Amber Dawn

Chapter One

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang across the training yard as Vera parried a blow from Sir Eric. Since she was big enough to hold a wooden sword, the revered knight had been training her.

“You’re a girl, but you mustn’t fight like one,” he’d tell her. A big, brute of a man that had loyally served in her father’s royal guard for more than most of his life, he’d watched Vera grow. He’d stood guard while her parents struggled to have more children that only ever brought miscarriages and stillborns.

He’d witnessed her turn from a wild child into a restless young lady. He’d been there when her mother passed from the fever, and there still when her father named her as his heir.

To Vera, he was as much family as her uncle that she couldn’t remember was. But more because she knew him.

Vera trained as intensely as she did anything. As a princess, she had the world at her fingertips. As a dragon rider, she had a great responsibility. As her father’s only heir, she had an all-consuming duty to her family and the realm.

She was determined and stubborn, tenacious and quick-witted. Everything that she did, she did wholeheartedly. Half-measures were not something that she would accept from herself, let alone anyone else.

So when she trained, she fought like a madwoman. And she was rather good. She’d learned to use Sir Eric’s brute strength against him. It was hard to get past his long-reach, but she’d learned. It was even more dangerous within his reach, but she was mastering that, too.

She dodged a blow, spun in, throwing him off balance, and disarmed him, slinging his weapon into the dust feet away.

His brown eyes landed on her, laughing, though his mouth didn’t show his amusement. “I think that’s enough for today.”

She smirked, raising her blade and arching her brow. “Am I getting too good for you?”

His laughter boomed out of his giant form, shaking the air itself. “That ego will be what gets you, Princess.”

“Only if I allow it,” she replied, sheathing her weapon. “Thank you, Sir Eric.”

“It is my honor,” he stated, retrieving his weapon and sheathing it. “Be sure to care for your blade and armor,” he called after her as she started towards the door of the keep.

~

“Are you excited?” Aly asked as they walked to the library to meet with their tutor. Lady Aly was a noble from House Maple. Her father sat on the king’s council as head of defense.

“I know I am,” Merida boasted, swinging her book in her arms. Another lady, from House Addendale. Her father was the treasurer on the king’s council.

“To be paraded in front of possible suitors?” Vera snarled her lip in a very un-ladylike fashion. “I know that I must marry, but I don’t want to. Just give me Bane and my people. A king consort can come later.”

“That’s not the way of the world, Vera,” Aly said.

“Besides, some of these men are actually good looking,” Merida commented, tossing her auburn hair over her shoulder. “And dancing is so much fun.”

“You’ll find a good match,” Aly continued, “someone from a noble house that will stand beside you when you ascend the throne.”

“Or someone that wants the throne,” Vera interjected. “They don’t want me for me, they want my title and the right to share it. They want to try to control me. And I’ll be paraded like a prized horse, auctioned off to the highest bidder. It’s disgusting.”

“Your father won’t make you marry someone you don’t want to,” Merida countered.

“He’s at least giving you a choice,” Aly stated matter-of-factly.

Unlike you, Vera thought with sadness. Aly had been betrothed to Robert Winewood since birth.

Vera wrapped her arm around Aly’s shoulders, pulling her close. “This will be your first time seeing Robert since you were children, won’t it?”

Aly nodded.

“Maybe he grew to be handsome and charming,” Merida stated, sounding hopeful.

“I just remember the snot-nosed kid that used to tease me with my older brother. Surely he’s grown and matured since then.” Aly’s big brown eyes met Vera’s, questioning.

“Surely. And if he hasn’t, once I’m queen, I’ll annul the marriage on your behalf and you can marry whomever you want.” She grinned as the other girls giggled.

“You can’t,” Aly laughed.

“When she’s the queen she can do whatever she wants,” Merida corrected.

Vera smiled, though she was under no delusions that being queen meant doing as she pleased when she pleased.

Quite the opposite, actually.