Royal Lies

Chapter 1

It was a quiet morning in the small village of Hearthsteed, the weekly shipments departing across the bridge into no-man's land for those who can't escape the fog ridden vallies. Although there had been whispers among the local guard of unexpected complications on the bridge no one would have ever expected such an uproar to tear through the roads by noon. Members of the royal guard made their way to the last post standing before the bridge to see the so-called complications. The name of said complication would be remembered for centuries, maybe more.

    Sat in a bare room with peeling beige walls was a girl with long black hair matted against her face wearing tattered jeans and an almost shredded shirt. Her dirt covered hands gripped the dark wooden chair beneath her as a young man sat down across from her. The chair creaked as he leaned forward and rested his arms on the table between them. His icy blue eyes glinted as they met her dull grey ones; though, one could not tell if it was because the soot and mud covered girl intrigued or irritated him.

    "Do you have any idea what's going on right now?" He asked in a deep voice.

    She smirked, "just a tiny one."

    "Then you know why your arrival here is ... troubling to say the least."

    "Oh of course," Venus let out a little laugh, "I was probably presumed dead months ago since I hadn't made it across the border if I'm not wrong."

    "Yes," he said pragmatically, "and your sudden appearance today begs the question, what exactly were you doing the ten months you were in Rezia?"

    "Well now why would I tell you, a person whose name I don't even know, that piece of rather ..." she paused, squinting ever so slightly "valuable information."

    "Because if you don't you're never going to see outside a grungy cell again," he paused slightly before adding, "and you can call me captain Stone"

    "Well captain Stone you clearly know who I am," she responded with an ever so slight smirk, "so why don't we go talk this out with my father hm?"

    "Do you really think I'm so naive as to take you to the king?" He scoffed and sat back in his chair.

    "Not particularly," she chuckled, "but it was worth a try."

    "Tell me what happened in Rezia and we can go."

    "Are you blind or just stupid?" she asked sarcastically.

    "I'm neither you impudent girl."

    "Well clearly you're one of them cause if you could see and had even half-way decent deduction skills you wouldn't be asking such an idiotic question."

    Cpt.Stone's eye twitched at the comment. "You have no clue who you're talking to do you?" he asked, once more leaning forward in his chair as he pierced her with his cold gaze.

    "Oh," she smirked, returning his icy look with an amused one, "am I supposed to know who you are?"

    "I suppose a dirty halfblood like you wouldn't know anything," he stood up, leaning forebodingly over her with his hands on the table, "of the god you stand before."

    His eyes began to illuminate a vibrant ice blue as the light drained from the room, even as he loomed over her in the increasing darkness Venus never broke eye contact. Shadows played in her peripheral while cpt.Stone smiled as he attempted to break her with his intense gaze.

    "Is this your attempt to scare me?" she asked with an amused look on her face. "Cause if it is it's laughable at best and," she stood mirroring his posture, "you underestimate the power of a dirty halfblood like me."