The castle I had lived in my entire life resided on a cliff. You might be asking why would the castle reside on a cliff, but it had been a strategic move on my father's part when the city had been built. My father, the King, soon after marrying my mother, had packed up his entire city, fleeing something he never talks about, and came to the cliffs where there could be a great escape if needed. It wasn't until after they settled on the cliff that their luck had started to change.

It started with the birth of a princess, my oldest sister. Amelia was stern faced but had a sweet side. She kept her head in her studies. Since she was the eldest, unless my father had a son, she was due to inherit the kingdom. After Amelia, there were eleven other princesses, me being the twelfth.

But then my mother died giving birth to me. No one held it against me but a part of me wished there was a chance that I could have had some time to get to know my mom. All I knew about her came from the stories my father told and the memories my sisters had of her. Then dad remarried and all mention of my mom had ceased. It was as if she was a forgotten voice, all memories of her drifting across the ocean on the cliff below.

Soon after my father remarried, the once lucky king stood to lose everything. War was declared on my mother'a homeland. It pitted cousins against cousins. Father got sick often and the new Queen had nearly bankrupted the country, all by throwing lavish parties. But there was something worse out there.

There was a change in the air, feeling almost the way it did when fall turned to winter. The air was crisper, and a little thinner even though it all started in the middle of spring. I remembered because there had still been flowers blooming on the cherry trees that surrounded the castle. It wasn't until the next morning that we saw what happened.

Amelia had died. Her body was found at the bottom of the cliff in her best dress without any shoes on.