Chapter 1 - The Maiden and the Bride

Firm knocks on the carriage window made Alexa and the other maiden, Lady Cordelia, startle in anticipation. Cordelia the bride hold her breath then exhaled carefully, knowing that outside, her husband-to-be, Prince Magnus von Wutenfall, probably wanted to greet her for the first time. They had arrived at the border of the two kingdoms, and the noble groom was there to escort his future wife to the castle.

'Ah, if he had advanced across the borders and met the comitive two nights ago, then he would have been of some use!' Alexa thought, looking at her bandaged and aching hands.

Lady Cordelia cautiously opened the sliding window. Alexa curiously peeped out the outside. She wanted to know who Lady Cordelia was promised to.

A handsome face showed up.

Alexa's violet eyes met Prince Magnus's golden eyes immediately. What she saw was the immediate shock into those eyes. Before she could concatenate any reason for this reaction, or remember her dagger under her travel hooded cape, the door was fully opened and Alexa was violently pulled out the carriage by the sleeves of her cape, getting out of balance in the process. Cordelia shouted,

'Prince Magnus! Stop! Stop! Please!'

Alexa fell to the muddy ground, but was agile enough not to prostrate. Turning on her fours, she tried to get up, but as the maiden's hands were wounded and bandaged she could not use them for support. The nimble prince once again turned the maiden with a tug of her cloak, causing her to lie flat on her back. He stood menacingly upon her, with Alexa between his legs, pointing the sword at her neck.

They faced each other again. Alexa just breathed heavily but didn't beg or scream.

Cordelia hastily got out of the carriage,

"Please, Your Highness, cease it! Stop! What did this girl do?! She saved me two nights ago, don't hurt her I beg!!" the bride pleaded, on the verge of despair, not understanding the reason for the sudden violence against her new friend.

Alexa dared not look away from the lion's eyes of the Saxon Prince. The damsel understood a little more than Lady Cordelia. She understood that her face attracted both and either hatred and passion since she was a child. The handsome, dark-haired prince sighed, apparently annoyed that he had to deal with his bride before dealing with Alexa. In her thoughts, Alexa thanked Cordelia for being there. But on second thought, if it wasn't for Cordelia, none of this would be happening in the first place.

"Who are you?" his voice was deep, and naturally he spoke with the hard accent of his people. Alexa was the expat, and although she could speak the language of the Saxon people, she was sure they would have difficulty communicating. Starting with the fact that he was above her, with a sword pointed at the damsel's chin, while Alexa had her back in the cold, fetid mud, surrounded by hostile soldiers and a mad prince.

The Greek maiden thought of many things to do and say, but given her fragile condition and health, the best thing to do was…

Cough.

She began to cough and raised her bandaged, now muddy little hands to her face. Her best ally was Lady Cordelia's compassion, who was distressed surrounding the prince.

"Coff Coff Coff… Coff Coff"… Alexa rolled a bit for a most dramatic effect. She hated it, but as the mercenary who accompanied her journey until days ago would say, 'honor is to be lost'.

He would have laughed at Alexa's situation, the bastard.

As she lifted the filthy rags toward her face, the Prince pulled the maiden off the ground, trying to pull her hood off. At this moment his bride intervened, and grasped his strong arm bravely, trying to keep Prince Magnus from hurting the petite lady,

"No! Don't touch her! Don't do it, Your Highness! She is my friend, she is… my lady-in-wait! What are you doing?!"

Alexa could not prevent her own instinct of preservation and also held the arm of the Saxon prince, who was pulling her by the hood. Her hands hurt as if a thousand needles stung her. Only then Alexa moaned, in pain.

"Who is this creature? What kind of nonsense is that ?! "the man asked angrily, taking his bride's hand away from him. The two faced each other. Alexa, sitting on the humid ground, watched the couple, who should get married in five days, on their first meeting.

The prince wore black, with a dark green cape. He didn't look much alike the blond people of the north. On the contrary, he had dark striking eyebrows and large green-golden eyes, the features of his face apollonian as a classic statue. If not for his angry and nasty expression, he was a handsome man of southern descent, Alexa imagined. Lady Cordelia, on the other hand, paled in the face of her husband-to-be's strength, vitality and beauty. Nowhere could the combination of her features be considered beautiful. She was too tall, too thin, too wan and pale. Her eyes were faded blue colored, just as her lips were discolored and fishlike, and her teeth large. But Alexa thought Cordelia's best assets were her eyes and voice.

Just because they were always full of kindness and innocence.

The prince, however, showed neither. 'Poor Cordelia,' the maiden found herself thinking as she stood, watchful of the noble couple's clash of glances. Naturally, the man won, his intense gaze dominating the delicate-minded bride. Cordelia turned her gaze, but pleaded once again,

"Please don't mistreat her, I beg, Prince. I'd be dead today if it wasn't for Lady Saskia."

The arrogant prince even tried, but didn't hide his indifference to his bride. 'Maybe if she was beautiful ? She's so sweet and so innocent…!' Alexa really wished Cordelia had a better destiny than consorting the arrogant Prince of a kingdom that wasn't even cited in the older maps of where the maiden came from.

And yet it wasn't over, Alexa knew, but before the Prince gruffly answered his bride, the galloping of horses was heard. One of the men warned,

"They are messengers, my prince!"

'Meh meh meh', Alexa thought peevly, mimicking the words by the back of the prince. She could indulge this much, after the events of the last minutes. She had rolled in the mud; she was stinking, and she was freezing. She had gone out of her way and was now stuck in a most complicated situation. And now a jerk with a title wanting to drag her face to the ground for no clear reason. Titles, what are titles when death comes to everyone? He couldn't possibly know what had happened, could he? Worse than that… would he possibly know who Alexa really was?

"Your Highness, the castle is in turmoil. Your brother Prince Alexander… He's dead!" said the messenger who wore the same uniform as most men around the Prince.

For some completely nonsense reason for Alexa, everyone's eyes turned to her.