10 | her royal highness

Princess Nuala Celesora of the Grand Centaurii Empire stared out at the blue planet, watching the swirls of white clouds part to reveal shades of green.

Absent-mindedly, she toyed with a lock of her long curly black hair. She was a pretty girl, with smooth dark brown skin and large amber eyes, offset by her floral skirt and red sweater. Nuala knew how to dress for every occasion. And she would need every appearance of innocence as she travelled to Earth.

But she was not innocent. Far from it. The damage done to her spine had seen to that, left her paralyzed in this chair.

She had ample time to develop her influence, however. She had friends in high places now and more friends in low. People took her as a weakling, a charity case. They were wrong.

It had taken every inch of her cunning and every string she could possibly pull to even get her on this ship, but there was opportunity here. Opportunity she could not squander. It had taken two years of planning to assemble all her people for this trip. And now I can make the difference.

She wheeled herself to the observation deck, tracing the curve of the blue planet. "Welcome home, Nuala," she breathed. "We've missed you."