Six months later

"Never were there three more beautiful women in all of the world."

I giggle when Pedro tickles my ribs before turning to spin my mom around and then do the same to Octavia. He's exuberant as he dances around my bedroom in his glittering blue suit with his black hair slicked back. His smile warms my heart no matter what's going on around me, but right now it makes me want to burst with excitement. Mom and Octavia join in on his dancing and twirling in their ball gowns, their hair whipping around their shoulders.

It's been six months since we narrowly dodged the end of the world, and every day since then has been filled with love and laughter. No longer will we let a single moment go by that we don't live to the fullest because honestly, you can never know what tomorrow will hold, so we make each and every moment count.

I hop off of my vanity bench, careful not to step on the bottom of my deep purple gown. It's a shiny silk that drapes across my body like its liquid. The top has a daring plunging neckline with golden beads and diamonds across the bust. Pedro designed it himself or me to wear for this very occasion.

"You'll go down in the history books as the most fashion forward queen there ever was." He'd chuckled when he'd shown me the sketches.

Pedro is beyond happy to be back to only having to worry over making sure my hair and outfits look fabulous and being around to gossip and be carefree with. He'll be the first to say how much he does not miss being King. "It aged me." He likes to say dramatically, hand draped over his forehead and all. "Thank god I was demoted."

"Dance with me, my little Queen." He calls, holding out his hand and I take it happily, letting him twirl me around the room too.

When the knock on the door comes we all squeal like it isn't exactly on time.

"Here we go!" Pedro cheers, going to open the door.

Mathew appears in the doorway and Pedro smiles from ear to ear as he leans in to kiss him. Before his lips meet his though he sighs, shaking his head. "Oh, Mathew, where would you be without me?" Pedro chuckles and he fixes Mathew's bowtie, straightening it out for him.

"In bed in my pajamas watching this on TV instead of being drug to a party." He laughs, then looks over at me and blushes a little. "No offense." He adds to me.

I laugh as Pedro gives him a quick peck. "Oh hush, this is going to be great." He pulls him away, the door almost closing all the way before Logan sticks his hand in to catch it.

"Are we decent?" He asks, covering his eyes.

I smile as I run over to him and hold my hands over his crystal eyes and lead him into the room. "Oh, we are more than decent." I giggle. "Check out this hottie!"

I uncover his eyes and he holds a hand to his chest as he takes in the sight of Octavia. "How do you do that?" He asks her and she tilts her head, her curls falling down her bare shoulder.

"Do what?" She asks carefully.

"Manage to get more beautiful every time I look at you."

They practically start making out until mom and me start laughing and then finally separate with less than guilty smiles. Logan holds out his arm to her and she loops hers through it without hesitation. "Let's party!" Octavia giggles and Logan looks back at me.

"You look amazing too, Rosebud. I'm so proud of you."

"I love you." I rush over to hug them both.

It had been difficult, and apparently there were times when they weren't sure they'd be able to reverse what was done to Logan, but after two months they were finally successful in giving us back our Logan. He and Octavia have been even more inseparable since the whole ordeal and after a month of staying here at Castrum with us, they chose to move back home. Logan has never been right for this world, and like he likes to say, it just isn't fair to keep his cooking skills from the humans who actual need the food to survive unlike the vampires here who just enjoy it.

"I love you too." They say in unison.

I think to myself again how lucky I am to have these people in my life. They show me what love is and it's something I strive to spread to the rest of my people as well. I couldn't have asked for better people to have raised me.

"I'm so glad you guys could be here for this." I tell them and Logan's eyes get a little teary.

"I'm so proud of everything you do, and you were beautiful out there." He leans in to kiss my cheek. "I'm in awe of you, and even though you're officially a queen now, you'll always be my little movie buddy and Rosebud."

I fan my eyes to keep my happy tears from falling over. "You better go or I'm going to cry and then Pedro is going to get you for letting me mess up my makeup." I laugh.

