Viktoria’s POVMy mind went straight to our library. To the exact shelf, and book that I read a million times. I could imagine the feel and smell of the paper as I opened it. The first-hand account of how the ancient created the beasts. The paper in this diary was much older and I couldn’t imagine this being a fake. I couldn’t think that anyone would go to these lengths. I couldn’t stay in my seat and stood up just in time to see a group of older men leaving the main house. That must have been the reason Fynn left so quickly and looked so solemn. I wondered how my stay here affected his people. It couldn’t have been good. Now that I knew, my people had come to look for me. I couldn’t imagine … Those must have been the elders! I felt infuriated instantly. After what I had read about the ancient, it aggravated me that our destinies were in fact influenced by these old men! Men who didn’t know how it felt to be young in our time! Men who want things done their way.FlashbackThe smell of
Viktoria’s POVI could hear the sounds of boots walking on the marble floors of the castle corridors. I could smell the slight scent of citrus in the air that hid the other dreadful scents that clung to the palace walls from eons ago. I could see the beautiful clan flags hanging from every corner. The world I grew up in. The world I have loved since the day I was born. The world I never even thought could be such an enormous lie!“Are you all right?” Fynn’s voice broke through my memories and I smiled and nodded. I couldn’t very well tell him what I was thinking or how I was feeling. Yes, he had opened my eyes, but probably not in the way he wanted to.Viktor’s POVThe week couldn’t pass fast enough! For the first time in my very long life, it felt as if time was standing still. The same question I had been asking for days kept floating around in my thoughts as I sat in the small council meeting once again listening to my father lay down the law about the beasts. He was such a hypocri
Viktoria’s POVThe only love I knew of, and the only love that made any sense to me was my mother’s love. I never knew my father’s love. I never saw love between my parents or anyone else, for that matter. I saw a strange look pass between some vampires and their mates, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Being in love and having a mate or husband or whatever was never really something I thought about. I worked so hard to become dhampir and not to be sent to the convent that love really wasn’t a priority for me.I never thought about having children or creating a home. All I wanted was to get into the castle and meet my father. That was all I ever thought about.Why on earth was I even thinking about this?! I would be going back home soon and if everything went well, I might get a position in the castle after all. Not that I thought it was possible after I’d been held captive by Fynn and his gang, but I could hope.“Maybe love is what is needed.” Fynn frowned, looking a little abse
Viktoria’s POVI was going home. Not tomorrow, but I knew that I was going home eventually. That made me feel slightly more at ease about spending my time here. What made me feel nervous was that my grandfather was here and had agreed to this. Why? Why was he here in the first place? Was there more to the story than what Fynn was telling me or was there more than what I was taught in school … Something was telling me that it was the second part? After everything I’d found out so far, it was probably the second part. I can’t believe that we blindly followed what we were taught all these years. Then, on the other hand, how did you not believe it, when that way of life was the only way you knew? I also realized that there were some things Fynn and his people didn’t know. Things I didn’t even know and I lived in the kingdom.Would I ever be able to find out the truth, the entire truth? Did I even want to know? If I went back there, it might be difficult to look at everyone knowing what I
Viktoria’s POVNo, I wasn’t one to run from anything in my life, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. I wouldn’t run. From any of them. I would get through the next couple of days and then go home. Once I was back home, I could pretend as if none of this ever happened, couldn’t I? I was fooling myself! There was no way I would ever be able to attack a wolf ever again without thinking about his or her family, but if I could work in the castle, I wouldn’t have to worry about the wall defences or the beasts or Fynn ever again. Yes, I was trying to fool myself again. There was no way out.I was just going to have to accept my fate and live my life as best I could once I was back home.Fynn’s POVStanding outside her door, I could hear from her breathing that she was still asleep and I guess I could understand why. It had been a rough
Viktoria’s POVI hated the fact that other people’s actions put me in this uncertain position! I liked my life the way it was. I had a plan and I was happy with my plan. Now my life was probably the most uncertain it was ever going to get. I had no idea what my grandfather was planning when I returned, so much so that I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go back. Then there was what I learned about the werewolves. I had a hard time calling them beasts! How was I going to join in an attack?! How was I ever going to fight them again, knowing that they were more human than beast?I just couldn’t deal with all of this anymore! I wanted to go home. I wanted to forget that any of this had happened.Fynn’s POVI walked into my office and was a little surprised to find that the council was already there waiting.“What’s all this?” I frowned, taking a seat behind my desk. I took the time to look each of them in their eyes and only moved on when they looked away. I had to show my strength as the A
