Aria

1

A mist of red sprayed out from the back of the king's head and sprinkled Adeline who was standing behind him. The king deflated as he collapsed to the floor. After the gunshot had rung out, a chilled silence fell over the Aryian crowd. There was a scream, she looked to her hands to see that they were coated in her father's blood.

The crowd was scattering in panic and the king's guard was now pushing the young girl back to the car. Her eyes were stuck on the corpse of her father; his silver armour sparkling in the sunlight and his rich blue cloak slowly turning purple.

There was a high pitch ringing in Adeline's ear. The princess didn't think of anything, she was numb...

'°'

Awoken by the loud shrill of her alarm clock, Princess Adeline was free from her nightmare. She breathed heavily, letting her alarm continue to drill mercilessly. She took about two seconds to shake off the memory before she grabbed the clock to turn it off. It was about 5 o'clock in the morning and the school grounds were still shadows.

Adeline stretched in the darkness as she looked out into grounds of Ethera Academy. The lights of other dorm winders were slowly starting to light up the courtyard, which Adeline's window looked out on. She had been dreading today ever since it was announced that Prince Reginald of Viea would be attending Ethera Academy at the beginning of the autumn term.

"Just ignore him as much as you can," she thought out loud as she turned to her bed.

She flicked on her bedside light and drew close the curtains. She then approached the small sink that was in the corner of her room by the door and splashed her face with water before brushing her teeth.

She then picked out her school uniform, which was a grey A-line tweed skirt that finished just below her fingertips, a crisp white shirt with a long droopy black bow-tie, white knee-high socks, shiny black heeled loafers and a grey blazer with the emblem of the school over the heart and the flag of Theos on the corner of the collar. Adeline dressed, re-opened her curtains and brushed her hair. She then grabbed her school bag and headed downstairs for breakfast.

It was still quite early in the morning and by the time Adeline had reached the cafeteria, it was 6:30. There were a few students scattered at the long breakfast benches most of them were huddled in small clusters. Adeline approached the buffet table at the end of the large hall, grabbed a plate and filled it with fried eggs, bacon and toast.

"Why did you bring your school bag to breakfast?" A deep voice asked, making Adeline jump and turn towards him.

Prince Marcus of Theos stood next to her, his uniform looked shabby and crinkled. He was holding a plate that was pulled with hash browns and bacon. Mark was one of the most handsome boys in Ethera and defiantly one of the most noble, he and his sister were the resident royals of Ethera Academy. His friendship with Adeline was unexpected as she preferred to avoid royalty at all costs. But it had become a habit that she and Mark would have breakfast together, and she had come to rather enjoy eating with him.

But, she would never tell him that.

"I have a early morning class with Mr Eten, he's got me doing extra credit stuff for Politics," Adeline replied as she walked away from the buffet table.

"Ah, I see, how unlucky that he is the first thing you have to see in the morning," he smiled as they sat.

"Funny I was just thinking that about you," Adeline replied, setting her food down neatly.

Mark gave her a look of fake hurt: "ooff, Lina, you do no how to charm a man," he retorted.

She glared at him as a reply and started to eat. This was the usual conversation between the two: Mark would talk and Adeline would listen, every now and then the two would throw insults at each other before resuming their original conversation. It was a cycle that Adeline enjoyed as she didn't have to engage nor pay to much attention to what was happening.

"Today is going to be very interesting?" Mark said with a sly smirk on his lips.

"Why?" Adeline replied, as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Really?!" Mark exclaimed.

"The prince of the world is coming to this school, I thought a noble girl like you would be ecstatic about this?"

Adeline glared at him again: "What's that supposed to mean?"

"C'mon, Lina, we all know why so many girls are gonna be dolled up today, Prince Reginald is your only chance at becoming royalty, your only chance to become QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!" Mark yelled dramatically. His outburst was sarcastic but still caused butterflies to rush into Adeline's stomach.

"Prince Reginald's isn't the crown prince, so marrying him won't make any one the queen, and personally, I don't want to be queen of the world," she replied.

"Oh don't you, now? If you don't want to be a Queen then why are you in Miss Williams's Leadership and International Politics class?" Mark inquired leaning over the bench.

"Erm stalk much? My father is forcing me to take it because I am his only air, therefore I'm going to have to understand how running a country works, if I spent all my time in fantasyland, trying to get married to some snobbish prince like you then I wouldn't be able to take care of  my country, would I?" she answered in the sassiest tone she could muster.

Mark laughed of her sass and shook his head: "ah ha but every girl wants to marry a prince, even if they know it's is fantasyland, they'll still try, you know why? Because power equals sexy in this society, it's disgusting but it's true- and you," he pointed his fork at Adeline, "are genetically hardwired to try and attract the most powerful men on this planet you know why? Because marrying a man a prince will mean that your country will be safe forever."

Adeline rolled her eyes, took one last gulp from her coffee before standing. "You're ridiculous Mark," she adjusted her bag straps.

"I'll see you in History," she said as she turned to leave.

Mark winked at her before saying goodbye.

Queen of the world. The phrase had shaken Adeline. She hated the way Mark had said it, it sounded evil. She didn't want to be seen as evil.

You are genetically hardwired to attract the most powerful men on this planet. Adeline shuddered at the thought of her future.

She didn't want to have any part of being Queen of the world, nor did she want to attract the most powerful man. But she knew that there was nothing she could do to avoid it, her fate was sealed.

She was to be the next Queen Of Ethos whether she liked or not.