Queen of the Moon

Intro

It was the start of winter in the Moon Palace. We were a small kingdom in the Moon kingdom, each bit of land separated by moon cycles. And I was Princess Sasha Maxima Moon, the only daughter of the King, the mighty Artemis, sister to Jacob Halfmoon, and Aiden Crescent Moon, betrothed to the Lord of Blackmoon, Andrew. My father trained me both to be a lady and a warrior. I could both play the piano, paint and sew and artfully use a bow and arrow. Not that I needed to fight, every queen and princess has a champion to fight for them. And mine was a 6-foot-tall half orc named Samuel that fought in the kingsguard. I was allowed to choose my champion when I was 11 years old and of course I chose the biggest one and he comes with me every time I leave the palace as my bodyguard.

Lord Andrew, I'd known since I was a child, played with him here and there every holiday when all of the noble families came to court for festivals. When we were small we didn't really spend too much time together, he was Jacob's friend, then around 12, I was bucked off my horse while we were all playing and Andrew carried me on his back all the way home in the cold and saved my life. I always felt I owed him some sort of debt so I developed an interest in him. 

An interest that turned to love. And now, we were to be married. To prove himself, a noble mate, he is now leading my father's army in the highlands against the Trolls who've been ravaging the Gibbous Moonlands. He's been gone for half a year, soon to return for marriage. Our letters are our only communication. I live for each word, and sometimes they take weeks to come. And I feel like we've become closer during the separation with our love letters and more in love than in our past few years together. I've been fervently awaiting his return, he's been saying for weeks now he was on his way but kept getting delayed. And no word from him for at least 3 weeks so I was worried.

I woke up on the first day of Snow Moon, with Tuck the wood sprite lightly tapping my face. Every child had a fairy but I was nearly a woman grown and Tuck still stuck around. All of my family hates him, especially Andrew as Tuck causes havoc in Andrew's home anytime Andrew angers me. He's broken windows, started miscellaneous fires, and tossed teacups at frightened servants. And always greets Andrew with a raspberry. He's expressly asked me to be rid of Tuck several times, even tried to banish the faery himself. But with failure which has increased their rivalry even more. Tuck is hard to control and even harder to be rid of, I've accepted his presence in my life.

"What?" I groan, seeing his tiny blue light flickering over me.

"I came to tell you about my dream," he said.

It was very early; I could tell by the small golden rays creeping through the window and the dim blue sky poking out from the lace curtains. With a heavy sigh, I pulled myself up, feeling warm and safe as usual in my purple satin sheets and wolfskin blankets. My bed was round, with a canopy surrounding it half drawn. Persian rugs over the stone floors, grand portraits of flowers and dragons over the walls, and a great fireplace.

I had a series of tables against the far wall, one with a vanity mirror, makeup, perfume and exotic oils, the other was covered in books and the third had half finished needlework projects and paintings with my fathers sword across it in the center. Greyson, my pet snow leopard, who also dislikes Tuck, perked his head up when I sat up, then seeing Tuck, flared his fangs at him.

I'd remembered only then that I was supposed to be up early for the arrival of the Darkseas, a royal family that lived in a land eternally dark off the cliff of an ocean. Their kingdom, a friend to our family for generations. Though I'd never met them before, we were having them for dinner and a tourney to show off the valor of our best knights, though Andrew had taken most of them with him to Gibbous Moon. So I threw myself out of bed at that moment.

"Rachel!" I screamed. Rachel was my lady in waiting, I had 3. Normally young girls from noble families who help out the royal family, in exchange for their faces and names to be known among the royals. It was how they often married princes and lords and whatnot from other kingdoms, just by being a helping hand here. Rachel was 13, brown skinned and freckled, and the clumsiest person I'd ever known, and a loud snorer. She slept halfway off the bed upside down in the room next to mine, her snores echoing throughout the room.