Dominique's POV ~

It was that time of year. The time where all your annoying relatives would all meet up. The time where they would judge you the most and ask if you had a boyfriend yet or in my case, a fiancee. About that, most princesses already had at least a minimum idea of who they were going to marry. It was a big thing when a Royal got engaged but I made a deal with my father, a deal that he may or may not accept but It slows down the process of me getting married a little bit.

As I was saying, All the relatives were gathered together into one big toxic mess but in this case 'the relatives' were Royals and had the power to declare war if any of them were drunk enough and some asshole bumped into them.

You get what I'm saying?

Basically, this was both the best time of year and the most dangerous.

I grab my swords out of my closet and hide them in a bag with my armor. All of the Royal families from each country had to attend even Michel so we were all told to be at our best behaviors which is like telling a non-trained dog to sit for the first time but Mom was pissed off that morning so we were determined to listen and not cause trouble.

Julian, however, was feeling the rush and wanted to kick somebody in the face to put it lightly which in any case would help him in the long run.

The hunt was basically a bunch of Royal heirs running around a "cursed" forest and hunting down the biggest thing/monster you could find. Very dangerous so not everyone put their children out there.

After the big hunt, we had a little tournament between the hunters. This was done the next day since it was a 4-day trip.

The first day would be a feast and a ball of sorts. The second would be the hunt. The third would be the tournament. And the fourth would be another feast with a real celebratory ball dedicated to the winner of the tournament and the Hunter that caught the biggest monster in the hunt which was almost always the same person.

If someone from the same house ended up fighting, It was all staged from then on. for example, If Julian and I ended up having to fight, I would have to lose since he is the Crown Prince. So, i wasn't planning to win the tournament although that just depended on whether Julian lost or not. I did have big plans for the hunt though since I've been visiting "The Cursed Forest" since I was a child.

The cursed forest is a big black forest in Vestudan. His Majesty, King Corey Lozano made a castle near it and we now host The Hunt every year since 30 years ago. The forest is filled with dark magic which is the magic that also created my swords except it was mixed in with light magic as well. there's a whole super long legend about it but basically, there was a mean nasty witch, and because one of the two kings from the past destroyed her home she built a new one and took away part of his kingdom, and when she was still alive she had a barrier around it so they couldn't do anything to it and once she dies she created a bunch of monsters to protect it.

"Dominique, Pay attention, please." Mother said as she lectured all of us on how to behave.

We go to school for a reason, mother.

Did I say that? No.

"Yes, Mother," I say as she talks to the boys.

I grab little Jaime's hand and we walk to the limo for Ice cream.

"She knows we learned all that in kindergarten, right?" she asks and I laugh

"Let her be. She just needs to feel in control. She's probably just anxious."

"Why don't you just calm her down then?"

"Funny. Funny girl." I say as I pick her up and carry her to the limo as she giggles.

We get in the limo and I open the little fridge with all types of Ice cream. I get a Chocolate Ice cream cone while she gets a cup and puts vanilla and strawberry with sprinkles and gummy bears.

"You're gonna get a tummy ache."

"Are you gonna take it?" she says softly

"No, enjoy it while you can," I say and smile at her.

Mother and Father have to ride through the Kingdom waving at the people we were all crowded into one big limo while waving at them the windows. It still made me happy though. I've always been happy just waving at them even through a car window.

The windows came back up and Julian was antsy.

"Calm down, brother," I say and he taps his foot lightly

"Why are you so anxious? You've gone through this like 5 years now."

"My engagement is due to be announced. I'm supposed to meet her there."

"Father really did you wrong. You haven't even met her yet and you have to marry her."

"It's fine, Nik. I need to get engaged and married soon. I'm about to graduate from the academy which means ill be eligible for the throne."

"You mean the one you never wanted?"

"Nikki." Wyatt says to me and I sigh and we go back to silence.

"Are you excited, Luc?" Jaime asks innocently clearly knowing something that we dont.

"Oh?" I ask Jaime and look at Lucio.

He makes a face and glares at Jaime.

"Please.. elaborate." I say to Jaime and she laughs and gestures for me to come down so she could whisper it to me,

"Luc is in love with his best friend." I gasp

"How did I not know this, Lucio?"

" I didnt want you to know."

"Well, share please." Michel says annoyingly.

"I like Joan." he says and looks out the window.

"oh wow." Julian says with faking enthusiasm and look out the opposite window.

"I can't wait till I get a girlfriend" Michel says annoyingly

"Oh please you'll never get a girlfriend."

"Shut up, dumb hoe."

"Asscracker"

"fledgling" I shake my head in confuzzled

"What?"

"Its an alternative for fucker."

"Oh, language."

"Shut up."

"Yall- be quiet." Lucas says as he takes off his headphones. Lucas was our youngest brother at 14 and quite a musical genius. Michel was 15 and the annoying baby of the group. Jaime was the youngest and she was 8 and a little too brutally honest at times.

"I think we're here." scott says. Scot was like that jock in high school not the mean just i dont know the normal one. He attracted girls everywhere and was very athletic so we already could expect another sword wielder but he was kinda quiet around us. probably intimidated tbh.

We get out of the Limo and Jaime jumps on my back and I carry her into the plane.

Wyatt, Lucio, Jaime, and I hid away in one of the rooms while Scott was playing with Julian in a game room hidden off somewhere along with Michel im pretty sure and Lucas was playing a piano that he found while mom and dad were hiding from their kids somewhere.

We were watching TV and Jaime was on my phone watching youtube with headphones off in the couch.

It took around 8 hours to get to Vestudan and we all walked into the castle an dwere greeted by different families.

*_*

double update for yall. it's 1:35am right now and my eyes are burning so imma head out. This chapter was gonna be longer but ill just leave it at that and go to sleep i mean idk depends if I get too bored and get back on my phone aughhh this is why I dont sleep,

Anyways ~

Hope you enjoyed, my loves. Muah.

~K.

p.s no heart today cause doing this on my computer.