I did the maths today... I’ve been knowingly creating stories for seven years. I have seven years of files that all have one thing in common. Strong female characters. I’ve noticed a reoccurring theme of playing with spies. The same story told twelve different ways with similar characters and plot arcs. This is one of those tales, a story I last edited in 2013... rewritten and brought back to life.
PROLOGUE
I checked my watch before looking back down the scope of my sniper rifle as the future king paced back and forth on the balcony of the palace he’d turned into a private all-boys boarding school. His hand ran through his wet hair as he spoke on the phone, drying it on the towel that rested over his broad shoulders and covered his otherwise bare torso.
“You sure about this?” Mandy, my partner in crime and best friend asked, sneaking back into the campervan I’d parked on the school's borders in order to spy on the kingdom’s heir and slumping back into one of the seats.
“We both know I don’t have a choice May. Are the girls in place?” I pulled my attention away from following the way his jeans sat low on his hips to look at the blonde woman as she picked at her blood red nails.
“In place and their covers are intact, you won’t be alone in this Amy.” Blue eyes looked up at me with a smile, glancing at the cameras before she pulled the dagger I had gifted her in Venice from her ankle to clean out her nails once more.
“My name is Sofia, May. Amy will be long gone by tonight.” I looked down the scope once more, before dismantling the gun, pausing when the van’s meager light reflected off the huge emerald that sat, surrounded by diamonds and encased in white gold, on my left ring finger. This was it, the thing that ended my career, and would change my life forever.
“Amy?” May’s hand on my shoulder jolted me from my thoughts.
“Sofia, May. You’re a world class spy, can’t you remember my name?” I teased, folding the last of the sniper that I owed my life to into the briefcase where it belonged, passing it to May before I could change my mind and run from my duty. “You should get back before they start to worry.”
“Of course, Princess; anything else?” May’s fingers brushed mine as she took the briefcase and stood.
“Thank you. For everything.” I wrapped her up in a hug, refusing to let myself cry until she had stepped out of the van and disappeared back towards the palace. Tears sliding down my cheeks as I drove away.
Chapter One:
Tears raced each other down my mother's cheeks, forcing me to turn around in the designer wedding dress so she could take it all in. I obeyed without question, my hands running down the lacy white gown. It wasn’t the simplistic dress I would have picked, and May would be laughing her head off if she ever saw me in the ballgown style wedding dress. The tradition that had been passed down my family line for centuries. Sheer lace sleeves practically danced their way up my arms and over my shoulders until they fused down the front of the corset-like bodice.
“You look stunning, Sofia.” Her hands reached for my cheeks, but I stepped back before she could grab them, feeling the fabric of the gown catch beneath my bare feet.
“My makeup, Mother.” I reached for her wrists, wrapping my own hands around them in place of allowing her to grab at my face. Father would destroy me if my makeup was smudged, revealing the large bruise that sat there, especially just before my wedding and the uniting of my kingdom with that of our oldest enemy.
“Of course darling. Sorry, I forgot. You just look so grown up.” She smiled at me, grasping my hands through her tears. “I wish I could have seen you grow up.” The whisper that passed her lips was not one I was meant to hear, so I ignored it.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty, may I?” My mother was shuffled aside as the team of people assigned to get me ready for the wedding returned with more boxes of things to force me into before the hour arrived.
“Of course. Your father wanted me to stop by and tell you we were going ahead to the church with all the paperwork and everything. We’ll meet you there.” She squeezed my hands before turning and walking out of the room, hands wiping her tears away as she went.
“Your father will not be accompanying you to the church, Your Royal Highness?” The makeup artist was gentle as he rested a finger beneath my chin to lift and turn my head.
“My father prefers not to be seen with me; I am paying the price for the gender I was born with,” I replied as he reached for a brush once more. Someone else gently reaching for my hair and running a brush through it as a curler warmed. Another set of hands placing a necklace around my neck before looking for emerald earrings.
“My apologies, Ma’am. I should not have asked.” He averted his gaze from me as if I would yell at him for his curious question. A frown on his face as he searched through his vast array of powders and creams.
“No bother, is everything alright?” My gaze followed him as he started to move things around, looking around the room as if scared he had forgotten something important elsewhere.
“The black eye is harder to hide than I first anticipated, nothing I can’t fix. Pierre will be here shortly with your shoes and veil. Everything is under control, Ma’am. May I request you close your eyes?” I closed my eyes feeling the feather light touches of a brush beneath my left eye as I silently reminded myself of the lie I would be living for the rest of my life.
