THE BIG GATE

 ASHLEY’S POV 

“Summer Royal Academy” The sign read. I walked down the path of the sign until I was staring at a big black gate. It had hefty pillars built on the sides and even though it read ‘academy’ at the gate, it could pass for a prison. 

“Miss, are you lost?” A very hefty man walked up to me from the gate and questioned. I gulped in a wholesome amount of saliva, terrified by the mere size of the man, before attempting to respond to his question. 

“I am the princess of…”

“You can't be here miss,” The man seemed very uninterested in my introduction. I was at first astonished by how disinterested he was in my introduction. I took another look at myself and I could see how he was confused. My dress and hair was covered in twigs from sleeping under a tree. 

I couldn't help but chortle. “Sir, I can see where the confusion is coming from. I know it doesn't look like it, but I am a royal,” I tried to explain, but the man seemed even more disinterested, he shoved me away with his hands. 

“Miss, you have to leave right now. You can’t be here.”  I stood there in bedazzlement. He spread his hands so it was impossible for me to move. We only stood there for about a minute, before three young men came down the path. 

“This way, sir,” The hefty guard's voice immediately became soft as he led the men to the gate. I watched as the hefty guard let them through, after showing their pack badge at the gate. 

I checked the pocket of my dress and heaved a sigh of relief when I found my pack badge. My father's first rule was to always have a pack badge with me. I always wondered why, since I never left the pack house and everyone I interacted with knew who I was, but now I was grateful. Only royals owned pack badges. 

I held the badge in my hand and hurried to show the guard at the gate. “Crystal pack,”  I held out the badge, very confidently. I wanted to see the look on his face when he realized he had mistreated a royal, simply because I had a little dirt on my hair and dress. 

The man erupted in laughter, which left me in awe for a few seconds. I had imagined different reactions, but this was not a part of it. “Yea, right. If Alpha Smichtt had a daughter, I would know.” He said, 

“You know my father…” 

“And he doesn't have a daughter,” the man interrupted strongly. “I'm sure you stole that badge and I'd advise that you return it. Only because I'm not allowed to arrest females.” The guard said, trying very hard not to laugh at me any more than he already did. 

“Why are we so full of laughter?” A voice came from behind me. I didn't turn around. I was too humiliated to look at any more faces, not after all the humiliation I had gotten. I could now see what my father was trying to protect me from, restricting me to the pack house–it was a cold world outside. 

“She was just about leaving,” the guard reported to the young man, who gave me a scrutinizing stare from the tip of my hair to those of my toenails.

“The academy only accommodates princes,” the young man, pulling out his badge, “you could barely pass as Zeta's daughter. Not with the way you look.” he walked in. 

I clenched my fist in anger. ‘Red Moon pack,’ I read his badge and watched him till the gates closed and he was on the other side, out of my sight. 

“Like I said, miss, you can’t be here.” The guard reiterated, this time sounding annoyed. I scoffed, turned around and stormed away angrily. He didn't need to tell me twice anymore. I was furious. I was just disrespected not only for my looks, but also for not being male, because I was sure all the princes that walked in had no special regalia on. 

 I angrily wandered, kicking the air and talking to myself, until I sighted a small cottage not very far off. I walked to it, hoping to at least get a cup of water and with a little luck, something to eat. It had been over about fifteen hours since I left home and I was starving. 

“Hello?” I knocked on the door but was met with silence. “Hello!” I called out even louder, but my feedback wasn’t any better. 

I looked around for a while and found no one in sight. I couldn't afford to go back, I was going to pass out from dehydration, so I slowly pushed the door.  “Hello?” I walked in cautiously. I looked around for a while and established that the cottage was empty. 

I walked around, entering into the bedroom. The cottage was covered in dust, indicating that it had not been used in a while. I stared at myself in the mirror behind the door, wondering how I found myself here. 

“If Alpha Smichtt had a daughter, I would know,”I remembered the words of the guard. He sounded like he knew my father very well, but if he did, how did he not know that my father had a daughter? ‘Was my father ashamed of me?’ I couldn't help the thought that flooded into my mind. 

The young man at the gate did mention the academy was only open to princes and the way to identify was the pack badge. Was there a chance my father never spoke about me, or attended external events with me because he was ashamed I wasn't a prince? Was this the reason he was marrying me off? Someone to take over from him? As this possibility became clear to me, it broke my heart even more. 

I folded in bed and cried for hours unending. I was thirsty, hungry and tired, but I could neither eat, drink nor sleep. My whole life flashed before my eyes and it was a lie. All of my father's actions that I thought was love was just because he was abashed. 

“That's enough!” I said to myself, pushing myself up with support from my hands. I walked to the mirror and stared at the reflection of my battered face. My eyes were red and swollen and my eye sockets were black, my cheeks were puffed up and I barely looked like myself. 

‘I barely looked like myself!’ it echoed again in my head. A smile plastered across my inflamed face. I had an idea.