Forbidden Royal

Chapter One

        Stella sighed as she stared up in the sky, flowers surrounding her face as she laid motionless on the meadow. She admired the fluffy white clouds, listening to the birds chirp and watched them chase each other. Her wavy (tangled) black hair was sprawled all over the ground, multiple strands in her face, circling her eyes, and her red lips. The bottom of her voile white dress was covered with grass stains, and the only reason the top wasn't is because she was wearing a rough brown cape scarf.

        Beside her body was a book and on top of that book was her crown. Now you must be wondering, if she has a crown, she must be royalty, right? Well you guessed correctly.

        Stella Eltis-Lazea was the ruling queen of Kegella, a small country in Alira. She married the king, Tasos Eltis, the second she turned 18, and has been ruling the kingdom ever since. Tasos was not a cruel leader, he was very fair and loved his kingdom (even though they hated him), he was just very, very idiotic. He'd often make mistakes regarding politics and economics, that's why the kingdom turned to Stella for assistance, and not Tasos. He was often referred to as the Child King, due to his kid-like manner and way of running things.

        However, Stella did not want to run Kegella at all. She enjoyed wandering and laying in the grass, and the thought of making decisions that'll affect thousands of people nauseated her. She knew, however, that this was her life now, and it wasn't going to change anytime soon. When she heard one of the servants, Ola, a dwarf girl sold into slavery and forced to work at the palace, call her name, she knew that she had to head back to her dreaded home.

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

        "Ah! There's my loving wife!" Tasos' loud voice booms from the end of the hall, as he bounced over to the tall woman, "How was it outside the castle? Was the sky pretty? And the birds, are they well?" He smiles giving Stella a kiss on the cheek.

        "Hello, dear." She smiles, blushing and shaking her head in a playful manner, "Everything was well outside the castle...Except for, well..." Her smile fades as she looks down, fiddling with her scarf, "It still seems like everyone is scared of me. And more children have gone missing, are people speculating that I'm the one responsible?" She was close to tears, she hated seeing her people this upset, and she hated that they were scared of her.

        Tasos frowned, as his heart broke seeing his love so upset, but people were thinking that she had something to do with these kidnappings. Or atleast, they thought her home land, Fraica, was involved. Fraica was always shrouded in mystery, as they had good crops all year. All of the children were educated too, and no beggars. It was almost too perfect, and that's why the people of Kegella hated it.

        "Well, love, you know how the people are...jumping to conclusions without evidence or facts, it's just how they act in fear." Tasos assured his spouse, "They know you're their fearless leader queen, and they love you, they're just scared for their young." He brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her on her red cheeks, as usual they were as cold as ice. He insisted that she went to get some rest, and sent her off to their quarters.

        Reluctantly, Stella went up to their large master bedroom, still uneasy about the behavior of the people, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She just had to continue being their dutiful queen. But she didn't have to like it. As she undressed from her messy white dress and scarf, she stared out the window, watching a group of peasants pick corn from the large farm behind the village. They seemed to be having fun too, chasing each other and throwing the yellow vegetables before finally loading them into a basket and heading off back to the village. Stella put on her corset, because even though she was already very skinny, she still needed to keep up appearances of being an absolute bone. The people would rather die than have a queen whose weight was over 100 pounds. After the corset came the petticoat, and finally came the velvet green dress. It was kind of ridiculous, having to waste 10 minutes on putting on fancy clothes, but she was raised in a noble family, she was used to it at this point. As she finally finished putting on her clothes, she looked in the mirror, and laughed at how much of a mess her hair was. She called in a servant, Lidig, into the room, and sat down at her vanity as the girl diligently brushed her mess of a hair.

        "M'lady! What do you do out in the meadow? Roll in the grass all day?" Lidig jokes, trying to brighten up her highness' day. And when she saw a smile appear on the queen's red lips, she knew it worked. "Oh, but seriously, madam, your hair is a mess! We'll run a bath for you tonight."

        Stella sighed, staring at herself in the mirror, watching the girl brush her hair, "I'm sorry, Lidig. It's just...really stressful being queen. Sometimes I just need to lay in the grass with a good book, like I did at Fraica." She smiled, thinking about her homeland. It's a beautiful place, strangely would never rain, the plants were always healthy, and everyone was happy. But the genes there were incredibly strong, everyone had black hair and green eyes. And if you didn't, once you lived there for a while you would. It was truly a strange land, and everyone in Kegella seemed to be afraid of it.

       The servant girl smiled, "Fraica sounds beautiful. But people think there is black magic at work!" She exclaims, "If you don't mind me asking...why is it so perfect there, m'lady? The village is full of nasty rumors about the place, but I'd like to hear from you." She pulled a twig out of the lady's hair, laying it on the vanity.

        Stella sighed, she knew this was coming, but she shouldn't keep secrets from her people, "Well, Fraica wasn't always like that. It used to be a normal little country. But it fell into poverty and the people were starving. It was horrible, and no one knew what to do, not even the king or queen. Well, a fairy came to Fraica. Her name was Venus, and she wasn't one of those mischievous types, oh no. She spoke to the rulers, and my parents as they were the king and queen's right hands about how they could fix our land. All they had to do was a spell. So, the fairy took them into the forest and to a circle of mushrooms, or better known as a fairy circle, and my parents, plus the king and queen, had to each drop a strand of hair into the circle, along with their tears, and the fairy did the rest. A week later, everyone in Fraica was fed, the crops were growing back big and healthy, and everyone had money. It was amazing. A year later, I was born."

        Ligid had stopped brushing her hair at this point, and was staring at the queen in awe, "Where is the fairy now though, m'lady?" She asked, picking up a combo and starting to style her hair into a simple braid.

        "Well, she died a couple years ago. My father and his hunting party found her in the woods, near the same fairy circle that she performed the spell. It's truly sad, she was one of the very few good ones." Stella sighed, "But no one lives forever. Not even magical beings. Sooner or later, something gets you in the end, whether it be natural causes or an animal or even humans, you can't live forever."

        "That's true, m'lady." Lidig sighs, remembering how her own father died searching for immortality, "I still have one more question, though. Why does everyone in Fraica have black hair and green eyes?" This was the question everyone wondered, and everyone wanted answers.

        "Side effect of the spell." Stella replied, as Lidig finished braiding her hair, "The king, queen and my parents all had black hair and green eyes, so when the spell was completed, everyone's hair started turning black and their eyes green. It's truly wondrous."

        Lidig smiles, "Sounds like it," She backs up so Stella can get up, "but I still wouldn't want to live there. It's scary how perfect everything is. I do have to go now, m'lady, I need to help prepare dinner." She collects the twigs, leaves, and flowers she pulled from the queen's hair, and left the room.

        Stella looks in the mirror, at her waist, which is being squeezed by a corset. At her dress, which is a beautiful shade of green. At her hair, which is being confined by a singular band. But she was missing one thing. Stella walked over to her end table, picking up her crown, and placing it on her head. There. Now she was officially a queen.