Author's Note: I am SO sorry about how long it took my to update the story!!! I've been super busy these last couple weeks. Hope you enjoy the new installment. 

Nicky's POV

I couldn't stop thinking about him, and for once it wasn't in my usual 'I hate his fucking guts' way. It got so bad that by the time we had arrived on the shore of Idoris I hadn't slept a bit. How could I sleep...how could I stop thinking about last night. I just couldn't get it out of my head, watching him fall apart in front of me, the facade he had built up over years crumbling as I held him tightly. It's what I had said to him in that moment that bothered me the most...my own words kept echoing over and over again in my head. 'I don't want you to die.' At first I had thought I had said it without thinking in some desperate attempt to calm him down but now as I thought it over I just couldn't help the feeling that maybe it really was...the truth. I didn't want Mikhos to die. It was strange...it was so easy to picture myself killing him before I could ever put a face to the false prince. Mikhos gave me every reason I should be thrilled to kill him, he was horrible to me our first months of training, he lied to me about who he was, he never planned to tell me that my sister was dead and once he did he had handled it horribly but...I couldn't even fathom actually killing him. As we made our way down the dock Gani appeared next to me tapping me on the shoulder. When I turned to look at him his eyes grew wide.

"Nicky are you alright? Pardon my saying this but...you look terrible." I forced a laugh.

"Yeah uh...the cat kept me up, I think the waves were a little rougher than usual last night and she didn't enjoy it very much." The care for Alabaster luckily had finally been given to a servant who would from now on till the end of the trip be looking after her.

"Isn't Idoria just beautiful! We've only been here a few moments and I'm already completely captivated!" Gani said with a chuckle. A small welcoming party had come to meet us and they had promised us that a much larger one was waiting at the palace where we would meet the princess and her brother, the current sultan of Idoria, Jaasim.

"Well I for one already don't like it," a voice snapped from behind me. Startled Gani and I turned around. There was Mikhos accompanied by his three other Kingsmen. I searched his face for something different, something to prove to me that his melt down last night hadn't just been some crazy hallucination but he appeared as chipper and well rested as ever...I noted that he was back to his normal obnoxious attitude as well. I shrugged.

"What's there not to like? We're literally only standing on the docks your majesty." Mikhos sighed heavily, pulling at his collar.

"It's too hot here. It was winter back home, I prefer that." It took everything in me not to roll my eyes, any sympathy I had built up for him last night almost immediately vanished.

"I'm sorry sir but we can't simply 'wish' the weather to be one way or another for you." Sabri, who had somehow managed to join us as well stepped forward nodding.

"Yes, I'm afraid we don't really have a...winter here."

"You could always unbutton your shirt a bit sir-" Sullivan began to suggest.

"No." Mikhos must have realized how abruptly he had snapped at the boy because he immediately grew silent. Right...the tattoos, that's why Mikhos always covered himself fully at all times. Knowing Mikhos was the prince only gave me more questions about the mysterious marks. It made no sense that the crown prince would be marked that way and he clearly wasn't happy about them. Even I wasn't brave enough to ask him about it directly, I wondered if anyone else even knew. Mira would have known. Mira would have seen him like....I swallowed hard trying to erase the image that had just come into my head. For some reason just the thought of it made my chest feel tight-

"Niiiicky!" Munny gave me a small shove causing me to snap back to reality.

"Hm?"

"Haha, you just completely mentally booked out again as usual! We're heading to the palace. What were you even doing? Mental monologuing?" He chuckled grabbing me by the arm. "Let's go!"

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The palace couldn't have been any different from the one Mikhos called home. The walls of the hall that led to the throne room were covered in what appeared to be small waterfalls. The guards were dressed in gold armor lining each side of the hall as we walked. I could hear Munny audibly gasp as we entered the throne room. The entire floor was glass and beneath it swam exotic multi colored fish under our feet. Guards lined the halls here too. They were tall and muscular and wore little else than their golden armor. Around us were gigantic tapestries depicting some sort of Idorian myth. I couldn't remember it off the top of my head but I vaguely recalled Orla covering it during our training. At the end of the room were two huge gold thrones. In the significantly smaller of the two sat a girl. She was small with long braided brown hair that fell to her waist. A small circlet crown made of pearls rested on her head. She looked up when we walked in and her gaze met mine. Not wanting to appear rude I immediately pried it away to look at the sultan Jaasim instead. Well...he was certainly something. He was young, maybe only a few years older than Mikhos and I. Dark black hair fell around a handsome face. He was decked out in jewels. Sapphires dangled from his ears, bracelets studded with rubies hung from his wrists, a large gold necklace was around his neck and he wore at least a dozen rings on his fingers. I glanced over to Sabri to see his reaction. Maybe the king had simply...dressed up for our arrival. Sabri however was simply just staring at his master with more admiration in his gaze then I would have thought humanly possible. The sultan arose the moment we entered and descended down the golden steps that led to the throne down to Mikhos briskly. The moment he approached him he pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Mikhos, the enchanting, fantastic Mikhos. You're as beautiful as the stories say. You and my sister, if this trip is successful, will make glorious offspring." His voice was deep and heavily accented. Mikhos had tensed the second Jaasim had grabbed him. Well...he was certainly an eccentric one. The girl got up slowly and moved to stand next to her brother. Jaasim released Mikhos from his iron hold as she approached. The girl bowed her head slightly.

