Chapter 1

Silence. It was what the Queen preferred. Silence and obedience. The Queen had lost any sense of patience within the last hour as she sat in the dungeons below her Palace. Her Mother always said that your power was tied to your emotions, and well, Avalia was beginning to become irritated, which meant the sky was as well. Owner to the only powerful Storm Djinn, the Queen was dangerous, to say the least. Avalia rubbed her temples slowly, feeling a migraine coming on and sighed lowly in frustration. Her prisoner, an assassin from Kou, laughed manically.

"What's wrong, Your Majesty? You can't even handle little ol' me?" He mocked, straining against his iron shackles. She didn't want to kill him, no, that would only cause problems with Kou.

"But they already sent an assassin, didn't they?" Two voices spoke to her at the same time. She looked up to see her daughters, Mia and Kia. Adopted at a young age, the girls only knew Avalia as their Mother and Queen. And at times like these, the twins seemed to be able to read the Queen's mind. Yet their voices brought a smile to her face, and she no longer cared about the man behind her. Well, at least not for a moment.

"Just because he's from Kou doesn't mean they sent him. If they did, I doubt Prince Kouen would still be making an appearance here to sign the Alliance treaty." Avalia explained, crossing her arms over her ample chest, pondering what to do next. Her smile grew into an almost evil grin. She turned back to her prisoner and bent down to be at eye level.

"Your Prince will be here in a week, won't he? Well, I suppose you can just sit here until he arrives. He will decide your punishment." All the cockiness in the assassin drained as she spoke, hs face and eyes showing signs of worry. Before he could speak, a gag was put into his mouth. As Avalia walked towards the stairs, she spoke again.

"Don't worry, Dear, someone will be here to check on you in a few days." The man had a good view of the Queen as she stood in the doorway, the malicious smile chilling her warm features, her voice echoing through the dungeon, followed by a sharp slam of the metal door.

"Enjoy your stay~"

"Really, Mother, I don't see why Kia and I must be here to entertain Prince Kouen. Isn't he the guest of Honor? I thought you would be doing that." Mia whined at Avalia. She merely rolled her eyes.

"You do realize he's bringing a handful of his siblings, don't you? You aren't going to entertain Prince Kouen, rather, his brothers, perhaps. And at the looks of this letter, King Sinbad of Sindria will be witnessing the signing." Avalia sounded pleased at the letter. She didn't know the womanizing King, but she knew his power. King Sinbad was to be feared above all the rest, as he practically held the world, her world, in the palm of his hand, and could crush it at any time. The twins groaned.

"Still, why does this concern us?" Lately, the twins forgot their purpose in the Kingdom. Daughters to the Queen, by right they were the only Princesses of the Nation. Princesses that, if need be, could be married to those of similar rank, of even higher. The Queen sighed, setting the letter down on her desk.

"My Darlings, remember that you are my daughters, you are Princesses, and national events like this, you need to attend. You never know, one of you could charm the Playboy King himself." Avalia said, her lips turning into a smile, knowing the thought of anything remotely sexual caused the girls to turn as red as their hair and run away. Avalia caught a glimpse of her reflection in a large mirror hanging on the wall. Walking slowly towards it, she touched her face. Soft skin, free of blemishes or wrinkles, the Queen often forgot of her curse...

"Look at this, brother. We managed to catch one." Avalia's eyes were closed tight, afraid to open them. Was she going to die? She was so young, she didn't contribute at all to the world, where would she go when she died? So many questions flooded her mind. She flinched and tensed as a cool metal object began to run up her bare leg.

"She's awake. I was hoping she would sleep, so we couldn't hear any sounds, but I suppose we can always gag her." There were two different voices. A girl, from the sounds of it, and young, maybe in her teens. Not much younger than Avalia. The man was older, but not by a lot. And from what the girl had said before, they were siblings. Avalia couldn't force back the tears that pooled in her eyes and began to pour out. The girl sighed.

"Why is she crying? We haven't done anything yet." She sounded irritated. The man chuckled lightly.

"Ignore it, Amira. You will cast this spell. Focus your energy and push it into her. If you do it right, her life force will be yours, and you will never age again." Avalia couldn't believe what she was hearing. Immortality? That was forbidden magic. At this point, all Avalia could think of was how soon, she will be with her parents again...

