The ultimate sacrifice, the sound of Rhea Lee's heels echoed in the hallway as she made her way to the room where she had left her captive, the sole bonding of the bloodlines.

A feat enough to shake the world.

"Tell me," the door to the interrogation room slid open and she glared at the grinning man who hung in the center of the room bound by chains, "what do you know about Mordecai Roya and my father? What do they have to do with Paradise?"

The man stayed silent, though the markings on his cheeks twitched ever so slightly.

"What does he want with Paradise? Why did he let the capital fall and now orders his son to save it?" A burst of questions escaped her lips, fueled by the frustration of not being able to protect Corey and Dawn despite all the powers bestowed to her.

She could sense that something foul was at play. Rhea Lee had not lied to her sister, she was on her side. Even if she had to oppose her father's will, the doctor was still going to try her best to keep the promise she had made to her stepmother.

Yet, Aleron Aldrin said not a word. Not even a whisper breached her thoughts. She didn't expect getting the answers she wanted would be easy but she didn't have the time.

Fine, the doctor squared her soldiers and turned on her heels, I'll find another way.

But with each step she took, she doubted it. The threat of two lives hung over her head. It was a connection that stretched past doctor and patient. She had grown to care for both Corey and Dawn in a way her father would not permit.

If they were to both die then she would gladly join them. After living for over half a century, most of life had lost it's appeal.

"Wait. I'll answer," Aleron Aldrin shrugged and motioned to the chains that had him suspended from the ceiling when Rhea Lee shot him a suspicious look. "For a price, love."

"You can free yourself." She paused at the door, her hand hovering over the keypad, her finger grazing the button that would seal all exits in the building if she were to be attacked.

"Yes, but it'll feel so much better if you did it for more me."

Rhea Lee waited for disgust to run through her limbs, to make her shudder with reluctance at the thought of what giving into the man's demands would mean, even if it was for answers she so desperately needed. She waited for the nausea, the feeling that always followed when her father ordered her please the men he sought to control.

With each step she took forward, she waited, until she was right in front of him and could feel the heat of his breath against her skin. And yet, in truth she felt nothing. Nothing but his warmth.

Aldrin didn't move and neither did she, not until her wrist brushed against the shackle on his right hand and her chip deactivated the lock.

"Thank you," he started, but she was already unlocking his other limbs and before he could fully stand Rhea Lee was metres away.

"Start talking." The doctor narrowed her eyes at Aleron Aldrin as he stumbled forward, unused to being on his feet after being off them for so long. "And stay where you are."

"I'm not going to hurt you." The man's expression softened, the parallel scars on his cheeks twitching down towards his jaw.

Damn. Rhea Lee cursed in her mind. He had gotten into her head and she hadn't even noticed.

"Rhea Lee," he said her name so softly that she could barely hear him. "You can't convince me to betray my kingdom when you're so far away."

He almost sounded hurt.

"Aleron—"

"Come here."

And she did, taking each step cautiously until there were only three between them. "Answer my questions." She forced her voice to be strong, trying to ignore the almost painful thump of heart against her chest.

"Your father, he is a madman."

Rhea Lee resisted the urge to snort and waited for him to continue. That much is obvious.

"When I say mad, I mean that with each day that passes his sanity is deteriorating. He has more than one soul," here the man paused and eyed Rhea Lee with caution as though his next words would send here running for the hills, "his, and the fractured soul of Mordecai Roya."

"You're lying." The words slipped past Rhea Lee's mouth just as his sentence ended. It wasn't possible. It was witchcraft. It was heresy.

Aldrin met her gaze, a slight tilt to his smile. "Am I?"

The doctor winced. No, it was the truth. She could hear it in his mind. "Why would my fa—. . ." she gulped and swallowed the word down with bitterness, "why would he steal a soul when his was already so powerful?"

Her mind flashed to moments when she was younger, times when her father had shown rare moments of kindness. She tried to remember if he had always acted like different people at different times.

She tried to remember him before he adopted an orphaned Corey and she found that she couldn't.

"It was his way of trying to fulfil the prophecy." Aleron Aldrin said. "And it wasn't just any ordinary soul. It was the soul of a Roya."

"And?"

"And the Draekon and Roya bloodlines are very compatible." The man stretched his arms wide then pointed to his chest. "And when their souls mix the resulting soul is powerful beyond compare."

"That's the reason why he is so. . ." Suddenly the ever-dominating presence of her father made sense. He had the souls of two people trapped in his body.

She thought back to the pretty scrawl she had found etched into the binding of her father's journal by accident. The ultimate sacrifice. . . the sole bonding of the bloodlines. A feat enough to shake the world.

"Mordecai consented to this?" She asked.

Aldrin nodded. "He was dying and your father was his best friend."

"So he gave up his soul?" It sounded too much like a fairytale story to be true. But it was.

"Yes. Then your father discovered the power and got blinded by it." Aldrin Aldrin let out a sigh. In the end the story was too cliché. "In an attempt to complete Mordecai's soul he took in more."

The rest of the Royas. Rhea Lee realized, then panic set in. That was a reason why the minister was the last of his family. "Corey? Will his—"

"No, your father won't take his soul. Not now anyway."

"What does that mean?"

"Either the minister will die and your sister will take his soul, then your father would take her composite soul. Or he will wait until they have a child then posses it." The man shrugged "Either way, he would become the most powerful thing on earth."

"I. . ." Rhea Lee didn't know what to say. She had expected something bad, but nothing this awful, this heartless. He was just using us.

Suddenly she couldn't breathe. Tears pricked at her eyes as she fought to keep her face emotionless.

Her body slumped against the steel door behind her. All the people she killed, all the orders she took just so he could love her and still. . . it was all about power for him.

A choked sob left her and she found herself cocooned in warm arms, her head pressed against Aleron Aldrin's chest.

"I'm sorry." His voice resembled thunder, echoing through both Rhea Lee's body and mind in an instant. She melted into his touch and let him hold her.

She was tired of fighting. Not one part of her doubted a thing he said and now she didn't know what to do. Corey was going to die. Dawn was going to die.

"The capital—"

"Don't worry about it." He cut her off and lifted her head by the chin. "I'm here."

For some reason she believed him enough to nod. "Why do you know so much about my father? I'm his daughter and I know nothing." She said softly.

His eyes darkened and his grip on her face tightened to the point of almost being painful. "I'm sorry. But I haven't been completely honest with you," Rhea Lee stiffened as he leaned in closer, "it is true that a princess is missing but that isn't the reason I came to the capital."

A breath left the doctor's lips and the next moment his lips were covering hers.

I came here for you. He chuckled in her thoughts. And images, memories that didn't belong to her flooded her mind.

She sagged against Aleron Aldrin, suddenly vulnerable but not caring one bit about it for the first time in her life. Her fingers snaked their way around his neck and she pulled away from the kiss, breathless.

"You're a prince." She panted. That was right. The man in front her was the Crown Prince of Paradise and now he belonged to her.

Maybe no one needed to die after all.

†

So. . . what happened to Sebastian, you must be wondering. . . You'll find out soon enough, maybe.

And the prisoner is a prince, who knew?

First kiss in the book (this is the first kiss, right?) and it's between supporting characters? I know. I'm outdoing myself.

Does anything here smell fishy? Anyone suspecting Aleron Aldrin or is there really love in the air?

Did Rhea Lee fall too fast? Do you think she made a mistake?

Now we finally know more about their father. He's one creepy dude.

Thanks for reading~