HelenaHis body was cold against mine and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach! I knew what had to be done to save my people. I didn’t want to do it, but I had done many things in my life that I didn’t want to do just so I could survive.“My son is still young, your highness. Please, let us go. We will teach him. He will learn his place.” I could only hope that Victor wasn’t going to ask for the one thing I knew would break Oliver, but my sixth sense kind of told me that was what he was going to do.“Let’s make sure, shall we?” Victor smiled, and a shiver ran down the back of my spine. “Queen Helena will come to my palace as my guest. She will stay there so that I can make sure her son won’t do something stupid!”“NO!” Oliver jumped up and growled so loudly that I could have sworn I felt the earth shudder under my feet. Victor smiled at me and my heart broke as he moved with such speed that nobody saw what he planned to do until it was too late.He stood there with Oliver’s heart in his
HelenaI felt relief flooding literally my entire body when Oliver announced that he would not be handing over the throne to Eli just yet. We couldn’t do that while we were still fighting a war. There had been no time to prepare Eli to rule. It would be impossible to teach him anything about our normal day-to-day responsibilities while we weren’t living our normal day-to-day lives.Eli was furious, of course. He thought his father didn’t do it because we didn’t believe in him. No matter how hard I tried to explain it to our son, he just didn’t believe me. Everyone in our kingdom knew about the dream I had by now. Many believed that it was because of the dream that we were still fairly safe. We hadn’t lost as many men as the vampires had.Sadly, the vampires kept on finding humans to turn, no matter how many we killed. Newborn vampires, as they were called, were tougher to fight than older vampires. One or two of them finally broke through our defense lines, and we lost a couple of wol
HelenaAn agreement was reached with the vampires after negotiating for over a week. Eli agreed not to lay claim to his title and allow them to choose a new leader as long as the vampires did not attack us again. They had no other choice. Eli killed their leader. It was his right to claim the title. Thankfully, our son saw the bigger picture. He saved future generations from being attacked.It also meant that the time had finally come to hand over our titles. It was the proudest and the saddest day of my life as I watched Eli on coronation day. He had become a man. Time had flown so fast. It felt like I was holding my newborn in my arms one moment, then blinked once, and he was a grown up. We had already moved our things to the same wing that our parents were living in.Oliver was adamant that for Eli to flourish as king, we had to stick to the same procedures that had been followed for centuries. Once the younger generation took over, the older generation took a step back in all area
PhillipaAfter the huge breakfast celebration, my day was simply packed. My mother made sure I got every possible treatment over the past week, so I would look my absolute best. I knew why she did it, but neither of us said anything. She just wanted me to feel amazing when I finally met my mate. The thing that nobody realized was that I was feeling as if I had failed my parents!They had both lived such incredible lives! Hell, my brother was a hero because he killed the vampire king! I still have flashes of that horrible war sometimes. Yet another thing I pushed deep down. If someone ever opened me up and got down to the nitty-gritty inside me, they would find a pit filled with all the things I pushed down.I smiled at the omega putting fresh flowers in my hair. My first public event for the day and also my favourite part of my birthday. Sharing cake with all the children in the square. That was the one time in the year I didn’t feel as if I wasn’t enough. I was dressed in a comfortab
PhillipaWaking up in the early hours of the morning after my birthday, I decided not to think about it again. I knew I was enough. Nobody ever told me I wasn’t. It was my own silly insecurities making me feel this way. There had to be something I could do to support my people. Something more than just my birthday. I wanted to get involved in the actual running of our kingdom.I didn’t want my brother’s crown. He deserved to be king. I just wanted to get more involved in some way. I wanted to feel useful. I didn’t just want to be. I wanted to do something. I wanted to feel needed on all the other days that weren’t my birthday. My mother looked happy when I told her what I wanted to do and by nightfall, I had been named ambassador to the kingdom.My brother and Bella had some news to share that fit perfectly with the fact that I wanted to get more involved. Bella was pregnant! That meant at some point she would need help with some of the duties so that she could take care of the future
PhillipaMy mother wasn’t just one of our pack heroes. She was my personal hero. She overcame so much before she was found. But that was also the reason I sometimes felt as though I was a failure. I hadn’t nearly overcome as much as she had. I knew my parents did everything in their power to give us and our pack a better life. They never said one unkind word to me or my brother.It was my own insecurities that were driving my fears. All I could do now was focus on my trip. I couldn’t focus on my fears and insecurities. Especially now. I loved the boat. I loved standing on deck and feeling the salty wind blowing through my hair. It took some convincing, but my mother eventually joined me and I could have sworn I saw her smile at one point.She was a slave the last time she was put on a boat like that. It made me feel sad for her. When we reached the shore a couple of days later, I could see the relief on my mother’s face instantly. She still looked strained, but she was slowly relaxing
Somewhere in a cave in the dark forest.A thin fingernail touched the water and as it ripples, I can see an image start to form. Her beautiful face is the first thing I can see before the image moves out, and I can see her entire frame. She is smiling and her eyes sparkle. This is not the first time I’ve looked into the pool of the witch.“And you are sure that is her.” I frowned. I ask the witch the same question each time I come here.“Yes, that is her.” She frowns, and I don’t want to antagonize her any further. I pay the witch before leaving. Now I just need to find a way out of my current mess, and then I can claim my princess!PhillipaI was still thinking about the incredible pixie kingdom when we pulled up outside the dwarf’s kingdom. They were the complete opposite! The pixies were delicate creatures. The dwarfs were rough. The pixies were thin and the dwarfs a little fatter. The pixies walked around happy and smiling. The dwarfs were too busy to pay much attention to me.The
PhillipaThe witches had a feast planned for the evening and as I was getting ready, I caught sight of the bottle of tonic on my dresser. I knew I was going to take a huge risk, but I was feeling so nauseous that I couldn’t stand it. There was no way I would be able to get through dinner that way! I grabbed the bottle, uncorked it and took a huge sip.Closing my eyes as I swallowed and prayed that it wasn’t poison. The moment the tonic hit my stomach I started to feel better, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The tonic could very well have been poison, but surely, they wouldn’t have been that stupid. My omega would have testified that the witch had given me something. I shook my head to clear the thoughts of poison.My mother said that because she was scared. She had such a traumatic life at one point that she was scared something might happen to me. I was grateful for the tonic and thanked the healer as soon as I saw her at dinner. I could see the look of relief in her eyes, but