Prologue

THE Crown Prince was lazily strolling inside the Royal Palace of Regia Solaria. It was the weekend, and so he was free of any duty, and he used it to wander around. Training endlessly to become the next ruler of their kingdom is exhausting, and he felt so trapped inside the training room that if he stayed for another day, he might just get suffocated.

And his mate was busy doing other things since it was also her day off from training.

So here he is now, wandering around aimlessly. He lets his feet lead him anywhere, uncaring of where he ends up.

Much to his surprise, he saw himself in front of the Royal Vault. He wasn’t exactly drawn by it, but then he wasn’t really focusing on any destination and let himself walk anywhere around the castle. So he couldn’t say why his feet brought him here.

Shrugging— and then he looked around, nervous that his mother might see it— he went inside the Royal Vault.

It was dark inside, with only a few torches lighting up the place. He could spot some glinting everywhere, which were probably the shiny artifacts that his ancestors had hidden there. He’s pretty sure the whole content of their Royal Vault is worth more than three kingdoms. So he didn’t dare to touch any of it, no matter how tempting it was.

He walked around a bit more, and it led him towards a small platform where a silver table stood in the middle. On top of the table was an enclosed glass with a large crystal inside of it, shining with gold light.

It took the Crown Prince a few minutes before it dawned on him what he was seeing. He spun on his heels, racing out of the Royal Vault as fast as he could with his inhumane speed. He barged inside his parents' chambers, but they weren’t there. Cursing loudly, he went towards the other place he knew a lot of people might be staying in: the private sitting room in the Royal Chambers.

When he unceremoniously entered the room, a few got startled. His mother was one of them.

“Hale Vladimir! Did you think the door was made just so you could barge in without a warning?” the Queen reprimanded him.

In normal circumstances, the Crown Prince will bow his head and apologise for his lack of manners. However, he had something more important to tell them than to mind his fuming mother.

His eyes roamed across the room and saw that only two were missing: his youngest sibling and his mate. Still, he’s far too excited to delay the announcement.

“The Crystal appeared in the Royal Vault! It’s shining golden light right—”

The Crown Prince found himself getting pushed away and hit the wall across the private sitting room when his siblings had dashed out of the room and towards the Royal Vault. Even the Queen had left.

Shaking his head in amusement, the Crown Prince dusted his clothes before he followed his family.

They were all gathering in front of the Crystal and were muttering simultaneously.

“— finally! All my children—”

“— decades of waiting—”

“— all of us will have a—”

“— wonder what ability they—”

“What’s going on here?”

The familiar voice of his youngest sibling silenced them all. Their heads snapped in the direction of the voice at once. Standing in the doorway was his youngest brother, looking at them with mild confusion.

“Heli! Come here!” The Crown Prince called his brother. “Look at this!”

With a frown, the youngest Lancaster child made his way to where his family was gathering. He abruptly stopped once he caught sight of what they were looking at.

“Your Crystal finally appeared, son,” the Queen smiled at her son, her eyes becoming tearful.

“You’ll finally meet your mate, brother. Congratulations.”

Everyone echoed the same thing, completely oblivious of the youngest Lancaster’s expression. His jaw was clenched tightly, his red eyes darkening as he glared at the Crystal.

“Stop fucking congratulating me.”

All of a sudden, the air around them began to chill. They all looked stunned by the youngest prince's coldness.

“Heli—”

“How many times do I have to remind you that unlike all of you, I don’t like anyone else making decisions for me?” The youngest prince said in a hard tone. “Especially not a fucking Crystal that no one knows the origin. I won’t let that thing dictate who I will spend my life with.”

The air grew colder with each passing second. Thin frost started to spread across the stone floor beneath his feet, the once warm-stone floor slowly turning into an icy shade of blue. Bit by bit, the sheen of ice started creeping outward as the temperature inside the room dropped. The cold inside the Royal Vault mirrored the cold fury in the youngest prince’s ruby eyes.

“Helios Vladimir Lancaster! Stop this at once!” The Queen yelled furiously, a gust of wind hitting the youngest prince on the chest. It made him stumble a bit, just enough to get him to stop freezing the entire room.

With one last scathing look towards his family, he turned around and left.

“I think you’ve been too lenient in giving him freedom, Mother,” the first princess stated after a long silence.

“I agree. He had been given so much free rein in choosing his bedmates that he refused to accept his mate now,” the Crown Prince said.

“Let him. He will understand that he cannot defy his fated mate no matter how much he hates it, especially once he finally sees them,” the Queen said.

“But what if it was too late for him? He only has a month to woo his mate, and we all know it wouldn’t be easy to explain this to a human,” the fifth prince said.

“I know Helios; he’ll get curious over the pull he will feel once the Crystal starts its countdown. He would try to resist meeting his mate, but he would not win against the pull,” the Queen flashed a mischievous grin towards her children. “And once he met his mate, he would eat all his words and try his best to bring his mate here.”

The Crown Prince looked at his mother, a dawning realisation came over him.

His mother had seen it happen, which is why she was looking extremely sure about her words. How could he forget about his mother’s ability? It has helped them thousands of times already.

It made the Crown Prince grin mischievously alongside his mother.

Because finally— their cold, playboy, and rebellious youngest sibling would finally meet his match.