Lewis frowned. She was right about that, at least. His father would never let them go, and that meant being on the run for the rest of their lives. Even an army wouldn’t likely stop the Lord of Omens…as was perhaps one of the strongest Night Phoenixes to ever live.

“I would rather die that let that vile man touch you,” he said. “We can run forever if we have to…”

Simone took a step back, and stared at him. “I DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE FOR ME.”

At once she looked around, alarmed that she had yelled. It seemed as though no one had heard her outburst, and she once more turned her attention back to Lewis.

The prince merely sat there stunned. “So you would rather be violated by him…than watch me die…” He grimaced at the thought.

“I can’t lose anyone else,” Simone replied. She took a step forward again, closing the gap between them. “Lewis…” She placed her finger under his chin, and pulled his lips to hers, kissing him gently. “I love you.” Before anything else could happen, she pushed him back. “Stay away from me…if we are caught, things will not go well. I’m sorry…” There was sadness in her voice. “This was never meant to be,,,:

Lewis stood in shock for a moment. “I…” He could feel something welling up inside of him, but he couldn’t tell what it was. “…If that is what you wish.” Without waiting for her, he turned around and made for the balcony. “…I wish you a happy marriage to my father…” He jumped, and was gone with the wind.

Simone collapsed and started to cry her eyes out again. This wasn’t easy for her.

Lewis went to the capital tavern and was drinking. Everyone was staying away from him after the news from the king. Everyone had seen the reactions. Rhenakos and Xeik came in and took a seat by him on either side. “So… How did it go?”

“How the fuck do you think it went? She would rather get violated than watch me die,” Lewis slammed down his mug and pushed it forward. “Another.”

“…Lewis don’t you understand that… That means she loves you? She’s sacrificing herself for you…”

Rhenakos spoke up, “So… All you have to do is… Not die.”

Xeik looked at Rhenakos, “That is the dumbest thing I’ve heard you ever say.”

–

Simone was dressed up by the court attendants for breakfast in the morning. She was dressed in dark blue and black silk. It was luxurious and it made her look older than her body really was. Perhaps hiding the fact that she was marrying her lover’s father. It was sickening to her in a deep way but she put on a brave face.

She was led out for breakfast and noticed that Lewis wasn’t there. She frowned and took her seat by the king who held a light talk with her. He was trying to gauge how much she knew about running a country which to be fair was more than he knew how to. It impressed the council around them.

The small talk soon turned to more disturbing topics. The council was quite curious at things that they had no right in knowing, but King Heath more or less demanded the answers to. Invasive questions about her purity, about her lineage, and on the expectations of her child bearing.

“We will schedule time daily for it,” one of the elder council members stated, writing down notes. “It will happen one to twice a day until we can prove conception. You will be on a strict regime of herbs and medicines…which, by the way, will be starting today. No time like the present to get it into your system.”

The King cleared his throat, “We of course will be waiting till the full moon before the consummation of this union is made. After that night, though, I expect you to perform your womanly duties without fail.” There was edge to his tone, as if to threaten her. “If a male heir is not produced, we will try again until we are successful.”

Simone had started to eat, but as the conversation went on, she stopped. Already she was sick to her stomach, and any more food would have shown them all just how vile she felt about all this. “If you’ll excuse me…I don’t feel too well…”

“Ah…if you must be excused, then we can continue this discussion later,” the king said. “We have more than enough time. The rest of our lives…”

Simone stood up and bowed, and left with haste. She went straight for the first bathroom, barely making it before she lost what little food she ate. She was absolutely disgusted with the culture… but this was for their survival.

Back in the dining hall with the council, the discussion continued without her.

“We are hoping that the Auclair line is much more fertile than our current bloodlines. It should be more pure…” The door opened, and a trio of men walked in. It was Lewis, followed by Xeik and Rhenakos. The discussion continued, as their presence did not matter.

“Breeding her is merely the first step. Laws can be changed to suit our needs if necessary. If she is as fertile as we hope, we can have her mated with every noble bloodline we have…” The King sat back, smirked. “That is, of course, after I get my heir…”

“And what exactly is wrong with the one you have,” Lewis stated as he reached the opposite end of the table. “And why are you talking about her as if she’s some object to be passed around.” He jumped up on the edge of the table, and started to walk down the middle, kicking the plates out of the way as he neared the council and his father.

“You idiot boy, what the hell are you doing,” the king demanded. “Get down this instant!”

Xeik took one side, magic swirling around him, while Rhenakos took the other side, cracking his knuckles.

“I was going to have a small talk…but it seems that won’t be needed.” Lewis said, emotion rising in his voice. “Instead…I’m just going to kill you!”

