From Tower to Throne

Prolouge

    Once upon a time, in a land that no longer exists, there was a mighty kingdom. It was ruled by a young and very proud king. He ran his kingdom how he wanted and had no care as to what his subjects thought of him or his ruling. He was very greedy and over taxed his citizens, leading all but the nobles, into impoverished lifestyles. He was also very demanding and so strict that he would punish people for ridiculous reasons.

       The queen of the land, however, was very young, beautiful, and caring, but the king was very cruel and uncaring toward her. She was 11 and he was 25 when they were wed. Their marriage was one of arrangements so the king only married her for self advantage. She had a large dowry upon her head.

     The queen did indeed, over the years, learn to love the king as he was. Although it wasn't a strong love for him, she did care. She thought of it as her duty as his wife and the queen to care for him. The king, however, never learned to care for the queen, she, as he saw, was only there to provide him an heir.

      As the years went by, the queen finally came of age and was able to provide the king a much wanted heir. However, when the child was born, it was not a young prince, which the king desperately desired, but instead a beautiful young princess.

   Soon after the child's birth, the queen fell ill and the royal doctor informed the king that it was complications due to the birth of their child and that the queen did not have long left to live.

    The king was infuriated by this because he, not only, did not get a prince but also because his prized wife was on her deathbed.

     A few months passed and the queen grew weaker. She knew she did not have long and knew that the problems arose from giving birth and yet she still looked at the child with unconditional love which greatly infuriated the king.

     After the death of the queen, the king had the child locked away in the most decrepit tower in his large castle. The king hated the small child with everything he had in him.

    The princess's name was Asteryn. She was very beautiful and graceful. And as she got older, she learned to read and write and many other things, she was a quick learner. She especially loved to read the books that her maid brought her from the castle library everyday and because of this she gained knowledge that most people, especially  women, did not know. But the thing she wanted most was to meet her father but every time he said he would not see her. Other days she looked out of her tower window and gazed upon the life outside of the round walls she was confined too.

     Now 11 years of age she began to understand her father's hatred for her and stopped asking to see him. Although she never got to meet her father she knew how he treated the kingdom and for that she grew to dislike him. She watched helplessly as her subjects suffered and struggled to survive. She feigned to be able to change it and prayed for the day to become queen and reshape the kingdom.