YAY! Alright, here's my edited version.
There are seven of us: Lugh and Amethyst, Jasper, Raskin, Toliar, Candace, and me, N’mere, the youngest, and least important. Everyone knows that though my title may be princess, I am not treated that way.
I never had a chance for a younger sibling to play with; my mother died giving birth to me, and I never knew her. I wish I could have known her, because I think she was an amazing woman to give me life, even when she knew that hers was in danger. They said that she was too old, and should never have even had another baby, so I suppose her death is my fault, even though I had nothing to do with it…maybe that’s why Candace and Toliar shun me.
At least we’ve never been very interesting to each other…they’re both three and four years older than me anyway. Raskin is six years older, but he would always take time off to pretend with me. He would say that he was the knight in shining armor, and I got to be the damsel in distress, but when he was fourteen, our father, the king, sent him away to be a squire. As a result, I have spent much of my fifteen years in my room, writing or playing my violin, or learning from my tutor.
His name is Derek, and he is my only friend here, in the palace. Despite being old enough to be my grandfather, he treats me like an equal, something that I love. He is responsible for teaching me everything I know. Because of him, I am fluent in three different languages, and can read and write all of them. God really has smiled upon me even if he’s given me an equal number of trials.
The only subject that I do not love is numbers. The symbols and letters put my head into such a muddle, that I cannot make head or tail of how the formulas should be worked out. I must try Derek’s patience terribly, but he never shows it, instead trying to make things as simple as possible, so that I suppose I am slogging through it well enough. However I shall be quite pleased when it is over, as it will be in a few days.
I am taking my final exams and soon there will be a holiday for several months. I’m very excited, for Raskin is coming back as well, and I shall finally see him again. He will stay here until his dubbing ceremony when he will truly be a knight in shining armor!
All the rest of my family is coming as well. Lugh and his wife, and their beautiful little girls, and Amethyst and her husband will be here.
The first thing she says whenever she sees me is “N’mere, darling, you really must resist those sweets! You’re getting fat!”
I know it isn’t true, but it is still quite irksome to hear her say that, and it always puts me in a bad humor. The truth is that Amethyst is so fashionably thin you can hardly tell she is a woman, and I am simply healthy.
For the rest of her stay here, I am sure that she will be intent on slimming me down and turning me into a young lady of fashion. She has always been far too concerned with powdering her face, and having her hair done into the most ridiculous and elaborate hairdos.
Once, she had a birdcage with a live bird wrapped up in her hair, and it flew away in the middle of the banquet!
In her own strange way however, I believe she loves me, and I am rather fond of her as well, although sometimes I feel like a large doll for her to test all her prissy little ideas on.
However, there will be an even bigger shadow over this whole celebration, and that is that Jasper must come. I don’t believe he even would if it would not be a serious breach of etiquette to stay away, for he has never liked Raskin much.
I wish he would not come! Jasper scares me. While Candace and Toliar simply avoid me, and look at me with icy scorn, he treats me with no respect, all the while being so completely kind that no one could doubt that he has only my best interests in mind.
His moods can change from sickly sweet, to a terrible rage in an instant, and I have more than one scar from his anger. I dared to tell Raskin once and I have never regretted anything more. As soon as he was done telling Raskin how sorry he was, and giving me a beautiful apology, he turned right around and gave me a savage beating when no one was looking.
I never crossed him again.
His coming again terrifies me, and I hope I can simply stay out of his way. I don’t know why, but he absolutely despise me! I don’t dare bring Raskin into the matter again. And to Father I am invisible. He would never believe me in favor of Jasper either.
I’ll simply have to pray that Elohim gives me protection where Raskin cannot. My life is ultimately in his hands anyway. Now to bed—tomorrow I must take my final exam.
Chapter 1: Jasper
“N’mere you get out of that bed this instant!” a shrill voice ordered. My eyes reluctantly opened and shut again, as I saw an angry Candace looming over me. Usually, she doesn’t speak to me, but when she does it’s almost always a reprimand or an order. This was no exception.
“You are so lazy!” she berated, “I can’t believe that you can sleep so long! Get up right now. You’re just trying to skip your exercise this morning and I’m not going to let you!”
With a groan I sat up, and whacked her in the face with a pillow. Just because she’s three years older does not give her the right to boss me around, and I am never very agreeable in the mornings anyway.
