A Beautiful Evil (A Beautiful Book. 1) #Wattys2015

Chapter Two - Thorns

When I was younger, growing up in my father's haunting realm, my formal title was all I was known as. Nobody knew me as Mara. I was just, Princess, or The Princess. Nobody dared speak to me unless it was ordered or if I requested it, afraid of offending the poor little princess and having to face the consequences with her savage father. You could say I'm Daddy's little girl, though he might not show it.

I hated every long, terrible second of it. I was alone growing up, with Daddy always tending to the prisoners, and having a mother that lived to make my life hell. No pun intended. The only companions I had growing up were Alkaia and Fillin and a few chosen prisoners in my father's care. Well, that and the four boys, but only one I considered my friend, and I didn't see him that often.

Most of my days, I'd wonder around the empty, lifeless halls of the palace with Fillin at my side.

Fillin, my father's own personal hell hound, was easily the smartest canine I'd ever met, with the appearance of a wolf. His eyes held a human like quality, an intelligence that sent a shiver up your spine, raising the hair on your arms and legs. If I'd talk, the wolf's gaze would lock on me, studding me intently, as if he could comprehend what I was saying. With eye's as blue as the deepest sea's, and fur as fair as freshly fallen snow, he walked with a solemn grace; head held high, and tail slightly elevated. On all fours, he reaches at least three and a half feet tall, and paws as big as a dinner plate. He was easily one of my favorites.

But Fillin was my father's, not mine.

I was only a few year's old when my father told me about dragons. Creatures that could reach thirty feet tall, and three times as long, with lengthy, slender, snake like necks. Reptilian like animals that weighed as much as as a bull elephant, and jaws that could cut even the oldest and tallest evergreen's with a single snap. Scales capped their body and internal armored plates that could fend off almost any attack. Fire could erupt from their throats, cutting anything down in it's path's, making even diamonds go soft. At first, I spectated that such creatures that grand could not exists. That they were nothing but bed time stories, a delusion too sweet.

It was my tenth birthday, and father pronounced that I was old enough to live outside of the palace with him while "took care of some things", after some begging on my part. I longed to see outside the palace walls with its paintings of grieving faces, and deserted halls. I had to swear not to mention my father in any conversation I exchanged with villagers. Daddy wanted his identity to stay hidden.

We abided in a small cabin that rested inbetween two small hills near a place now called The Gulf of Laconia, located on the southern tip of Greece. Daddy always had a soft spot for Hades, a Greek God that reigned a place called the Underworld. A place that hoard souls. Perhaps that's why he liked Greece. Every time I'd ask, he's shush me and say, "I'll tell you in time." So I let the subject drop.

It was constantly warm, with life and heat reflecting off of every surface. The white sand was soft and hot under my feet. The chilly water tickled the tip of my toes. Seagulls squawked in the distances, bickering over who got the biggest fish, I would assume. Cat-tails sprouted in random areas on the rolling dunes. I breathed in the salty aroma of the sea, and wild poppies and apple blossoms that grew in the meadow by our cabin.

Something big and soft rubbed against my side.

"Fillin! You silly mutt," I mocked, scratching between the mammals pointy ears. The wolf's fuzzy tail wagged, a tongue flopping out in a wolfy grin. "What shall we do today, Fillin?" I asked, gazing into the white canine's eyes. He barked, spinning twice to chomp on his own tail before bounding off over the hills. "Wait for me,Fillin!" I yelled. But it was no use, the wolf was gone. I sprinted after him, my feet sinking into the sand, making movement hard and sluggish. Wind ripped at my hair and dress, whisking it in my face.