January 2017

[av_dropcap1]T[/av_dropcap1]he room glittered and shimmered in the candlelight like the lights of a thousand upon a thousand stars. She laughed as she ran, her shoes click-clacking on the stone floors. But she soon threw her hand over her mouth. She couldn’t be caught. Not this time. She was determined to win the game, even though she had yet to. The sound of her father’s counting faded the farther she ran. She soared across the golden floors—it was as if she was flying! She stifled another giggle before crouching into the tiny alcove. The alcove into which only she could fit—her

[av_dropcap1]E[/av_dropcap1]verything alright, dear?” her father asked as Elizabeth plopped herself down into one of the two expertly-carved chairs that faced the hearth in her little cottage. Gifts from Ferryl—not that he would remember that. No fire burned in the fireplace, the coals from the night before waiting for her to relight them and begin the nightly routine all over. Except she had absolutely no desire to prepare dinner tonight. Not since— “Elizabeth, love?” Elizabeth slid her gaze to her father, emerging into the small living room; he took a seat in the matching chair beside her, his silver hair glowing

[av_dropcap1]W[/av_dropcap1]ell, if it isn’t my long lost little brother!” Prince Ferryl exclaimed, throwing his arm around his brother as soon as he reached him in the palace corridor. After having spent a day in the city meeting with some of the nobility to discuss the presence of Midvarish rebels, he had returned to Benalle Palace as soon as he had seen the horses and wagons coming up the road—Commander Titus’s men, returned from their long stint on the other side of the kingdom. He had quickly finished up the last of the pointless meetings his father had scheduled and rushed