He carefully nodded with a fearful expression on his face, but the twinkle in his eyes told a slightly different story. He was either enjoying this or he was, impressed.

Staying extremely close in his personal bubble to make him uncomfortable, I dismissed my Seregsword since the threat seemed gone for now. It disappeared immediately, much to his liking and the corner of his mouth turned slightly upwards. I glared at him full of rage, and he mimicked my expression to tease me. We stared at each other like that for a while, both heavily breathing and covered in sweat, only inches between us, waiting for someone to give up.

I sure as hell wasn't going to. He could kiss my ass.

After what seemed like a lifetime of staring, he finally gave in and spoke up, breaking the silence. "Sooooo are we going to make out or not buttercup?"

"Not today, Satan." I stepped back, raising my eyebrow.

The smug expression disappeared from his face and he walked past me to the middle of the room, scratching his neck uncomfortably. "Well, this has been, uhm, intriguing, never happened before."

I turned around, crossing my arms in amusement, to see he had ripped off a curtain and tied it around the lower part of his body. "What? Chasing a woman around the castle like a lunatic in wolf form, being defeated in a fight or a woman refusing to kiss you? I'm sorry, you're going to have to be a little more clear here."

"The second one, and the third one." He stated reluctantly, rolling his eyes. "It feels wrong."

"There's a first time for anything." I shrugged, before frowning. "Wait, you have chased a woman that way before?"

He didn't say anything. He just smirked, probably thinking that it would make him look badass or something.

I snorted. "You have a chase kink."

"No, I do not." The smirk immediately turned into a scowl and he crossed his arms, stepping closer to me. "We're straying from the topic. No one can know about this little fight of ours and you're not going to say a thing, not if you want for that to remain a secret." He pointed to my Seregbond.

Ah yes, the alpha male ego, never to be harmed.

"Or I could just kill you. Problem solved." I smiled, my mind flicking over the fact I actually should kill him for finding out about the Seregsword.

"What would be the fun in that?" He grinned, leaning closer to my face, eyeing it up and down. "Besides, your body will most likely object against that."

"Didn't stop me a couple of minutes ago." 

He glared at me, not expecting the answer. He couldn't really blame me though. He had blocked it out too, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to throw chunks of stone at me, if that was how it truly worked anyway.

Not wanting to continue this conversation any longer since I wanted to get some more hours of sleep, I turned towards the door and walked away from him. "Goodbye Valerio."

"What about the rubble?" He called out after me.

"Apparently it's my signature." I mumbled.

If the guards kept their mouths shut about Valerio tonight, everyone would think I got crazy episodes at night causing me to throw stuff at the walls by myself, which was just fantastic. I vowed to myself to uphold that tradition whenever I got the chance. 

I turned around a corridor into another hallway, hearing someone jog behind me in order to catch up. A couple seconds later, he was walking beside me again.

"What are you doing?" I sighed, keeping my eyes in front of me. A couple of guards were peaking their heads around the corner. Probably expected one of us to be dead and frankly, so did I. When they saw the both of us walking together, they bolted. 

"Walking you back to your room, Buttercup. It's not safe for a woman to walk through the palace alone at night. Apparently, wolves are running loose." I didn't need to look at him to know a huge grin was present on his face and I was ready to wipe it off, with my fist.

"Only to get their ass kicked." I mumbled, walking to another hallway with him. "I would prefer if one of those wolves took another hallway to get to his room."

"Except who would protect you against those dangerous dogs on steroids?" He nudged my arm with his own, making it warmer again.

I looked at him, my eyebrows furrowing. Did he just mock himself and his own people? I rolled my eyes at his fake fearful expression. "I think they'll need the protection instead, or is the curtain going to do that for them?"

He snickered. "You're impossible." 

I shot him a fake smile, scrunching up my nose. "Thanks, it's the personality."

"This is why I don't do girlfriends." He suddenly blurted out when were almost at our rooms.

"No way, you don't do girlfriends? Didn't see that one coming." I gasped dramatically, placing my hand on my chest. "Tell me, is it the fear of commitment, the loss of your first lover, all the women practically kissing your feet or just your cold, brutal, melancholic heart making you this way?"

"Damn Buttercup, you're extra feisty today." He raised his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth moving slightly upwards. 

Was that the beginning of a genuine smile? Oh no.

"Option three and four by the way." He stated casually.

We came to a stop by our doors and said goodbye. I plopped down on my bed and finally, was able to return to sleep again. The announcement to the kingdoms was going to be made after training tomorrow morning and I had to be well rested if I wanted to enjoy the drama.

I still couldn't believe they were just fleetingly going to announce everything in one speech. Everyone was going to be shook and it was going to turn into a mess. I closed my eyes, being grateful I was told in advance, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Loved your pj's by the way!" Valerio yelled from his room and my eyes shot wide open. 