"Hello your majesty." Mikhos smiled at her now with all his usual fake ass charm and took her hand bringing it to his lips.

"Hello, Aasiya I presume?" She smiled slightly though she didn't exactly flush like most girls Mikhos talked to did.

"Yes." She was beautiful, even more so up close. I felt Munny give me a small shove.

"You're not the one marrying her lover boy." I shot him a small glare in return. Jaasim smiled moving on to Sabri and embracing the ambassador just as intensely.

"My most beloved friend! How I've missed you!"

"And I you your majesty!" I saw Mikhos shoot me a glance, one brow raised. Having no idea what that look was supposed to mean I just mouthed the words 'what' to which he just rolled his eyes before mouthing back 'you're hopeless.' Jaasim finally let Sabri go turning to us all now.

"Now that we are all here, acquainted and reunited I am excited that you will all have the opportunity to participate in the festivities ahead. I have a busy schedule planned for your prince and I. Mikhos if you will follow me, we must prepare for tonight." Mikhos nodded.

"Alright then, I look forward to what you have in store for us. I have heard many things about the legendary Idorian festivities and parties."

"Yes, they are quite legendary aren't they? Come then, the clock is ticking." Mikhos stepped forward as did the Kingsmen along with him. Jaasim stopped immediately shaking his head.

"No,no,no,no. Not all of you. Just prince Mikhos." I bowed my head.

"With all respect sir...we can't leave him alone. It's our duty to-"

"He'll be fine. I have no interest hurting the precious prince. That would start a war and that's the last thing my kingdom needs. Why don't you take Aasiya around the gardens hmm? Aasiya would like that. She's so ugly maybe some exercise would do her some good." The comment was spoken casually but the shock it caused could be seen clearly on the other Kingsmen's faces. Aasiya didn't say anything, she just bowed her head. Jaasim clapped his hands. "Alright, the rest of you can do whatever you like. Explore the city, check out your sleeping chambers, hell you can even borrow a girl from my harem if you would like, though I would suggest to wait till tonight for that. You...red haired one with no respect for your superiors...go walk around the gardens with my whore sister." The tension in the room was almost electric. Somehow we all found our gazes falling to Mikhos for some sign of what to do. After a moment he slowly nodded.

"Alright. Let's go." And just like that the two of them were walking away from us and the others were scattering just as quickly. I took a deep breathe in an attempt to calm myself. He would be fine, Jaasim was right, it wouldn't be in his interests to kill Mikhos, it would start a war. Unless...maybe they wanted a war...what if we were falling into their trap? I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw Aasiya standing there. She bowed her head.

"I am so sorry about this. He's extremly..." she glanced quickly around to make sure no one else was in earshot. "Unstable. If you don't wish to walk with me I understand. My brother will probably forget about it in no time." I shook my head almost immediately.

"No, don't worry about it princess. It's fine. I rather do this then...'borrow a girl from his harem'." Aasiya giggled at.

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She brought me through the large glass doors that led to the royal garden and it was just as over the top and as extravagant as everything else in Jaasim's palace. Honestly I felt more like I was entering a mini jungle then a flower garden. "Does he normally act like...well that?" Aasiya shook her head. "No, he's normally a lot worse. This is one of his good days." I could practically feel my mouth hanging open.

"No way. How is that even possible? Why would he...you're his sister, why would you treat you like that?" Aasiya avoided my gaze and stared at the ground instead. "As I said...he's unstable. When we were children we had a close friend and one day we managed to run off unsupervised. When we were playing together I fell into the river and the current was so strong I almost drowned. His friend jumped in to save me and in the process drowned instead. I think perhaps he blames me..." her voice was quivering and I noticed the shimmer of tears in her eyes. Shit, I hadn't meant to make her cry.

"Hey...you know once you marry Mikhos...he won't do anything like that. I promise. You'll come with us and you'll never have to see your brother again."

"What's the difference between being tossed from one king to another. What about me...why can't I...why can't I control myself instead of just being the property of the highest ranking man in my life. I've seen the way Mikhos looks at me. It's not as a man who loves a woman should look. He looks at me and sees my kingdom." I placed a hand on her shoulder in a desperate attempt to calm her down. How the hell had I ended up in this same kind of situation two days in a row?

"You just don't know him yet, okay? I'm sure once you get to know him and he gets to know you feelings will eventually develop." That tight feeling was back in my chest and I couldn't exactly pinpoint why so I decided to ignore it.

"I just..." she sighed softly. "Maybe I'm just a romantic but I didn't feel anything when I first saw him." I forced a smile.

"Like I said, you two just haven't gotten to know each other yet. Life isn't a fairy tale. In my opinion you don't just lock eyes with someone and know your love is written in the stars. Sometimes the person you're meant to be with needs to grow on you awhile...hell maybe you won't even like them when you first meet them but then in the end you know...that's the person you can't live without."

"What's your name?" Aasiya said suddenly, she was staring at me, red rimmed gray eyes wide.

"Uh...Nicolai." She smiled now.

"Thank you Nicolai but I think I disagree. Sometimes you meet someone and you just know...they're the one." I chuckled.

"Well, to each their own. Hey so...what did your brother mean when he said wait for tonight...about the harem thing."

"Oh, so you've never heard of the infamous Idorian parties?" I shook my head. "Well, the biggest one in years is about to be held tonight so all I can say is...you might be in for a bit of a shock." 

Author's note: Yep...next chapter is gonna be a bit NSFW ;)))))