1 Chapter 1

She knew she would get into trouble for sneaking out but she couldn't bring herself to care. If the King wasn't going to be a man of his word, she would fulfill his promise herself, even if it was in direct violation of his rule of her never leaving the palace without him.

Avalyn found it absurd. She could have a whole battalion of Royal Guards, the Palace Guard, the Army, and the Navy and he still wouldn't let her step foot outside. It felt as if he thought she would disappear if she left the eyes of the palace.

When asked by other nobles and courtiers what her life was like in the palace, she had no fun childhood tales to tell. No running through the forests, swimming in lakes, or chasing dogs across the country-side. Though she made the best of the time she could. A lifetime spent studying and expanding her knowledge of the world though reading. Not many, aside from college scholars could match her in depth knowledge of history, or of gods common and forgotten of all nations, classes and race. She could tell a tale of every god. Their faults, what they represented, what they hated, what they loved, all their siblings and their supposed mortal children and their mortal lovers. She was insurmountable when it came to math. The long time appointed General of the King's Army often invited her over whenever she was feeling particularly cooped up. Allowing her to over see the equipment that came in, check seams of saddles, the edges of new blades and dried foods for emergency packs and storage.

All she knew about war, logistics, strategies and tactics came from him. He would ask her in day-to-day situations what she would do with the armies and they were often in accordance. Though she would surprise him with strategies from a more ancient time, in countries long gone.

She considered him a second father and loved him dearly like one, the only grudge she had against the man at the moment was his choice of the new Royal Guard Knight-Commander. The previous Knight-Commander Lord Randall, assumed title of Uncle, being a friend of the King's growing up, had stopped an assassination attempt against the King at the cost of his life. He had always encouraged her adventurous and troublesome behavior, and taught her how to fight with all manner of blades on the sly and she was quite proficient. He believed that she should know how to protect herself. Lord Randall was a realistic man and was very aware that he could not always be there to protect her. "Mishaps always happen" he liked to say to her. In his case, it turned out to be too true.

The recent Knight-Commander, General Aleric had decided on Lord Mikhail of Emerald Woods, the only son of Duke Gerald, and it was signed off by the King. He was a childhood nemesis of hers, he was a few years older than she and grew up in the palace. He went from being a bully to being a cold, uncompromising man, and he was not up for putting up with her exploits or antics, he was a man that always got his way, and he would get it, one way or another. From boy to man, that hadn’t changed.

With a few gifts Aleric, including her gelding, Graham she made her way off the palace grounds through the front gate. It wasn’t until she had gotten some distance between her and the palace gates that she thought maybe it wasn’t a good thing all it took was a uniform to escape. She made a mental to ask him about those kinds of regulations. Before long she finally found herself surrounded by the familiar foliage of the King’s forest.

The wind rustled through the leaves above and birds all around chirped happily. Avalyn took a deep steadying breath, Graham needed no real guidance from her to keep going forward, deeper into the woods. They followed along the river, often spotting critters on the banks. The greenery around her was bright and vivid, spotting many colors and wild fruits. As she passed a shrub of wild roses, she halted Graham and reached over to pluck a few of the full, pale pink blooms of varying sizes, and with nimble fingers, Avalyn weaved the stems into her onyx black hair. Graham took the time to take a mouthful of whatever was edible before him. With a giggle she had him continue onward again and he did so with a bounce in his step.

He waited expectantly for her to dismount when he stopped in their small glade. She slid down and immediately started to strip out of her guards basic armor and shoved it all in her saddle bags and happily obliged in removing Grahams saddle. As she placed it down, a forest fox hopped aboard it and chattered, "Just a minute." She spoke gently, and turned to remove Graham's bridle as well. With a shake of his head he turned away from her and went to drink from the trickling stream. She let her attention turn back to the little fox after hanging the bridle on a broken branch stub, and opened her arms to him. With his canine little grin he jumped up to her. She caught him and greeted him as usual with cuddles and meaty treats snitched from the kitchens. After a little wrestling bout, she rested against Graham’s saddle, head lolling back and opened her minds magic to hear the forest around her. Really hear it. The warm slow pulse of a healthy forest thrummed through her finger tips. Its way of saying it was happy. Her father made sure these woods were taken care of. Mostly in respects of leaving it alone. The subtle thoughts of creatures, birds, rodents, larger creatures such as Graham, and the few does that were not too far off lightly pressed against her own. Like the white-noise chatter of a ball. If she focused, she could hear distinctly what they were thinking. But it was just a cacophony. Graham, who had been raised by magic breeders had more complex thoughts. He reacted to the opening of her magic. He straightened from the creek, throwing his head back. Accepting her mental embrace with a loud snort. He made his way over to her, she could see with her magic through him that he was going to rest his nose on her chest. The warmth and weight on her chest wasn’t a surprise. Graham could tell through her magic as well there were no disturbances. No predators were near by, and with that, he folded himself up beside her, moving his head to saddle. The fox’s mind was mentally screaming at her to continue play. He affirmed it with a nip to her fingers. She peeked at him. His face making her chuckle. She sat back up. Graham’s head moved to lay on the ground behind her, knowing she enjoyed his warmth and closeness. She made a few balls of water rise from the creek. Graham watched curiously and wanted one. He slurped the one that came nearest him. The little fox jumped and bit at them. The small bits of water soaking his face when he succeeded. She gathered another ball, deliberately catching a fish. Her fox took instant notice as it rose. He crouched, timing his strike to nab the little fish swimming in the bubble over his head without getting too wet. They had been playing together for all of five minutes when an all too familiar voice resounded around them.

