Copyrights

 

© 2016 GaoZongYang27

 

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means -- by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise -- without written permission.

 

This story is PURE fictional with my ideas.

 

DISCLAIMER: CONTAINS REFERENCES FROM TEEN WOLF AND THE VAMPIRE DIARIES; I WAS INSPIRED BY THE SHOWS AND I DECIDED TO MAKE THIS STORY.

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION

"We have the power each day to start writing a new chapter in our lives!" ~ Billy Cox

Chapter 1

 

It was a beautiful afternoon with the sun shining brightly on The Southern Isles, a piece of land not far from the deep woods of France but they had their own empire.

 

It was always busy on the Southern Isles, despite the fact it was two days before the Fall Festival that was held every year in November. Everyone in the village was preparing for the festival, everyone loved celebrating the festival because of the beautiful fireworks at night.

 

The Southern Isles was owned and ruled by the originals who found the land and claimed it for theirs, who was King Henry Carpenter. The palace was home to Courtiers and Noble Subjects. Any villager had to live within in the city or they would be considered as an intruder.

 

A horse carriage rode down the streets of the village, inside the carriage was a young man, Bryce Duncan, son of Bruce Duncan, one of the major officials in court and most trusted advisor of the King. The carriage went to the house of the Valet's, one of only wealthiest families but they were not considered as Royalty, no matter how rich they were.

 

The son of Bruce Duncan stepped out of the carriage and his guard walked up to the doorstep of the house and knocked on the door.

 

Mrs. Valet, the lady of the house and wife of Mr. Valet, opened the door. She curtsied as she saw it was Bruce's son, standing on their doorstep.

 

"Oh please, Madam. There's no need to be formal. I've come here for business of my father's, not the King's." He said as he smiled at Mrs. Schmidt.

 

"Holly, darling. Who's here at the door?" Mr. Valet says as he walks in; she moves aside and he sees who it was. "Oh my, why isn't it the most trusted advisor's son. You've grown since I've last saw you."

 

Bryce took his word as a compliment, even though it was informal to say that to him.

 

"Is there a reason why you stop by today?" Mr. Valet asked as he escorted a young gentleman to the guest living room of the house.

 

"My father is asking for some wood, and I've gone to the market but they've said they've ran out. So I stopped by here to see if you had any. I'm sorry if I had disturbed anything." The young gentleman simply replied with a kind voice.

 

"Thomas, stay out here. Stay on guard. Don't let anyone come in without my permission." He tells his guard and the guard obeys, stepping outside. Mr. Valet walks over and closes the door. Mrs. Valet steps into the kitchen, cooks their dinner.

 

The Valet household wasn't alway busy, but it was the most busiest for them during the Fall Festival and the holidays. The household was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Valet, along with their 3 children. Their oldest daughter, Alison who married to the Donnovan household when she turned 19. Next there was their only son, Jack, 19, he was best known for his charm with the ladies in their town. And lastly, there was Isabella, 17, the youngest in the family. She had fragile heart but with a strong mind.

 

The family themselves were pretty wealthy because Mr. Valet was a business owner. The business that he owned was pretty well-known in the nation, Valet's Woods. As a business owner, they were selling almost everything that every specimen needed to survive, whether it was food, water, clothing or shelter. They had it all.

 

"Isabella!" The young girl rushed down the stairs from her room. Her eyes appealed as she saw the fine young gentleman standing in the main hall.

 

"Isabella, please meet the one of the sons of Bruce Duncan." She stared at him as she ignored her father's words. "This is Bryce." She gasped as the name slipped out of her father's mouth.

 

"Bryce Duncan?" The son of the Valet's voice was heard from the end of the hallway. "I highly doubt he'd come here to woo Isabella."

 

"Jack. Be aware of what you say in front of the son of the most trusted advisor to the King." Mr. Valet said, gritting his teeth.

 

"No, it's fine." The young dashing lad kindly said as he stopped Mr. Valet from scolding his son.

 

He looked at the young and beautiful Isabella as she stood on the stairs like an actual floating angel that was sent from heaven.

 

Isabella Valet. Who'd knew there would be a beautiful angel standing in front me? Bryce thought to himself as he kept his eyes on Isabella.

 

She ignored him and just simply walked down the stairs like young woman.

 

Meanwhile, Bryce was amused by her beauty; even she got a glimpse of him, but she didn't seem amused.

 

Although she couldn't deny the fact that he was pretty hot in person, but being hot didn't make everything about person perfect. And even though he may be one of the sons of the Chamberlin, she showed no affection towards him.

 

"Isabella, do you mind getting our guest a glass of water?" She flinched and looked at her father as she heard her father's words.

 

She nodded as she curtsied. "Yes, Father." She looked at Bryce and swiftly walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

 

"You have a very fine daughter, Mr. Valet." Bryce commented as they both sat down at a table of two, sitting across from each other. He looked around the room and saw a framed picture above their fireplace, there was a picture of a young woman.

 

Mr. Schmidt curves a smile as his daughter walks in with the tray of two fancy cups, beautifully designed. She walks over to the table and set down the tray and puts the two cups on the table for the both of them.

