She was perfect. All the characteristics a wife of his would need: beauty, intelligence and charisma.

He had been watching her for days; observing her, determining her likes, dislikes, and whole lifestyle. The pull he felt towards her was undeniable, an irresistible yearning to be near her and share his life with her. Now there was only one thing left for him to do.

Make her his queen.

Her resisting him didn’t even cross his mind. Who could resist him?

Seraphina’s Point of View

I stepped outside onto the porch, breathing deeply, trying to inhale the many odours that floated on the dry air: horse, hay, the crisp smell of the morning.

It had been raining throughout the night, and I could see that the grass had already turned greener, reacting to the rain. Even though I lived in outback New South Wales, we were surprisingly lucky with our rainfall.

Couldn’t say the same for the neighbours though.

I spotted dad in the training circle, trotting a young filly around using a long lead rope. I headed over to him, admiring the powerful strides of the horse.

“She going well?” I asked, leaning on the steel railing.

“She’s doing alright seeing how young she is. Jim’s taken the day off, do you mind moving some cattle?” he asked, saying all this without his eyes straying from the circling horse.

Jim was one of dad’s assistants. Dad ran a massive Hereford cattle and Thoroughbred horse stud, so, naturally, he needed a lot more help than just me.

“Why not someone else?”

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind at all. It gave me something other to do than sitting in front of the T.V. watching reruns of Prison Break. Mind you, that is one of the best shows made by man.

Mmm, Wentworth Miller…

“Do you want me to get someone else to do it?” I shook my head quickly. “No, exactly. I need you to move the ones from the Back Paddock to the Eucalypt Paddock. I’d say head out now before it gets too hot. Oh, yes, and good morning Sera.”

“Morning to you to. See you in a while.”

I headed back into the house to put on jeans and grab a cap before making my way to my horse, Gypsy’s, paddock. Gypsy’s show name was Freckled Martyr’s Little Gypsy, but I’m sure you understand why I just call her Gypsy. Gypsy was a beautiful dapple grey with lots of enthusiasm. She was no young thing at fifteen years old, but she wasn’t all that old either.

After saddling her up I called the two Kelpies, Jip and Pete. Jip was brown whilst Pete was black, but other than the colour they were identical. Same height, same face, same markings… you get the point.

The Back Paddock was, naturally, at the back of the property. Thus the name. The Eucalypt Paddock was somewhat closer to the house, and named after the massive eucalyptus tree that grew smack bang in the middle of the field.

I nudged Gypsy into a steady trot, headed out into the laneway and started on the long ride.

Twenty buckets of sweat and one and a half hours later, I had entered the Back Paddock. By now, it was about eleven, and the sun was beating down hard on any bare skin. I could already feel it burning.

At this rate, I’m gonna get a skin cancer.

The cows, being the lovely and kind animals they are, were lounging under a few trees at the back of the paddock. I groaned and decided to take a quick break before starting the rounding up.

I jumped off Gypsy and led her over to a tree near the river to tie her up. I crouched over the river and splashed water on my face, groaning in pleasure as I the cool water hit my burning face. I rolled back on my heels until I was sitting on my bottom, and enjoyed the shade of the trees.

“Ah, the simple pleasures of life,” I murmured to myself.

After about five minutes, I felt the little bit of sun on my face become shadow, and I opened my eyes, expecting to see a cloud covering the sky.

I screamed and jumped away, falling into the river. Luckily, it was shallow.

“Who the hell are you?” was the first thing that I blurted out. Standing in front of me, still blocking my sun, was a man. He looked meticulously groomed in jeans and a t-shirt, so he couldn’t be some homeless weirdo. I mean, there were no creases at all. Did he spend two hours a day ironing one set of clothes to perfection?

He also couldn’t be one of the neighbours, because I would recognise him. I mean, how could you miss someone that hot? He had jet-black hair that fell into golden eyes. Did he have eyeliner on? It didn’t really look like it, more like it was just natural. Oh, and those cheekbones! It must be illegal to look just so… neat. My gaze wondered back up to those stunning eyes—

Wait, what?! Since when did people have yellow eyes?

“Since when did people have yellow eyes?” I screeched, my mind reeling from shock. But hell yeah he was stunning. No, beautiful would be more fitting a word. But he seemed so indifferent to everything around him, like there was a great mask barring his inner emotions.

And how had he managed to creep up on me without me noticing him? “You are on private property! You are trespassing! You could be sued!”

He did nothing but hold out a hand to me, and I could see his weird eyes dancing with amusement. Hold up, wasn’t his face just a mask? And why wasn’t he leaving? Right. He wants to help me up. Like hell I was going to accept that hand! I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the shaking of my hands and always keeping an eye on him. I hopped out of the water and started backing away from him. He still hadn’t spoken a word.

“Who. Are. You? Do. You. Understand. English?” I asked slowly.

“I am known as Aeron, Crown Prince of Leninus, Heir Apparent to the Sapphire Throne, Warlord of the Mage Order, and Captain of the Diamond Contingent of the Army. Codename: Achilles,” he pronounced. He had a deep and husky voice, and I swear he said all that in one sentence.

I just stared at him and he watched me, waiting for my reaction. When I did nothing but stare at him, he continued.

“You, Seraphina Blake, will be my Queen. We will return to Leninus immediately. Come.” He gestured to me.

