(3rd POV)

Jaxon downed his drink in one swallow, unable to look his best friend Alfie in the eyes without it. The two were in the drawing room, Jaxon stood by the window and Alfie taking up place on the long sofa.

Placing his own empty glass onto the coffee table, Alfie said, "And you're sure this is a good idea?"

Jaxon ran a long hand through his blonde hair, making it stick up here and there. "There is nothing else to be done." Solemnly, "a Kingdom cannot be ruled without a King."

Alfie laughed, the two drinks he'd drank earlier making his words slur. "This is no fairytale, friend."

"No, it's not." Jaxon said coolly. "The ancient ones are back for good this time. They won't be so easily defeated."

It had been over eighteen years ago now since the ancient ones had forced Jaxon's father Valentino to bring his mother Natalie from the human world to these lands. Then, his father had been a vampire, controlled by the ancient ones with the goal to marry Jaxon's mother and produce an heir. This didn't exactly happen, as the ancient ones and Valentino could never have foreseen the love that would bloom between the vampire and human, that eventually lead to the conception of Jaxon despite the dangers. However, neither Valentino nor Natalie knew of what the ancient ones planned on doing to Jaxon until it was almost too late.

"They want to turn me into something evil and powerful." Jaxon said darkly. "Something to make them stronger."

Alfred looked at him closely, as if puzzling over something, before hiccuping loudly.

Jaxon turned from the window, irritation laced in his voice. "How many, Alfred?"

Alfie rubbed his hands together and smiled up at his King. "Dunno, I'm too drunk to count."

Jaxon rolled his eyes. "You'll kill yourself eventually."

"We can all hope."

Jaxon sent a dark look his way. "Death is no joke."

"Perhaps not to you, what with you not having to worry about it." Alfie said bitterly, sucking on his bottom lip. "If we could all live forever, we'd all appreciate life a little more."

Jaxon said nothing, used to this kind of behaviour from his best friend. He remembered the day he'd met Alfie who had been ten at the time and he eleven. It was one of those days when his father would leave to go and visit the Salvaged Tribe, their former home, to see how everything was doing. Only, that day he didn't come back with hugs and kisses for his children and wife, instead he came home with a shivering orphan boy. 'Found him in the snow', Valentino had said when Natalie asked him. 'Couldn't just leave the poor kid. He said his parents were dead.'

That had Jaxon's mother fully onboard, treating the orphan boy- who's name she found out later -like her own. Only, Alfie refused to call her anything but Nat, saying that it would be disrespectful to his own mother.

Jaxon opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the door opening and Sam running in. By the look in her wide green eyes, Jaxon knew something was wrong.

Alfie was on his feet in an instant. Jaxon sometimes wondered if his best friend had always preferred his younger sister than him.

"What is it, Sammy?" Jaxon asked, his face a mask of calm whilst on the inside he was freaking out from the way his sister was acting.

"Mother and father want you both in the throne room." She looked between the two of them, green eyes bright. "Now."

Alfie was the first to move towards the door, Sam having already run back out. He turned to Jaxon. "You coming?"

Jaxon turned his attention to the window and the snow that had begun to fall onto the ground. "I can't help but think something bad is coming."

"Something bad is coming if we don't hurry up, otherwise Nat will have our necks." Alfie said. "Now come on, it's obviously important."

Jaxon nodded, slowly trailing his eyes away from the window and following his best friend out of the room.
___________________________
Meanwhile...

I threw the dagger, striking the targets centre. With a heavy sigh, I looked up to the sky, watching the clouds move by slowly.

"You seem on edge," Lucie commented, perched neatly on the fence dissecting the garden from the field behind the house. "Motherly grievances?"

Lucie, like myself, was the spitting image of her mother. With long, white-blond hair, she was willow thin and of a similar tall stature to Kadence. Meanwhile, I still fit into children-sized hunting boots, something Arden relentlessly teased me about when we were dating.

With the thought of Arden, I threw the next dagger even harder than the first.

"Gosh, it must have been bad this time."

"It's Arden," I explained begrudgingly. "We're not- well, together."

Lucie's brown eyes softened. She jumped from down from the bench, looking as though she wished to hug me. Knowing better, she refrained. "He was an idiot anyway, CC."

I shrugged. "You're right, though. About my mum; she's being a colossal dick."

Lucie laughed. "Let me guess, she found out about Arden?"

"Worse." I sighed. "She wants me to talk to my dad."

"Yikes." Lucie visibly cringed. "What did you say?"

"No, obviously." I threw the third dagger. Missed.

"Ah well," Lucie said brightly. "Dads are dicks."

Lucille's father, Patrick The Great, was from the former Western Tribe; the tribe in which my own father once led. Patrick had earned his title after swearing allegiance to King Valentino and Queen Natalie, promising to protect their youngest child, Princess Samira. Although Patrick and Kadence we're still married, he'd moved to the Palace and would occasionally visit each year. Lucille had been a baby when he'd left, so to say they weren't close was an understatement.

"When do you next visit court?" I asked my longtime friend. "It's been a while now since you last saw your dad."

Lucie gave me a knowing look. "I already said no, CC."

I rolled her eyes. "I was genuinely asking this time. I know you won't do that."

This time, Lucie braved the hug. "I'll come and visit you, remember?"

Stiff from the affection, I merely said, "I know."

I'm in the process of trying to remember the plot from the first book. It's a bit of a struggle considering it's been almost 4 years. Wish me luck!

~K