The Royal Wolf (18+)

Chapter 1 - Brown

Lilianna

The Princess sits at her old brown wooden desk, her right index finger picking at the hole in the wood she carved out last year. She sighs a bored, tired sound and flicks her eyes in the direction of her mother, Queen Charlotte, sitting upon the bench at the end of Lilianna's bed.

"Do not look to me, Lilianna," her mother warns, making her groan internally with a sound that vibrates her chest. "Your growling will not save you from your lessons," Queen Charlotte adds as she stands.

"You do not need to watch me like a child, Mama!" Lilianna says in a way that would sound very much like a child to anyone listening and she knows it, making her look down at her book again.

"Where did the War of the Trident take place, Lilianna?"

She knows this. She was told this, she is sure of it.

"Port Ellis?" She looks up to her mother now standing beside her.

She cocks an eyebrow up. "Is that an answer or a question?"

Lilianna bites her tongue to not repeat her crude thought out loud. "Port Ellis," she says with more confidence.

The Queen's face slowly grows into a warm smile, relieving Lilianna of the pressure in her chest.

"Go," her mother says. "It is almost lunch. You may go."

She jumps up to hug her mother, not two inches taller than her, before disappearing out the room without another glance.

"Ser Paul!" She says excitedly to the tall, old guard outside her door that she has known since she was a babe.

"Princess, have you finished your studies?"

She starts walking, hearing his heavy metal footsteps fall in step beside her.

"You sound like my mother, Ser Paul," she laughs.

"I would be honoured to sound like the Queen, princess."

He is always formal. Just once, she would like her esteemed knight to say something - anything - that would shock her.

"Please, it is just us. Let us go to lunch," she says.

She likes eating with Ser Paul. She commands him to tell her stories of his battles years ago. She is sure she has heard them all a hundred times by now, but each time feels just as exciting as the first. She doesn't think he minds sharing, either. He seems to miss his old times every once in awhile. Retelling the stories keeps them alive for both of them.

They both sit in the dining room they usually eat in on the red cushioned chairs. It is not the main hall the King prefers. This one is smaller - comfier, the Princess believes.

"There is to be a large party, I hear, princess."

She grins as the servants bring the deer dish she requested yesterday, placing a plate in front of each of them.

"I am the talk of the realm, Ser Paul, did you not know?" She quips and he lets a tiny hint of a smile escape through his gray beard.

"Yes, princess." He nods once. "Suitors far and wide will be arriving in a few months to meet you."

She sighs lazily as she sticks her fork in a piece of meat. "It sounds exciting for some, but I believe I will be bored of it quickly."

A quick pause envelopes them both. The princess looks up to her knight.

"The King has requested that I do not let you outside your room after dark during the week-long fest," he admits to her and she scoffs.

"He thinks I would be so daft as to take one of the suitors in the woods?"