Bonded

Chapter 1

Jza shielded herself from shards of glass as another window exploded. She looked up once again and was dismayed to see her precious library in ruins. Glass and parchment was scattered everywhere and the impact of the explosion outside had thrown a few bookshelves asunder. Jza was horrified to see one of the page boys who had been helping her gather books a few moments earlier was now pinned under a broken bookshelf.

She gathered her skirts and quickly ran to help him.

"Don't worry I'll get you out," She murmured to the frightened boy who was struggling to keep in his tears. For an ordinary princess the task of lifting such a heavy object would have been excruciating but Jza wasn't the usual kind of princess. For the first thirteen years of her life she hadn't even known she was a princess and had lived a harsh existence working at a farm. Even after so many years her tolerance for manual labour was far greater then that her half sisters'.

Jza lifted the dark wood not caring about the splinters digging into her palms. The boy pulled himself out looking like he ached with every movement of his body. When he was out of the way Jza let the broken shelf fall in a crumbling heap. Loose sheets of paper and dust flew everywhere.

As she was helping the boy up Jza heard loud footsteps of someone running into the library. She turned around and was relived to find it was one of her father's men and not the enemy's. These days every shadow was to be a considered a great threat. Who knew when the castle would be infiltrated.

"Princess Jza, Thank goodness you're safe. Your father has been injured and we're planning to shift him to Goridon castle," The dusty footman exclaimed.

"Is he expected to live?" Jza could not help but blurt out the first question that came to her head. She was petrified to even think of having to face the war without her father at the helm. If he was gone, all hope would be lost.

The footman gave a weary smile but it was smile nonetheless and it pacified her. "He's out of danger and the shards of glass have been removed but we must evacuate this castle. The enemy has broken through the first line of defense and the second is wavering as well. We cannot risk the Royal family being captured."

"Good lord," she muttered and remembered the boy she was holding up. She held the boy forward towards the man, "His leg has been injured. Please take care of him; I must attend to my father immediately."

She ran towards the infirmary and was relived it was not quite damaged as yet. Wounded soldiers were propped in every corner. Some were crying out in pain while others weren't even conscious. She swiftly crossed the crowd of people and entered the royal infirmary. The room was gravely quiet and the sight of her father looking so pale and quiet disturbed her greatly. The room also contained Jza's half sisters and step mothers all of whom were the quietest she had ever seen them. She had enough sisters to fill the whole room so Jza stood silently in one corner trying to get a good look at the King. His head was covered in bandages and so was his torso and she could tell from his paleness that he had lost a lot of blood.

"Hush," One of her step mothers uttered, "Samuel is trying to say something."

Everyone leaned in closer and finally one of the women spoke in shock, "He's calling for Jza."

Jza suddenly felt the strength of the stares of all the women in the room. Some of them were curious while the others were openly hostile. Even after five years of living with Royal family she had never really fit in with the women of the King's family. Out of her twelve sisters only two deemed her worthy enough to talk to while the rest either ignored her or seethed against her. Her existence in Royal family wasn't ideal but Jza wouldn't replace her new family for anything in the world.