Excerpt: Bloodfruit

Princess Aneira had a tendency to disobey orders.

“Watch out!”

The warning came too late. From the stables there came a loud crash and a shriek that echoed throughout the courtyards of the castle.

The dark haired stable boy, Cemlyn, hurried to the cause of the din. One of the , Areon, had broken free of his reins and was pawing threateningly at the cornered princess.

Aneira watched as Cemlyn hastily went to calm the frightened beast. It took him several minutes of quiet murmuring, three sugar cubes, and an apple to calm Areon enough that the allowed him to slip a halter over its head and lead it into an empty stall.

“I thought I told you not to touch him,” Cemlyn snapped as he closed the door to the stall and hung up the halter. “Areon doesn’t take well to strangers.”

Aneira scowled, tilting her head to the air imperiously, trying to look calm, cool, and collected, as if she had been unaffected by the near disastrous encounter. “Are you insinuating that I was to blame?! That thing’s a menace!”

“Areon is not a thing!” Cemlyn snarled, with such wrath that Aneira had to keep herself from taking a step backward, “and he was just fine until you decided bother him!”

With that, Cemlyn turned to walk away, leaving Aneira glaring furiously after him. She was the princess, how dare he…! Not quite knowing what else to do, she ran in front of him, blocking him from going any farther.

“Listen to me, and listen well,” she hissed, frantically trying to reestablish her control over the situation (it certainly didn’t help that Cemlyn was a good three inches taller than her), “I am the Princess of , and you are but a lowly stable hand, a war prisoner! I have but to say two words and…” she faltered, searching for a decent threat, “and you’ll soon find yourself missing a head, yes, that’s what, so… so I suggest you guard your mouth carefully!”

Cemlyn leaned so close to Aneira that they were almost nose to nose. His gray eyes sparked with ire as he repeated mockingly, “You need only say two words and I shall be missing a head, so you believe. And what do you suppose would happen if those two words were not obeyed, hm? I suppose that I would simply walk away, unscathed.

“You see, Your Highness, for your words to hold any power whatsoever they must be carried out by some “lowly” subjects. You simply act as an icon of power to the kingdom, and you are rewarded a lavish life while your subjects who toil beneath you are hardly given anything save meager bread, water, and clothes–”

“For which they should be grateful that they receive such mercy at all!” Aneira said, though without much conviction, “What with the likes of subjects like you they hardly deserve such kindness--!”

Cemlyn struck her across the face so fast that for a moment she stood stunned, the right side of her face stinging faintly. “What have you done to deserve the kindness of your subjects, then?” he growled, "Starving your people –especially those who aren’t lowly stable hands—and neglecting them during the harsh winters can hardly be considered mercy!”

Before Aneira had a chance to respond (not that she could ever respond to the truth, presented to her in such a blunt manner), there was a clatter of metal clad feet as three guards suddenly rushed into the stables.

“Princess Aneira!” one of them cried hurrying to her, as the other two rushed over and roughly pulled Cemlyn away and forced his arms behind his back. The guard tried to check that she was alright but she waved him away. Instead, the guard turned to the other two, who were still holding a struggling Cemlyn. “Send this cretin to the keep, where he may dwell upon his treasonous actions against our most merciful--!”

“No!”

All eyes turned to Aneira, surprised. Ignoring Cemlyn’s incredulous expression, she falteringly told the guards to release him.

They hesitated for a second. “But, Your Highness…” The first guard tried to reason, but he was cut off.

“I’m the princess and I am commanding you to release him and let him be!”

And so, albeit with great reluctance, the two guards dispassionately dropped Cemlyn onto the ground. As he tried to stand, one of the guards slammed a foot into his back, forcing the boy onto his hands and knees, head bowed and fists clenched in pain. Ruthlessly, a second guard grabbed a fistful of Cemlyn’s hair and yanked hard so that he was forced crane his neck up and face Aneira. “The princess has just shown you great mercy,” the third guard growled at Cemlyn’s pain ridden face, “show your gratitude and--”

“Enough! I said to let him be!”

There was a tense pause. Finally, they released Cemlyn and left him lying on the ground. Unable to remain any longer, Aneira quickly turned and left the stables, the three guards following after.

She pretended not to have seen one of the guards giving Cemlyn a ferocious kick to the ribs.