My god, what did a girl have to do to get a normal night of sleep around here?

"Go to sleep furball!"

Three hours later, I was loudly woken up by the sound of Valerio's alarm going off in his room. When it continued to beep at the same monotonous tone for five minutes straight, I sat up and got out of bed, groaning throughout the whole movement. Walking into my bathroom, I ignored the mirror, I didn't need to see my reflection to know it looked more dead than alive, I was exhausted. I walked through the hole into his closet and pushed open the door to his bedroom, which wasn't fully closed.

I slowly moved my head around the door, the sight making me roll my eyes. The son of a bitch wasn't even in his room. I walked to the old school alarm and grumpily slammed it off, accidently breaking it. My eyes fell upon a note lying next to it. 

'So sorry buttercup, I'll turn it off next time :)'

I crumpled it up and threw it against the wall in a fit of frustration, before straightening my pyjama and returning to my room again, immediately deciding my training was going to be boxing today.

The training ground was completely empty when I got there, which wasn't surprising, it was way earlier than usual. I got a good fifty minutes of boxing and a secret dance party in without anybody entering and went to my room to take a shower. I stripped down to my underwear in front of my bed and walked into the bathroom, realizing the hole was pretty much next to my shower. There was a small part of wall left where I could stand behind naked, but if Valerio decided to go into his closet he could see me the second he walked further into it. He wasn't in his room, but you knew how these thing went. The second I would be completely naked and turning on my shower, fate would have him walk in there.

Raising my middle finger to fate, I wrapped my bathrobe around me and went to my father's bathroom to take a shower there instead. Luckily, he had to work early today, saving me the trouble of coming up with some ridiculous lie as to why I couldn't use my own shower.

I got dressed in some jeans and a comfy oversized hoodie, topped it off with some sneakers and put my hair up in a messy bun, not bothering to put on any make-up. I was not feeling dressing up and was quite grumpy, and I swore with dramatic evil laughter in my head that the multiple causes of it would feel my wrath today.

On my way to the ballroom, where they would broadcast the announcement from, the staff was scurrying around in an attempt to get everything ready. Somewhere along all those people, I found Mr. Anders who swore he would bring me some popcorn to get through it. When I walked in the room it wasn't empty anymore, and the rubble was gone. Three lecterns with microphones on it were placed on the podium, where Foxglove, Valerio and Haimon would be standing. A camera crew was rushing around in front of the podium to get their cameras ready, they had no idea what was going to be announced. Multiple chairs were placed in the middle and back of the ballroom for the 'important people' who could watch while it was broadcasted.

The most important people being the generals, the delegations and my father. Me being forced to attend every meeting, provided me with getting an invitation as well. I walked over to my father, who was standing next to the holy trinity of the announcement, saying good morning to him.

Speaking of the holy trinity, they looked at me funnily, trying to hold back their laughter.

"You look like hell." Foxglove snickered.

I shot him a petty smile. "Thanks, I had a rough night."

He grinned. "Yeah, it's been rumored you were running around the castle being chased by a wolf."

Those fucking guards.

I frowned unimpressed, deciding I was going to fuck with his mind. "And you believe them? Really?" I crossed my arms. "You seriously think I'm going to run around the castle at night to play hide and seek with some poor little wolf?"

I felt Valerio getting worked up at the sound of the words 'poor little wolf' and smiled internally because there was no way he was going to react to it. It would blow his cover.

"Well no, but the guards said it." Foxglove said hesitantly, his grin fading from his face.

"Have you thought about the fact they would start a rumor like that to make me look weak as retaliation for their knock outs?" I said blankly.

He scratched his neck. "Yeah, you're right. I'll punish them."

That's for ratting me out to a deadly alpha wolf, you sons of bitches.

He walked off to speak with one of the lower star generals and Haimon went to his delegation. Leaving Valerio and I alone, giving him plenty of opportunities to make his cocky comments again.

"Buttercup." Valerio nodded seriously, even though his eyes twinkled with amusement.

"Shit sniffer." 

He opened his mouth to say something and closed it again, not knowing how to respond, making me snort. I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief while I walked to my chair and sat down next to my father, who hadn't heard our conversation and laughed at me like I was crazy. As if on cue, Mr. Anders handed me a big bowl of salted popcorn. Valerio was still staring at me, I laughed and put some popcorn in my mouth.

This was going to be great.

Lots of rehearsals and tests passed by before they started the broadcast, approximately two hours later. In the meantime, my father and I were snacking heavily to get through it so Mr. Anders had refilled the bowl multiple times, eventually he joined us as well.

