"Okay, but don't you think it would be fair if I got a nickname for you? You already have one for me.", Crystal told Scott. She'd sparked that conversation up during breakfast and hadn't stopped hinting towards having a cute name for him ever since.

They were trying to find their way to the back yard of the palace, where Daniel had arranged for them to train and learn how to fight. Alex wasn't really in the mood, but he'd obliged- mostly because he wanted an excuse to get shirtless in front of a crowd.

"Princess, nicknames shouldn't be forced. They come naturally.", Scott chuckled in reply rolling his eyes.

"He's got a point...", Alex agreed.

"This is an attack against me on all fronts and such a thing will not be tolerated, boys.", Crystal glared at them both.

"As the oldest in this group--", Alex started.

"No. Don't use that as an argument. Just don't.", Scott shook his head.

"You're saying that because you're the middle one.", Alex scoffed.

"I could call you sandwich...", Crystal changed the subject, turning to Scott.

"Nope.", he shook his head. "I refuse to accept that."

"I'll find a good one, Harrow. Mark my words.", she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Good luck, princess.", he winked.

"Oh, I'll show you, mister." she pointed her finger at him jokingly.

The yard was empty but for a dozen soldiers and the King himself.

"There you are! What took you so long?", Daniel asked.

"We got lost.", Crystal stared at him in the eye, trying (and failing) to look intimidating.

"Okay then. I'll leave you three to practice. I sure hope you'll all show up for lunch.", he told them apologetically.

"We'll think about it.", Crystal crossed her arms and pointedly turned her back on him.

His face fell and he left the yard, going back into the palace.

"What do you need training with?", one of the soldiers asked them.

"I'm good at shooting arrows, but I want to learn some hand-to-hand combat and the basics of handling a sword.", the princess replied.

"I can fight from up close, but I think I'm going to need some help with long-ranged attacks and swordfighting.", Scott added.

Alex stayed silent and everyone turned to look at him. "What about you?", another guard asked him.

"Oh, I've spent most of my life living in the woods and some of that time I was by myself, so there's nothing left for you people to teach me. I only came for the company. Now... is there somewhere I can take a nap?", Alex rambled.

"Alex.", Crystal glared at him.

"What? I know how to fight.", he rolled his eyes. Scott sighed and approached him, whispering something in his ear. Alex smirked upon hearing whatever Scott told him. "Fine, I'm in."

Scott returned to Crystal.

"What did you tell him?", she asked.

"That if he trains, he'll get sweaty and get the chance to take his shirt off in front of lots of hot people.", Scott smirked, obviously proud of himself.

"I never thought Alex would reach such a low...", Crystal chuckled to herself, shaking her head.

"I'm surprised he hasn't fallen any lower yet...", Scott laughed.

"I heard that, Harrow!", Alex yelled from across the yard.

"Let's get to fighting, chief.", Crystal winked and skipped away.

"That was terrible!", Scott called after her, laughing.

"I know!", she replied just as cheerfully.

Training was exhausting. Fortunately, they were fast learners.

Well, apart from Alex who already knew everything and put the soldiers to shame with his skills.

After the actual training session was over and the soldiers went back to doing their normal work, like keeping watch on the walls, Alex approached Scott.

"Hey, Harrow?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to fight me?", Alex asked.

"What?", Scott tilted his head in confusion.

"I asked you if you wanted to fight me."

Scott glanced at Crystal, who shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt.", she told him.

"It will hurt, actually.", Alex smirked.

"I'm going to fight you on one condition.", Scott got up.

"I'm listening."

"You'll put your shirt back on because this is distracting me.", Harrow pointed at Alex's abs.

"Aw, you're no fun."

"I get that a lot."

The so-called fight started casually, but only after Alex complied with Scott's request.

Each boy took a long training stick and glared at the other, both trying to intimidate each other.

"You're not scaring me.", Scott told his friend.

"If you'd let me keep my shirt off, you would be."

"We are not having this conversation."

"Jealous, Harrow?"

"You're not the only one with abs, you know!"

"Guys, what the hell? Are you going to fight or not?", Crystal yelled from the sidelines.

Scott attacked first. He managed to strike Alex under the rib and on the arm, but only because he took him by surprise. When Alex regained his composure, Scott realised he was doomed.

With two really quick hits that Scott barely saw coming, Alex managed to throw his opponent off balance and gave a final strike behind Scott's knee, flipping him to the ground.

"You're hopeless.", he chuckled, helping Scott up.

"You're a show-off.", Scott groaned.

"That's why I'm so charming.", Alex winked at him.