My name is Sofia Amelia Calder. I was raised in a convent that taught young women to be the perfect wives at the insistence of my father. I was taught everything I needed to know to be useful to my future husband, the king. All things I did learn, in between missions and training so that my father fell for the lies we fed him whenever he paid a visit to the sisterhood. It was this woman that I was to be now, the life of the spy I had lived was no longer mine, the defeat of the brotherhood no longer the sole purpose of my life.
“Ma’am, might I present the designer of your wedding gown, Master Pierre.” I turned as the door opened, watching the man as he rushed into the room with three other women. They cradled a large box between them, holding it like it was about to shatter into a thousand pieces.
“Your Royal Highness,” Pierre turned to me once he had ensured the boxes safety, sweeping into a low bow before studying how the dress rested on my frame. “You look stunning, how does everything feel?” I ran my hands down the fabric once more a smile tugging at my lips as I looked at the white fabric that surrounded me.
“I feel like a princess,” I replied honestly, and he beamed back at me, pleased with the answer I gave.
“Well we have to be rushing you off to the cathedral, so final touches everyone.” The room burst into a frenzy at his statement. My makeup artist quickly stepped back so that Pierre and his team could take over. Shoes were strapped on my feet while a tiara placed on top of my head, the veil and train carefully fastened around it and arranged to rest on me as the official photographer was finally allowed into the room where I was getting ready to take the pre-wedding photos.
“Ready Your Royal Highness?” Pierre asked, carefully moving the gown around me once more as he offered me his arm. I rested my own hand on it letting him escort me to the car that was waiting out the front.
I shouldn’t have been surprised at the open-roofed car that waiting for me at the hotel's entrance. Nor at the multiple palace guards that had joined with the police to control the thousands of people that had lined the streets in an effort to meet me. As someone who had lived her life in the shadows, this all scared me, as someone who had taken a life I could see how easy it would be to rob me of mine.
“Princess?” Pierre’s hand tightened around my arm, I glanced up at him with a smile.
“I’m good. Let’s do this.” No one would dare harm the Crown Princess on her wedding day. It would cause a war between two kingdoms that had finally found peace, and no one was that foolish. Attendants followed after us, helping me and my gown into the car and arranging it around it before we started on our short trip down the road to where I would be wed. Pierre shutting the door and waving me off once I was settled, waving to those who lined the streets as I passed by.
I could see the giant cathedral the second we turned the corner. Large barriers lined with guards prevented anyone from breaking through. A red carpet had been rolled down the stairs and onto the road where the car would no doubt pull to a stop. Children and adults alike were waving the flag that would define both countries by the end of the ceremony, calling my name as we rolled past. The cathedral was practically glowing in the sun’s light, large flowers dominating the sides and overflowing from the balconies and packed into the spaces around stain glassed windows. Everyone had gone all out for the royal wedding.
My father was waiting on the cathedral's steps, a crown on his head as he adjusted his black suit. My mother standing at his side with a handkerchief pressed to her face. Footmen rushed to get the door and help me out of the car, offering me a hand as my feet threatened to tangle in the overly large gown.
“Thank you.” I picked up the front of the gown as I started to walk up the stairs to where my parents waited for me. The flash of camera’s reflecting off of the silver heels peeking out from the end of my dress.
I curtsied once I reached my parents, my father’s hands on my shoulders allowing me to look up so he could inspect me and how I looked before the ceremony started. His eyes scanned over me, and despite the years of training I’d put in to look fit and the massive team of people who had made sure I was ready for the wedding that would go down in history, I still felt incredibly self-conscious.
“You’ll do. Come, it’s time.” He offered me his arm as tradition dictated, and I took it, using my other hand to hold my dress out of the way as we climbed the last of the stairs. My mother walked at the other side as young girls raced out from the doors of the cathedral to help with my train like they had no doubt spent months practising.
The music was already playing as I stepped into the church, dropping the front of my dress and smoothing it down. My father paused as I did, releasing my arm so that I could fix my dress properly. Before his fingers closed around my arm hauling me upright so he could speak to me without anyone overhearing us.
“If you let this kingdom down or disrespect your husband in any way. Your eye will be the least of your worries. Understood?” I leant forward, kissing my father's cheek as cameras flashed around us.
“I have trained my entire life for this one job father. I will not let my kingdom down.” I whispered in his ear, slipping my arm back through his and smiling at my mother. I had not lied to my father, I would protect my new kingdom to the best of my abilities, though it might not be the way my father intended.
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