"You're right, we're going." Logan laughs.

"Enjoy your party, sweetie." Octavia calls over her shoulder on her way out.

An hour ago had been my official coronation. We did it to the nines, including a giant regal velvet gown, big crown and sector, and me sitting on an ornate throne of steel that my dad and Pedro had had Roses welded on. I'm still a bit on a high from it all. It still seems so surreal even after all this time that this is who I am. I don't think I can feel anymore blessed until the door opens again and my Dad and Dalton walk in.

Dad comes forward while Dalton hangs back by the door, and Dad kisses mom and me on the cheek. "I'm easily the luckiest man alive," Then he tilts his head and grins, his dimples digging into his cheeks as he taps his hand against his chest. "The luckiest semi alive guy." He corrects himself. "You girls look beautiful."

"You don't look to shabby either, Dad." I hug his waist. "Thanks for being the one up there with me." I tell him again although I know I've already thanked him a ton of times. I'd been so nervous going into the throne room in front of all of those officials and people even though I'd personally met with them at some point or another. It was still scary getting up there and being coronated but Dad stood at my side the whole time, steadying me when I'd get shaky.

"I'm always here for you, but now it is yours and Dalton's moment." Dad kisses my cheek again. "I want you to enjoy tonight, because tomorrow we get back to work." He smiles and winks.

Dad's lessons are now a daily thing, which I'm not complaining about, I love that through my now very busy schedule I have an excuse to just spend time with him. He's so smart and his passion for these people has definitely been passed down to me and there isn't anyone I'd rather be training under. "I can't wait." I laugh.

Mom leans over to fix the smaller golden crown on my head, making sure it's still secure and then she fans out my hair. "Perfection." She smiles. "We are so proud of you."

"I owe everything to you both." I get teary again, thinking over the life the two of them gave me before coming here.

"I think you've got that backwards." Mom shakes her head. "We owe it all to you. Without you, who knows if your father and I would have ever found our way back to each other, and without you, who knows where this world would be right now."

They both hug me again before turning to walk to the door. Dad claps Dalton on the shoulder on his way out into the corridor. As soon as the door clicks shut I feel the heat in the room.

Dalton leans away from the wall and walks towards me slowly in his nice black tux, shaking his head and biting his lip appreciatively as he looks at me. He stops a foot away and sighs. "Damn, Rose, what are you trying to do to me?" His eyes rove over my dress. "You look..."

I roll my eyes and laugh. "Oh please, you've seen me naked."

Dalton leans his head back and tugs at his pants. "Come on, Rose, that isn't helping." He groans.

He looks back down at me and I smile coyly. "Oh? What about this?" I slink a hand behind his neck and pull him down to kiss me.

As many times as I've kissed him since he's been back, which is a lot, it never gets old. Dalton is such a truly good and pure person, despite everything he's been through and I can only aspire to be half as strong as he is. He inspires me to do more, he supports me no matter what, and he's always in my corner. I love him more every day and I know I've found what my mom and dad found. And the funny thing is, I found it in the same place.

Maybe Castrum de Petra has some kind of magical find your soulmate voodoo or something, but whatever it is, I'm glad. I can't imagine doing this without him.

As his arms circle around my waist I can't imagine having to leave this room, but then the door swings back open and Pedro sticks his head in as Dalton and me separate reluctantly.

"Hey, lipstick." Pedro scolds me with a laugh and waves us forward. "Let's go, your mom is in a hurry to get to the dessert table."

We laugh and ride the elevator down with everyone else, Dalton's hand in mine.

We stop outside of the ballroom doors while the others rush in everyone saying they'll see us inside as the go. Once we are alone again, Dalton looks around checking to be sure that Pedro wasn't going to pop out and stop him again. He leans in slowly and plants his lips to mine.

"I love you, Rose." He whispers as he brings me in to hug him. "So much, and I am so glad you came along."

