Irena Floramare felt her hands trembling as enemy soldiers led her and her sister Tabitha deep into the lower corridors of Daylith Palace. Seventeen years had passed since the turning of the century, and the short-lived peace brought by the Blood Accord was already forgotten. Irena's father was once a powerful warrior king of the Swaying Valley, but his own brother, Fritmon Floramare, murdered him in his sleep. Fritmon had been offered great riches to do away with King Tobias, allowing Irena's beautiful home to be conquered by the southern kingdom of Daylith. It was a shameful defeat since some of the greatest human warriors in the history of Bastileborn were conceived and reared in the valley kingdom.
Irena's head began to ache as she thought of these things. She also noticed a continued heaviness in her legs. Tears began to drip from her beautiful chin and fall cold on her hands. Her wrists had been bound in front of her for many weeks by that point. The dark corridor was cold. The air was wet against her face as she and her sister hurried along between four guards. They soon reached a narrow staircase that led straight up for thirty feet. The doors at the top were opened for them, and they stepped into a warm, torch-lit dormitory. The walls were stone with old tapestries hung over them to help insulate the room. The place was obviously slave quarters.
Irena stood proud and gently placed her bound hands on her sister's shoulder. Poor Tabitha was blinded in an accident as a toddler. Irena was fiercely protective of her. Tabitha turned eighteen two months earlier, but she was still Irena's baby sister.
"Where are we, Iry?" Tabitha whispered. Her delicate face was pale with fear and dirty from their violent abduction.
"I think we're in the palace at Daylith," Irena whispered as she wiped dirt from her sister's face.
"Not another word from you two," growled one of the guards as he grabbed Irena's arm and jerked her away from Tabitha. "Matron, we have new arrivals. Come take this one with you. She'll be a nice toy for the young master. We'll escort the blind one to the laundry room," yelled the guard.
An old round woman appeared from a door on the right with three other aged women behind her. They seized Irena and began to pull her into the room away from her sister.
"No! Stop, you wretched women! I am Princess Irena Floramare! I will not be treated like a savage!" she cried as she fought to get away from them.
"Iry!" Tabitha shrieked as the men seized her and carried her in the other direction.
"Tabitha, don't be afraid! I'll come for you," Irena yelled as tears poured from her eyes.
The women pulling her were old, but they were not weak. They dragged Irena into a washroom and proceeded to strip her of the once beautiful spring dress she had been wearing in the Lacustrine gardens. They freed her hands, and she immediately tried to fight them again.
"Stop making such a fuss, you stupid girl. We are not going to hurt you or your sister unless we have to," grouched the matron.
Irena let out an exhausted sigh and allowed them to finish removing her clothes. She was aching with fatigue after her miserable journey south. She was soon standing naked in the center of the humid room as the women gathered pitchers of water and soap.
The gray stones under her feet were pleasantly warm. The floor had small canals built into it every three feet. Warm water constantly flowed through the little gullies, heating up the stones. It was a remarkable bit of engineering. Irena was admiring it as the old women thoroughly washed her and combed the tangles out of her long blond hair. They even trimmed and groomed the hair that no one was supposed to see. Then they dressed her in a skimpy red satin dress that barely covered her beautiful frame. It was split down the front and back all the way to her pelvis. The matron made her sit on the floor so she could braid her thick blond locks into something more manageable.
Once her grooming was finished, they immediately bound her hands again. Then the matron led Irena to an elegant door at the end of the slave quarters and knocked loudly. It was yanked open, revealing two well-dressed palace guards. They were wearing light green and gold armor on their chests and shoulders. Irena couldn't make out any facial features through the T-shaped holes in their burnished helmets.
"Take this one to the young master's room," the matron ordered. Then she pushed Irena out the door.
The guards seized her bound arms and led her down a beautifully adorned hall. The carpet was deep red and thick under Irena's bare feet. The stone walls were covered in bright red drapes and tapestries with gold fringe. The images depicted on the tapestries showed magnificent battles between mortals and gods waged across jagged mountain tops.
When Irena wasn't admiring the art, she was taking careful notice of her surroundings. She already had her mind set on escaping. Guards were stationed along the hall in intervals of a hundred feet. If she tried to flee, she would be caught almost instantaneously. It dashed her hopes of rescuing Tabitha on her own.
Suddenly, the guards stopped in front of two massive wooden doors. They were decorated with deep carvings of grand battles between dragons and mountain dwarves. They knocked loudly and waited.
"Enter," called a man's voice from within.
The guards opened the doors and led Irena into the middle of a luxurious bedroom. The stone walls were plastered smooth and painted white. Elaborate gold vines decorated the corners and edges of the walls. The painted vines snaked across the ceiling where they met in the center. At that point, the vines seemed to grow down and become a chain connected to a magnificent golden chandelier. The chandelier held fresh candles on multiple branches that were surrounded by carved glass votives. The fixture could easily be lowered with the chain, allowing a servant to light it in less than a minute. Irena stared up at it in wonder for a moment.
The guards motioned for her not to move before they hurried from the room and closed the doors behind them. She looked around the magnificent room for a moment. The east-facing wall was made up of two large bay windows on each side of two glass patio doors. The doors opened onto a stone balcony that offered a spectacular view of the Daylith Gorge. The windows flooded the room with light even when the sun fell behind the mountains in the west.
Her gaze eventually settled on the man standing in front of the window on the right. He was looking at a collection of daggers on an oak table. He was tall and built like a young warrior. His hair was dark brown and well-groomed. His face was very handsome and cleanly shaved. Thick dark eyebrows made his eyes look brooding. Irena could tell by his embroidered blue waistcoat and matching slacks that he was a nobleman, possibly a prince. She suddenly felt more at ease to be in the company of royalty again.
"Young Master, I am Princess Irena Floramare of Lacustrine City, the Swaying Valley capital. Please tell me who you are and why I'm here. Will I be allowed to rest soon?" she asked.
The young man looked at her in angry astonishment. His large hazel eyes and dark eyelashes were striking, combined with the severe expression on his face.
"How dare you address me without permission? I am the firstborn prince of Daylith, not some random palace guard," he snapped before he placed one of the daggers in his belt and approached the princess.
