Princesses were supposed to be kind and beautiful women who lived in large castles and held tea parties while wearing the most beautiful dresses and being courted by powerful and handsome men from all over the realm.

At least that was what people believed but Naiari knew better, hers was a different one from the norm. She was a princess who owned only worn out clothes that scratched her skin, she had never attended a party or been pursued by any of the knights in the realm and even though she did live in a royal castle, she had a tiny bare room in the servants quarters.

Her story was a far cry from what one would expect from the daughter of a king. Her life was something of a stain because her father the king had gotten a woman pregnant on one of his travels and about a year later, an infant had been brought to the castle.

After the royal officials had determined that the baby was indeed the king's child, the mother had left never to be seen again. Leaving the child alone to her fate and had been raised by a maid, her heritage an open secret. She was known as the bastard princess.

•

"Where. Is. The. Necklace!" Queen Elara demanded coldly, the venom in her voice enough to sting.

Naiari looked up at her from the ground where she was kneeling, her eyes shimmering with tears.

"I swear I have nothing to do with its disappearance your majesty."

The queen looked on at the shivering girl before her then she glanced at her knight who was standing several steps away.

The knight stepped forward and delivered a blow to Naiari's midsection with his gauntlet on. The blow was so powerful that the girl's frail body fell to the side as she coughed up blood while she held her belly and cried quietly.

Queen Elara stared at Naiari emotionlessly. She would like nothing more than to destroy her pretty face and even kill but she knew better than to do that. Her husband King Edmund had warned her never to allow any bruises to appear on the bastard's face or any part that of her body that could be easily seen so she had to be careful.

That was the only thing that was saving Naiari or else she would not even be forced to bear the indignity of seeing the product of her husband's philandering walking around. So she was forced to be creative about finding ways to make her feel her hate.

She nodded at the Knight and he helped Naiari get back to her kneeling position and even though she was visibly in pain, she tried her hardest to remain steady on her knees.

"You say you know nothing about the disappearance of Yvette's necklace from her room don't you?" Queen Elara asked again and Naiari raised her head with difficulty.

"I swear your Majesty, I know nothing about it." She answered slowly as each breath made her feel like her chest was burning and she wondered if her ribs were broken.

'It would not be the first time.'

"So what then is this?" Queen Elara drawled lazily and dangled a sapphire necklace in front of Naiari's face.

"Why was it found in a little nook under your bed?"

Naiari's eyes widened as she saw the necklace dangling in front of her. She had never seen the necklace so how then could the queen say that it had been found in her room? She felt a feeling of dread settle in the pit of her already sensitive stomach.

She knew that what was coming next was not going to be good. There would be some form of punishment, she wondered what it would be this time.

Naiari knew that the queen hated her because she was the king's daughter and no matter how hard she tried to keep away from her, she found herself getting punished for infractions she knew nothing about.

"Not only are you a bastard but you are a thief and a liar also. I try my hardest to show you grace but you insist on paying me with disrespect."

Naiari knew that there was no point in trying to argue her innocence because the queen's minions were probably responsible for the necklace appearing in her room so she simply bowed her head and waited for her punishment while wondering why they did not just kill her and put her out of her suffering.

The queen turned away and walked out of the room while the knight grabbed Naiari's hair and dragged her out of the room, through the hallway and to the courtyard.

Her heart thudded as she felt the light of the sun on her face. She had been brought here so many times and every time there was a new punishment to be had. When the knight dropped her hair she fell down then looked up to see firewood piled up in a corner of the courtyard while a weird contraption stood over it with a rope dangling from it.

As she wondered what was going to happen, the knight pulled the rope lower before coming back to drag her over and tying her hands. After he dragged the ends of the rope so that she was hoisted up and hanging over the pile of wood.

She groaned in pain as the movement left her in agony and to her horror she watched as the knight lit the wood and fire licked at her feet.

Naiari screamed at the burning pain and flailed helplessly as she tried to raise her legs from the heat but her belly hurt so bad for any movements and she could only hang helplessly over the fire while her loud screams rent the silence and the smell of burning flesh permeated the air.