"Two faces - one for the enemies, one for the partners."

"Prince Dominic, may I adress my concern to you?", I ask him politely when I find him on his own. "Tell me about the concern, princess", he answers friendly giving me a feeling as if he's officially arrived here mentally. Looks like our relationship is going to improve. 

"Maybe I am wrong but.. it seems to me that your parents are not very happy about Alex' and my relationship. I was wondering if I could do something about it.. talk to them or anything else." "This is not about you personally, princess. In Sparks, we choose our decisions politically." 

"From a political point of view, our relationship is quite beneficial for both parties", I argue. "Yet Sparks is maintaining a better relationship with Solaria." "Is this about queen Luna?", I ask confused. My grandfather has never had any bad relationship, neither in the circle of our family nor in the political world. It surprises me that they're trying to keep Eraklyon out of business. 

"The leading kings and queens don't expect you to be a good leader, princess. You and my brother are too emotionally driven to make a political decision when it comes to war." I furl my eyebrows feeling personally attacked. "You might not have been informed but I've been fulfilling a leading role within the specialists at Alfea. I know how to fight in a war and how to win a fucking war so don't tell me I'm someone else", I snap at him my voice raising from word to word. 

By now, Dominic and I stare at one another eagerly to win this verbal battle. But instead of replying, Dominic suddenly lunges out to push me against the wall but I'm quick enough to take his arms when lunging out and turn us around so it's him who's pushed against the wall behind me. 

He immediately comes closer again hoping to hit my chest with his leg so I manage to kick him to the bottom instead. Holy shit, I just kicked a prince to the ground. A prince that was supposed to like me enough so I could become his sister-in-law. Now he's there and - ah.. fine, he pushed me to the ground. I'm too much thinking. Clearly. He's about to jump over me when someone interrupts us. 

"I see, you two have lost your royal manners. Stuck up shit going down here", Stephen speaks up making Dominic to let go of me so I finally stand up tapping my trousers clean. Dominic doesn't even look at me anymore when he's about to leave. I could probably wait forever for an apology. 

"Dom", Stephen mumbles angrily as Dominic walks past him and is hold back at his shoulder, "Don't ever touch her again." Dominic chuckles amused. "I've told him you had a thing for her but he wouldn't listen. Becca wasn't enough, huh?" I see Stephen's hand shaking. He'd love to beat him up. 

"Are you okay?", Stephen asks me instead when we're alone. "Yeah", I mutter staring at the point where Dominic almost dominated. "You need to concentrate more", he tells me making me roll my eyes. "You're not my teacher." "I know. Speaking of which.. We'll leave to Alfea tomorrow." "Oh, okay", I mutter wishing they could be here forever. If the girls were also here, it'd feel like old times in Alfea. I haven't even had enough time to spend with Sky and Riven. 

"Promise me to make decisions that feel honestly good for you, okay? If it's not me, it should be someone you care about", Stephen gives me a sad but brave look. "I'm sorry it's not you", I apologize, "I'm sorry for all of this. I know you care about me.. probably more than anyone else. And I wish time was different but here we are." "You'll be a great queen", Stephen makes me blush as we walk back to my room. I need a shower after mopping the bottom.

Alex's POV:

"I've seen you talking to Scar. Are you two getting along?", I ask my brother after I've watched him approaching Scar. I've left right afterwards because I didn't want to disturb them. "Of course." "It felt like you've had some troubles getting to know each other", I admit. 

"No, why would I? Scar's great. I just wasn't sure how to greet her when Daphne is around. You know what she's like." I mean, he's right.. Daphne has always put my brother under pressure. He probably wouldn't have even married her if it wasn't for her and our parents. He'd probably be a better husband if she let him be himself. Maybe I've judged him too early too much. 

"I'm glad you like her. I was afraid of mother and father being too strict about our marriage just because it's not a cooperation between Solaria and Sparx. Stella's actually Scar's best friend so we can have two strong partners instead of one." "You're not as bad in politics as you think, brother", Dominic chuckles clapping my shoulder jokingly proudly, "But can we trust her? You don't know her for too long." 

"We can definitely trust her", I immediately admit thinking back to when she's told me about Andreas, "A hundred percent." "A hundred percent?", Dominic asks skeptically. "She.. She's honest around me, alright?" Dominic gives me another questioning look making me nervous. "I just know it." 

"How would you know for sure that the girl you just got to know is honest around you?" "I thought you didn't have a problem with her?" "I don't. I'm just looking out for you." "You won't have to worry about me, Dom. She's great and I trust her fully", I state honestly. Scar's been honest with me, she's given me many reasons to trust her. 

"I mean.. you've said that before about Becca and-" "Scar's different", I immediately interrupt him, "She's.. She's been talking to me about her family a lot. Serious topics, you know?" "Did she tell you how her father died? We need to defend his reputation", Dominic immediately adds making me proud. Defending my girl's family. That's how I expect our relationship to be. 

Should I tell him about Scar? I mean he's my brother.. Who else would I talk to for real.. It's not like I'm bothered but he deserves to know that there's no need to defend Andreas. "It's been Scar. She's killed Andreas, had to kill him to be concrete-" "Wait, what", Dominic mutters staring at me with wide eyes, "Scar has killed someone, her own dad, and still becomes the queen of his country?" 

"She didn't have a chance", I state seriously, "Dom, she had no chance. Andreas was a different person. The blood witches took control of him. If Scar had known that she's a blood witch, too, she would have stopped them. In a moment of consciousness, Andreas begged her to kill him so he wouldn't kill Saul, Sky or her." "Wait, Scar is a blood witch?" 

Shit, I wasn't supposed to tell him this. I wasn't supposed to tell him anything. "Alex, don't worry about it", Dominic pats my shoulder encouraging, "You've got the strongest woman in the magic universe by your side. Congrats." "You don't-" 

"Of course I don't freak out. It's better to partner up with her than to be her enemy, right? You chose the right woman to be your wife. I won't tell anyone, of course." Thank god. I knew I could trust him. He can be an asshole to Daphne and anyone else but I was sure that he'd be happy for me and Scar.