A Kingdom Of Pain And Passion→ ORIGINAL!!!

Chapter 1

"Princess Dahlia please!" A familiar voice was calling after me, chastising me but I propelled myself higher. Maybe if I climbed high enough. I wouldn't be able to hear her anymore. "It isn't safe to be climbing so high."

The Bottoms of my bare feet were being carved from the sharp bark slivers embedding themselves deep. Don't look down, I thought to myself, reaching up for the next branch. After you testing my weight on it, I pulled myself up. Don't look down.

"This isn't what a lady does Your Majesty!"

I wanted to spit at her words. A lady. A phrase I've been hearing my whole life. " A lady behaves herself better,Dahlia" Or " is that what a lady would say Princess Dahlia? It drove me mad.

I glanced down at the girl below me, craning her neck with a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. Even from here I could see her large eyes wide with frustration. Her pristine gray dress and white apron stood out against the grass. "Calm down Charlotte." I gripped the upper branch so I could turn pressing my back to the tree trunk. "Surely I've gone higher before."

"Perhaps, but I've been ordered to keep you safe." Charlotte stepped closer to the tree, as if she might come after me. "This isn't safe your majesty."

"Charlotte, please." I called down. "Were outside of the palace. Just call me Dahlia.

" I don't feel comfortable, miss. "

Buzzkill, I thought, glancing up to how much tree was still above me. The branches higher still seemed sturdy;surely they would still hold my weight for several more feet.

"My lady, Prince Rainier will be at the palace any moment we mustn't keep him waiting."

I couldn't even pretend to morph my grown into something else. "Oh, how could I forget about Prince Rainier?"  Stuffy Old Prince Rainier of Ravaryn, the man my father was trying to marry me off to. Or well currently succeeding, but I still had time to ruin those chances. "I have the sudden desire too let go of the branch Charlotte."

"At that height miss you'll most certainly will break your neck."

That's the point. From here I could see the spires on the Palace's towers like spikes on a  spear. It wasn't a big kingdom by any standards-the smallest n the land actually but it was quite beautiful. With huge winding trees push mountainsides, if kind that I could stay out all day and never desire anything from the palace walls.

But isn't that the way of the world? I have something that nearly everyone desires, and yet i wish to cast it aside? Mother, when she was alive, called me selfish. Father called me ungrateful. I called myself unhappy.

"Princess Dahlia we must go. If you're late to another meeting with Prince Rainier your father will have your head. And mine."

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the tree. It was almost like It was calling to me. The outside air begging me to come home. And then I was outside this awful Palace walls, where the air felt thick and choking. I finally found the piece my soul was longing for.

From up this high I could see Khisfire, the kingdom where the witches and warlocks lived before they were slaughtered. It differed from other kingdom's because the kingdom was set ablaze and it was charred black and Ashes. More often than not I thought about running away there, seeing what was deeper there. No-one has ever been deep into Khisfire and returned, or that was what I'd been told. The idea of delving deeper into the kingdom of unknown fascinated me to a point where I fell asleep and dreamed about it.

"Princess Dahlia!" Charlotte Called, her anger now pitching. "Were you even listening to me?"

I stared longingly at the Abandoned Castle. Wishing merely that I could live there. "I'm coming," I told her biting my lip  as it turned back around. "I'm coming."