To Be Loved TVD

Chapter One: The Arrival That Changed Everything

From the novel: Who Is to Be Loved

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The bells of Eldoria rang long before sunrise.

Their peal echoed across the mist-laced hills, across the marble courtyards and golden spires of the royal city, announcing to all that the day of the prince's arrival had come. It wasn't a normal day in Eldoria - not for the court, not for the nobles, and certainly not for the daughters of House Venestra.

Lady Elira Venestra stood in the eastern veranda of their ancestral manor, arms folded across her silken robe, her dark curls catching the early breeze. At twenty-one, Elira had grown into the kind of woman who unnerved men with her confidence and disarmed them with her wit. Her beauty was sharp - the sort that left you thinking long after she had left the room.

She was the first to know he had come.

Below, in the rose courtyard, her sister Selene twirled in a pale blue dress she'd had tailored just for today. Seventeen and full of hope, Selene believed in poetry, destiny, and love at first sight. She had never been kissed. She had never tasted heartbreak. She still dreamed of being chosen.

"Do you think he'll notice me?" Selene asked, her voice lifting like the morning light as she turned toward her sister.

Elira watched her with something between affection and worry. "He'll notice you," she said after a pause. "Everyone does."

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They had spoken of Prince Rael of Tharalion for months. A man said to be carved of charm and power, raised behind walls of glass and gold. He was not Eldorian by blood, but he had been chosen by the king to wed - and his bride was to be from among the highborn houses. Their house.

It was not yet said which daughter would be chosen.

Only that he would choose.