I burst out laughing, holding my stomach whilst gales of laughter spilt from my mouth. I didn’t even notice the fact that he somehow knew my name.

“Are you—retarded? I think—you’ve—read too—too many fantasy books! Man! You—are one whacked—up individ—ual! Do you really—think I’d—believe that? Are you—high?” I stammered out between peals of laughter.

Once I’d marginally recovered, I listened to his answer.

“What is retard and whacked? I don’t understand,” he said, looking at me curiously. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m just dandy, thanks Ronnie.”

“Who is Ronnie? And what is dandy?” he spat the word with distaste.

“Wow, are you a tourist?” That would explain a lot, like the uptight attitude, lack of an accent, and not understanding anything. “Dandy is Aussie slang for great. Now seriously. Have you escaped from a mental hospital? I didn’t know there was one near.”

Well, the closest big town was less than an hour away, and that was Gloucester. Last I heard Gloucester hadn’t built any whack shacks.

“Slang? No future wife of mine will talk slang. You will desist this instant,” he said tightly. His face was like marble; he hadn’t once changed his expression.

My eyes instantly narrowed, and I felt anger building up inside me. I’m not a very temperamental person; I think I wasted a majority of my anger when I was little. I was an angry child I’m sorry to say, but at nineteen, I was much more level headed.

“I’m not yours! Never was, never will be. I can speak any damn way I want!”

An idea formed in my head, and I had to fight hard to keep the smug smile from reaching my face, but I was sure it was shining in my eyes.

“Look mate, I’m in a bloody cranky mood now. So just bugger off, I got some real yakka ta do,” I said, in a very Australian accent. How do I know these words you ask? Well, one day I was bored so I printed off a sheet of Australian slang off the Internet and my best friend, Anna, and me practised to my dad. He was not in a happy mood after that.

I saw his eyes narrow a fraction and he glared at me. I just stuck my chin out and smirked, before pushing past him and returning to my beautiful horse that had been standing there patiently this whole time.

Before I managed to make a dignified escape from the psycho, his hand shot on and grabbed my arm, pulling me back in front of him.

“What makes you doubt me?” he asked quietly, his eyes intense.

I fidgeted with my hands, shifting from foot to foot.

“I have never heard of Leneny—”

“Leninus.”

“Whatever. I have never heard of it, or anything else that you stated so grandly,” I said sarcastically. “And, sorry to say, there’s no such thing as magic.”

“Yes there is. Leninus is in a completely different world, another plane if you like.”

“Prove it.” I smirked again. This guy had no chance. Or, if I was going to talk in slang, this guy had Buckley’s chance.

“Fine.”

He held his hand out, palm upturned. I glanced at his face and saw his eyes go completely white. I blinked and looked again, but they were amber. I shook my head. Must’ve been a trick of the light. I shifted my gaze to his hand, and stumbled back a step.

Cupped in his hand, has what looked like a globe of fire. It didn’t touch his palm, just hovered there. As I stared at it, it began to change colours, turning every colour of the rainbow. I gawked at it.

All those pretty colours, so beautiful.

Abruptly, the globe disappeared. I continued ogling at his hand.

“Do you believe now?”

His self-satisfied voice shook me out of my stupor, and I glared at him.

“No! That was just a trick of light! Magicians nowadays can do anything. Let me have a look at your hand.” I didn’t wait for his consent, just grabbed his hand and studied it, looking for something, anything. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but I was sure it wasn’t real.

“I don’t know how you did it, but I know that magic isn’t real.”

“Fine. Ask me to do anything using magic, and I will do it.”

I thought long and hard. What could I make him do that would show he didn’t have magic? What had she always wanted to see or do?

“Make me fly,” I pronounced proudly. Ha! Like to see him get out of this one.

He just smiled.

Before I knew it, he was hugging me. What the hell? This guy’s definitely psy—

My feet left the ground.

Okay, yes I know it starts off very weird, and you probably don’t understand a lot of the words, but that’s why I’ll explain them!!

Filly: young female horse.

Hereford: breed of cow that is red and white.

Thoroughbred: breed of horse, usually used in races.

Kelpie: Breed of dog.

Dapple grey: a colour of horse, usually white and grey with black legs. As in, the horse goes from white, to grey, to black. Very pretty but hard to describe.

“Look mate, I’m in a bloody cranky mood now. So just bugger off, I got some real yakka ta do,”: this whole sentence means that she’s in a bad mood and wants him to go away because she’s got some real work to do.

If there are any other words you don’t understand, just tell me! Or review…Whatever.

Also, if anyone had read Key To The Kingdom, one of my other stories, you’ll know that HQ is set in the same world as KTTK: Leninus. This story is like a sequel to it, though you don’t need to read KTTK to understand HQ.

Both worlds, Leninus and Earth, have progressed a lot, though not in the same way. Earth has become a lot more modernized (from the 14th century to the 21st). and Leninus has become more advanced and discovered new enemies.

I’m real sorry about not finishing KTTK… I know, I’m slack… but I’ll try to complete it within the next ten weeks!!

Disclaimed: I don’t own Prison Break, Herefords, Thoroughbreds, or Kelpies.

This is a work of fiction. Characters, corporations, organizations, TV shows and such mentioned in this novel are either the product of my imagination or, if real, used fictitiously without any intent. All my characters and fiction worlds are my own, so no takey!