 

Bryce stares at her as she sets the cups on the table. He stares deep at her beauty, from her pale, rosy cheeks to her perfectly shaped lip that he could smashed his onto hers.

 

She could feel his eyes set on her, her body starts to heat up as she puts the cups on the table. She doesn't bother to look at him or show him any kind of affections because she was already in love with someone else.

 

"Mr. Valet, may I ask who is in that photo on top of your fireplace?" Mr. Valet turned his head to look above the fireplace and he saw the old photo.

 

"That's my great-great-grandmother's older sister." Bryce nodded interestingly. He laid his eyes on Isabella again as she grabbed the tray and quickly walks away. Don't catch feelings for a Royalty. She told herself and walks into the kitchen, putting the tray on the counter.

 

"Mother, when can I go see Alison?" She asked her mother as she helped her put the vegetables on the cutting board and cutting them.

 

"Isabella, don't worry. She'll be visiting us after the Fall Festival." Isabella rolled eyes as it seemed like it would be a whole year until she sees Alison once again. "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me, young lady."

 

She stopped for a whole second, not knowing how her mother could've known that she rolled her eyes. "I-I-I wasn't, Mother." She hesitatingly spoke.

 

"Now don't you dare also lie to me too." She sighed in giving in. "I'm your mother. Of course, I know all of your lies and tricks you like to play when you don't want to tell the truth."

 

Isabella turned around to look at her mother. "I know. I just really miss her so much." Her mouth formed into a frown.

 

"You still have your brother. You have to love him for still being here for you." Her mother's words of comfort always made her feel better, but not this time. Yet, her mother was right, she still had her brother, but it was different even though they were siblings.

 

"I know, but it's just different. And I do love my brother no less than how much I love Alison, it's just-" Her words trailed off as Jack walks in. As much as she loved both of her siblings, she didn't want to hurt them, even if that meant she had to hurt herself in the process.

 

* * *

 

"Now how many woods would your father like or ask for?" Mr. Valet asked as Bryce drank his cup. The guest living room was not formally decorated not was it fancy like it was inside the palace, but rather it was decent.

 

"My father just asks for the wood to build the back board of the stage for the Fall Festival." He replies as he puts the cup back on the table.

 

"Ah! I have the exact kind of wood that you need for that." Mr. Valet's face lights up as he drinks his cup. "I don't mean to hold you from any occasions you have tonight, but it's getting late, would you like to join us for dinner?"

 

He exchanges looks with Mr. Valet, and smiles. "I'd love to, if I'm not intruding anything of some sort?" He says, leading it as to a question.

 

"Oh no! We won't mind having a guest for tonight." Mr. Valet smiles brightly and leads Bryce out the back door to the shed where the wood are.

 

As Bryce walks out through the back door, he passes by the kitchen, which he sees Isabella working along side with her mother. He catches glimpses of her in her long cherry pink with the sleeves rolled up nicely and dark teal ruffled dress that fitted her beautifully. If she were in my bed tonight, I don't think she'd be in her dress right now.

 

"Here's the wood for your father." He said as he showed Bryce the wood for his father.

 

"Thank you. I'll have my guards take it to the carriage." He called for his guard and the guard quickly ran on his command. "Thomas!"

 

"Yes sir?" He bowed down.

 

"Take this bach of woods to the carriage, my father will be needing them tomorrow." The guard nodded as he picked up the wood from the shed and carried it to the carriage.

 

"David, dinner's ready!" Mrs. Valet's voice was heard from inside the house.

 

"Oh yes, I know I've mentioned it before, but would you like to stay for dinner tonight?" The young Duncan son smiled and nodded.

 

"I'd love to." They walked inside and into the dining room next to the kitchen.

 

As they walked into the dining room, all the plates were set in place nicely. All the spoons and forks were set on each side of the plates, napkins were folded and placed on top of the plates.

 

"Please have a seat, any seat!" Mr. Valet said he appointed Bryce to take any seat.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Valet took the ends of the table. Isabella and Jack sat next to each other one side while Bryce sat on the other side of the table, across from Isabella.

 

The maids walked into the dining room with the dinner trays. They all set down the trays on the table.

 

Bryce kept his eyes laid on Isabella as she moved the dish in place across the table. Isabella glanced at Bryce for a second. He saw her as a princess, but she saw him as a complete stranger.

 

* * *

 

"Bryce, you wouldn't mind telling us what your father is planning for the Fall Festival this year, now wouldn't you?" Mr. Valet asked Bryce as Isabella finished her plate.

 

"Oh, I wouldn't. My father told me it's a surprise." There was a suspicion in Bryce's voice, and Isabella could feel it.

 

"Father, may I be dismissed?" She asked before she got up from the table.

 

"Why, yes." He nodded as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. She stood up and brushed off her dress and walked outside through the back door.

 

Bryce watched her as she walked out the back door, and he found it to be suspicious for her to be out after nightfall.

