Nico Altezza di Angelo II, crown prince of Pègre, heir to his father, King Hades' throne, was the middle of three children. His father was the king of the largest kingdom the world has ever seen. However, he was losing money fast. He needed to marry his oldest daughter, Bianca, off to a rich, preferably royal, family. Arguments about money were frequent in the di Angelo-Levesque family.

"Persephone, please my dear! You know we can't afford it." King Hades was currently sat in his throne room, his three children and current wife, Persephone all present. As usual, Hades was arguing. Nico was sat on his throne, not paying attention and picking at his nails with a dagger.

No one in this family cared about being the perfect royal family. No one was dressed 'properly'. Nico wore his shirt and tunic unbuttoned; his sisters, Bianca and Hazel, weren't wearing corsets; King Hades' shirt was buttoned up wrong; and Queen Persephone wasn't wearing any shoes.

"Oh for goodness' sake, Hades. Don't be so ridiculous. We can afford a simple garden." Persephone argued. None of the three children were listening to their parents' argument.

"Persephone, that is not a priority right now. We need to focus on obtaining more money or our kingdom will be finished!" Hades retorted. Persephone huffed and leaned back on her throne, her arms crossed. "Do any of you have any ideas about how we can deal with our money issue?" Hades addressed his kids for the first time that day.

They sat in silence until Bianca spoke up, her voice pretty small but still heard. "I heard that the prince of Soleil is looking for a bride. I could go and enter."

"What a wonderful idea, Bianca. Both you and Hazel can enter." Hades agreed.

Nico dropped the dagger, which clattered to the floor and disturber we the eerie silence of the large throne room, and sprung to his feet. "No! No way! We're not just giving my sisters away to some prince that they've never met before! What if he turns out to be some asshole that beats them?" He yelled, shocking his father, step-mother and sisters.

Hades slowly rose to his feet. "I don't see you with any better ideas, Nico." His voice was small but full of rage. King Hades was getting desperate, and didn't need his son ruining a perfectly good plan.

"I won't let you marry my sisters off, father."

"Nico, please. It's alright. We have to go to the kingdom of Soleil for a weekend, to attend a ball. Would it make you feel better if you came with us?" Bianca asked. leaning forward and putting a comforting arm on her younger brother's arm.

Nico sank back onto his throne, defeated for now but not forever. "Okay, B. That would be fine." He shot a glare at his father but said nothing more.

In the weeks before travelling, Nico did everything in his power to research the crown prince of the kingdom of Soleil. He sat for hours in the library, researching the kingdom's history, the family tree, the family's history. Everything. He also spent time outside of the castle, asking his father's people what they knew about the prince in question.

It was pretty obvious that Nico was letting his 'overprotective brother' side show.

Much to the young prince's dismay, he could find no negative information on Prince William. There was no reason for his sisters not to marry this man, except for Nico's overprotectiveness.

Princess Bianca and prince Nico were sat in the library together the night before they set out to Soleil, Bianca was engrossed in a murder mystery novel while Nico sat there with a book on the royal family of Soleil. Breaking the silence, Nico slammed the leather-bound book shut and stood up, knocking the chair to the ground in the process.

Looking up from her book, Bianca raised an eyebrow. "What is it, brother?" She asked.

"I cannot find one thing wrong with Prince William or Soleil and it's infuriating!" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want you to go B, or Hazel either. I want you two to stay here."

The boy turned around and picked the chair up. When he turned back around his father was stood on the opposite side of the table. Bianca was staring at the pages of her book, but Nico could tell she wasn't reading.

"Nico, we need to talk." His father said. He didn't wait for the boy's reply, and just turned and walked away, excpecting his son to follow him. Nico did just that.

They continued to walk until they reached King Hades' chambers. Contrary to what the king tells everyone, he made sure his chambers close to the library on purpose because he loves to sit in there for hours and read.

Father and son sat down in the front room of King Hades' chambers. They sat in awkward silence; Nico staring at his hands and the king staring at his son. The silence was broken when Hades loudly cleared his throat to attract his son's attention. Nico looked up, indicating for his father to continue.

"Nico." His father began. "I know you're reluctant to let your sisters go-" Nico scoffed, Hades ignored it. "-but you and I both know that they have to get married and leave. I know it will be hard, but you'll have to accept it, son. We both have to."

Nico refused to say anything to his father. Hades sighed and let his son go back to whatever he was doing.

Because of all of his anger, Nico went out and trained with some of the palace guards. Since Nico was such a keen fighter, the people of Pègre have prophesised Nico will turn their kingdom into a great kingdom that is very militarily based when he ascends to his father's throne.

~time lapse~

It was time. They were leaving for Soleil.

The three children were all leaving, their father and step-mother not leaving for another day as they had things to take care of.

It would take a few days to get there so they had to leave Pègre on the 19th June to arrive by the 22nd., the night of the ball.

The girls were all ready to leave, their finest dressed and jewellery were packed to impress the prince they hoped to marry. Nico however was finding ever excuse to delay the departure, hoping that he could push everything back so that his father would call of the journey. It didn't work.

Everything was loaded on the carriages and they were ready to leave. Hades had insisted they take almost half of the royal guard to keep them safe on the trip, despite the fact that he had very strong men and did not need to take that many of them.

Nico was aggravated to find that his father had given specific instructs that Nico was to ride in the carriage along with his sisters instead of on a horse with the guards as he usually does during long journeys.

The three siblings say goodbye to their parents before climbing into the carriage. Hazel and Bianca sat on one side and Nico sat opposite them. The two girls talked about nothing in particular while Nico stared at all of his future subjects as they rode through the towns.

Small children and their parents lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the royal carriage as it passed by. He smiled at the children as they waved at him as he passed. They seemed so happy yet they looked like they were starving and sleep-deprived. It surprised Nico that they had enough energy to stand there, wave, jump up and down and smile. He leaned back in his seat and frowned. When he became king, whenever that would be, he would help all of those poor families.

The set up camp at nightfall. The guards and Nico helped set up camp for everyone.

After everything was set up, they huddled around fires to keep warm before the girls went to bed. Nico and the rest of the guards stayed up much later.

Nothing particularly interesting happened on the journey which simultaneously annoyed and pleased the prince. Annoyed because the trip was boring, but pleased because he didn't want his sisters to get into any danger.

On the third day od travel, they reached Soleil. You could tell that the siblings were filled with nerves as to what might be before them yet they were also slightly curious.

When they finally reached the castle, Nico was on high alert. His hand move instinctively to the sword at his belt as they stepped out of the carriage and in through the grand main entrance doors.

His hand did not waver from his sword as they were shown to their rooms by two servants.

When they reached the rooms, Nico spent a good ten minutes searching them. For what, no one knew.

After Nico was happy, the girls began to prepare for the ball. Nico left them alone in their rooms and sat alone in his own until the time arrived. He felt no need to change, he needed to impress no one. His only purpose was to protect his sisters and he could easily do that the way he was.

Some unnamed servant knocked on his door telling Nico that the ball was about to begin. He went to collect his sisters from their room before heading towards the ballroom. Time for the worst night of Nico's life to begin.

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a/n: I'm so sorry for this really bad chapter. I know it sucks, please forgive me. I promise you the next one will suck a little less. Well, with my writing, you never know.

Please vote and comment. Thanks.

~Em