Simone was coming back from getting sick and she looked at the guards rushing. “What’s happening?”

“Stay back! Please go back to your room Princess! Prince Lewis is going on a killing spree! He tried to kill the king!”

Her eyes got large but Simone bowed, “Of course.” She made it back to her room and sat down by the window.

A knock came at the door and she was cautious as she opened it. It was the king. He spent twenty minutes by her side talking to her. All lies… “He went wild. He wanted the crown for himself. My bride, you must understand that he doesn’t like the prospect of you being part of us.”

The council was looking at each other and Simone noticed. “Oh dear… Are you okay?”

“I’m fine but they are attempting to locate the boy now… I want you to stay here in this room until they locate him. I’m worried that he will kill you.”

“Of course!” Simone nodded and watched as the king left. That night… It was quiet and Llywellyn was downstairs with Rhenakos and Xeik was carrying Lewis to Simone.

He opened the door breaking the seal and Simone woke up out of bed. “Xeik?” She whispered.

Xeik closed the door and brought Lewis over. “I had to knock him out. We need a plan.”

“I have a plan.” Simone thought about it. “Get me two bodies and dress them in our clothes. She got some spare clothes of hers and took off Lewis’s. “We’re going to be naked when we come down so make sure you have more. Traveling clothes. Leave the rest to me. Have Rhenakos roast the bodies.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry about it.” She got a sword and cut both her and Lewis causing blood to go everywhere. “Heal me.” Xeik did as the girl wanted once she splattered blood everywhere. “Now get out of here.”

Once Xeik was gone Simone dragged Lewis over to the door. “HELP ME PLEASE! HELP ME! THE PRINCE HAS GONE MAD!” She grabbed him and flung themselves out the balcony doors as they lit on full fire. It was hot enough to burn their clothes but once they got to the bottom the spare bodies were waiting for them with burnt clothes. Llywellyn gave her a blanket and they quickly moved as the guards were alarmed and the king broke into her room looking over the balcony.

Meanwhile, Lewis and Simone were stashed under the seats of the Kingdom of Wolve’s imperial carriage. It was going to be a short trip thanks to their teleportation magic. Thankfully.

It took them no time at all to escape the kingdom, and thanks to the hidden compartments in the carriage, plus a wonderful acting job from Lord Llywellyn, they made it out with little to no consequence. It took them a half a night to reach their destination, and they found themselves in the Kingdom of Wolves. Lewis was quickly put under the care of the healers, and Xeik and Rhenakos were sat down with Simone and Llywellyn for a full explanation of what had happened.

“Well, we were going in to negotiate wedding details, and…well, the King said some pretty bad things…” Xeik sighed. “Lewis must have lost his mind because the last thing he did before he was knocked was to threaten his father. Luckily, the two of us managed to knock him out. Of course…in the chaos, it seemed as though Lewis were really on a spree…”

Rhenakos shrugged, “Funniest thing. Out of everyone, Lewis did the least amount of work. Of course, we started the rumors though. Our buddy Lly here more or less barged in, and started going off on us for causing a commotion. Course, it was really just Lewis who started it but…”

“The plan pretty much went out the window as soon as we started,” Xeik replied with a sigh.

“Out the window just like the bodies,” Rhenakos replied with a grin. “I toasted those good…”

“Mmm…” Lewis groaned, and shuffled around. “The…what the hell…happened?” He sat up in the bed, and looked around. “Where the hell am I!? WHAT’S GOING ON!?”

“He threatened his father?!” Simone yelled.

“He threatened to kill his father for you,” Rhenakos nodded.

“That is so sweet…” Simone was in awe of the man before her. “But I TOLD HIM TO LIVE FOR ME SO I’M ALSO UPSET!”

Once Lewis woke up Simone got excited and jumped on him. “You’re awake! Welcome back to the land of the living!” She slapped him hard across the face. “What the hell did I tell you? I don’t want you to die for me!”

“That’s what I get for saving you?!”

“SAVING ME?!” Simone looked wide-eyed at Xeik and Rhenakos.

“Oh… Now you’re going to get it.” Rhenakos smirked.

“I WAS THE ONE WHO THREW US OUT THE WINDOW! I was the one who made the plan that saved our asses! WHY THE FUCK AREN’T YOU KISSING ME RIGHT NOW AND TRYING TO MARRY ME?!”

Xeik was bright red at Simone. “Simone did the other half of the work… She threw you both out a window after I gave her your unconscious body. She made a whole ass scene.”

