LUNARIS

Chapter 1

Tears, pain, grief, even those who were not part of the royals were feeling that. My beloved sister, Quince, had died the week before her funeral, that was occurring recently. Only women were crying. Dawnsbury, the kingdom, had a stupid rule where men were not allowed to cry, not even of laughter. I was standing beside my mother, who was wiping away tears with a napkin, and my father, the king, just beside her. He was motionless, just looking down, frowning. Unlike other women, I was the only one who wasn't crying.

Always be strong... Show them your strength, always, no matter the situation... That's what my sister told me, when I was 7 and she was 17. Her last words to me? I'll show you it's true. Her last words? Just screaming, begging him to stop, asking for forgiveness. Crying for help. That's what came out of her mouth seconds before her forever lasting sleep.

The funeral and the farewell lasted forever. Even though I grieved for my gone sister, I wanted this to be over as soon as possible. Standing there, looking down, thinking the world is cruel is boring, at least for me. The funeral was the longest event I've ever assisted to. Not that I wasn't allowed to stay until midnight whenever there was a "happy" event, but still.

          As soon as the grieving was over, my dad called me to the meeting room. I was surprised by his order. I've never assisted a meeting before, and it didn't seemed to be entertaining nor interesting, but I was wondering why he needed me now. Maybe I was going to face a hard decision to make? Wasn't entirely sure.

          The meeting room was big and well-maintained, treated as the most important room above all. As I walked inside, people seemed to be waiting for me. My dad, mum, uncles, everyone from the royal family was waiting for me. This seemed to be very important. I sat down in a lonely place, but my dad insisted that I sat beside him. As I sat down, the meeting began. My father said few words that I cannot recall. I wasn't paying attention until they called my name. "Clementine." Said the calm, friendly voice of my dad. Maybe he noticed I wasn't paying attention, or he had something to ask me. As an answer, I just looked at him straight to his  pale gold eyes. His hair was short, light blonde. He was a handsome man ruling.

           My mother was sitting on his left side, she didn't seem to get over the events of the funeral yet. She had orange hair, brown eyes and pale, soft skin.  I don't know how come I'm her biological daughter, I don't look like them AT ALL. I have dark brown hair and cobalt eyes. The only thing I have in similar is a pale skin. Nothing else.

          My father went on. Yup, he realized that I wasn't listening what he was saying. He said something about ruling and Quince, but that didn't brought my attention. I was still trapped in my own world. Sweet, lovely world. Yet I was pretending to be listening. Then, at a sudden moment, my dad called my name. "Clementine.", this time he sounded too serious. At first I thought that he noticed I was lost again, but the moment of the truth was about to come. "Do you want to be the heiress of the throne of Dawnsbury?" He asked. My heart was beating, my eyes seemed to be ready to pop out of my face. Many people would instantly say "yes", but as a princess I know what responsibilities would await me, and it's to much to handle. I had to think of a quick, fair excuse to debate. 

"B-But dad... That's Quince's job." I said. I saw my mother's face tic as I mentioned my sister's named. She seemed more broken after listening my sentence.

"Quince will always be queen of Dawnsbury. Let her rest in peace. But now, Clementine, you have to face reality... You must take the inheritance of this kingdom. I know you'll be a great queen."

"Also men are supposed to take inheritance."  I quickly looked down and whispered to myself, loud enough for my dad to hear, "Which is unfair...". My father took a deep breath.

"I don't have a son."

"Yeah..."

There was a silence between my dad and I, but my other family members were whispering to each other. Then my dad finally spoke.

"You'll be queen, perhaps, you have another reason to decline this?" He said in his bravest voice.  I was about to say something, but it was stupid enough to make others think I'm worthless. I kept my mouth shut, enough for my father to think I didn't had another excuse.

          "Very well, Clementine. Enjoy your days as a princess." He said, leaving my mouth open. I wasn't going to question him, that would take me to deep consequences I would never want to face. I sighed, deep deep sigh. My world was nothing now, it was gone. I had to pay attention to the rest of the meeting, boring. I wished that a hole opened under my feet and would take me to my room, or where my best friend was. Kieran was his name, son of the army general, who was also going to take his place if he died. By the time, he was the lieutenant general.

-

The meeting was finally over and I headed to my room. I was willing to lay down and look up at nothing, waiting for something to happen. I opened the door and that's what I did. Nothing. Being deep in my world which I imagined blue, with a beautiful transparent lake, hills surrounding it. On the hills, a forest. Inside the forest, a hidden lagoon, near a big bush of blue roses. Blue roses were very expensive and rare in every kingdom. It was a sign of extreme luck and, according to some people, if you took care of one very well something great would happen. They were very pretty as well, and a lot of kings use them as accessories. And blue was my favorite color.

         As I laid down on my bed, I pondered. Why did my sister deserved a rough destiny? She wasn't a bad person and didn't deserve to die at a young age. She was pregnant, another reason why she didn't deserve to be killed. We didn't knew the killer, but if I ever find him, I'll make him pay he or she will regret EVERYTHING. I was furious and sad, regretting lots of things I've done. My dream world turned gray and dry. I imagined myself laying in the middle of where the lake was supposed to be. The hills were only dirt and the forest was bald. Why wasn't I quick enough to save my sister? Why did I had to replace her? Why? Why? Why?