I could hear Ilsen long before I could see him. In the closed setting of the family home, he could refer to me by my name but there were times when he was in such a fluster that he'd forget.

The calling out of your highness, the heavy panting of his flustered breath and the thumping of his boots as he ran through the long corridor was loud. Alaric looked at me with distaste but said nothing.

Ilsen burst into the throne room, realizing that we weren't alone. He skidded on the tiled floor, his chest still heaving from running here.

"Uh, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, your Highness," Ilsen said with a slight bow.

Alaric nodded his head, Ilsen approached.

His breathing was still ragged but settling now that he was walking to the low stage.

"What's the matter Ilsen?"

"Your Highness, forgive me. I forgot that you were entertaining guests. What I have needs to be discussed in private."

His eyes darted to me, with his back to the crowd, Ilsen knew that they wouldn't see it.

"Of course. We will join you in our private parlor soon."

"Very good, your Highness."

Ilsen turned, glancing at Alaric again as he stopped.

"And the team, your Highness?"

Alaric smiled softly.

"Yes, Ilsen. Have Nisha and Silas join us please."

"Of course, your Highness."

Ilsen walked away, weaving through the crowd and leaving me with a burning curiosity as to what was so important that he was in such a fluster. I looked at Alaric and like me, he had a bemused look on his face.

With everything back to normal, Alaric gestured for the next guest to approach.

"Thank you for considering our charity."

"Of course. What does your charity do?"

"We are a not for profit adoption agency and orphanage."

Alaric looked at me, almost saying that he was ready to throw money at them.

"As you can imagine, raising a child is incredibly expensive. Adoption rates are low and when we do manage to find a couple to take a child, the money they pay barely covers what we have spent on the child. We have tried to ask for more but the people in this city can't afford it. If we push the amount too high, they won't take the children. Everything that we have, it has come through fundraising and donations. We are not opposed to standing on the street and beg for money but if we had the grant money then we might only have to do it in the warmer months rather than every night."

They were on the cold streets of a night, begging for money just to raise the children that were abandoned or had lost their family.

She handed a folder to Alaric, an attempt to pull at our heartstrings. It worked. He opened the book and the past came flooding back. Happy children with dirty faces. They had smiles on their faces but I could see the suffering in their eyes. If they were like me, they probably couldn't understand why no one wanted them.

My throat was thick as I gulped. Pressing a smile out, I looked at the ever-hopeful woman.

"How many children do you have at the orphanage?"

"Five, two boys and three girls. Aged between one and twelve."

"All vampires, I take it?"

"Yes, your Highness. We are open to taking human children but it hasn't happened as yet."

"How long ago was your last adoption?" Alaric asked.

His gaze didn't lift from the folder, still flicking through the pictures of the adorable children.

"Three months ago. The child was a newborn. We received a payment of ten thousand and it cost twelve to look after the child while he was there."

"Why so much?" I asked.

"The mother came in, asking for help. She was in full labor and as we are not equipped to deal with such things, we called the paramedics. When the child was born, she signed her rights over and fled when the hospital staff wasn't looking. We were given the child and lumped with the bill."

Alaric sighed heavily and closed the folder, handing it to me.

"Thank you. Our office will be in touch with you shortly."

She smiled at us.

"Of course and thank you again for the opportunity."

When her back was turned, I looked at Alaric. This had been a bright idea of his. To invite the charities here for a chance to showcase their charity in an attempt to win a portion of the grant money on offer. There was a lot of money but the problem was, there were a lot of charities with their hands out. I wanted to give them everything that they wanted but I don't know if there was enough for that.

The pile of folders was growing higher with each person that stepped forward. One stood out, it will always stand out.

The last charity approached, the man was human. It wasn't as if they weren't welcome to submit a showcase folder but I didn't think that a human would come here.

"Good afternoon," He said, sounding a little nervous. "I am from the Featherstone Homeless Shelter. We give secured housing to the homeless."

The man paused, probably waiting to be told to get lost. I wouldn't ever say it and I doubted that Alaric would either.

"We are a human-based organization and I guess that you're probably wondering why I'm here asking the vampires to help us."

He gestured to the folder, Alaric opened it and it was like a book of blood and flesh. Great gaping wounds, bite marks and lifeless bodies. Alaric kept going, the last few pages were of men and women that looked rather pale and gaunt.

"We're not looking to point fingers but as a charity that deals with people who live on the street, we see this every single day and night. We risk opening our doors to let them in after dusk, we repair the wounds that have been inflicted upon them. Sometimes they are quite horrendous. I've seen bite marks and I've seen where a vampire has torn at the skin. On the flipside of this, we have had homeless vampires approach us for help too."

Alaric's gaze lifted, curious to the statement.

"What we hope to do is gain a little funding to create something for both races. If we have humans in the building, we cannot risk their lives by letting in a vampire but perhaps we can have a second building that can cater to the vampires who need safety during the daylight hours. I'm sure you will have concerns for their safety just as much as the humans so our aim is to employ vampires to run the facility and care for these people. We are a charity, we want to help the unfortunate and we do not wish to discriminate."

