Swan Lake - The fallen Kingdom

Chapter Two

This book is inspired by A Throne of Swans by Elizabeth Corr and Katharine Corr. The idea of flighted and non-flighted as well as the concept of nobles not being able to touch commoners and if they did something will happen were inspired by them. I really enjoyed their book and it gave me a lot of inspiration. The rest of the ideas are my own. 

This story is edited by my best friends, CK and BK and comments were given by PK. 

I blew my nose into a tissue. I was in my suite, my face buried in a pile of contaminated tissues, crying. I was careful not to make

any loud noises so that no one would know that I was crying. In this place filled with conspiracy, you could not show your weakness. Father taught me that.

"Lily, don't be scared. The court is to us what the battlefield is to soldiers. To win, you must not show any signs of weakness. Here, anyone can be plotting against you. Remember, no one is to be trusted. Except for yourself. Now, show me the brave girl I know you are." He said those exact words to me before I made my entrance into the ballroom for my fifth birthday. It was a royal tradition for heirs to attend the ball of their fifth birthday on their own. This was so that the next heirs would be able to face the court from a young age. Like any normal five-year-old, I was scared. But after hearing Father's advice, I was able to walk into the ballroom confidently.

A knock on the door sent me back to reality. I quickly wiped away my tears and checked the mirror to make sure I looked presentable. Unfortunately, my eyes were red-rimmed from all the crying. I quickly applied some concealer under my eyes to make it look less swollen. As I was doing this, the knocks on the door continued. I quickly put away the concealer and opened the door. Standing outside the door was my handmaiden, Lucy. Upon seeing me, Lucy curtsied and said, "Your highness, Lord Lancelot has sent for you in the study. It seemed urgent." I nodded my head for Lucy to help me get ready and she understood. She followed me into the dressing room and started on her magic work to make me look neat. After a brief 10 minutes, she was done. I added the finishing touch by placing the tiara that was passed down from my mother.

I walked into the study, surprised to see another figure standing by Lancelot. "Lord Lancelot." I greeted my old advisor. I turned to look at the individual beside Lancelot. He was young. Maybe a few years older than me. He had black, tousled hair that was pushed back to keep the hair out of his face. His irises were copper bronze and they were beautiful. Something about his eyes felt familiar to me like I had seen it somewhere before and the thought of that soothed me.

"Your highness!" Lancelot gently tapped my shoulder. I was so focused on the young man's face that I did not hear anything that Lancelot was telling me. I turned my attention back to Lancelot and gave a gentle nod to tell him that I was listening.

"As I was saying, your highness, your uncle, the King has sent for you to be in court. Due to the recent events, the king feels that it would be better for you to be under his watch. His majesty has planned for you to study with your cousins until you are of age to govern Avenor. Until then, I will be assisting you by governing Avenor until your return."

My face paled as I heard this news. My uncle had never sent for me before, let alone worried about me. When I was little I used to play with my cousins but I never even talked to my uncle before. Could it be that he knew my secret? My legs gave way at the thought of that. I quickly grabbed the chair nearby to stabilize myself, at a loss for words. If my uncle really did know my secret, I could be killed at any moment. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"Your highness, I know exactly what you are worried about. I have given my word to your father, the Prince that I would keep you safe before his passing and I intend to fulfil my promise. The Palace is a dangerous place and that's why he is here." Lancelot gestured to the young man. "Sir lawson here is one of the strongest knights in Auston. Fortunately, he is a friend of my nephew. He will be accompanying you to court and he will protect you at all costs. If what we fear has happened, you will be safe if he is by your side. You will leave on Thursday." I looked from Lancelot to the knight, heaving a sigh of relief. I did not intend to die so soon.

The knight stepped forward and bowed. "Your Highness, I am Ian Lawson and I owe my allegiance to you." I extended my hand, he took it and lowered his head to place a kiss on it. My body shivered as his warm lips touched my cold skin. There was something about him that made me feel safe. Perhaps it was the fact that he was one of the most talented knights in Auston. Or perhaps there was something else.  I nodded my head gently to make sure that my tiara did not fall out of place. Lancelot later explained the procedures. I was to fly to court so that the time taken to reach the palace of Auston was shorter. However, since I could not leave Prince on his own, we decided to travel by carriage instead.

I walked into the bath that Lucy drew for me. It was warm and rose petals were scattered on the surface of the water. Roses, red as blood, had been my mother's favourite flower. She used to decorate the halls with roses picked by her own hands. To keep a reminder of Mother, Father had ordered servants to change the roses in the hall every week since Mother's death 6 years ago. In my spare time, I would pick roses from the garden as they reminded me of Mother. I waved my hands and the servants quickly left the en suite. This was not a regular bath. To prevent my uncle from finding out my secret, I had to dye my feathers again. It was still white, however. The dye that I used the last time will not last long. This time the dye that I chose would stay on for 6 months. That would be enough for the time being.

It had been months since I had seen my icy blue feathers. Yes, ice blue. I am no ordinary phoenix, I am an ice Phoenix. This type of Phoenixes was even rarer than normal Phoenixes. According to Mother, my birth mother, the late Queen, was an ice Phoenix. Now, I am the last of my kind and the last of all Phoenixes. My hand clenched into a ball at the thought of my uncle murdering my parents. Yes, I wanted revenge but what could I do? The king was the elder brother of Father. I could not believe that Father was related to such a maniac. But I could not kill the king, I simply did not have the power to do so...yet.

To make sure that my Uncle did not have a chance to be suspicious of me, I would not fly unless I needed to. Since Phoenixes did not really look like swans, my uncle would notice that something was off if he saw me up close.

After a few hours, the dye had finally set in. I returned to my suite, getting ready to rest. After all, I didn't think that I would be able to sleep peacefully after Wednesday.