As I promised the Chapter 1 is up! I hope you enloy the story...

A young woman walked quickly around the manor's corridors to reach the counsil chambers where five men awaited her arrival. The doors opened and the guard announced her entrance.

"Her Majesty the Queen of Avalonea, Morgana XI, daught-"

"Oh please, this is a council meeting!", the woman said rolling her eyes at the guard. She moved past him in a hurry obviously annoyed. "There's no need for protocol!" The guard turned red as a tomato and embarrassed he bowed his head and didn't look up from the marble floor till the meeting ended.

She sat on the head of the big mahogany table that held all of her kingdoms problems and concerns. The rest of her councilors, after greeting her good morning, sat on their respective seats. The looks upon their faces were not what the young monarch wished to see but she couldn't blame them. For the past two years everything ran smoothly and the people were joyous and eager for the changes their young sovereign would bring but now clouds had started gathering and they seemed vey dark.

The first and biggest of the problems Avalonea had to face was the decay of its trading industry which had been the main source of income for the whole country. Once the port of the capital were filled with ships and all major shipping companies used Avalon as their headquarters. Now the city's trade center was withered and the crown had to deal with all sorts of financial problems.

"How did the meeting with the representatives of the Treasury go, Sir Alliser?" Morgana asked with a smile in hopes of receiving an answer that would lift her spirits. She had kept her mother's council as it was when she died believing that they would help her rule until she was mature enough to rule on her own. Sir Alliser had served as the minister of finance for both her late mother, Queen Morgaine VIII, and for a short time her grandmother, Queen Morgane V, and he was the only one of her councilors Morgana trusted completely.

"Unfortunately, Ma'am, the bankers are not willing to lend any amount of money to Avalonea. Instead, they demand an instant payment of the loans your father and mother and her mother before her took. I fear that they will leave the kingdom perish and then when we have begged enough they will take an advantage of our situation for a few thousand coins" the old man said with a bitter voice.

The 23-year-old woman felt her smile freezing on her face and dropping on the wooden table before her as silence engulfed the room. She felt horrible. The world kept slapping her on the face and she couldn't do anything to protect herself or her people for that matter. She looked around the table and met Raymar Castell's eyes. She started talking in hopes of some good news from her minister of trading relations about his negotiations with companies around the world but the man nodded negatively and dropped his eyes on the table. Yet another slap, she thought.

This isn't fair. I have so many dreams for this kingdom, I have made plans on how we can restore Avalon's name in the world. I know I can make this city prosper again the same way the Great King and his Queen did. I spent 4 years in the best universities of the world studying finance and politics. Yet no one cares to hear my suggestions and I'm still treated as a little girl whose mother died and ended up with a crown on her head! Even if I somehow convinced them to hear my proposals, they'll never trust me to carry them out!

She wanted to cry right there with all of them watching but of course that was out of the question! But to be honest with herself there was nothing else she could do! She had tried everything! Negotiating with the Treasury, attracting companies willing to invest in Avalon, enhancing the primary sector of her country economy; all in vein. It was as if the Gods made fun of her and her land was cursed once again as it is said it was before the Great King and Queen.

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'm sure that the allied kingdoms of Avalonea will agree to an arrangement with favorable conditions and warranties-"

"They will refuse me the same way the Treasury of the British Nations did! No kingdom holds such a strong bond with Avalonea! Do not fool yourself, Sir Agravaine, we don't live in the times of King Arthur and Queen Morgan. All alliances to Avalonea have been forgotten!" Morgana said perhaps a little too rough. She didn't like the man, partly she held him responsible for the debts the kingdom had to pay. He was her father's closest advisor and the one who urged him to borrow the money. In time he became the richest person in the kingdom while her people sank into poverty. She always suspected that her people's money had magically found their way to Agravaine's vaults. Morgana had promised herself to find proof to base her accusations but with her country falling apart she had no time to deal with Agravaine Thorn.

"I know, Your Majesty-" he said and Morgana knew that he was up to something! He was always up to something when he addressed her with her title. "-but there are other ways to make an alliance with foreign kingdoms."

The rest of her council was interested in his words and looked at him with anticipation but the queen knew that whatever came out of that snake's mouth, she wouldn't like it. She knew inside her that if he had a solution to her problems, it wouldn't be without profit for himself. It might it even mean her throne…

For centuries the House of Avalon lived with his curse of female heirs. Ever since the Greats, each generation produced only one female heir. The house could only produce daughters and that's why the laws were changed so that the throne passes to the trueborn daughter of Avalon and no one else. This chain of female heirs stretches all the way till today and its last link is Morgana herself. The female heirs of course were always married to some respectful and rich lord of Britain, who however had no claim to the throne nor to the lands of Avalonea. Frankly, there was no profit in marrying a LeFay – for some unknown reason the name Pendragon did not pass from mother to daughter and his Queen Morgan's name became the house's name- but many lords did and also it was often that the suitors were more than one.

And they did so because of The Promise. The Promise was a belief, more like a prophesy, that survived through the centuries and still haunted the female heirs. According to the people, the kingdom of Avalonea and its capital, Avalon, will rise and flourish again when the Great King and Queen rule over the realm once more. For that reason the heirs were given names variant to the Great Queen's, Morgan, Morgaine, Morgane, Morgana. Every Queen of the realm hoped that her daughter would be the Morgan of The Promise and every lord boasted themselves as Arthur.

And all of them were wrong because the country kept destroying itself and today it was nothing but a shadow of the old times. Morgana did not believe in the myth of The Promise. It's nothing but a folktale, the hope of her people to see their country rise from its ashes. I am not going to make the same mistake my mother and her mother before her made; I'm not going to give my life away to some foreign lord who thinks himself the next King Arthur. I'm going to save my kingdom without a man's help! I'm of the Greats' royal blood!

However now her thoughts weren't as optimistic as they were years ago.

Thorn looked uneasy as if he knew that his word won't be well received by Morgana. He had an innocent look upon his face with a slight hint of satisfaction. She was sure he thought he had everything figured out in his tiny, wicked and completely useless little head.

"Have you considered an alliance with Camelot?" he said sheepishly as if he hadn't planned this all along! Morgana knew his next words before he uttered them and she wished he was dead at that very moment.

"A marriage alliance."

So? What did you think?

I know it's a little complicated with the heirs and names and kingdoms so feel free to ASK ME ANYTHING :D

AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW

I could really use your opinion in writing this story :D