Fynn’s POVLeaving her behind broke my wolf’s heart, but it was becoming too dangerous to have her around my pack. It was dangerous for both of us and I couldn’t take the chance that someone might harm her. I would rather live without her than have anybody hurt her. Running back home, it felt as though my soul was being ripped from my body.Viktoria’s POVStaying in the cell was protocol, or well, sort of. I mean, it wasn’t as if we had people coming back from beast camps on a daily basis. I could understand that they had to keep me there to make sure I hadn’t been turned or something. When I woke up, I could hear the gates being locked and unlocked near the entrance, but nobody walked all the way back to my cell. I knew I had to get as much rest as possible because there was a huge possibility that they would pull me out for more questioning and then
Viktoria’s POVUnfortunately, living a normal life wasn’t going to be in the cards for me. The same people who just a couple of days ago were telling me how confident they were that I was going to get a position in the castle. There were no whisperers behind my back. I felt like a total lepper! At breakfast, none of my friends from my year were there anymore, and I didn’t actually mix with any of the other age groups before our test day. I wasn’t part of the instructors’ group who had been instructors for many years. I was meant to be out working by now or to have been moved to the convent.Deciding to sit at the only empty table, which used to be our senior table, I picked up my food. I didn’t look up when a group of girls bursts out laughing and I knew they were staring at me. Nor did I pay much attention when the first bell rang to let the students know they had ten minutes to get to class. I am one
Viktoria’s POVI walked into the garden at the castle and instantly noticed Freya. She was sitting with her eyes closed and her face turned up in the sun. It was something she had been doing a lot these days and I couldn’t help but feel glad that she was safely back home. It had taken a long time to convince the men in my life that our people taking up space in the human world was the worst idea ever, but they eventually relented and our people moved back.The school was still open, and although I didn’t like the idea, our people were allowed to live and work in the human world but not in the same numbers. It had been a couple of years since Freya was attacked and there had been no other incidents of that caliber after that, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want our people out in the world. It was just my motherly instinct that kicked in and that was that.“Hey sweetheart,” I smiled as I took the seat next to her and felt the warmth of the sun. “I have someone here that wants to talk
Viktoria’s POVWhen the news came of the first ever proven vampire attack the humans had ever seen, I nearly had a heart attack! Fynn tried to tell me that everything would be okay, but I didn’t know enough about humans and their ways to know that for sure. Fynn tried to explain that there were a lot of human news agencies that were constantly printing fake news for higher sales and everything, but I just shut off and told him that I feared this was going to happen! Humans were going to come for us! They were going to pick us apart piece by piece and discard whatever they didn’t need!Fynn believed that the only way he could show me that this wasn’t as big of a problem as I feared, he needed to take me to the human city. I really didn’t want to go, but I had no other choice. We needed to find the vampire that did this and who had put us all in jeopardy. As we drove into the city, I couldn’t help but feel as if people were watching us, but Fynn told me I was just imagining things. As w
Viktoria’s POVI hated the idea of having to tame our people, but if they were going to live human lives, we needed to find a way for them to cope here. It was so damn difficult to hold back my hunger as we walked between the humans that my throat was on fire! We walked past a clothing store and something caught my eye. I stopped and walked back and saw the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. Fynn suddenly became excited and he gripped my hand as he pulled me into the store. Within minutes, a young human girl was showing me into a fitting room and I quickly stripped and put the dress on. It was called a summer dress and I just loved it. The thin straps over my shoulders showed off my neck and the dress flared out around to just above my knee. It was just perfect.“Are you okay in there?” Fynn’s voice drifted through the door and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I opened the door and saw in his eyes that the dress fit me just right. He told me to change and that he would pay for it, b
