Third person pov

Lucien felt his sister's presence before she even teleported into his room. It was seven minutes before the duel was to start, and he was still drinking the horrible wine the maids had brought in in generous quantity.

"Lucien", she called.

"Etienne", he acknowledged setting down the now empty glass on the table.

She plopped down on a chair. And when he turned to look at her, he realized it was the same one she had been sitting on.

He felt his muscles tense. Etienne's green eyes didn't miss the reaction.

"Are you well?", She asked.

"I am an original vampire. Of course, I am well", he answered, but the words sounded false even in his ears.

He couldn't believe it. After years, decades, centuries of wandering the earth, of thinking he had seen all there was to see, of thinking he had experienced it all, a mere human had proved him wrong within barely an hour.

Something had changed in him. In his soul. He didn't know what exactly to say it was, all he knew was something sparked, burned within him. And it was all because of her.

Etienne arched a brow, as one of her legs rose to rest on top of the other. She gave him the gaze that always made him feel like she could read his soul. She probably could, no one knew him better than she. No one ever will because they both had eternity.

His lips tugged slightly in a sarcastic smile at the fate.

"It is quite intriguing to see you troubled", She smiled, and it reached her cold eyes, warming them. "You care about nothing except ... me of course".

He scoffed. " I am not troubled sister", The words fell from his lips, and he realized they were true. He wasn't troubled, he just felt odd. He told her that.

"Why do you feel odd?", She asked him.

He wanted to tell her about the human, but ... He sighed and looked away from her. He had been doing a lot of sighing today.

"Oh! This must be serious", Etienne muttered.

His gaze met hers. There were no words spoken.

"Is this about the duel?", She asked calmly, after a while, but he could tell that she knew it wasn't about the duel.

"It isn't", he confirmed anyway.

His sister smiled, and it warmed his heart that it wasn't the cold smiles they both have had ages to master. It was genuine.

"I am happy", she confessed, and he arched his brow that voiced the question why?
"Something has made you feel again", she added.

He didn't know how to respond to that so they fell into silence before she broke it.

"Do not kill that fool", she started, "Try not to kill him".

He was relieved by the change of topic.
" Isn't that the point of a duel sister?", He asked.

" We do not need a war", she explained.

" If he dies, another takes his throne".

" You cannot possibly think it'll be that simple", she ground out.

" I think it is", he returned.

She glared at him so fiercely that he wondered why he wasn't on fire from the heat of it. He nodded in agreement to please her.
"I will not kill him, but he will spend months fighting for his life for thinking of laying his hands on you".

" Very well", she allowed and stood to her feet. " I must go".

"Where are you headed?", He inquired.

"The humans we, well I", she corrected with another glare reminding him of his absence during the pet purchase at the meeting. "... bought have reached the kingdom. I must go there to manage everything", she told him.

" Will you be back ?", He asked, ignoring the glare.

She nodded. "Certainly. I must say goodbye to our hosts".

He smiled at her. "I see", he murmured. He loved his sister.

She leveled a frank stare directly at his face."Don't look so happy that I am performing your duties", she said, " You are still king. Always will be".

He gave a curt nod. "You make sure I never forget".

The sound of cheering that came next could have taken his hearing if it was possible, even though the courtyard was far from his room. The duel was to start soon.

His sister's eyes held his. "Have fun", she said before teleporting.

A wicked smile lifted his lips.
He most certainly will.
He wondered which bone he would break first. He poured some more of the terrible wine into his cup.

***

The courtyard was charged with the eager shouts of men and Prefon found it shocking when she realized that they weren't just fairy males in attendance for the duel that held the fate of her future.

Several werewolves had made the trip from wherever they had come, she didn't care to ask, to the courtyard. There weren't a lot of vampires, which wasn't surprising, the ones that had come yesterday with the King and princess were probably the only ones in attendance but everyone in attendance cheered like drunk fools.

Their cheering had almost taken her ears when Mistress Elena held her upper arm in a death grip and led her to the gates of the courtyard.

With each step, it only got worse, but as soon as they entered, it took approximately forty-five seconds of them walking towards the direction of their seats in the box for the entire audience to realize who she was and then there was an almost unnatural silence ...

Which lasted only a second because the next second ...

"That's the prize!!!", a voice boomed and then there was madness. She had cringed all the way to her seat.

Prefon sighed at the memory.

The alpha king and the vampire king both hadn't made an appearance. Although this hadn't affected the anticipating crowd, she was eager to get the day, the duel, and life as she knew it behind her. She had accepted her fate.

"Stop frowning so deeply, it'll give you wrinkles", Mistress Elena ordered.

Did she say she couldn't wait to get Mistress Elena behind her?
Her frown deepened.
Every moment she spent with the woman in the box was as suffocating as the entire courtyard.

"I said stop frowning!", She hissed.

Her face remained as it was.

She seethed for Prefon didn't care how long and finally a sigh emitted from her lips.

It was odd.

Mistress Elena never sighed. She was always so composed, like a statue that could move about and talk, that knew all the right things to say to her and blind her from seeing the elaborate plan that had been orchestrated probably, and she wouldn't even be surprised if it was, immediately the prime minister had blessed her mother's womb.

"Look ...", Mistress Elena started, at precisely the moment Prefon had begun to say, "Why...".

Mistress Elena let out another sigh. "We have limited time together, you are free to say whatever you wish".

Prefon's eyes remained fixed on the empty area where the Kings would fight.

" If your plan from the beginning was to sell me off to the vampires, why did you pretend for so long? Why didn't you make it clear from the beginning? I understand why you didn't treat me like the rest, but why didn't you just tell me?", She asked, "You don't seem like one to hide, or that's what I thought".

There was a pause.

"From the moment I held you in my arms", Mistress Elena said, " I knew you were extraordinary, and believe it or not, I wanted to keep you as my own".

" As your pet", Prefon supplied flatly.

" As ...", Mistress Elena continued but trailed off.

Prefon faced her and realized the woman was in thought.
"I wanted to keep you as my child", the last word was mere breath on her lips, but it was loud enough for Prefon to hear and she couldn't hear anything else for a minute but that word 'child'.

Mistress Elena scoffed with a shake of her head. "I was quick to realize the absurdity of that plan. I have been successful in this kingdom because I've detached myself from emotions. They only make you weak. Caring for you was a weakness that I knew would cost me my empire. It was a weakness I couldn't allow. People would have used you against me", she revealed.

" The more you grew, the more I knew you belonged with royalty. Creatures stronger than all of our species combined. You belonged with the originals because you are so extraordinary.  If I had told you that I wanted to sell you to them, you would have found a way to escape. I couldn't underestimate you".

Prefon stared at Mistress Elena not knowing how to feel or say.

" You will be very happy. If not happy, then fulfilled or something close to either", the woman whispered in a tone that implied that Prefon should be grateful.

During their conversation, they both didn't realize when the fairy King and the princes entered the courtyard, or when the crowd had silenced in acknowledgment. They also didn't notice when the alpha king had made an appearance, or when the crowd went crazy again.

***
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