All Chapters of The Princess’s Pride: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Ariana's voice trembled unexpectedly. 'Y-Yes. I am.'The stranger's smile widened into a thin line. 'Then prove it. Tell me something that only I would know. A secret.'Ariana's words tumbled out, as if she had been waiting to get them out since she had arrived in the castle. 'You sleep with the window open on rainy nights. You have the blue ribbon from your seventh birthday hidden in the bottom drawer of your study. When sleep will not come at night, you count the horses in the stables of the royal palace, beginning with the black mare that threw you.'A heavy silence followed. Footsteps sounded in the corridor, then quickened and disappeared. The men posted in the antechamber shifted uneasily.The princess's skin had gone ashen, then flame-red with some violent emotion. Her rouged mouth opened in an almost frightened gasp, but then her expression altered, to something colder and more menacing. 'How dare you?'The slap came so fast Ariana's head snapped sideways. Heat bloomed across

A tall, brown-haired man walked into the room and the cell seemed to shrink by half.Ariana looked up. Turquoise eyes, as cold and calculating as an oncoming winter storm, swept over her bruises, and the stool beneath the high window. Navy uniform, black cape draped over one shoulder, gloved hand on a broadsword. The door slammed behind him. "I am Captain Kaleb Orion of the Imperial Guards. I have questions."Ariana scrambled to her feet, her chapped lips tight against the sound of a pained moan escaping her. Not even like this, Ariana would not let a mere guard bully her!"And by whose authority do you have to do that?" Her defiant nature flared in her every word.The long pause that followed her question was, Ariana had to admit, terrifying; only one person ever caused her to feel this...small."Ah. It does seem as if what they say is true. You really are mad."Ariana was glad of the sudden rush of anger heating her cheeks, "You're the mad one! In fact, your whole family is mad! Wha

Ariana wished she could believe she was imagining it—the faint sound of stone against stone. But for some reason, her skin prickled, and her heart raced painfully in her chest.“Is someone there?” she found herself whispering.Nobody answered.She hovered inches from the wall, peering at the tiny cracks in the masonry. She couldn’t see anything. Just as she was about to touch the surface, the air in the room dropped cold.Before she could blink, a cloaked shadow burst from the wall. A strong hand grabbed her neck and slammed her against the wall by the window.She gasped; pain shot through her back, but that one didn’t seem important as she couldn’t breathe.Not again, she thought. She struggled and tried to claw at her captor, but her fingers slipped right through the smoky shadow.The grip tightened. She couldn’t scream. Darkness began dancing in her vision. Then the shadow leaned closer, and a raspy voice spoke with a hiss.“You didn't do what we told you. The princess is still ali

'Remember this, Ariana Ophelia. The only way home is through her. The woman who’s behaving as you are.'Those words, like a banshee’s scream, echoed continuously in Ariana’s head as the guards took her out of the palace. They unsettled her as the seconds ticked by.Two guards were on either side of her as they trekked to the Captain’s house while the man himself rode on a horse.Ariana's eyes fixed on Kaleb’s head, glaring intensely. Couldn’t he have had a carriage to take her to their destination? Why does he have to make her walk?To a typical servant, the journey to the mid-level class area might seem like a simple stroll. However, for Ariana, who had only ever walked in the imperial garden, it felt like a brutal ordeal.Ariana was on the verge of fainting when they arrived at a plain, brown, one-storey building. This was the Captain’s home. Her legs shook. Her feet ached because the rough wooden shoes she wore made walking painful.Kaleb swung down, just as the gates of the house

Ariana’s eyes lit up.“Every two weeks, you’d slip out of the palace at night to see someone. However, whenever you came back, you’d always look terrified. Your hands would be shaking so badly that you would sit on your bed counting your fingers for hours. Anytime I asked you who it was, you would go blank and tell me never to ask again.”Outside, Kaleb’s eyes narrowed.“If you knew when I left, why didn’t you follow me, and how come the night guards never caught me?”Clara snorted. “Oh, I did follow you. Countless times. But for some reason, you always disappeared before you reached the courtyard—every single time. I don’t know how you never got caught. I guess you must be highly skilled at evading the night guards.”Ariana’s mind whirred. A mere maid having midnight rendezvous with an unknown person yet no one ever caught her. The woman she had possessed her body