"Amira? Amira, what's wrong?" The man sounded panicked. Avalia took a deep breath and opened her eyes, and gasped. The girl's eyes were rolled back into her head, her skin turning gray. There was a magic link between her and the girl, and the magic was pouring into Avalia. The man grabbed ahold of the girl named Amira, which was an awful mistake. Even Avalia, who couldn't cast a spell to save a life, knew the error in his ways. He began to fade as well. Before her eyes, Avalia's captors vanished from existence...

"Mother? Mother!" Avalia blinked a few times before looking to her right, her daughters staring at her in concern.

"Yes, what is it?"

"What just happened? You look like you've seen Death." The Queen merely smiled.

"It's nothing, Dear. I am fine." Kia, the softer of the Twins, took her Mother's hand.

"Were you remembering...it again?" She whispered. Avalia had told the girls of her curse several years back, after they began to notice that their Mother never aged.

"I was, but it's okay. It's good to remember sometimes." She reassured the girls she was alright, sending them on their way. She looked back into the mirror, just to admire herself for a moment. She pushed her sleek, shiny black hair, which reached about to her waist, out of her eyes. She stared into them for a moment. The almond shaped eyes were a piercing ice blue, often mixed with a bit of light gray. Avalia wasn't a relatively tall woman, standing at about 165 centimeters from the ground, yet she was curvy, her body was something she used to her advantage. Large breasts and large hips were often what the men around her liked, and that was exactly what the Queen had. She unearthed her man-eating grin, which almost made her giggle, and walked away from the mirror, her shoes clicking deliciously against the tile floor.

So began the countdown to the Night of Festivities, the day the Royal Guests would arrive. Avalia ordered the entire palace to be cleaned, and temporarily hired new servants to clean and help with the preparations. Her citizens began to clean around their own homes, planting flowers and pulling around Festival decorations for the week long event. However, as the day got closer, the Queen began to become more and more nervous, which unfortunately irritated her. The day before the arrival, it rained. Hard. She attempted to calm herself, to no effect. She paced in her office, her daughters lounging lazily on the couches.

"Mother, we understand why you're so nervous, but you need to try and relax. You're going to make yourself sick." Kia spoke quietly, to which the Queen merely waved off.

"Mother, please. Maybe a bath will help? Shall I call for a servant?" Kia stood slowly. Avalia stopped pacing and took a deep breath. Maybe it would help. She nodded and sat down while Kia opened the door and instructed a servant to draw a bath. Pouring her a glass of wine, the younger twin brought it to the Queen, smiling warmly as she handed it to her. Avalia smiled in return, sucking in another deep breath and taking a large mouthful of the sweet yet bitter liquid. She finished her glass and walked to her bathing room, undressing slowly and slipping into the warm water, immediately sighing in relief. Mia and Kia sat outside of the bath, talking and calming the Queen. They sighed in relief as they noticed the sky clear up. Avalia was now peaceful.

After a nights rest, the entire Kingdom woke with confidence, decorating and enjoy the warm weather. Avalia was surprisingly calm. She sat alone in her throne room, toying with her jeweled crown. She felt threatened, she then realized. The men that were coming to visit her has multiple Djinns, and while hers was powerful, it could not stand against the forces of the Kou Empire, and certainly not against the King of Sindria.

"Stay calm." She whispered to herself, her hands beginning to shake. These men are more powerful, yet they are not as wise as the Queen. She was over a century old, she was alive for many events that the King and Prince were so interested in. That was why this Queen was important. A small grin warmed her face as she stood, placing her crown back on her head. She walked to her balcony, watching her citizens buzz around and took a sharp intake of air when she saw who was at her gate. Guards began to shoo the citizens to the side as they announced the arrival of her guests, King Sinbad of Sindria, and Prince Ren Kouen of the Kou Empire. She watched as they marched through the streets of her Kingdom. Prince Kouen didn't seem interested at all in the decorations, yet King Sinbad "Ooo''d and "Ahhh"d at each display, which was cute to the Queen. However, when they both stepped closer to the Palace, they stopped in their tracks to look at Avalia. Luckily for her, her balcony was maybe 10 feet from the ground, so the Queen merely stepped off the rail of the balcony and landed with a surprising amount of grace a few feet in front of the visiting rulers. As she rose, like on cue, her announcer's voice echoed loudly.

"Bow before her Royal Majesty, Avalia, Queen of Rein."