"I bet you are." I wink and he rolls his eyes.

"I'm being serious."

"I am too." I kiss his nose. "I love you too. Probably from the minute I saw you. You were just too busy being a jerk to realize you loved me too."

"Oh I think I realized before you did, that was the problem."

"Whatever." I shake my head, resting it against his chest. "All that matters is I love you, so much, even when you are crabby."

"Well, I love you even when you are being annoying, which is often." He kisses the top of my head as I laugh. "I will see you down there." He kisses me quickly one more time and releases me to go around the back.

"Are you ready, Your Majesty?" The guard at the door asks and I nod.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Troy."

He smiles and Todd helps him open the two giant doors.

"Announcing Her Royal Highness, Queen Rose." The announcer's voice booms over the speakers and all the party goers below me stop to turn and look up my way, clapping and bowing as I descend the stairs carefully until I'm in the middle of the stage at the bottom.

Pedro Rushes across the stage and hands me a microphone before rushing back down into the crowd to the left of the stage where mine and Dalton's parents stand smiling proudly, Malcom leaning against the wall as he claps for me. Scanning the crowd I find Fallon in the back whispering with a boy who I don't know but she certainly looks like she wants to, and over on the other side Lance stands with his new friend Chelsea who is visiting from Madrid. I knew it was a good idea to assign him to be her personal guide to Castrum while she's here.

I smile to myself about my matchmaking skills for a second before I remember why I'm standing on stage in the first place.

"Good evening, everyone." I say into the mic, giving a wave. "I know you are all probably as ready to kick off the party as I am, but we have one last order of business to attend to before we can let loose and enjoy this fabulous party that Pedro and his council have put together for us." I pause so that the people can cheer and Pedro waves out to the crowd, smiling like the goof he is. "Something that I have learned in my very short amount of time here is that having the right people on your side can make all of the difference in this world. No one of us is any better or more important than the rest and that includes me. I'm not perfect, I will make mistakes and I will fall down, but I know that I will have someone there to help pick me up, dust me off, and put me back on the right path when I need them." I smile, looking for him in the crowd. "Without any further ado, I would like to name my Hand of The Queen. This honor goes to the person I know I can always count on. A person I know loves this place and its people every bit as much as I do, and a person I have total faith in. Sir Dalton, will you please join me on stage?"

The crowd erupts with cheers and they part to make way for him to climb the small stairs onto the stage and come to my side. Pedro appears to my right again and hands me the silver round badge with a crown etched into his face.

Dalton turns to me and I pin the badge to his lapel, careful not to stick him with it because if I do I know he'll never let me hear the end of it.

"Sir Dalton, do you accept?" I ask and Dalton nods.

"I do, Your Highness."

I turn him out to face the crowd and he stands tall. "I give you Sir Dalton, Hand of The Queen." I announce proudly and cheers almost hurt my ears they echo so loudly.

Suddenly the crowd begins to dip and they all fall into a bow.

Dalton looks out at them, then back to me.

We both knew the people are going to be more open to taking to him than to me, if only for the reason that he's a guy and I'm a girl, but it's a battle I'm willing to tackle. I'll give these people a Queen to be proud of, so their bows don't bother me in the slightest. Honestly I'm thrilled that they love Dalton as much as I do.

The only thing that surprised me was the moment that Dalton turned and even though the crowd was bowing to him, he dropped down to bow to me, showing his loyalty to me and making himself lower than me.

It wasn't necessary, but it filled my heart with joy all the same.

Somewhere in the crowd someone begins to chant my name and it quickly catches on.

All around me my people and my family cheer for me as Dalton rises from his feet and wraps me in his arms.

I can't believe this is my life.

I started out a regular girl who always felt out of place in the human world, and now here I stand on stage in a killer dress with a gorgeous guy on my arm and a crown on my head. It's funny how life can truly surprise you, and I know I for one cannot wait to see what else it has in store for me.

This beautiful life is mine.

The End