Elora had just walked out of the armory after checking each direction to make sure the halls were cleared, she was wearing her training leathers and her hair was in a braid that rested on her shoulder.

As she walked to halls being careful not to get caught, she rounded the corner to her room, the blood drained from her face as her mother stood in the hall with arms crossed and a look that told Elora she was doomed.

"Your father will hear about this. I have had enough of your disgusting attempts at rebellion. You will not soil our family name." her mother said with eyes that were practically burning into Elora's soul.

She didn't know what to do, she had known one day her escapades of sneaking into the training rooms with the knights would come to light. But never had she thought her mother would be the one to catch her.

That night at dinner it was apparent her father had been told of her mother's findings, his once soft features looked hardened and stern. A heaviness centered in her chest at her fathers expression, as he had never looked at her like that before. Elora had always believed that he would not be displeased by her training habits or the fact that she had dreamed of being a warrior one day. But the look in his eyes made those thoughts she once had crumble to her feet in a quick instance.

Her mother spoke " I have talked to your father, and we have come to the decision that you will be put into extra finishing school classes. This way you won't have so much free time and you will learn to be a true princess. And not a princess who wears training leathers."

Elora could practically see her mother's nose become more pointed and upturned in that moment, giving her the regal, snobbish look that in Elora's opinion all royals besides herself and her father had.

The words her mother spoke sunk in, but the words "that's not fair" stayed in her throat like a hot steel ball of despair. She knew she could never say such things without earning a slap to the wrist. And in that moment Elora realized the only lesson she would ever need to learn was that, nobody would save her from the villain. She would have to do that all on her own. And at this moment in time, her mother was the villain that needed slaying.