Atyla and the Children of Giants

Chapter One

"Take off that dress, you filthy little insect!" Atyla's older sister, Visna barked as she cinched her corset. "Whatever you put on will be too big for you or show how sickeningly skinny you are...."

Princess Atyla, not having much belief that she could ever hope to be as beautiful as her sisters, allowed the shoulders of the gown to fall past her collar down to her elbows. She was told to conceal how small she had become; the task was much more difficult than could be managed.

"I am to meet my future husband tonight, I must look presentable," Atyla argued in a defeated tone. However, not very confident in herself, Atyla could fill a room with laughter, and she was considered the most clever and wittiest of her siblings. Visna, while famously stunning, lacked Atyla's fluidity. She was often described as equally offensive as she was beautiful.

"Good luck with that..." her sister scoffed, making for the door from the chamber to the corridor. She was halfway out of the door, half speaking to her sister when she said, "Lord Torvik is expected to appear tonight, and he is mine for the taking! Stay away from him!"

"Ignore her, sister." Veina, Visna's twin sister, leaned down over Atyla, trying to squeeze some encouragement into her with a hug, "You are the most beautiful girl in our whole family." Visna's footsteps had traveled a good distance down the hall enough that the two could speak without being heard.

"I want to be beautiful like you!" Atyla snapped back. "And I don't even know Tyrus Torvik, not the way you and Visna do! I was six last he was here."

"One day, you will see what I see in you," Veina planted a gentle kiss on her sister's forehead. "You're far more beautiful in heart than our sister ever will be in body. Now, let's get you into something that will fit you."

Atyla knew Veina meant well, but she found it hard to believe her sister's words, considering Veina and Visna were identical in every way except their personalities. She obeyed her sister's gentle direction into her closet, where Veina picked out a black gown with golden trim.

"Seventeen summers I've been alive; seventeen summers Visna has hated me," Atyla huffed, tearing off the ill-fitted gown. Veina searched the hanging racks in a rather rushed fashion to find something for her sister.

"Not true, little sister," said Veina in a sigh of relief, her eyes beaming with excitement as her hand met with a piece of fabric lost between the other clothes. "Try this one," she held out a purple gown with silver feathers laced from the left shoulder down to the right waist. Preparing for this ball has been exhausting these last few weeks, and the tension and anticipation of it grew stronger by the day. Visna, especially, had been insufferable on account of her anxiety of the event, taking her frustrations out on the young princess.

"She makes it seem that way," Atyla rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's my skin. Atius and I are the only of Father's children with skin this dark––we are the Blood of the Giants," she said defeatedly, removing the dress once she noticed it looked more like a heavy coat on her. Not many people in the kingdom of Yeluacam looked as dark as them. Anyone who did was considered to have more Giant in them than human.

"This will do," Veina grinned, seeming not to hear what her little sister had said, "it was mine when I was your age."

Atyla inspected the gown. It was studded down one side with shimmering diamonds and had a collar of black feathers. Elegant enough for the occasion at hand. "I suppose...." she shrugged.

"Very good!" Veina said in a sigh. "Well, I have to go find our brother," she continued, hurrying Atyla out of the closet, "there's something I need to speak with him about."