Struggling Amaryllis

                                                                                    Prologue

            “You always made it seem so simple. So easy, that I could do it with my eyes closed. I didn’t realize that you were hiding me from the truth.” My voice echoed in the destroyed garden that surrounded me. Tears pooled blurring my vision as I had stared blankly into ashy green vines.

            My gaze drifted around the burnt grounds. Charred leaves littered the world and reminded me of the hate boiling inside the Fey people.

            Before any child of our race learned to speak, they were taught to regard mortals as dishonest and vile. Taught of the war and the bloodshed that immersed our dimension. They witnessed the prejudice mortals have toward them. They saw the pain, agony, and death that littered the world of Fey. It was drilled into the minds of all.

            From early on, I was taught to hate. Taught that the mortals were my enemy and that would never change. The only question left unanswered was always why. Why had the war started? Why did my family have to be ripped away from me at such a young age? Why, why, why.

            My green gaze hit ivory statue cracked and beheaded a moment later snapping me from my internal rant. Too many people had already lost their life, and still people fought. Our resistance dwindled, every day. Our only hope of survival boiled down to a school. The Institution that for years trained males to be part of the Royal Army now was used to train any male who wanted to fight for the cause.

            My fingers brushed the smooth cooper etched plaque. For eons we’d been at war. Our landscape warped into something devilish. Frosted hills and sunny fields extended into fiery summer sun, now those images were forever smoldering in the remnants of battle. My gaze lifted from the cooper sign toward the debris around me. Trees once full of green stood charred and blackened. Ash coated the earth like a thick blanket. In the corner by a warped bench sat the crimson patch of ground, undisturbed by any of the fires reach. I tried to imagine what the garden looked like before destruction. Before the murders I’d witnessed just inches from where I stood. I drew a blank; the land would always be tainted to me.

            Fingertips ran over the words, which would forever symbolize the horror that consumed the world; I stared down holding the tears at bay. My heart had crumpled in two as my green gaze hit the bolded letters. “Forever in our hearts,” I mumbled feeling my airways close.

            I shoved the pain and tears behind my mental walls while I turned away from the scene. How had the mortals managed to let their greed to take over? They had destroyed everything I held dear, everything I had once craved to know about. I started on my way back toward the summer house in hopes that I could forget the world- forget that I was alone and no matter how hard I wished that wouldn’t be changing.

            I had neared the house feeling like the world had blurred by me.  The seventh year women were allowed to train with the males at the Institution had finally concluded months ago. I had left my duties as princess, seven years ago at age eleven, to train, fight, defend and seek my revenge. I had been pushed past my limits, had my spirit broken in hopes that I would be considered a warrior. Alongside me, two other females had endured just as I had. Now, three months after my first year, I stared at the house, frozen. My bags sat on the porch, my last tie to home had been cut clean. A deep exhale fluttered past my lips as I awaited my carriage to bring me to my new home.

            The hallow feeling had taken over my body as I stood on the steps. My family had been taken ruthlessly six years ago; now at the age of seventeen I had no more home here. Nothing awaited me during the summer at this hallow house. Somehow, the disappearance of the Winter Queen had caused the pain of my family’s murder to resurface. That had been the reason for waiting to leave this place. My own aunt had been taken from her throne left for dead in the mortal world.  The choice I made so many years ago was costing me more than I thought possible. Still, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I was a warrior.

            The sounds of hooves echoed down the road. Coming here to my home had been my last chance to say goodbye to the world I knew long ago. I closed my eyes briefly. The summer sun grazed my skin, warmed my blood, made my almost forget that I’d soon be standing in the same spot many others had.