I watched as Alexander focused intensely on what to do with his freshly washed hair; to the left? To the right? Middle part or slicked back? It wasn't much later that he turned to me in a huff, his lips puffy in a pout.

He gestured to his head, sensing I'd been watching his defeat.

"Come on, you do your hair every day and now we have an event, you don't know what to do?" I joked, picking up the comb on the vanity.

"I wanted to do something different with it..." he murmured.

"Princess and hairstylist!" I jested. "You haven't had a proper haircut in a while, but this length actually suits you. It's a popular length: long, but not long enough to tie up."

He looked confused in the reflection, "anyway, I'll do you a little side part and your cute lil curls will do the rest. You'll look less formal in your suit, which is what you wanted."

Alex's brow raised, "brains and beauty, huh?"

"Brawn too if I'm tested. Hurry and get dressed, guests have probably already started arriving."

He disappeared into the closet, only to return in black fitted dress pants and a striped white shirt, looking, as I predicted, smart-casual.

He looked great, but my eyes were drawn upwards of his outfit, not to his face, but to his exposed neck which was detailed with what I could only describe as a choker, a diamond one at that.

"That's hot," I commented, gesturing to it, "although, I'm hurt you didn't ask me to help you put it on."

"I know you love me and think I'm hot, but I'm wholly capable of dressing myself."

"And yet you can't do your own hair."

I grinned as he sighed, throwing up a white flag once again. He took my hand and lead us down to the newly decorated ballroom whose imposingly large double doors stood open revealing clusters of guests located around the room, some I recognised and others I didn't.

Emmanuel was already mingling with guests, Henrietta by his side, unsurprisingly since this was an event for him. Leandra, Charlotte, Jayden and Leyton were doing the same, but there was no sign of the King or Queen as of yet.

Music was playing in the background, just loud enough to be heard of the room's conversations.

A maid hurried over to us, a tray of glass flutes in her grip, "Prosecco, your highnesses," she said. We each took a glass, thanked her and attempted to weave our way through the guests to little success as of course, everyone wanted to talk to us.

It was unusually lighthearted, which was good. No undertones of war or impending threat, just the joy of normality and freedom. It felt good, and it must've been the same for everyone else as there were smiles all around.

This was actually a little going away party for Emmanuel, who was leaving the next day. He was a fan of parties which was no surprise. So we only thought it'd be right to throw him one after all he'd done for us.

Over time, the music gradually got louder and louder creating a more party atmosphere, and the King and Queen finally made their grand entrance so things could really get going.

"Alexandeeer," a male voice sang from behind us, in tune with the music. The owner of the voice sauntered into our view, dressed head to toe in black. "You guys look great." It was Samuel, Alexander's cousin from what seemed forever ago.

An inaudible gasp left Alexander's mouth and he pulled him in for a hug. "It's been so long! I didn't expect to see you here."

Sam's mouth jokingly fell open, "you didn't expect to see your favourite cousin here at the first event you guys have had in forever"

Alexander shrugged, "Eh, I'd say you're a close second."

Sam feigned pain in his chest and jokingly screwed up his face, "You know what? I'll talk to someone who truly appreciates what kind of a catch I am!" He turned his attention to me and held out his hand, "Alexander, mind if I dance with your beautiful wife?"

Both pairs of eyes darted to me, and I could see the question burning in Samuel's eyes. I grinned and took his hand to be lead to the dance floor.

"How is he doing? I've been worried. He's been ignoring my messages," Sam asked as we swayed to the music.

"He's doing so much better than before."

"He can be a handful. I know. Don't forget to think about yourself too," he smiled and a warm feeling set in my stomach. I hadn't really put much consideration into myself so it reassuring to know that others were concerned about my wellbeing.

"Thank you for your concern."

Following the dance, Alexander had taken my hand and led me off to one of the doors that headed off into the garden. We sat on the steps, my head on his shoulder, his arm wrapped around my waist, we were silent for the most part. The moon sat placidly in the distance and provided just enough light to cast some suspicious shadows ahead.

"Sorry for dragging you out here with me, I just needed some air."

Air is most certainly what we got as we stared out into the forest, as light breezes brushed through the trees.

"Don't worry, I had the same thought. We've only just come back and I'm already so drained by everything."

I felt Alex nod.

It was silent again for the most part after this; it was nice to just be.