The folder was passed to me, I held onto it but I didn't open it. I didn't need to see it again, I'd seen enough just by looking at it once.

"We also want to offer an incentive scheme to these people. The homeless vampires need to be fed. We give soup to the humans that come to our building but for the vampires, we have nothing. If the homeless humans are willing then want to pay them to donate blood which would be used to feed the vampires that arrive for the night. We do not have the funds to start this scheme and we couldn't ask the vampires to pay for the blood."

"Of course, thank you for submitting your offer. Our office will be in touch with you shortly."

He nodded, stepping back.

"Thank you. I know that our races are not unified but if there is ever a chance at peace then we have to take a step forward."

As everyone slowly filed out of the throne room, I collected the folders and stood up. Today had been a long time coming, a lot of planning and a lot of waiting. We had guards now, we had staff. We were getting there.

The fallout from the meeting was still simmering, threats have been made but nothing has happened as yet. I hoped that they were idle threats.

With the guards ushering everyone out to their cars, we were finally alone.

"What do you think?"

"I think that I'm going to go crazy."

He hummed a soft chuckle, taking the folders from my arms.

"I meant about Ilsen."

"Oh, that. Any numerous things." I said dryly.

He could come running like that if a tap broke and was flooding the room or if he'd seen a big hairy spider, both of which had happened.

We walked up the staircase to the private chambers. Silas was standing by the window, watching our guests leave. Nisha was flicking through a magazine, looking thoroughly bored. As for Ilsen, he was pacing the floor, looking rather stressed out.

"Maybe it's two big hairy spiders," I muttered.

Alaric sniggered, closing the door behind me.

"Oh, your Highness." He said, flustering through the papers that were set out on the table.

"How did it go?" Nisha said, tossing the magazine aside.

She wasn't waiting for the fussing man to get his information together.

"Well, Emme's ready to take them all on."

I huffed with amusement as I sat on the lounge.

"You joke but you shouldn't. Given the chance, I'd help all of them."

"I know you would." Alaric frowned as he paused. "I'll be back in a second."

He was on his feet and out the door within seconds, Ilsen turned around and stared in disbelief.

"Where has he gone?"

"No idea."

Alaric returned just as fast, Ilsen perked up when he appeared.

"Word from our spies in province four."

Ilsen handed the document over to Alaric as he reached the lounge. Alaric's frown was heavy as he sat down beside me.

"What does it say?" Nisha asked.

"Standard movements for the leader and the followers, nothing noteworthy to report. They send word of something else we might find interesting. One of their men had an interaction with what he thought was a vampire but wasn't. He stated that the woman looked normal but he knew she wasn't because he'd just watched her climb out of a window that was ten levels up, scrabbled down the side of it. He followed the creature through the city until he couldn't follow her anymore."

Alaric's gaze lifted to me, cautious and perhaps even worried.

"The creature jumped Rivarno Diablis, making it to the other side without an issue."

"That's impossible," Nisha muttered.

Ilsen shrugged in response. Impossible it might seem but it was likely to be true. I could climb walls without any issues, I've hung upside down from the ceiling. The canyon was wide but I'd wager that they were jumping at the narrowest point.

"What was the building?" Silas asked.

It seemed like the revelation couldn't get any better or worse.

"It was a hospital. Their investigation found that a child had been abandoned that night, the mother came in and birthed the child. When the hospital staff turned their back, the mother disappeared, leaving the child behind."

"These creatures are dumping their babies here?" Nisha asked, a little aghast.

"Or maybe it's so bad on the other side that they do it to ensure the child's safety," Silas replied.

"But why wouldn't they stay?"

Silas shrugged at Nisha.

"Maybe they believe that the child has a better chance in this life if the world assumes they're a vampire."

Alaric took a sketch from Ilsen, a picture of a woman. There was nothing unusual about her.

"It is likely that when she found out she was pregnant, she jumped the canyon rather than doing it when she was heavily pregnant. In their investigation, they asked around, checking to see if anyone had noticed these odd vampires. They blend in so well that no one knew a single thing."

"Either that or they do know and are hiding it. Imagine being aware of a creature that can do what these can."

"Do you think that they might try and capture them?"

Alaric sighed heavily, giving me a grim nod.

"Yes, I do think that they would do that. Everyone is still annoyed at what happened in the meeting, still dealing with the humans and their ridiculous war against us. If there was one creature they could create an alliance with that would give them the upper hand, they'd jump at the chance. I know I would."

"Then do it."

I reached out, gripping Alaric's hand.

"We have the upper hand here, no one knows that I might be one of these creatures. If we can approach them and they realize it for themselves then they might be more willing to an agreement."

"It would mean walking into province four and we can't do that."

"Then take over the province and claim it as your own."

He nodded, handing the documents to Silas.

"Send word to the spies to find weaknesses and report back quickly. When we know where and when to strike, send in a couple of platoons and wipe out the royal family."

"Of course," Silas said. "And what of the land to the south?"

"Ensure that it remains well guarded."

Silas and Ilsen walked out of the room, eager to start their tasks. Alaric leaned on his side against the lounge, his fingers laced into mine.

