King Gregory and Queen Sarah of Santina were blessed with only one child, a beautiful girl which they named Claudia. A happy and brilliant child, she was doted on relentlessly by the royal couple,but somehow her lovely demeanor remained unspoiled. By the time she was fourteen, she was hailed as the Rose of Santina, a name which described her temperament, as much as her beauty. News of her glimmering silver hair and beautiful blue-grey eyes became known throughout the Continent.

And it was in her fifteenth year that the peaceful nation of Santina was invaded by its neighbor, The Kingdom of Remno. For eight months Santina repelled Remno troops, but by the ninth month, Remno troops were at the palace gates. The fate of the Satina capital sealed, King Gregory was surprised when the attacks on the palace stopped and a Remno messenger was sent to the King. Gregory silently read the demands. Tears began to fall down his cheeks, his hands trembling. Sarah took the letter from her husband's hands. She read the demands out loud.

"'All of the territory west of the Black River, and The Rose of Santina.' He's insane, she's just a child! We can send her off! She can still escape."

"I will go."

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"Claudia, no!"

"Mother, if I don't go, he will raze the capital. Everyone will die."

"Gregory, tell her she can't go."

King Gregory was silent, motionless, broken...

It was a cruel demand. The King and Queen would lose the light of their life —and their only heir.

It was assumed that once they passed, the King would return to Santina to take the remainder of the once proud nation. And, there would be no escape for Claudia, while her compliance could not guarantee the survival of her country—or the lives of her parents, she knew that escape—even through taking her own life—would mean death for all she loved.

So, Claudia was wed to Remno's young King. It was portrayed as a political marriage, but it far was worse than that—just four days short of her fifteenth birthday, The Rose of Santina had become little more than a spoil of war.

She would give birth to four children and would love them all. And, she would do everything in her power to protect them—to keep the girls from being broken, and keep the boys from becoming monsters. It was an act of love, but also a secret act of defiance.

My life is not a tragedy. He believes that he has won. But, he has nothing. He is nothing. He does not love, nor is loved by anyone. He is an earthquake, a flood—a terrible destructive force—but, everything is destroyed in time—but, not everyone is loved. I have loved and been loved, as both a parent and as a child. Abel, Gain, Clarissa, Valentina—they are my children. You have stolen me, but they will never become yours!