"Oh! I knew I'd heard voices out here. I didn't expect it to be the pair of you." The King stepped out into the chill night air, followed by his royal advisor who'd be tailing him around a lot quite recently, his expression was stoic as he bowed to us. "We'll go elsewhere so we don't disrupt."

"No, you can stay. We'll go back inside since it's getting a little chilly."

The King didn't argue as we made our way back indoors. Only a couple more hours remained before the party ended. It wasn't too long of an event as Emmanuel had to be up early to leave and we had to be up at the same time to see him off.

A couple of hours later, and I was wrapped up and comfy in bed, glad for the rest after a long, long day.

After a more over the top breakfast than usual, we all headed to the entrance to wish Emmanuel goodbye. There was actually another car behind the one he'd be leaving in, it was equally as packed as his own. I figured he'd done a lot of shopping during his visit.

I was actually quite sad that he was leaving, and everyone felt the same. Their glum expressions could only be concealed by their jovial tones so much.

Emmanuel's overall presence in Nox Aterrima had improved the quality of life for everyone, especially Alex it seemed. What was a short stay seemed to have worked wonders for his mental health. Although, of course, he wasn't fully better, there was definitely a significant improvement.

After bowing to the King and Queen, Emmanuel made his way down the line with hugs, Henrietta's was a little longer than everyone else's, which caused Alexander's eyes to narrow ever so slightly at his sister's and best friend's exchange, but no one said a word about it. He stopped just before he got to Alex and I and the King stepped forward.

"There'll be no need for your goodbyes yet."

I tossed a confused look at Alexander and Emmanuel respectively, the latter seemed to lack the completely mystified expression of Alex.

"Before the pair of you are given the opportunity to rule over Nox Aterrima in mine and Genevieve's place, I wanted to give you a little break. Time to recover, and time to prepare yourselves. Emmanuel has offered you his island retreat, where you'll stay for the week to clear your minds. After that, you'll be straight to work."

It seemed everybody but us knew about this as no one else even appeared fazed. I didn't even know what to say apart from "thank you".

The King was quick to rush us into the car with Emmanuel, and after a brief goodbye to everyone, we took off to the airport.

At one of the airport hangars, there was a slick black private jet with its doors open. There was also a handful of paparazzi with their cameras at the ready.

Although not entirely ready, we still posed for the cameras for a while as we waited for the pilots to make their appearances. Some baggage guys in high vis vests also came over, bowing to us and then proceeding to load our luggage onto the jet.

Peering through the open door from the outside, the plane appeared to be quite large on the inside, it had more space than I'd anticipated. Though, I'd never been in a private jet before. I didn't know if this was Emmanuel's or the Monaghan's. Either way, this was definitely going to be a flight like I've never had.

It wasn't too long before the pilots turned up with their tiny suitcases in tow; an oldish looking white man and a less aged looking Asian man. They both saluted us. The older of the two began talking, "I'm Captain Henry Darst, and this is my co-pilot, Arjun Arya. It'll be our pleasure to fly you to your destination today, your highnesses."

Entering the plane, we were greeted by a further two cabin crew members. It was mostly a beige interior, accented with black: beige leather sofas, walls, and leather chairs, there was also a huge tv built into the wall. The tables were coated with a glossy black. There was a brown doorway towards the back of the jet that I thought led to some kind of private quarters for the maids or something, but it was actually a fully furnished bedroom! This was a level of luxury I'd never thought I'd get to experience.

Alexander had tailed behind me to take a look at the ins and out of the jet, leading me to believe that it was indeed Emmanuel's.

Emmanuel cleared his throat behind us, garnering our attention. "Please don't get any ideas about my bed. It's for sleeping," he tossed a cheeky wink our way and chuckled at our flustered expressions.

He gestured for us to take our seats, ones at tables since they were the better seats to sit in until we reached cruising altitudes.

The pilots once again introduced themselves, wishing us a good flight, and the cabin crew readied the jet for takeoff. Apparently, it would only take a couple of hours to land in Praeceps Sinum, so it wasn't too long of a flight.

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Hey y'all, sorry this took so long to come out. I've been busy with uni and trying to move out and all sorts so I haven't had much time to write. Hopefully I can get the next few chapters out in time so I can get this story finished finally.

Also, I saw that we hit 100,000 reads! Thank you so much for that! Hitting 100,000 for this story and 1 million for book 1 have been my goals for this year, and now it's one done, one to go. So thank you guys for reading!