Chapter 1: The Invisible Princess

The air in the study of the Imperial Palace of Aethelgard was thick with a pungent combination of crushed cedar, ozone, and the low hum of cooling nitrogen liquid pipes behind the translucent white stone walls. Beyond the floor-length blast windows stood the northern capital of Aethelgard, with its blinding vistas of jagged snow-capped mountains under the pale morning light of the sun.

The mahogany doors closed silently with a faint sound of hydraulics, locking the princess in with three people whose hearts and the total dominion of the empire were in their hands.

"No way," said King Adrien, in an unforgiving tone. Not even bothering to lift his eyes from the floating hologram on his desk showing various border security footage, he brushed them off with ease. "You are the High Commanding General of our armies, Diane. You do not simply walk away from your duties in order to spend a semester being a student in another kingdom."

"Adrien, look at me," said Diane, circling around the edge of his desk with a charming smile.

Today, she was not clad in her usual black tactical armor. Today, her high-clearance command bracelet did not flash on her wrist. Today, she was dressed in a loose, pale cream oversized sweater and faded dark jeans, no longer resembling the frightening phantom general who had single-handedly brought down three rogue insurgencies before her nineteenth birthday. Today, she looked exactly what she truly was despite all her military awards – a twenty-year-old woman trying to have one taste of normalcy.

"I have spent my entire life behind the iron borders of Aethelgard," Diane continued, speaking with sincere and earnest tones. "I have gone straight from the tactical training grounds to the war rooms before I even had the right to vote in the council. I just want to see the world beyond our fortress walls, just for one year of university."

Lyla, the sister-in-law, sat in the velvet armchair next to the fireplace and placed a protecting hand on her rounded belly, where her unborn child was growing. She gave Diane a reassuring smile before turning to her husband. "She has a point, Adrien. She has pushed herself to the limit throughout this winter campaign. And Sky is attending the University of Valeria anyway. So, she will have an anchor there."

"Sky is the daughter of the Valerian Chancellor," their mother, the Dowager Queen Eleanor, added from her place by the fireplace. Her brow was knitted in royal concern as her hands stroked the heavy silk of her gown. "Should both of you become compromised—should the Valerian Crown learn that Aethelgard's leading military commander is walking around their lecture halls—"

"Found you as what, Mother?" Diane whispered amusedly as she approached her mother and got down to kneel beside her chair, taking both the woman’s cold hands into hers. "To everybody out there in the outside world, Aethelgard's princess is a fairy tale or a myth that we came up with in our propaganda department to baffle other countries."

Diane stared up at her mother with bright icy blue eyes. "Not once have anyone from outside this place ever set eyes on my face sans my tactical visor. No one from the southern kingdom ever knew my real name. As soon as my feet touch down on Valerian soil, I am no longer Princess Diane nor High General. I am simply a normal transfer student with a regular tech major."

Adrien said nothing for several seconds. Then he methodically began tapping on the edge of his desk to shut down the hologram. The blue glow was extinguished, replaced by the normal light streaming in through the frosted windows. He gazed into the eyes of his sister, and what he saw there was a combination of fierce concern and respect.

He understood her better than anyone else could. And he understood that her sweet entreaty masked the classified file now lying on her encrypted slate below.

A mere three days ago, Aethelgardian intelligence had picked up a piece of a high-level cyber-threat attack against the core military network of the kingdom. The threat had been sent from an untraceable proxy node, but the routing server had bounced the signal straight into the middle of the Valerian capital. Diane was not just requesting permission for a vacation because she was bored. She was planning an espionage mission all by herself.

"If your cover is blown by even a fraction of a degree," Adrien said in a sovereign tone, "if even one Valerian intelligence agent glances at you once, you abort the mission and return immediately. No arguments."

Diane stood up, an evil, murderous glint in her eyes for a split second before she put it away behind her smile. "Deal."

Three weeks later, Princess Diane of Aethelgard no longer existed.

The high-speed magnetic rail transport pulled into the main station of the University of Valeria and opened its pressurized doors with a gentle hiss, letting loose a rush of enthusiastic and multi-national students on the platform.

Diane stepped out into the warm, golden southern sun, breathing in deeply. The air around her was totally different from what she was used to up north—it was warm and fragrant with jasmine and ocean salt, without the ozone or cold metal that permeated the air where she came from.

As she walked through the magnificent, ultra-modern gateways of the university, her name was firmly entrenched in all databases as Athena Jackson: a quiet, second-year transfer student specializing in Advanced Cybernetic Systems.

