“You may enter,” a voice on the other side of the door informed us. Amelie gave me a reassuring smile and opened the door, gesturing for me to enter first. 

I stepped through the door and was greeted by a surprisingly simple looking room. It was elegant and luxurious, yes, but it lacked the garish overdecoration that the rest of the Palace boasted. The walls were a simple unpatterned white, the floors were a dark gray marble, and there was no ornate artwork or sculptures housed within. In the middle of the simple sitting room was a large beige rug with a wide wooden table at its center. Around the table were six dark brown armchairs, two of which were already occupied. 

In one chair sat an elderly man, with long plaited white hair, wearing a long bronze colored robe. He had jolly red cheeks and piercing grey eyes. In the other sat a man who could only be His Highness, the First Prince, Elantro de Vray, Crown Prince of Vrayna. 

First Prince Elantro had the same silver sheened blond hair as his brother, but that was where the similarities ended. The First Prince was a beautiful man of about thirty years in age with a warm smile that easily reached his gold colored eyes. It was those golden eyes that clearly marked him as the future ruler of our nation.

In every generation, a child with golden eyes was born to the Royal Family, and that child was said to be marked by the Gods as the one chosen to rule humanity. It wasn't always the King’s own child, sometimes a younger cousin or nephew. Sometimes it was a distant cousin who was just barely related. It didn't matter. A single drop of the Royal blood in one's veins was enough.

And whoever they were, from the moment they opened their golden eyes, their lives were no longer their own. 

First Prince Elantro, eldest son of the current King, had been raised to rule since birth. Standing before him, I felt a sense of awe and reverence that I'd never felt near his brother, the Second Prince. 

“Julien de Ramport,” he greeted me in a casual tone, “Please be seated. We have much to discuss and very little time before my brother realizes I took you away and comes to chastise me.”

Only just realizing that I was just standing dumbly before the Crown Prince of Vrayna, I hurriedly bowed to him and cursed myself. Idiot! What are you doing just staring at the First Prince like a hapless moron? Pull yourself together! 

Amelie stepped forward and motioned to one of the empty chairs at the table, indicating I should sit. I hesitated for a moment, overwhelmed by the thought of sitting at the same table as my future King. An amused smile danced across Amelie's lips, as if she were aware of my inner struggle. 

Not wanting to appear rude, I quickly sat down in the proffered chair. To my surprise, Amelie, a lowly Palace maid, sat down in one of the other vacant chairs without waiting for an invitation.   

“Lord Erris,” the First Prince said to the elderly man seated next to him, "if you please?”

“Of course, your Highness,” Lord Erris promptly replied, then he began to mutter what sounded like words from an ancient foreign language under his breath. The unfamiliar syllables sent shivers down my spine as he spoke them, and I saw what looked like a sparkling white mist shimmer into existence around where we sat. When Lord Erris finished chanting, the mist around us glowed a bright white for a split second, then vanished. 

Magic! I thought in amazement, I’ve never seen it before! That was incredible!    

Smiling indulgently at my enraptured expression, the First Prince explained, “Lord Erris comes from a long line of magic users, one of only two families in the entire Kingdom who have retained the knowledge. The spell he just cast is a sound barrier, a spell that will allow us to converse without fear of being heard by outsiders. I’m certain there is much you wish to know, and I will do my best to address all of your concerns in due time, but first, there is something I need you to confirm.”

Without thinking, I looked up and accidentally made eye contact with the First Prince. Nervously, I lowered my gaze, worried I might have offended him. I couldn’t imagine he would consider me, an unwanted bastard sent to ruin his peace treaty, worthy of meeting the golden glory of his eyes.    

“Julien,” he continued, seemingly unbothered by my lack of manners. “I must ask you to be completely honest with me. I'll start by being honest with you. I sent one of my men disguised as a regular knight to follow my brother to Ramport, so I have a fairly good idea of what occurred there. My dear brother assumes that, simply because I abhor needless cruelty, that I must be gullible and naive. I can assure you that I am neither. From what was reported to me, you were taken from Ramport as a prisoner and kept in chains. That doesn't sound like someone who came here willingly. So answer me honestly, did you really choose this?”