The Lady in Armour

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Tame the black knight

Pursue the lady in white

 

Combine fire and water

Let love bloom; do not falter

 

For love will fuel the fire

And fire will fortify the empire

Liam crumpled the small paper on his hand and looked at his mother irately. “It’s too hard to decipher!”

Queen Marissa took her son’s hand and smiled knowingly. Her son was not a short-tempered person. He was always serious, calm and patient no matter how hard the situation was. Those were the things about him that she liked the most and made him irresistibly charming and the perfect successor of the throne. And at times like this, those characteristics were exactly what they needed to survive.

“No one is expected to decipher his or her own kremp in just one day,” she reminded him. “It takes time.”

Liam nodded and looked at the crumpled paper on his hands. It felt so cold and seemed meaningless. He waited twenty years for this yet who couldn’t feel satisfied. He did not want to whine, but the kremp he received today was not at all what he expected it to be. He was hoping it would say something about how to save his people and not about love, lady and fire.    

Especially not love.

“Why don’t you go downstairs?” Marissa suggested. “Your father is looking for you too. I think he has something important to say to you.”

Horror flashed on Liam’s face. “I will not. He will introduce another lady to me – a lady that he thinks is suitable to be my wife.”

“You need a wife, son…”

He looked down at his mother’s big blue eyes. “I can rule this kingdom without the help of a wife. If I ever decided to marry someone, I’m sure as hell it won’t be a weakling who knows nothing but to whine and buy jewelleries like the ones father introduced to me.”

The Queen frowned at that. She had never seen her son date any woman in their kingdom nor showed any interest in them. As a mother, this kept bugging her at night because she wanted someone to take care of her son when she was gone; someone who will love her son more than she could love him – if possible. She’d asked her husband to introduce him to all the young women in their kingdom but their son only ignored them and worse, detested them.

“I hope one day you find a woman that could make you scream in frustration, cry in pain and…” the Queen smiled and placed a hand on his son’s long black wavy hair that he inherited from her, “make you forget your name.”

“You want me to suffer?” Liam smiled and hugged his mother. “You’re wishing for something that is impossible.”   

“There is no such thing as impossible, son.”

He let go of his mother and headed for the door. “I could scream in frustration and maybe cry a little in pain. Forget my name? There is no way I could forget my name – mark my words.”

“Oh you will, son.”