne room.

"Kevin, can you just pretend I punched you really hard and I escaped?" I begged, dragging my feet.

"I don't think anyone would actually believe that." I glared at him.

We reached the huge double doors, and we waited patiently to be summoned. Yup, summoned. I'm the princess of this damn town and I still can't just walk into whatever room I want.

After about 10 minutes, the doors opened. The throne room was probably the worst place in the entire castle. It was a long room with huge stain glass windows along the walls. Splitting the room down the center was an aisle lined with a dark plum colored carpet, the royal color. Along the sides were chairs lined up in neat, pretty, little rows. At the far end of the room sat two large thrones that were intricately carved from marble. And sitting atop the biggest one was my dad.

He waved his hand towards us. I rolled my eyes.

"Nora." He said once we got closer.

"Dad."

"It seems that Kevin found you wandering the grounds today."

"I wasn't 'wandering'. I was laying in the grass about 2 inches away from the door." I said, crossing my arms.

"Sweetheart, we've talked about this. You can't stay outside for too long."

"Right, because me laying in the grass will really inspire our enemies." His jaw tensed, and I knew I had gone too far.

"Young lady, you know the rules. You obey what I say. Out there? It isn't safe for you. Our enemies will hurt you, and not think twice about it. You are so important to me, don't you understand that?"

I think I've heard this same speech about three times a day since I could open doors on my own.

"Yes, dad. I'm sorry." I replied, giving him my best down-casted-im-the-worst-daughter-ever look: big puppy dog eyes and a lip quiver. His gaze softened, and he gave me a small smile.

"Maybe you and Kevin can go walk around the garden tomorrow okay?" He suggested. I nodded, looking down. I turned to head out of the room.

"I love you, Nora." He called after me. I knew he did, which made everything worse.

"Love you too, dad." I said, not turning around. I quickly made my way from the room and up the front stairs. Kevin followed me until I reached my bedroom doors. I gave him a quick smile and slipped inside.

I leaned against the door and sighed.

"Well, aren't you a cute one?"

My head snapped up. 

Sitting on my bed was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

 Her skin was pale, it was practically white. She had long, straight black hair, sharp cheekbones and jawline I would kill someone for. She was smiling at me with perfect teeth, and of course she had dimples. But I gasped when I saw her eyes.

They were completely black.

"Uh, who are you?" I stuttered, still gaping at her like a total idiot.

"Hi, I'm Laura, the demon who was summoned to kill you."