Viktoria’s POVAfter everything that’s happened, I found myself almost wishing I could just go back to my life before Fynn. It was a simple life and there was the possibility of being chosen as some idiot’s concubine, but I was well on my way to becoming a guard, I was sure of it. At least then, all I wished for was to meet my father. Now that he was in my life and I was declared an actual royal, I missed the simpler days. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had never slept on a damn royal bed or if someone helped me to get dressed. I just wanted to meet my father once. That was … Okay, fine. I’m lying to myself. I would never have admitted it out loud, but I secretly dreamt of my father telling me how much he wanted me to be a part of the family. I never meant for my grandfather and my uncle to die so I could get my secret wish.“Dad, you said you wanted to make some changes,” We were walking down the passage on our way out somewhere and I had no idea where the hell he wanted to take me,
Viktoria’s POV“Sweetheart, there is nothing you can do to stop it. When a beast finds his mate, he will move heaven and earth to get to her. Your father stood in the way of that. I know he doesn’t want you to mate with that beast, but he shouldn’t have interfered.” Her eyes grew wide as she said it and she looked at me. “Please don’t tell him I said that. I would never tell your father what to do.” She sat down and I could see that she was very upset, so I sat down beside her and tried to assure her that I wouldn’t say anything. I still couldn’t believe that Fynn was my mate. The one person destined to love me unconditionally. I honestly didn’t feel it, but I definitely saw it in his eyes tonight.That look that my father spoke of previously. When his wolf shined through and his eyes glowed in the moonlight, I saw the power behind it. I saw love and I saw lust. Just thinking about the lust part sent a shiver down my spine. I heard the boots of guards pass our door and my stomach pull
Viktoria’s POV“I don’t understand.” I frowned, not entirely sure why people kept telling me to reject him. “Okay, I reject you.” I shrugged with a deep frown on my forehead.“No, there is a certain thing you need to say …” But before we could continue our conversation, I could feel my father’s presence right behind me.“What are you doing here?!” He hissed and I almost burst out laughing when Fynn rolled his eyes at my father.“Not that it’s any of your concern, but my wolf took over control. He is not allowing me to reject your daughter and she doesn’t know what to say.” Fynn threw his arms in the air in frustration and I still felt confused. What would a couple of words said in a specific way do that would change what Fynn felt for me? In the deepest corners of my heart, something w
Fynn’s POVI couldn’t breathe. I could feel her pain through our bond. Since I wasn’t capable of completing the rejection, I could still feel every bit of pain she was feeling. My wolf howled. He didn’t want us to let her go. It was impossible! No wolf would ever ask a vampire to reject its mate. I was sure he wouldn’t do it. He would never put the love of his life through this pain! How could he allow this to happen to his daughter? I couldn’t for the life of me imagine how a father could put his child through this kind of pain. Someone knocked on my door, but I didn’t care who they were. I growled and the windows shuddered at the sound, letting them know instantly that they should rather leave than come in.My own pack would have demanded I reject her! How? How was it even possible for us to be destined mates? If our families couldn’t even allow it, how could we be destined mates?! I rippe
Viktoria’s POVFynn couldn’t come into the castle, which meant I had to go beyond the wall to get this rejection done. That was easier said than done and as my father was carrying me out, I wished I hadn’t agreed to this damn thing! I had never in my life, not even when I had some of my toughest fights at dhampir college, hurt this badly. Although the doctor assured my father that I was fine physically, it felt as if every damn bone in my body had been crushed beyond repair. We reached the enormous wooden doors that led out beyond the wall and my father stopped giving me a momentary breather. He explained that it was of the utmost importance that I didn’t show Fynn how much pain I was really in. It could jeopardize the rejection process if he thought I was in pain.I still didn’t understand all of this, but I was willing to do whatever I had to so I could just get through this. Why did I have to go through this?! Why would beasts go through this? Did their goddess hate them that much?
Viktoria’s POVOver the past three years, a lot has changed in the kingdom, and today was most probably the worst day of them all! I was turning twenty-one. After what felt like forever, the day had finally arrived. The one my father had promised his people would come. What happened between me and Fynn three years ago was long pushed to the back of my mind and I thought about him less and less as time passed. Focussing more on what I had to do to make our kingdom great. Today, however, I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do. If I didn’t turn into the vampire princess like the prophecy foretold, our entire kingdom would rip itself apart. My father might have thought that our kingdom was pretty stable, but I took the time to walk the streets during the day as well.People weren’t happy with the changes. Dhampir living normal lives among vampires. Concubines were set free to choose whether they wanted to be wit
Viktoria’s POVThe pride in my father’s eyes was the most precious thing I would ever remember. He was right! All this time he had been right. He believed in me and here I was. I was going to be the first vampire queen and now that I shifted, our enemies didn’t have a damn foot to stand on! Unfortunately, this meant that I needed to find a husband and we had to breed an heir. My father said there was no rush, but I could hear the murmurs in the passages. Me changing into a vampire has changed so many things. For one, I knew that my father was concerned that if I had a child, I would die. No vampire female survived childbirth, except for the female who mated with a wolf. They didn’t know if she had survived because her child was a pure-blood vampire.I wondered if the baby was a hybrid … I wondered if anyone ever tried to find out. I made a mental note to check the library as I slipped under the covers. My mi
Viktoria’s POVIt would be another two years before I was walking near the wall and wondered about whatever happened to Fynn. I had rejected all the proposals for marriage so far with the support of my father, but I was getting the feeling that he might just try and convince me to accept one at some point. Being a vampire has changed so much for me. For my mother! She was now accepted as the queen since she gave birth to the only female-born vampire if you could call it that. I wasn’t too worried that my father would push me to get a mate just yet. He might mention something because some council member mentioned something, but he was still young and we still had a long time before I would need to take over the throne.“Do you still think about him?” My father frowned as we walked past the door that led out into the forest and I sighed.“Sometimes.” I swallowed the knot in my thr
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