The Elements of Forbidden Love

It was finally the day that I'd been training for my entire life. As an elemental princess who was sixteen years old, I was going to my very first ball where I would be expected to meet a prince of another element and convince him to court me.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself ugly, but I definitely wasn't beautiful like my cousin Naida and the other princesses. The only advantage that I had was my intellect. I'd spent my entire life preparing for this day and the month that followed it.

As a water princess, I didn't have very many duties to fulfill. I had lessons with my tutors every day. I had abilities, fencing, and dancing lessons, and then I would study. I'd memorized everything recorded about the New Earth. I knew the entire history of how it came to be. I knew how Homo Sapiens became Elementals. I'd memorized all of the deceased and currently alive royal family members from every domain including their personalities and their likes and dislikes. I knew all of their possible abilities and how they would use them.

My parents, the king and queen of the water domain, have told me that I was special my entire life. They've told me that I was meant for greatness. Before I left, my little brother, Dylan, told me that I was probably going to die alone. I was not exactly sure which to believe.

My family and I were on our way to the Earth Domain where the ball and the meetings for the Commonwealth of the New Earth would take place.

Despite how long I had prepared for this day, I was still terrified of meeting everyone in reality. Especially the royal family from the Fire Domain.

As the princess of water, most people would already assume that I would hate the fire family. I, unlike most people's opinions, wouldn't have had anything against their family, but they murdered my sister. They took away my best friend... my favorite person... my lifeline.

My sister Brooke was kidnapped and pronounced dead when she was eight years old, and I was six. She was my role model, and before I could even really love her, she was taken from my life forever.

It was never proven that the fire royals killed my sister, but we've always known. The fire family has always been jealous of our domain. They don't have much clean water, and they used to take in extra shipments from us which cost them a lot of time and money. They had the perfect motive. After my parents raised the price, the fire royals cancelled their extra water payments. My parents were suspicious, but they thought that the fire royals would agree to their prices eventually. They never agreed.

The last day that I saw my sister, we spent the entire day in lessons. On our way back to our rooms, she told me something that I'll never forget. The last words that anyone in the water kingdom heard my sister say were simple, but meaningful. She told me, "Nixie, people are going to tell you that you'll never be good enough to rule alone because you're a princess and our only purpose is to be wives to kings and princes. Never believe them. We are meant to rule. We will both be powerful queens."

It makes me tremble thinking about that night. I knew something was wrong in that moment, but I just walked into my room and got in my bed. I'll never be able to grasp why they took her. I'll never understand why they didn't take me instead. I was the easier target. I was less likely to fight back. I was weaker. I suppose that I'll never know why they took her. It's the same reason that I'll never know who took her. There wasn't enough evidence.

The morning after she was taken, I went into her room to wake her up because she didn't show up for breakfast. When I opened up her door, she was gone. Her room was burnt in different places, and there were piles of ashes left in the floor where her furniture was. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I just stood there in shock. I stood there until my maids and tutors found me in her room. Until I felt my mothers hands rest on my shoulders comfortingly. Until it finally hit me that my sister was really gone. Then all I could do was scream. I screamed in anger. I screamed in frustration. Then I screamed in pain and despair. I wanted revenge.