Legacy
Chapter One
King Maxwell III of the Northern Kingdom paced up and down his room. It was nearly 9:00 P.M. and he was anxious for his daughter to return. Princess Eva, named after his late wife, was his only child and he loved her dearly, but it was more than just fatherly concern that kept him awake. She had taken a diplomatic journey to the kingdom ruled by King Xavier to attend the birthday celebration of his youngest child and only son, Prince Henry. Max was eager to hear how her visit had gone.
This was Eva's first trip not only as a guest but also as an official representative of the Northern Kingdom. Of course, that didn't matter so much as the fact that, as the bride-to-be of Prince Leopold, heir to the largest and most powerful kingdom in the Enchanted Forest, Eva was months away from being the most important queen in the realm. Invitations were coming in from all over and Max knew that his daughter's favor was going to be sought far more than his ever had been. Not surprising, seeing as how the Northern Kingdom was little more that some unremarkable farmland, a couple modest-sized villages, and a decent sized manor house that his family called "a castle." It had been a running joke of the larger kingdoms. "What kind of a kingdom is so insignificant that they don't have a real name, just a direction?"
Of course, most of the realm's kingdoms didn't have official names, at least none that anyone used anymore. They just called themselves after whatever monarch happened to be on the throne at the time. The reason that Max's small domain was known as the Northern Kingdom was because it bordered the Northern Sea. That was kingdom's only real valuable asset: the northernmost port in the entire realm. The last stop before leaving the Enchanted Forest and entering the realm of Arendelle.
The way his tutors had explained it growing up, travel between realms was usually difficult and required some kind of magic, such as a magic bean to open portals. However, travel between some realms had happened so frequently in the past that permanently open portals had come to exist. All one had to do to travel between the Forest and Arendelle was to sail their ship through the ocean mist at just the right point and you were in a different realm. This was why the people of Arendelle had come to give the Enchanted Forest the name "Mist Haven."
King Maxwell's thoughts turned to recent news from Arendelle. Princess Gerda had recently announced her own upcoming wedding. Max remembered when he had first set eyes on her back during his own diplomatic mission to Arendelle as Prince. Just a little girl playing in the palace garden all alone…with two blond girls? Max shook his head in confusion. Everyone knew that Princess Gerda was an only child. He must just be tired.
Anyway, it was the strategic position of the Northern Kingdom that had been the reason for Eva's engagement to Prince Leopold being made before she was even born. Max's father had arranged it with the prince's father, in the event that Max's first born was a girl. Max had tried to argue with his father but Maxwell II had countered that it was just too good an opportunity to pass up and what with the ruler of the second most powerful kingdom in the realm, King James V, becoming even more obsessed with building up his army, invasion was a real possibility. King James had recently passed away and his son, George X, had ascended to the throne. By all accounts, he was even more power hungry than his father. War in the Enchanted Forest now seemed more like a question of "when," not "if."
Max knew that once his daughter's marriage took place, he would for all intents and purposes, just a token king and the Northern Kingdom would essentially be under Leopold's father's rule. Max wasn't too concerned though. He had no other children or any other relatives with a claim to the throne, so he decided to look at it as semi-retirement. With the rising tension in the realms, making new friends never hurt which is why Eva was attending Prince Henry's birthday celebration.
Birthday celebration my royal rear, Max thought to himself. Meat market more like it. King Xavier's kingdom was suffering financially so now he had invited every unmarried princess and wealthy man's daughter he could locate to essentially 'auction' off his own son. Xavier had done the same thing with his three daughters. Sometimes, Max was glad he fallen for his wife before he found out that she was the only daughter of the mayor and the richest family in her hometown. Otherwise, his parents would have probably put him on a block like a prize pig too.
His parents, he thought. It wasn't that he hadn't loved them when they were still alive but their attempt to equate the Northern Kingdom with the larger kingdoms of the realm had resulted in distinct air of snobbery in their behavior. It was an attitude that he was glad to say he had managed to avoid, largely due to his sneaking out in the middle of the night during his youth to have fun with the children of the servants and his parents never finding out. Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same for his daughter Eva. His mother had essentially taken over when her mother had died and turned her into just the kind of entitled little princess made him want to run out of the room when he was that age.
Now, both of his parents were gone, and it looked like the damage had been done. During the last couple of years, Eva had been treating the servants, as well as any other "commoners" that she met, like they were something she had the displeasure of stepping in. He had really started to worry about it after she returned from her first formal meeting with Prince Leopold.
Her lady-in-waiting, Jolene, had told him of the way she had treated a peasant girl who Leopold had developed feelings for and was rumored to be planning on eloping with. Apparently, the girl had become pregnant by another man and had stolen from the castle treasury to pay for the father's silence. Eva had discovered this and revealed the truth to the prince. While Max agreed that Leopold shouldn't be tricked into raising another man's child or tolerate theft, the way Jolene said Eva spoke to this girl greatly unsettled him. She looked down on the girl not just for being a liar and thief but also for just being a peasant. Max knew he needed to set his daughter straight before she became Queen.
The frustrating part was that he thought he knew exactly how to do that, but he would need turn his daughter's world upside down to do it. Since the death of Eva's mother, Max had been hiding a secret. A secret only known to two other living souls besides himself. And Max was the only fully human one among them. He had been putting it off out of loyalty to his wife and fear that his daughter would hate him if she discovered the truth.
Max looked up to the heavens. "Please," he said. "Eva, my love, if you can hear me, give me a sign."
Suddenly, the door opened and his one of his guards came in. "Sire," he said. "The Princess has arrived."
"Thank you, Claude. Please tell her to come up."