Elara Johnson gazed at the imperial crowned prince as he stepped down from the ornate carriage that dropped him in the frontage of her father's throne room.
His piercing blue eyes locked unto hers and he smiled at her. She scuffed, signaling him to face his front with a pouting from her lips.
Her cheeks flushed lightly from he brief exchange.
She wondered why he was always doing that. Ever since he came down from his father's empire of Valleria to their small kingdom of Everwood, he had been making it a point to catch her eye and smile at her whenever their paths crossed.
Elara found it both infuriating and intriguing, unsure of how to react to the prince's flirtatious behavior.
As the prince turned to enter the throne room, Elara's gaze lingered on his broad shoulders and chiseled features.
She noticed how his black hair curled lightly at the nape of his neck.
She had to admit, he was handsome, but she was determined not to let his charms get the better of her.
She waited outside as he entered to meet her father, the Duke of Everwood. Women were not allowed in the throne room, and thus, she waited outside for them to be done with their discussion.
"He is handsome, isn't he?" A voice whispered to her and Elara was visibly shaken being called back from her trance.
He was handsome. It was a fact she couldn't deny. The whole kingdoms of the empire were abuzz with talks of his good looks. Of the second and last son of the Emperor. But she knew the side thoughts that came with the question was not something that could be her reality. Her heart ached at the thought.
Her father was merely a Duke and she, his daughter, a half man trapped in the body o a woman, like he called her most times. Because she had trained to be a warrior from a young age.
There were several pretty princess's from other kingdoms who stood better chances of being a bride to the imperial Prince. Who was she to be compared to them?
"Yes he is" Elara managed to reply, her voice barely above a whisper as well.
Her mom smiled at her as if she had noticed the turmoil that had just hit her daughter with her question, but she said nothing else to her.
They stood in silence, awaiting the end of the meeting between the men and their officials as the noises of the kingdom activities went on.
The activities were interrupted by the sounds of marching soldiers. Elara's mother looked tensed and flushed and she could not understand why marching soldiers made her so.
The air has become dusty by now even though the marching men were yet to be seen. But from the highlighted sounds of their marching, it could be known that they had come in large numbers.
"Who gave the soldiers the order to match to the palace?!!" Elara's father asked on coming out of the throne room.
The teenage prince who had come to their kingdom for a holiday was with him and Elara wondered when he was going to stop being such a scared coward.
She has first noticed it when they were out hunting, and how he had run to her father's protection on the sight of a squirrel.
If he was so cowardly, she wondered why his father, the Emperor had made him the imperial crowned prince.
"Stop in the name of the King!!" The King's general screamed on top his lungs as he and his men ran out from their office, standing before the king and his family to protect them from whoever was marching in on his kingdom.
But the noise didn't cease and the soldiers kept marching in and becoming visible now.
The King's shock was palpable on his face. This was the dressing of the soldiers of the Imperial Army. What sacrilege might have been committed for them to march in on his kingdom without informing him beforehand and being in their large numbers.
Elara stared at her father and then her gaze shifted to the Prince who stood behind him. She couldn't make a thing out of what was happening either. Had the Prince come to be taken away by his people? If so, his father, the Emperor could have given a royal command and her father would have returned him to the empire with the finest and best of his soldiers, including her, his only child, to show his solidarity to the Emperor and the fact that his son's life was above his daughter's.
The image of the man riding a horse in front of the marching army became prominent and Elara identified him. It was Florente, the Grand Chancellor's first born son and the Grand General of the Imperial Army.
She wondered why he was leading the Imperial Army to Everwood and became alert with her hand on top the sheath of her sword, waiting to draw if anything.
Florente wasn't a good name in their kingdom, and neither was the name of the Grand Chancellor.
If his son were marching in on their kingdom with the Imperial Army without her father being informed first hand about it, then she was safe to assume that something was amiss and that something would be against her father.
Yet, she couldn't do anything with her thoughts and neither could she speak up to her father to call on their own Army to shield them from the Imperial Army marching in on them, as that act itself would be considered treason.
"Stop in the name of the King!!" The general continued screaming while his men raised the Everwood flag for the army marching in to see.
There were little or no results from what he did as neither their leader nor the army behind him pause. And he knew why. They were the Imperial Army, whereas he was just the commander of some Kingdom owned by a Duke to the Emperor.
Grand General Florente arrived before Elara's father and climbed down his horse, after almost running him over with it.
"How dare you march upon Everwood with the Imperial Army without the Empire sending words to me about it?!" Elara's father questioned. His voice dropped with anger and command as he saw no meaning towards the act.
The Imperial Crowned Prince was under his custody as it was the turn of his kingdom to usher him to their vast lands and their ways of life. So there was no way the Emperor would send his Army to his kingdom without letting him know about it before hand.
He heard a loud hissing from the army and his anger became even more palpable on his face.
Who amongst the Imperial Army had the right to hiss while he talked?
After the Emperor's command, he was next in Everwood. So who was it that would dare hiss within the army.
He stared at Florente for an explanation,or even a scroll with the Emperor's stamp ordering the deployment.
"Did we take you by surprise?" Florente questioned after dismounting his horse, his voice condescending.
"What is the meaning of this?! Grand Commander?! Who ordered this invasion?!" Elara's father questioned while staring at the countless soldiers closing in all over the four walls of his throne room.
"Pardon me but this is a matter of utmost urgency. The Empire has reasons to believe that the safety of the Imperial Crowned Prince is at threat within the four walls of this kingdom! "
Elara's father's face darkened with anger. Not just at the unauthorized invasion of his kingdom,because he knew there was no way the Emperor would deploy his men without a message, but also at the accusations being leveled against him concerning the Crown Prince's safety.
"What are you insinuating?" His eyes scrutinized him, his expressions visibly angered. "That i, the Duke of Everwood would harbour threats to the Crowned Princes safety?"
Elara could do nothing more interfer as the accusations flew in the tensed atmosphere. And neither could she confront the General for not revering her Father, even when he was in the wrong by invading their kingdom when they expected nothing.
She stared at her father's back and as usual, the coward still stood behind him, hiding under his protection without being able to say anything in her father's defense.
Even though she were two years younger than he were, she wondered why he was such.
Florente's face remained neutral and he gave no answers to the question the Duke has asked.
A hiss was heard from the crowd again and this time, Elara's father was too angry to not question who kept interrupting.
Not until the men in the middle made way and a carriage came forward.
Elara didn't waste time to know that her father's kingdom was under an unauthorized siege the moment the Grand Chancellor came down from the carriage.
This wasn't about the Crowned Prince, but about her father, a loyalist to the Emperor being eliminated.