Viktoria’s POVFynn was looking at me as if he was about to put me into that damn vault for a nice long nap, and there was no way in hell I was going back there! Since we had the unlinking spell, I had not needed to sleep in a long time, but then again, our people were happy in general and I fed off that happiness while I was an ancient. Fynn wouldn’t say it, but I knew he was worried that the spell hadn’t worked and that I was losing it like I did when I thought Friedrich was a monster. Thankfully, this time they didn’t just stuff me into my little box.My father suggested we talk about my fears first and I appreciated that they were willing to listen. It was incredibly difficult to summarise it at first and I really rambled on as if I was losing the last little bit of my sanity, but slowly I started to unpack and we got down to the thing that was bugging me the most.Freya was planning on leaving our safe home and I felt that it was just not safe for her to leave. In fact, I regret
Viktoria’s POVGetting the old pack house ready was an enormous event for our people. Most of the vampires had never even seen the old pack house and were curious as to what it looked like. Wolves got the chance to show their mates where they grew up and it was pretty informative for the vampires to experience a world so different from ours in the kingdom. Fynn and my father set up a team of teachers who would move to the pack house permanently so they could teach the children whatever it was they would need to know in the human world, and Fynn made sure that all the subjects they decided on covered everything he knew they would need.I knew that in time those things would change, but it didn’t say anything to Fynn. He was so happy that everything was finally happening. That our people, both vampires, and wolves, could move freely between the two kingdoms and the pack house. It had been his biggest dream for this to happen and there was a time when he thought it would never be possibl
Viktoria’s POVI was sitting in the garden, just staring out at the people walking past, when Freya came running up to me. She was positively beaming and I noted yet again what a beautiful girl she was. We celebrated her twenty-first birthday just a couple of days ago and when she still hadn’t found her wolf, she was shattered. She had hoped she would be a hybrid like her big brother, but it seemed as though my little angel would forever and always be just a normal vampire like me. However, the excitement around her was intoxicating and I wondered what she had convinced her brother to allow this time around.“It’s time mom!” She beamed again and, for a moment, I felt a little confused until I realized!“Oh, my!” I squealed as I jumped up and we used our superspeed to rush to Friedrich and Melissa’s room. Outside the door, we were met by my parents, Fynn, and my beautiful grandson, Victor. My dad’s chest grew three sizes the day Friedrich and Melissa announced that if they had a boy th
Viktoria’s POVWaiting for the witch to get back to us was driving all of us insane, but at least we had the coronation to keep us busy and when the final day arrived, I almost couldn’t wait to hand over the damn crown! It wasn’t about the responsibilities so much as that it was heavy with all its jewels and gold! Friedrich was coronated as king and Melissa as his queen and they looked absolutely stunning as they walked out onto the balcony to wave at our people.Little Freya was growing at a similar rate as Friedrich did when he was this small and I could only hope that I would be there for everything this time. If we could unlink our people from me, I wouldn’t have to take any more naps … At least, that was what I was hoping for. Again, everyone partied until the early hours of the morning after the coronation. We had just climbed into bed when someone knocked on the door and a worried-looking guard walked in after Fynn refused to get out of bed and I had to call out for whoever it
Fynn’s POVPeople started to run around the bed and I moved out of the way. Viktoria wasn’t breathing and I feared not just for her but for everyone around us! It was the worst couple of minutes of my entire life as I looked at everyone that was running around and caught a glimpse of Victor, who was standing in the opposite corner of the room. His eyes reflected the fear I was feeling when we heard a beeping sound echo through the room.I nearly fell forward as the sigh of relief left my chest and I could hear the love of my life’s heart beating even without the machines. It took another minute or so for her to open her eyes and it was the moment I realized we really had to unlink everyone from her bloodline. Anything could happen at any time and it would be over for all of us. Even for little Freya. I smiled as the nurse handed her back to me and I could have sworn our little one smiled back.Viktoria’s POVI was happily floating down the cool river when suddenly it felt as if someth
Viktoria’s POVMy father was just as hesitant to hand over the crown to Friedrich as Fynn was. They both felt that my son was still a bit young to take on such an enormous responsibility, but I disagreed with them. Our young prince had been through more than most in his young life. He had experienced things people his age should not have and, in my mind, it was time. I understood that my father saw me as the chosen one and whatnot, but I believed that I had played my part in changing things in our kingdom and it was time for Friedrich to step up.After weeks of discussions, it seemed that the privy council agreed with me. I would forever remain their so-called ancient, or at least until we could find a way to unlink our people, but it was time for a younger, more energetic couple to take on the duty of ruling the kingdom. It was time for the last phase of our transition into the modern world. I believed it was the right decision and it might have taken some time to convince my father