Read Online Royal Outlaw: (Royal Outlaw, Book 1) by Kayla Hudson - Free Book Online

discern the particular meaning that the questioner intended. The first thought that came to mind was the de Sharecs, but she doubted that Molentre considered any person the “greatest enemy.” It had to be something more abstract. He probably wanted something more general.
    “Hatred,” she finally said. 
    “A valiant try, but no. The greatest enemy to every being that can use its mind is fear. Fear is what spawns hate . . . fear of losing power, of not achieving, of death . . . the list is endless. The object that is part of all beings’ nature—zreshlan, human, serpentramel, ogre, unicorn, and even the gods—that breeds more hatred and wreaks more havoc than any other thing in the past and future is fear. It is a part of us all. I have it, you have it, everyone has it. It clouds logic and corrupts minds. It is an enemy so powerful, so vicious that every year countless people die because of it. The only thing we can do is try to master it, so that others are not harmed. We must try to push our fears aside when it is necessary to benefit the greater good. Fear does not render people helpless. They choose to be helpless and blame it on fear.”
    Mariel began to understand this lesson. “The de Sharecs and the nobility are corrupted because they allow fear to govern them. You tell me this so that I know what to be aware of, so that I know what to watch for in them.”
    “No,” Molentre and Anoria said so forcefully Mariel thought they were human for an instant.
    In the dim light the stars cast on the platform, Mariel saw Molentre close his eyes and calm himself, while Anoria just glared angrily at her. When the old tutor, who was somewhere around four-hundred years old, recovered from his brief lapse of control, he bowed his head in apology. “I beg forgiveness.”
    “There is nothing to forgive,” Mariel replied with the traditional saying.
    Molentre looked into Mariel’s eyes so long and intently, that she turned away first. “Greslina, I tell you this, not so you will know the de Sharecs and the nobility’s weakness, but so that you will know the weaknesses you have.”
    Mariel swelled with anger. “I do not have fear!”
    “We all have fear, sister,” Anoria told her softly.
    “I do not.”
    The tutor shook his head sadly. “By not admitting fear, you cannot learn to accept it, and be aware of it. The fear that you do not know is far more dangerous to you than the fear that you have met. You cannot be afraid of fear, it makes you blind and it gives you the same flaw that your grandparents possess.”
    The unhappy princess jumped to her feet, and glared angrily down at the zreshlans. “I am not like them!”
    “But you will be,” Anoria said, “If you do not first accept fear.”
    “Fear is a weakness and I am not weak!”
    “Fear is a weakness only if you allow it to be. Do not pretend you are not afraid, Greslina, for you will become the same as all the other de Sharecs if you do.”
    Mariel had heard enough. Without giving the traditional goodbye, she marched off the stargazing platform in a most un-zreshlan like way.
    “Fear,” she fumed to herself in Natrician. “I’m not afraid. I’m fearless. And I’m not like the de Sharecs, even if I do share their blood and have agreed to be their heir.”
    A little voice in her mind asked her if she was lying to herself. The rest of her pushed that voice away. 
    * * *
    After a restless night sleep, filled with nightmares when she was awake and sweet oblivion the few hours she did sleep, Mariel dressed in human leggings and a shirt. She took a long time saying goodbye to the room that she had used for so many years.
    She touched the carvings etched into the few, simple pieces of furniture. The intricate map on her wall was what stole her attention the longest. She traced the familiar lines of the many human kingdoms, lines that had never held nor bothered her, but now would consume her life. She had never needed to respect those lines, but now she