The Fate of Alleria - Book One (ON HOLD)

-Chapter Three-

Aster

Aster opened her eyes to darkness in her room, save for the moonlight filtering in through the partially drawn curtains. She shut her eyes again and blew out a frustrated breath.

More nightmares.

It felt cold in her quarters, and Aster hardly ever felt the cold. Since Wvera's castle was considerably far up north, among the towering snowy mountains, she was used to it, and in fact enjoyed the freezing seasons. Which covered three-quarters of the year, but still.

She opened her eyes again. Sleep seemed as far as the constellations, so she swung her legs out of bed and walked to the balcony of her room. She opened the glass-paned doors quietly and a mild gust of cooling wind swept into the room. Stepping out, her hair waved gently, a few odd beads clinking together.

Aster touched the cool stone and marble of the thick balcony railing and peered over the edge. She saw the familiar gushing river that surrounded most of the castle, and the grand drawbridge that could be lowered over the ravine that the river gushed through. A few musk oxen could be seen grazing on the other side of the ravine, tails swishing lazily. Beyond that, mountains, with villages dotting their bases and even along the sides of the towering peaks. It was all bathed in the husky moonlight of two of Alleria's moons. Stars twinkled beside them, loyal companions.

She never got sick of this view.

Her brown-amber eyes stayed fixed on the horizon as her mind drifted to the events of the night before.

It had all been going decently well. Aster was meeting people from other kingdoms! Like she had always thought and hoped about. She had danced with a boy that wasn't war-focused, like most of the brute excuses for young men who worked or lived in the castle, but instead sweet and a bit shy. Then her little sister was bringing all of the younger royals a little closer together, and for a few moments Aster had truly — stupidly?— believed that they could have a future as... friends.

And then it was all ruined. She wasn't trying to act selfish. Every kingdom had suffered great losses, including her own. Her own mother was in the infirmary right now, healing from a bullet wound to the leg. But it all seemed so... diabolical. Who would do such a thing as to mess up the careful future of the kingdoms?

And the strangest part was, it didn't feel like part of the war, even if it was supposed to have ended. It felt like something... different.

"I'm probably being naive." Aster murmured, shaking her head. Maybe she read too many fantastical tales and was looking for an exciting story. She turned away from the balcony, stopping briefly as she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

Her numerous braids fell down to her bellybutton, the beads woven through them shining like drops of dew on a flower petal. She loved her hair; she thought it made her look like a warrior, yet a princess. Her body, covered by an off-white nightdress, was naturally curvy, influenced by her mother. Her features were slender and gleamed with the potential for deadly ferocity. She had warm amber-brown eyes and full lips. The silver spiral designs, that were customary for royalty in Wvera, gently shimmered across her hairline, behind one of her ears and down one side of her neck. They stopped at her collarbone.

Aster inhaled slowly. Though many people thought her to be a beauty, she didn't really like the idea of being a jewel for people to gawk at all day, their greasy little noses pressed up against her glass. She wanted to be down with her kingdom, fighting tooth and claw. She knew in many of the other kingdoms, this wasn't traditional, much less for a woman.

But this is Wvera.

Still, she longed for some sort of connection to the other kingdoms, some sort of hope that what happened in the ballroom, the seconds of closeness that she had briefly felt toward the other royals, could still be a regular thing.