The school was an awe-inspiring combination of architectural styles. The towering glass buildings with working solar skins stood next to the old, moss-covered stone libraries. Holographic guides that led students around the campus floated casually above the marble paths, directing a stream of rich noble heirs, distinguished scholars, and prodigious foreign students.

Diane adjusted the strap on her leather shoulder bag, a natural smile playing on her lips as she walked through the central square. For the first time in her life, she was moving through a crowded space without the presence of a dozen secret royal guards surrounding her and without her tactical visor analyzing the faces of everyone passing by her. She was, in effect, completely free.

As Diane took that corner on her way toward the campus's great lawn, the gentle banter of the afternoon suddenly fell silent upon the loud splashing noise accompanied quickly by desperate sobs for air.

"Someone, please help me!"

 And just like that, her military mind kicked in in the blink of an eye. Diane's shoulders dropped, while at once her eyes fixed on the cause of the chaos around the sunken area of campus.

And there was the deep and architecturally ornate pool—great marble structure, filled with turbulent water by the man-made waterfall meant to bring coolness to the surrounding areas. In the midst of the deepest water was bobbing a child—a tiny girl with her blue dress drowning in water.

 "Ava!" called some student who walked along the pavement nearby.

Hundreds of Valerian students stood motionless along the edge of the pool. Some reached for their own comm-pads to film, others gaped in surprise and fear while looking for security guards, and yet others just froze in shock at what had happened.

Idiots, Diane thought to herself, feeling her blood turn ice cold with immediate anger. The Valerian high society is full of onlookers, not heroes.

Without even a moment's delay, Diane dove in. She didn't stop to peel off her heavy coat and shoes, and dived into the water from the marble edge without making a single splash.

As the cold water touched her, she felt the sudden drag from the weight of her soaking clothes, but her body had trained for arctic underwater warfare. She pushed past that and fought her way through the water with sharp, accurate strokes until she arrived beside the sinking girl as the child's dark hair submerged in the water.

Diane reached down, her powerful fingers gripping the girl’s chest as she pulled her up to the surface.

The girl emerged from the water, gasping frantically as she clung onto Diane’s sweater with shaking hands.

“You’re safe,” Diane told her, her voice taking on the tone of absolute certainty. “Breath through your nose.”

With her kick steady and strong, Diane swam both of them back until they reached the solid marble edge of the pool. First, she lifted the shaking, tear-streaked child to the dry walkway and made sure that the child had safely sat down before lifting herself out of the water, letting her dark locks drench the stone path.

The gathered crowd watched in total, speechless shock. No one said anything; no one even offered a towel.

"Ava!! Ava!!"

An alarmed cry pierced the dead-silent quad. The crowd quickly parted to let a tall and exceedingly handsome youth run into the clearing. His royal academy uniform blazer was open, his customary air of cool, relaxed elegance totally gone in favor of utter, pure panic.

Kneeling down on the slick stone floor, he wrapped his arms around the little girl, holding her close to his chest as though the entire world had disappeared.

"It was just a second while I was turning away from the registrar's counter," he murmured, his voice hoarse as he pressed his face into his sister's sodden hair. "Oh god, Ava... I am so sorry."

 Diane sat on the edge of the marble pond, squeezing the bottom of her soaked sweater. Wiping the water out of her eyes, she used her analytical mind to identify the young man's attributes.

The strong shoulders, the dark and perfectly groomed hair, the intense eyes, and the air of complete dominance.

Crown Prince Nicholas of Valeria.

She had spent many hours studying the dossier on his intelligence in the underground war rooms of Aethelgard. He was the heir to the rival throne, the leader of the royal intelligence service in Valerian, and was considered one of the most brilliant tacticians of his age.

Nicholas held his sobbing sister for a little while longer, making sure she was not injured, before his head whipped around. His clear, intelligent eyes bore into Diane's.

He surveyed the scene with a single, all-encompassing glance: the dripping, heavy clothes, the calm and controlled breathing, which betrayed no hint of fear despite the effort involved, and the cool blue eyes looking at him with no hint of the servile admiration that Valerian nobility always gave him.

Nicholas stood and moved toward her with eyes filled with deep, overpowering gratitude and dark fascination.

"You," Nicholas growled with a baritone voice carrying unmistakable authority. "You leaped into action before anyone even knew what was going on. Who are you?"

Diane met the eyes of the Crown Prince of her nation’s archrival kingdom, letting a small, polite smile grace her face as she tossed her soaked hair back over her shoulders.

"Athena," she answered without hesitation, maintaining a calm voice. "Just a transfer student."