She jumped and gasped, releasing the magic. The water splashed all over the fox and he screeched his dismay. The fish flopped for only a moment before it disappeared with the fox. Graham looked perplexed at having missed the approach of Knight Commander Lord Mikhail, "Did you really think a guards uniform would get you past me?" he asked with a sneer.

For all of him being a pretty man, he could have such an ugly personality. He stood imposing in her family's black, purple and silver livery, gleaming plated armor, and soul racking brown eyes. He was the kind of man that looked like he knew everything going on, and half the time, Avalyn believed he did, "Well I got this far didn't I? Seemed to take you awhile, too."

"I watched you leave, Princess, to know where another one of your hiding spots was located. I need to know these things for whatever reason you actually manage to get by me, and rest assured, you will find that walking out the front gate won't work any longer if I have any say with it." He snapped. Graham, knowing Mikhail was the cue to leave, took his time standing, slowing stretching his limbs as he did so. Mikhail’s irritation was almost palpable as he eyed Graham. He stalked over to her, he yanked one of her saddle bags open and examined the armor. She couldn’t tell if he spat or snarled. He straightened picking up her saddle off the forest floor while looking down at her. Not wanting to give him any more power over her than he already had, she stood.

"Don't look down at me like that, you would want to go outside, too, if you had been locked up your whole life." The Knight Commander paused in saddling Graham, and she would have sworn a look of sympathy crossed his face. But it was so fleeting, she could have as well imagined it. He marched past her again and snatched the hanging bridle. Knowing full well what was coming next, she looked about for her fox and spotted him nowhere, though she could tell he was still near by, swallowing his snack. With a dejected sigh, she walked silently over to Ash, Mikhail's monstrous grey and black warhorse.

Ash gave her a soft horse's kiss as she approached. Mikhail may hate her, but Ash adored her, she could feel his affection though her magic. Mikhail found it increasingly frustrating, especially when he tried to reprimand her. Ash knew when his master was being mean and always evened the score for Ava without any of her prompting, but he had been around animal mages for a long time. Biting, stepping on feet, and trying to knock him into things. Ash was her back bone against Mikahil, even if Ash did love him more than anything else.

Ash allowed her to guide him to a tree that she could use to reach up to his saddle. After clambering on, she scooted herself as far forward on the saddle as she could and urged Ash over to Graham and Mikhail. Already on a lead rope, Mikhail had Graham quickly tied behind Ash. As Mikhail came around in front of Ash, Ash went for a mouthful of Mikhail. He dodged quickly out of reach, "I didn't do or say anything to her!”

Ash grunted and stamped his foot impatiently, as if blaming Mikhail for the hold up. Mikhail glanced at Avalyn's face as he started to carefully continue his way to the saddle, a threat in his voice as he asked, “Do you do that intentionally, Princess?”

"I don’t have the nerve.”

The Knight Commander only replied with a grunt as he swung into the saddle and yanked her back up against his front. He didn't trust her anymore to let her ride her horse on the way back or behind him on his saddle. And all for a reason. He kept her in front of him, between his arms and in front of his eyes where he could keep a hold of her and keep her within his sights. For all his abrasive behavior, he made an excellent Knight Commander. He followed orders well, and gave them well. He didn't accept lip from anybody and took his job at protecting her, very seriously. She hated to admit it, but he was trust worthy. He was honest in his dealings and she knew where she stood with him. So long as she wasn't breaking her father's rules, he minded her gently. He had even arrested a young Lord for his disgusting language towards her. She had been in the gardens when the Lord had approached her. He was a sleaze and had started off by sweet compliments that turned into gross enactments he desired to do with her. The moment he trapped her between his arms, Mikhail had the lords face in the stone walk. Mikhail had interrupted her father's conference, who the young Lord's father was a part of to relay the news personally. After giving his account, Mikhail left the Lord in the custody of the Knight Captain and took her back to her rooms. The Lord's father had been mortified and her father looked like he might just kill him where he stood. The Princess was sure that Mikhail just really liked to wreak havoc and embarrassment to the court. Public shame was his forte.

Avalyn had corrected her little half-brother in his behavior and her step-mother's mother had smacked her square across the face. Her signet ring had cut her skin open and left a deep bruise. Telling her she was out of line. When she had gone to strike her again, Mikhail had his sword at her throat.

Avalyn never saw either of them again, and her step mother, Lady Elise came up to her and apologized profusely. Both had come to an understanding that Avalyn was too old and too close to her age for there ever to be a parenting relationship. But there was a friendly one. Her step mother while married to the King was not given power as Queen. Most of that power and responsibility was with Avalyn. Though he left that title with her mother. The King did care for his new young wife, and loved his children, they both knew it was mostly out of necessity, just in case anything was to ever happen to Avalyn. His heart would always belong to his Queen. Her step mother's mother, hated and despised that fact.

Avalyn owed Mikhail a great deal, even with his poor personality. In all fairness, if she wouldn't be in poor standing with the court, she would be as surly as he for having to be around them all of the time, but he was just doing a job. He could get away with it. She sighed heavily and leaned her head back against his shoulder, closing her eyes, "Thank you, Kai."