I growled at her and steeled myself to get out of the bed, and put my feet on the cold stone floor. I had awoken from a horrible dream of Jasper killing Raskin at his own ceremony, and still felt quite shaken.
“You treat me with respect!” Candace threw the pillow out of my reach and tried to straighten her hair out.
I gave her a saccharine smile, and tilted my head in angelic pose. “Yes, sissy,” I replied, with a babyish lilt in my voice.
Her face turned an even brighter red than usual, and her light blue eyes went icy. “I shall see you at breakfast, little one,” she said. With a toss of her thin blonde hair she swept out of the room, trailing the train of her dress behind her.
I hated to be called that, and I was now thoroughly set in a bad mood for the rest of the day. Nothing seemed to go right for me; I had neglected to braid my hair the night before, and it had tangled into a thick matted mess of curls, that I was left to untangle as best, and with as little pain as I could.
Once that was done I found a hole in my favorite dress that needed to be mended, and had to wear an older blue one, as none of my others were made for a morning ride.
My horse acted up, and wouldn’t obey my commands, but even that was nothing compared to what I found when I returned from my ride.
I had come into the hall, and sat down in my normal place, far down on the left side of the table, when instead of my father sitting at the head of the table, Jasper came in instead!
Tremors started to wriggle their way into my hands, and my stomach jumped. He is not supposed to even be here till tomorrow! What’s wrong? Why isn’t father here? I thought in a panic. Everything in me seemed to grow smaller, and I started to shrink into my seat, but it was too late. Jasper had already seen me.
“How are you, dear sister?” he asked, in that affected syrupy tone that I so despise. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and I looked down on my lap.
Fortunately the servants came with the food, saving me from having to talk to him. Candace and Toliar were acting normally, and ignoring me once again, Derek was sitting there putting food away at an enormous rate, and the other various nobles of my father’s court were chatting politely.
“Where is father today?” I asked Jasper, scarcely believing that I had mustered up the courage to speak to him. “Are you not occupying his seat?”
Even Jasper seemed surprised at my initiating a conversation, for it took him a second to realize that I was actually speaking. “I’m afraid that he is not well,” he replied “A slight touch of fever the physicians think. Until he’s recovered, he has asked me to be the host while he is unable.”
“I would have thought that Toliar could have done the job better, as he actually lives here, and knows the climate and what is required.” No sooner where the words out of my mouth, than I knew I had made a mistake.
Jasper’s face darkened, and anger flashed through his blue eyes, boring into my dark ones. I felt trapped, as if his gaze was holding me there against my will.
“He has asked me, sister,” he said again. The way he said the word sister sounded completely wrong to my ears, and a shudder ran up my spine. We both knew that that was not the end of the conversation.
My stomach threatened to reject my breakfast, and my heart was beating a rapid tattoo. I should have kept my mouth shut; oh what will he do this time when he gets his hands on me? I worried. It had been a while since I had last felt his fists, but I still remembered them. There was no doubt in my mind that Jasper was evil.
I rushed through what was left of the meal, and quickly excused myself. I had to get out of this place, get away from Jasper, and his fearful temper.
Practically feeling Candace’s disapproval at my leaving the room so abruptly, I headed for the stables where I could get to my means of escape.
Every muscle in my body was rigid, and tense with fright. Some people would say that I am foolish to be so afraid of my older brother, but those that do, don’t know him. I’m no fainting violet, and Jasper looks very thin, but whatever he is, he is not weak, and I have known him to cause a lot of pain when my tongue runs away with me.
Swallowing hard on a dry throat, I scanned the row of stalls, and picked Crackle, a strong mare that looked fast, and I had ridden before. The stable boy was not there, so I saddled her up with some trouble, and was soon racing off over the fields.
After a while, Crackle’s easy pace calmed my heart, and lulled me into a…calm anxiousness, if such a thing exists. Oh, how I wished that I didn’t have to go back, but Derek was expecting me to finish up my studies for the year, and I knew that he would not tolerate tardiness.
With a heavy heart, I turned Crackle back, slowing her to a trot, and taking a roundabout trail back to the castle.
The spring wind played with my hair and tickled my face and the sun peeped out of the clouds just enough to say hello. I was riding through a small wooded area and the trees were rustling pleasantly when my horse nickered and shied away.
Jasper and his horse, stepped out of the trees. He looked at me with a self-satisfied smirk on his handsome face, and I knew he had been following me.