"Yeah, nope.", Scott shook his head and immediately let go of Alex's helping hand, stepping away.

"Okay, my turn.", Crystal got up and approached Alex. "I want to fight you."

Scott narrowed his eyes at her. "Something tells me you're going to play dirty."

"Don't you know me? I don't play dirty.", she smirked.

"I'm in, but if you cheat, I'll cheat too.", Alex warned her, earning a shrug in reply.

Crystal took the stick from Scott and got into a combat position.

"I'll go easy on you.", Alex smirked.

"Yeah, don't you dare. There's no reason for you to go easy on me--"

"You're a bloody sixteen-year-old and I'm two damn years older than you, of course I'm going easy. I'm not a damn monster.", Alex rolled his eyes.

"I've already beaten you once.", she smiled sweetly.

"That time didn't count, Crystie. You caught me off gu--"

Alex barely got the chance to parry Crystal's upper attack, stopping her stick a couple of inches away from his head.

"Are you out of your mind, Crystie? Are you trying to kill me?", he eyed her with a terrified expression.

"I wasn't going to hit you hard, you know.", she scoffed, taking a couple of steps back.

Alex charged, but Crystal was smaller and more agile, so she easily dodged him, slightly hitting him in the back with her weapon. Her friend stumbled forward and Scott resisted the urge to laugh at the sight of Alex getting his butt kicked.

"You're starting to get on my nerves.", Alex glared at the princess.

"I told you I didn't want you to go easy! Show me what you're made of, Fang!", she challenged him.

"You asked for it...", Alex charged again, surprising her a little with his immediate response. She ducked just in time to avoid the strike that would have gotten her shoulder injured and rolled to the side.

Scott noticed Crystal fiddling with her fingers behind her back and eyed her suspiciously. Before he could confirm any of his suspicions, though, the weather suddenly really windy, pushing Alex back.

"Seriously?", he glared at her.

"Oops.", she shrugged.

Alex gave it some thought, and then lit his hands on fire, startling Crystal who had forgotten most of their adventure in the woods with Nike.

"You're a witch too?!", Crystal asked in surprise. "Actually, it's not that surprising considering who your mom is...", she gave it some thought.

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm just not a big fan of being called a pyromaniac."

"Understandable. Look, I'm not in the mood for any other burn marks, so I forfeit. You won.", Crystal sighed.

"I don't consider this a victory, but whatever.", Alex sighed.

"That was awesome.", Scott ran towards them.

"What was awesome?", Alex raised an eyebrow.

"All of it.", Scott smiled proudly.

"Can I fight you now? We need to complete this fighting cycle.", Crystal turned to Scott.

"Fine, but we're using the wooden swords this time.", he told her. "And no magic."

"Deal."

It was Alex's turn to sit on the sidelines. Crystal and Scott didn't bother talking before their battle and immediately begun swordfighting.

The wooden swords clashed with every attack and parry in both sides, but eventually Crystal took a wrong step and ended up with her back against Scott's chest, with the training sword against her neck.

"Is that your way of getting me closer to you?", she smirked.

"Princess, we share a bed every night. How much closer can we get?" he chuckled, letting go of her.

"A lot.", Alex replied from his seat in the bench.

"Shut up...", Scott rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you quite a ray of sunshine.", Crystal laughed, then her eyes widened. "That's it. I'm calling you sunshine and you can't change my mind."

"This is the worst one you've thought of so far...", Scott shook his head.

"Well it's permanent now so get used to it! I'm going to have a bath or something. I'm sweaty. I'll see you two later.", she winked at Scott and walked away.

"Sunshine, huh?", Alex teased Scott.

"Shut up, Fang."

After they rested up in their room for a bit, the time to go for lunch came. Crystal was in the mood to hold a grudge, but her hunger after all that training was stronger, so she decided join the guys and her father for food.

Halfway to the dining room, Crystal realised she'd forgotten to lock the door (they always locked it before they left because they didn't want anyone to have access there and snoop around), so she rushed back. As she was going through her luggage, where she usually hid the key, she came across some sort of envelope addressed to her. It appeared to have been left there by Lux.

Curious about what it was, she sat down on the bed and opened it. Inside was a letter written in neat and easy-to-read handwriting.

Dear Crystal,

It's come under my perception that my son still isn't aware of the two of you being related. I don't know how everything is going to play out at Alastor's palace when I get there and, if I'm being honest, I'm afraid he may not trust me the way he used to.

I need you to tell him everything you know about me and Cheryl, because I don't know if I'll get to see him again or if he'll want to see me after the war.

