From the Ashes

Prologue

Once upon a time.... Elizabeth's story started out as your typical Cinderella story. Her parents were King Fredrick and Queen Rachel  of Geneva. Elizabeth was the youngest of five children, and never had any royal pressures like her older siblings. The eldest was Jonathan, like Elizabeth, he loved to be outdoors and doing as he pleased. Though he was well educated in politics, everyone could tell he had no intentions of taking the throne. Naturally, with John ready to abdicate the throne, all responsibilities fell to the next son, Nicholas, who was more than willing to rule the kingdom. The King and Queen had three more children: Larissa, Phoebe and Elizabeth. After Phoebe was born, the royal physician advised the queen not to have any more children, because of how it effected her immune system. Against his advice, the King and Queen decided to have one more child. Once Elizabeth was born, the Queen got severely ill. With time, she recovered and everything was perfect. However, their blissful happiness did not last long. When Elizabeth was seven, the Queen suddenly became ill. The physicians knew there was nothing they could do, and as the leaves fell from the trees, Queen Rachel died. That winter was a sorrowful one as the whole kingdom mourned the loss of their beloved queen. 

As time passed, the King's heart hardened. He blamed Elizabeth's birth for the decline in Rachel's health, and ultimately her death. Once the time of mourning was over, the King, angry and still stricken with grief, forced Elizabeth to work and live with the other servants in the castle. She was also never let outside the castle grounds. Years passed and despite her hardships, the young princess grew in wisdom and beauty. Her older siblings, especially her two sisters, followed there father in mocking her and made sure she was never idle. The only one of her family who ever showed her kindness was her brother, Jonathan. He would secretly give her books from the royal library. During her small amounts of free time, she loved to read books on history, science and politics, along with classic farytales. When her mother was alive, she always stressed the importance of knowing one's kingdom, even if she would never rule Geneva herself. Over the years, the people forgot about Princess Elizabeth, believing she had died of grief. Only few new the truth that she was alive and being kept prisoner in the castle. Although, she was now known as Lizzie. Caleb is a stable boy at the palace,and one of Lizzie's closest friends. 

Soon, Lizzie was sixteen years of age, and quite a young lady. She has long, brown hair, bleached light by the sun, that flows down to her hips, and crystal blue eyes. Working from a young age made her determined and hard working. She is  genuinely kind-hearted, intelligent, skilled in archery, sword fighting,horseback riding, and she's  incredibly witty. All thanks to John. He believed she was still royalty, even if not treated like it, and should have the education of any other princess. Recently, Genva went to war with a neighboring kingdom, Arcadia. The new king, Jacob, was young and determined to expand his kingdom. He was used to getting what he wanted, nothing ever stood in his way, and now he wanted Geneva. The day King Jacob and his army attacked the castle was the day Lizzie's life changed forever.......