"Okay, who has the highest chance of messing up their part of the speech? Orpheus?" He said with a smile.

I waved my hands in front of me. "No, no, no, not Orpheus. That man is perfect."

Valerio wouldn't mess up either, and even if he did, people would be too scared of him to say anything about it.

"Foxglove." The three of us sighed at the same time. The men were standing behind their lecterns. Haimon was wearing a fancy blue suit, Foxglove was wearing his uniform and Valerio was wearing a dark grey blouse, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a couple buttons unbuttoned at the top, with black trousers. 

"Everyone be quiet now, we're going live." One of the crew members called out.

Foxglove started talking, introducing himself and the men next to him. He clenched his hands tightly around the lectern in front of him, he was nervous. To be honest, I would've been too if I was in his position. He talked about the grave nature of the announcement and with that he dropped the first bomb.

"It is with great sorrow I have to announce that the King and Queen have been murdered. Our best detective has been working on the case, getting closer to cracking it every day, but it is a complicated one, which brings me to my next point."

He took a moment before he continued, allowing the news to really sink in and collecting himself to continue. He turned to science and the universe being so big there could be extraterrestrial life out there, slowly leaning into the possibility that different beings could exist on earth as well. I leaned forward in my chair, he was losing people's attention with this beating around the bush.

Don't drag it out, dude, just rip the damn band aid off already.

"What I'm trying to say is, supernatural life is real."

Fina-fucking-ly, I sat up straight again. He explained the three kingdoms and a small part of the war, pointing to the men next to him as the Kings. I wondered if it was going to be enough, most people were going to think they talked shit, but then Haimon showed his 'dark form', revealing the completely black eyes and throbbing black veins covering his cheeks and jaw, showing his fangs to the camera. When he went back to normal again, Valerio partially shifted into a man-wolf, giving me serious Teen Wolf vibes, refraining from fully shifting since he would be completely naked if he shifted back from his wolf. Although everyone would enjoy that, the man was damn fine, probably hand sculpted by a god.

Well that certainly was enough to convince most humans. Truth be told, everyone was glad only the humans had forgotten about the other races. The vampires and werewolves had actually learned about it in elementary school, so they didn't need convincing. After Valerio shifted back to normal, Foxglove then went on to talk about there being no heir, and to ensure the right ruler would take the throne, the conquest would be held in about two months.

Haimon then took over to state some rules. Explaining that everyone above eighteen was allowed to volunteer, leaving out the part where only men would be chosen, that the conquest would be till the death, that four fighters would be chosen to represent their kingdom and he would be one of them, and lastly, that it had a specific weapons procedure. He explained it perfectly, with lots of flair, like he had rehearsed it a thousand times.

Valerio finally spoke, making everyone straighten themselves up. Even though I kind of beat him last night, there was something about his presence, about his voice, which dominated you till the core. He explained how to apply, informing them that the application period would close after one week from Monday onward. He stated the conquest would be held in the human kingdom, and that there was a mandatory training period for the chosen fighters, which he would be one of. He said everything so casually without any emotion, as if he gave these kind of announcements every day.

Every person who would still volunteer after him announcing he would be one of the fighters was one crazy motherfucker.

Foxglove finished by thanking everyone for their attention and saying that the information explained by them could be found on the royal websites of each kingdom after the announcement.

"And we're offline." A crewmember called out in shock. They immediately bombed the three tired men with lots of questions, ones they didn't want to answer.

"Guards! Pay them for their work and get them the fuck out of here." Foxglove grunted and they obliged. In a matter of minutes they were outside.

The staff started cleaning everything up and the men plopped down by their own races. Mr. Anders stood up to work again when Foxglove called out to him.

"Mr. Anders, what happened to the pillar with the Ming Dynasty Vase on it?" He asked, pointing to the place where it was supposed to stand, you know, before I made Valerio run into it and threw it to his face.

Suddenly, I was very interested in the tattoo on my father's upper arm and why he got it. Even though it was a tattoo of purple eyes, my purple eyes to be exact and I already knew why he got it when I was little. He got it to make me feel like less of an outcast.

Mr. Anders crossed his arms behind his back. "Oh that Sir? The Vase has been shipped away for restauration. As for the pillar, it got damaged during the removal of the vase and will be replaced by a new one."

Foxglove nodded and Mr. Anders did the same, giving me a wink as he walked out the room.

The real MVP, the love of my life, seventy-five year old Mr. Anders.

I glanced over to Valerio, who looked surprised by the fact Mr. Anders had covered for me, and I bit my lip to hold back a snort. He didn't know about our little bar encounter.

I turned my attention back to the men, who were still discussing the announcement, criticizing each other's parts in it, while my mind wondered about one thing.

What the hell was going to happen now?