“You’re rather young to be out in the woods by yourself,” he said coldly. “I think I’ll escort you back.”
I shuddered and started to back Crackle up. “No, thank you,” I replied, “I’m doing quite fine on my own.”
“I as your older brother claim the right to go back with you,” he insisted, “And I don’t think it would be wise of you to continue to the contrary.”
A sharp retort sprang to my lips, and I had to bite my tongue to keep control. Seeing no other alternative, I agreed, “Very well. Shall we go?”
He nodded icily and his horse fell into step beside mine. I could only hope that we reached the castle in time; before he decided to teach me a painful lesson.
“I wanted to speak with you about your... impudence at breakfast,” he said.
I looked down at Crackle’s, chestnut mane, and took a deep breath. Now let’s just see if I can talk fast enough to weasel my way out of this one. “Ah, yes, I see,” I said vaguely, before continuing. “And I wanted to apologize for saying that. It was hastily spoken, and I was just trying to analyze the situation.”
Jasper smiled very very slightly. “An artful apology,” he admitted, somewhat reluctantly. “But I don’t think I like what you must have been thinking.”
This was ridiculous. “When it comes to my thoughts, I am beholden to no one,” I insisted, “Not even our father the king can stop my mind from doing as it pleases.”
Jasper’s small smile disappeared entirely, and his eyes went cold. “There will come a day when I AM king, and when that day comes, I SHALL control both people’s thoughts and spirits.”
I couldn’t help it. A small, hysterical laugh burst out of me, and I turned to look at him, completely forgetful of caution. “If I fortune smiles upon our fair country, then you will never be king,” I said firmly. “And you will never be able to control a person’s spirit, unless they let you.”
I flinched inwardly as his face turned white, and I dug my heels into Crackle’s flanks. She gave a whinny and took off towards the palace. I could hear Jasper thundering after me.
I could feel my heart beating wildly in my chest. Everything was so clear around me, but I seemed to be going so horribly slowly as well! The thump THUMP thump THUMP of Crackle’s hoofs was eerily calm, compared to the gravity of the situation.
I could see the castle loom up in front of me, but escape was not to be. Almost as soon as I had begun to hope, a hand from behind me, reached out and grabbed my hair, wrenching me off of my horse. I hit the ground violently, and the wind was driven completely from me.
The rhythm of Crackle’s hooves in the distance grew fainter and fainter, until at last, I couldn’t hear her at all, and knew that I was fully alone with Jasper.
Terrified at the thought, I kept my eyes shut, hoping that he would think me unconscious and just leave, but that was not to be either.
“N’mere, stop behaving like a child and stand up this instant,” he said calmly. I hate that Jasper never yells. He always remains completely calm and in control of the situation.
I knew I wasn’t fooling him, and with a breath of a sigh, I stood up and looked at him as bravely as I could, though I could have done it much better if I were as tall as he and not nine inches shorter.
Suddenly, I realized that my hands were trembling, and I hid them behind my dress. “What do you want now?” I asked, trying to seem diplomatic. “Derek will be frantic when my horse returns without me, and I have school to attend to!”
A cruel smile crossed Jasper’s face and he leaned over and slipped a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Derek can wait,” he said smoothly. “There is a lesson that I want to teach you.”
My right hand wrapped around my left wrist and held on tightly, something that somehow comforts me when I’m nervous. “What lesson?” I asked timidly.
I was unprepared for the impact. His hand flew towards my face and struck me squarely on the left cheek, sending me backwards into a tree. Unbidden tears sprang to my eyes, and the side of my face stung like frozen fire.
Jasper looked so satisfied with himself. Hate rose up inside me as he advanced. “That it’s not wise to cross me. You seem to have gained an inordinate amount of cheek in my absence, and it has got to go.”
He pulled back his fist, and buried it in my stomach. I fell to the ground as he kicked the small of my back, and rolled over onto my stomach, doubled over with pain.
“You won’t get away with this,” I hissed. “Someone will notice that I’m hurt.”
Jasper wrenched my arm around behind me and twisted it so as to cause tension, but not quite pain. “You will not speak a word of this to anyone,” he whispered into my ear, “and you will not refute what I tell them.”
His hand took hold of my head, and smacked it into a rock. A sharp shooting pain ran through my temple, but I couldn’t do anything. Darkness numbed me.
LOL! But...if I must I'll put it up there. The folder will be Darkening Sun Serial.
