The Invisible Princess of Everglen

Prologue: The Invisible Princess

To young Biana Vacker, the greatest mystery in the universe was... why didn't she get more attention?

She dressed in sparkly gowns and put her pretty brown hair up in magnificent hairdos.  All who looked on her knew she was beautiful.  Including her.  Biana knew she was like royalty, and she definitely knew that she was extremely good-looking.  (Humility was not young Biana's strong trait.)

But all of the attention and fame went to her elders.  Her Emissary father, her famously gorgeous mother, her striking brother Alvar, and the Golden Boy.  Fitz.  Biana sometimes wished she could punch that perfect little face of his.  But then, of course, the bruise she would leave would only grant Fitz even more attention.

All that young Biana desired was to live in the spotlight.  That thirst for recognition only grew with her.  Biana simply learned how to hide it, to pretend that all was fine and she most certainly didn't turn green with envy whenever Fitz got attention and she didn't.

One night in particular, Biana felt more jealous than she ever had in her life.  It was the night that Fitz, the Golden Boy, had manifested as a Telepath at an "extraordinarily young age."  That was what Daddy told Biana when she asked, which only put her in a terrible mood.  Fitz, she thought enviously, her fingers curling into fists as she stormed into her room.  He gets everything and he doesn't even have to try.

It only grew worse when Fitz's nexus came off at yet again an extraordinarily young age.  Biana didn't deny that she stuck her tongue out at her brother multiple times that day.  Fitzroy Avery Vacker was the only thing anyone talked about for days afterward.  The Golden Boy.  Prince Perfect.  "Our star," Della had called him once during dinner.  Nobody disagreed, though Biana would have liked to.

"I'm a Vacker," she told herself once.  "I'm the daughter of kings and queens.  It's my legacy to shine."  But it never felt like Biana was anything more than the ignored sister of Prince Perfect, and the unnoticed daughter of King Alden and Queen Della.

So Biana lived for years as the invisible princess of Everglen.