“Yeah, she does that. How do you think she used to run away?” Simone was bright red as Llywellyn spoke. “She’s an expert at acting.”

Lewis stared at Simone as she yelled at him. “I WOULD KISS YOU IF I COULD MOVE!” he yelled back. For some reason, his arms felt heavy.

Xeik smirked, “Maybe we should leave?”

Rhenakos shook his head, “Fuck that. I want to watch.”

“Gross,” the Prince of Wolves responded. “I’d rather you not.”

Lewis closed his eyes. “No one leave. She might kill me before anything else.” He smirked, and opened them to meet Simone’s gaze. “Though a kiss would be nice…” He glanced over to Xeik. “And why exactly do I feel like a tonne of bricks?”

Xeik chuckled, “Well…I wasn't sure what you’d do when you woke up so….”

“Somehow I knew this was your handiwork,” Lewis responded. “So…what happens now? We escape into the wild and live out the rest of our days in peace?”

Simone shook her head and leaned down to kiss him. “No peace.” She shook her head.

Xeik and the rest seemed to agree. “They planned on literally breeding her to death. If they would do it to her they would do it to others.”

“We need to kill your father and the council. Once we do that we can take over and rule,” Simone was suddenly very serious. “I’ve already talked with Rhenakos’s father and Xeik’s father. They are all on our sides. I think we can sway some of the younger Night Phoenixes who have been wronged by the laws.” Lewis’s people were being viewed as her people now and she took that seriously. “We’ll crown Lewis king.”

“There’s a magic announcement from Heath,” Llywellyn pulled up the magic as they walked Heath make his announcement.

“As you know yesterday I made the announcement that I would be wedded to Simone Auclair. It would appear that my son had feelings for his stepmother to be and killed both himself and her. It saddens me to have to say this. For now, I will marry his fiance to Felix Auclair.”

Simone stood up, “Your fucking father knew where my cousin was this whole time.”

“And I will be making Felix head of strategies.”

“It doesn’t appear like he believes you are both dead,” Llywellyn said as he squinted. “He’s going to try and use Felix to learn where you would go.”

“Good luck, Felix doesn’t know me very well…” She crossed her leg as she sat back down and Lewis was freed. “Lewis, we have to get married and mate. Tackle this together as a team. We have a year I think before things get rough for hiding us. A year is when the treaty here needs to be resigned. It’s before that point that I want to announce via magic that we’re married and planning a rebelling. Unless anyone has any better ideas?"

Lewis grimaced at the announcement that Mirabelle was to be wedded to Felix. That left a sour taste in his mouth. “We have to save her…she doesn’t deserve this.” But Simone was right. There wasn’t much they could do.

The magical announcement continued on in the background as they talked. It was more about Felix, how he was ‘found’ the same way that Simone was found. Rescued from a dark enchantment…it had to be lies. There was nobody in the entire clan that could break the magic that was on Simone…

“Then let’s do it,” Lewis replied with confidence. “When do we announce it? How? And where?” He tried to get up, but his body was still recovering from the spell that Xeik had cast. “Anything to take him down. Anything to keep Simone from him.”

“And save the kingdom,” Xeik said. “That’s the most important part…”

“Eh…” Lewis shrugged. “Save my friends. Save my love. I guess the Kingdom can matter,” Lewis replied with a roll of his eyes. “When do we start…”

“We can start planning right now.” Simone took Lewis’s hand and smiled. “I think the most important thing for us to do is do things in a way that hasn’t for a very long time. In our time the night phoenixes were married in a sacred ceremony to the ancient goddess of love. She blessed the union and created the bonded. She would only bless it if both were willing which is why the tradition died. I think if we show everyone us going through the ceremony that we should be able to rally many supporters that way. We can still get married the new way too just to rub it in but for a private quick ceremony, I think that would be best. I can still remember what the clothing looks like.”

“I think I got books on it,” Llywellyn nodded. “I had borrowed them from Jurian for research so I could see what gifts would be appropriate for you.”

Mone smiled up at the elf king and looked almost giddy, “Do you think you can get them to Xeik so we can start the outfits being prepared? Since Night Phoenixes were originally very tribe-focused so were the outfits. We’ll be tattooed in places of our mate’s choosing and this will bring us closer. If she acknowledges us we’ll be able to share everything.”

“What does that even mean?” Rhenakos quirked an eyebrow.

“Night Phoenixes have the unique ability to bond with their spouse. Again both must be willing and both have to give an equally great gift to the goddess. We’ll have to think of something good. Meanwhile, I think while I prepare this wedding that Lewis should be in charge of the regular wedding that we’ll invite everyone to.”