I'm asking this as a favor. Just, please, don't tell him about this letter. Keep it a secret. No one, not even Scott can know. It's a safety measure, just trust me on this.

Good luck and see you on the battlefield.

Lux

Crystal stared at the paper in confusion and frustration, at first. Then she felt angry, mostly because she got the idea that Lux was too scared to tell Alex what was going on herself and because she was going to have to keep such a secret from both Alex and Scott.

She then came to the conclusion that the longer she stayed away from lunch, the harder it got for her to think, so she hid the letter back where she found it, got the key and went to the dining room.

×~❦~×

Violet was trying to convince Cheryl to let her go visit Charles and Jackson.

"No, V! It's too far away and we need to be close to the palace in case Alastor decides to attack.", Cheryl crossed her arms.

"Please! They'll want to help and I've missed them! It's only a few days' walk from here, we'll be back before you know it. You don't have to come, I could go with Will and a Alena alone.", Violet pouted.

"I'd love to meet Charles and Jackson...", Alena said hesitantly.

"See? They want to meet Charles and Jackson.", Violet repeated.

"Violet, no."

"I want to meet them too.", Will popped up from a corner.

"See? As the majority of people here vote for us to visit Charles and Jackson, we're obliged to.", Violet smirked.

"Fine.", Cheryl crossed her arms.

"Uh... Cheryl?", Violet started hesitantly, after exchanging a glance with Will and Alena.

"Yeah?", she asked, absolutely oblivious to what was to follow.

"I feel like you're favoring Will over the rest of us.", her apprentice explained.

"What? No! Not at all! You're just imagining things.", Cheryl waved it off.

"I feel the same, so it can't be two of us imagining the same thing...", Alena supported her girlfriend.

"Girls, I'm not favoring Will. Seriously? Is that the kind of person you think I am?"

"I feel like you're favoring me too.", Will agreed with his friends.

"Okay! Fine! I am and I have no idea why! He seems like such a tortured little soul, I can't help it! Stop attacking me, people!", Cheryl cracked.

"Wow. I didn't think this would work.", Will whistled.

"I knew this would work.", Violet sighed, disappointed in Cheryl but a little proud of herself.

"Aw, come on... Now I feel bad for having a favorite..."

"No comment.", Alena shook her head.

"Thank god...", Cheryl buried her face in her hands.

"When are we leaving for the border?", Violet turned everyone's attention to the matter at hand.

"The sooner the better, if you're so keen on going.", Cheryl replied.

"Of course we are keen on going.", Violet glared at her. "We're leaving on an hour."

"Seriously? Can't you wait until it's morning?", Will whined.

"Not really. All we do is take off at dawn! We should leave at some other time of the day for a change, and I can't be the only one thinking about that.", Violet crossed her arms.

"I agree.", Alena said.

"No surprise there...", Will rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm going to smack you into oblivion, Jacobs.", she glared at him.

"Just pack your things guys, and let's get going. Cheryl, are you sure you're not coming?", Violet asked her teacher.

"Yeah... Someone needs to be here in case Alastor decides it's been too long since he's last gotten on our nerves.", Cheryl sighed bitterly.

"Isn't he always on our nerves?", Violet asked again.

"My point exactly. Go pack, dummies and have a nice trip. I'm going to eat something.", Cheryl told them and left.

"I was hoping she'd wish us luck...", Alena muttered.

"It's not too late for that!", Cheryl popped up out of nowhere again. "Good luck and don't you dare get in trouble."

"This is the worst way you've ever wished us luck.", Will shook his head, chuckling.

"I'm not myself when I'm hungry.", Cheryl shrugged.

"We've noticed...", Violet rolled her eyes again.

"Have a nice meal!", Alena waved at Cheryl excitedly.

"Thank you! Bye kids.", Cheryl waved back at her.

And then they got some of their things and left to visit Jackson and Charles, the real power couple around here.

A/N: I'm sorry I missed last week's update! I'm on vacation and have limited access to WiFi, so I couldn't edit and publish the chapter and that goes for all the books I'm currently working on (Spare Princess To The Rescue and Lila's Seafood Restaurant didn't get updated either this week). The point is that I'm going home in a little less than a week and then everything will go back to normal.

I also have to say that due to lack of time the past few months and the following ones, after this book is over there will be a small hiatus before the third and last book in this trilogy is published. That's right! There's one more sequel left, so bare with me here. I kind of started working on another book too, so you'll get that as soon as this is over to spend your time, if you want. It's going to be my first attempt in science fiction and I'm probably going to do terribly because I know nothing about science, but I'll give it a try.

Anyway, see you next week! (hopefully)

-Riri<3