"So, what are you?"

"Well, I'm hungry. I'm tired. I am in desperate need of a relaxing soak in the bathtub."

"Not what I meant but we'll just move on, shall we?"

I rolled my eyes, smiling.

"And what about the charities?"

"Well, I think they all deserve something. I'm sure they'd appreciate whatever we can give, even if it's not the full amount."

Alaric's eyes lifted when someone cleared their throat. I shifted and saw Danilis at the threshold.

"Your Highness, the preparations have been made as you requested. The meeting is set for ten minutes in the ballroom."

"Thank you, Danilis."

He nodded and turned out of the room. Nisha watched every move he made, her lips twisted as her eyes narrowed.

"Something wrong, Nish?"

Her eyes darted back to Alaric, shrugging nonchalantly. Alaric stood, trying not to find amusement in his sister's wandering eyes. Holding two hands out, Alaric helped me off the lounge.

"What meeting?"

"The leading contender of the charity handout."

"You decided without me?"

"Presumptuous, I know."

He held my hand as we walked to the ballroom which was at the front of the building. It was a slow walk, we were in no rush today.

"I thought we could offer something to everyone, they're all so worthy."

I nodded quietly.

"But one definitely stood out from the others."

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I leaned on the wall and huffed.

"Did they need to make this place so big?"

"Would you like me to get a wheelchair for you?"

"Are you calling me fat?"

Alaric smiled as he stepped closer, leaning in for a kiss. His hand slid over the belly, the reason that life was a little difficult right now. I was a few weeks off having the baby but it felt like she was big enough to come out right now.

Hearing van doors slide shut, I turned to the front doors where Danilis was waiting. He greeted the people with a warm welcome, stepping aside to let them in. I lifted from the wall, wondering who it was.

Seeing a child step through, I frowned for a moment and then turned to Alaric who was doing his secretive smile. I hated it when he did that. It meant that he was up to no good. More children stepped through, adults followed. One child clung to the long skirt of a woman, I saw the bright blue eyes and realized that these were the orphans.

"Oh, you bastard," I whispered.

Alaric turned to look at me as he took a few steps backward, the smug grin that said that I couldn't hate him was plastered all over his face. He turned around and welcomed everyone to his home, then guided them into the ballroom so they could run around and have some fun.

I followed them into the room, Danilis had been busy. A table and chairs were set up, the adults of the group sat down while the children ran around and played with the things that he'd managed to find in the ten minutes he'd been given. Paper, pens, ribbon and a couple of balloons that were left over from my birthday a few weeks ago.

The woman who had spoken to us earlier had returned, her smile was wide as she approached us.

"We want to say thank you for what you are doing for the charity and for the children. The money that we will receive will go on for many years. What you are doing today, it will help many children, not just these little darlings but the ones that we will get in the future too."

"Of course, it is what we want."

Alaric held out the chair for me, waiting for me to lower myself into it. He sat down beside me and started signing documents that were given to him, then passed them to me. I frowned as I looked at the first document.

This was not the donation documentation, this was an adoption form. Alaric pushed another one across the table, sliding it over the one that was already sitting there waiting for me to sign. I gulped hard as I looked at the document in my hand and then to the children that were running around, laughing and having a lot of fun.

"Do they know?"

"Not yet, your Highness."

"Emmeline," I murmured. "I think that if I'm adopting five children from you then you should feel comfortable enough to call me by my name."

It was lucky that we could afford this. Hendrick had hidden a lot of money over the past fifty years. He'd sold things that belonged to the family, putting the profits into his personal account. The royal bank account was flushed with money and the charity account was just as full. Adopting the children would come out of our allowance and it meant that the money in the charity account could be spread further. It was a wise move.

I looked back at her, she smiled at me.

"They are wonderful children. I know that in a few weeks' time you're going to be extremely busy but they won't be an issue for you. In fact the eldest, Violet, she has been extremely helpful with the babies."

She turned and gestured for the girl to come over. The child was such a sweet thing, dressed in an outfit that was a little tattered but still very pretty. Violet curtsied when she stopped near me, offering a pleasant smile until she saw the paperwork. Her lips pressed tight as the tears welled in her eyes.

"Violet," The woman said softly. "Would you like to live here with our leader?"

She nodded quietly, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"They are adopting you and the other children, what do you think about that?"

The tears said it all. I stood and hugged her, feeling my own pain from the memories. She was at an age now where everyone overlooked her for the babies. It was guaranteed that she would spend her days and nights thinking that she'd never get adopted.

"Oh, good grief," Nisha groaned. "The ballroom has been infected with little parasites."

The chair behind scraped over the floor, Alaric moved to the side of me.

"Hey, kids, who wants to hug aunt Nisha?" He said excitedly.

They all squealed with delight, running to her. Alaric smiled supremely, listening to Nisha's distaste.

"You are one beautiful bastard."

Alaric chuckled, wrapping his arms around me and Violet. Her happy tears had settled. It was done. This madhouse just got a little crazier.

"Yeah but you love me all the same."

I thought about the statement and then searched my thoughts and feelings.

"Yeah, I guess I do."