Viktoria’s POV“You what?!” I turned and glared at my father. It had been two years of utter hell since I last saw Fynn. I declared war against the beasts after what he did to me and both sides suffered great losses. We no longer had lavish parties in the castle, and I sure as hell didn’t have time to hang around the library anymore.“I’ve signed a peace treaty with the wolves.” My father wasn’t looking me in the eye, which meant there was more behind this damn treaty!“How could you? After what they nearly did to me?!” I didn’t even know he had been in peace talks with them! I was the leader of our army and I didn’t know that my father was making deals behind my fucking back!“Viktoria, our people can’t take more of this. Our food supply has been cut off for a while now, and the human world has started to take notice. I knew you wouldn’t agree to any of this, but I had no other choice.” My father was pacing back and forth and I knew him well enough by now to know that there was more
Viktoria’s POVI was at a loss. My father of all people had agreed to an arranged marriage with a fucking beast! What did Fynn have on him? For a split-second, I wondered if it was the fact that my grandfather and uncle’s murderer still hadn’t been found and Fynn knew something I had suspected all these years, but I quickly suppressed the thought. The last thing we needed right now was for our people to start doubting my dad’s ability to rule. Our people were tired of war. They were starving. My father couldn’t have chosen a better time for such a bold move! But I didn’t want to marry Fynn! Unfortunately, I couldn’t very well go against my father in front of everyone and he knew it! I was forced to sit at the banquet table and watch as our people carried in trays of food while the vampires sat hungrily looking at the beasts. Their heartbeats were echoing, and I was even finding it difficult to focus. I felt Fynn’s gaze on me, but there was no way I was going to look at him! I didn’t g
Viktoria’s POVI gaped at my father after what he just told me! He had been slowly feeding our people my blood over the past two weeks. He told me it was to stop them from trying to leave the kingdom to hunt, so of course, I willingly gave what I could, fully being under the misguided impression that he was doing the same. As were all the nobles. Only now, I find out it was only me, and he came to the most insane agreement with Fynn!“You have to do it, Viktoria.” He frowned as he stood looking at me with his hands on his hips. I woke up this morning wondering what the day would bring, but I wasn’t expecting this! That was what changed his mind about Fynn and me.“You are exactly like my grandfather!” I found my voice and shouted at him. I knew it would hurt the moment I said it, but I didn’t care. With this agreement of his, he had gone and done what he was trying to avoid while his father was still king! He used me! He traded me so he could have the ancient killed and we still didn’
Viktoria’s POV“That is not what I want.” Fynn rushed over, grabbing me by my shoulders. My guards stepped closer and were holding their blades against his throat while his beta stood behind him growling at them. My father was the voice of reason when he ordered my guards to stand down. “And I’m sure that a loveless marriage is not what you want.” I could see the pain in his eyes. “What happened on that last night was a misunderstanding.” He let go of me and stepped back. My father quickly ushered everyone out of the office, leaving Fynn and me alone. “I’ve taken care of those damn elders.” He turned and looked at me, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He told me that he had been trying to explain what happened, but I refused to listen. Honestly, I didn’t want to listen because hearing what he had to say would mean I would have to admit that I had put our people through a war that was unnecessary. I made all of them suffer for no good reason! Didn’t he see what position that was put
Viktoria’s POVI couldn’t believe that we were actually married as I lay in the early morning light studying Fynn’s face. My revelation of the night before still rang in my mind. I was madly in love with Fynn. I had been ever since I stayed with the pack. I would never admit it to anybody, not even Fynn, but over the past couple of years, I read everything I could find about the beasts. Our library didn’t have much, unfortunately, but it did have the basics that explained how their ranking system worked, which, of course, the ancient had put into place, choosing only the strongest of the beasts for the higher ranks. It also covered that they had destined mates, but not who decided on that destiny. I figured out why Fynn was so in love with me and why we had to go through that rejection thing for him to leave me alone, but it seemed as though whatever we did, didn’t exactly stick. I sneaked out of bed and out of our room to feed and was met by two beasts outside my door!They introduce
Viktoria’s POVI had to think quickly, but Fynn was faster than me as he promptly told my father at most, we needed about two days to check on one or two details. I smiled as I looked at my husband. He knew something. I knew he knew something that he hadn’t shared with anyone yet! Fynn knew those books of theirs inside and out. He left right after our meeting to oversee the move of the books to our library while I made space for their collection. My father had agreed to give us two days. He agreed that if we could find something more substantial to protect our people, we had to do it. I could finally breathe for the first time since my father told me what his plan was. I didn’t want to take the chance that only my blood would save them.I also have to admit that having the beast books back in our library felt good. It felt right. Fine, so I didn’t want to marry Fynn at first, but now I am glad I did. I loved him. Having these two days to find our answer also gave us the opportunity to
Viktoria’s POVIn the fourth hour, I could hear the witch start to chant and by now, I could feel that the ancient was fully awake. I could feel that he wasn’t strong enough to do anything yet, but there was a clear tugging sensation in my mind. I knew it was him trying to get in like he did before and I couldn’t allow it. I caught a glimpse of Fynn as he walked over to the door to check on me and my father. He frowned and whispered something in my mother’s ear and she nodded. I must have shown signs of distress because in an instant my father was beside me.“Viktoria, are you okay?” He looked worried as he put his hand on my forehead and I realized that my forehead was clammy. I had been concentrating so hard to stop the ancient from getting through that I didn’t even notice I was perspiring! My father quickly moved me over to where Fynn and my mother were waiting and Fynn shouted for the witch to stop.“NO! If we stop now, we won’t be able to do this for at least another year!” I sh
Viktoria’s POV“Are you a day walker?” My father hissed. I sighed. There was no getting out of it now. Fynn growled the moment my father gripped my arm and pulled me into one of the empty rooms near the front door. I could understand why my father was upset. Since he brought me into the castle the first time, he had been open and kind, and I had hidden one of the most important things from him. I pulled from his grip and took a deep breath before explaining how I found out that I was a day walker by accident. It wasn’t as if I was really trying to hide it, I just didn’t go around announcing it to everybody. My father had so many questions that he overwhelmed me a little and Fynn had to step in. He understood the implications of what this could mean for us.“Wait a minute.” My father frowned. “The ancient is the only other day walker we know of.” I could see the wheels in his mind turning as he came to realize what I already knew. I was just as strong as the ancient. I might not yet be
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