 

"Mr. Valet, don't you think it's suspicious for your beloved daughter to be out at night?" Mr. Valet looked around and he didn't see his daughter anywhere.

 

"Isabella?" He called out. "Isabella?!" He got up from the dinner table and went upstairs to her room. He opened her bedroom door and she wasn't there. "Isabella?!"

 

"David, what's wrong?" Mrs. Valet asked confusingly.

 

"Holly, our daughter is missing!" Her face immediately changes into shock. Their youngest daughter was missing.

 

"Isabella?!" Mr. and Mrs. Valet began looking for their daughter.

 

Jack and Bryce exchanged looks and stood up from the table and joined the search.

 

"Isabella?!" Jack shouted as he opened the back door.

 

Bryce saw Jack at the back door; he ran up to him, it was of course dark outside, the only light outside was the street lights from the village and bright shining moon in the night sky. They both walked outside and started looking around for her.

 

"Isabella!" She heard her name from the distance and she knew whose voice it was. She walked into a flower fountain garden outside the palace and the village.

 

Her face lit up as she saw the love of her life. "Colin!" He started running to her and she did as well. Their bodies collided as they both held each other tightly in each other's arms. She lets go of him and looks at him, caressing his cheek and then looks at his lips. More than anything, she wanted to kiss him, and so she did.

 

They both kissed each other in the dark midnight under the bright moon in the flower fountain garden.

 

She breaks away from the kiss and she starts crying as she finally saw the love of her life and she was finally holding him in her arms for the first time in four years. They were both separated by her parents and she was forbidden to go meet Shawn after what happened between both of their families.

 

"I've missed you so much, Colin. You don't know how many times I've been dreaming about this to happen." She said as she held Colin in her arms tightly and never wanting to let him go.

 

Colin caresses her soft pink cheek, wiping away her tears. "I've missed you too." He then caresses her soft small lips. "Do you know how long I've been waiting to kiss you? To hold you in my arms again? To tell you that I love you?" His eyes start tearing up as he spoke each word to her for her to hear. "These past four years of being separated away from you has been tortured for me. I've always wanted to sneak out to see you but my father has been supervising me lately and has been monitoring on what I've been doing." He looks at her.

 

"Colin, we can't stay here for long, or else we could find another to place to stay. We can even run away together." She held onto Colin's arm and urged him.

 

"Isabella, as much as I want to run away with you, I also don't want to fail my parents." He tells her in a kindly tone, she lowers her head in sadness as Colin denied her request. "But I will always love you no matter what obstacles, or how many of them are; I will always love you." He cups her left cheek, lifting up her head to level with his. "But what's more important to me is your happiness. I've been yearning to see your smile."

 

She forms a smile for Colin to see in the dimmed moonlight. Colin saw a faint smile on her, but he knew she was smiling at him.

 

"Isabella!" They finch as they both heard her name is being called from the distance.

 

Her breath hitches as she fears that someone will see her with Colin, then her life and Colin's, would be forfeit.

 

Colin pulls her in for a hug one last time and kisses the temple of her forehead. "I love you very much. Remember that."

 

She nodded as Colin holds her hand one last time. "I love you."

 

"But I love you more, to the moon." He kisses her lips. "And the back." He lets go of her hand and runs off into the woods to his house on the other side.

 

She runs towards the other direction towards the village. She saw her brother, Jack and somebody with him.

 

"Isabella!" She heard her brother called.

 

"Jack!" She called back.

 

He look ahead of him at the streets of the village and saw his sister in the street. He sprinted towards his sister and hugs her as if he nearly lost his sister.

 

"Where were you? Mother and Father are worried sick about you." She hesitated as soon as she heard her mother and father mentioned. She couldn't tell her brother that she met up with Colin, especially after nightfall. She'd be punished, locked in her room for doing that if they ever found out.

 

"I was--" Isabella hesitantly uttered as Bryce walked up to her and her brother.

 

She's hiding something. She did something she wasn't supposed to do. I can smell it in her, her beautiful fragrant is mixed with someone else's. But who's? Bryce thought himself as he stared at her, attentively. That scent smells very familiar. I know I've smelled it somewhere it before.

Chapter 2

 

Mr. and Mrs. Valet came home from searching for their daughter. Mrs. Valet was desperately worried about her daughter and kept pacing back and forth in the living room. Meanwhile Mr. Valet was down at the table, in rage, he was furious and disappointed in his daughter.

 

"When that young lady steps inside my house, she'll be whipped for sneaking out after nightfall." Mr. Valet said as his hand curled up into a fist and stood up. "That young lady is to be whipped until she learns her lesson."

 

Mrs. Valet runs up to her husband, calming him down, she stops him from getting the whipper. "David, honey. Please contain your anger. You can ask her nicely but please don't whip her."

 

He looks at his wife and gasps as if she forgotten the rules around his house. "Holly, our daughter sneaked out of our house and that's a whipping punishment. And you know if." He said with no mercy in his voice.

 

"No! David! Please don't! I beg of you, please don't!" Holly got down on her knees, begging for her life to protect their daughter.

 

Then the front door swung opened and there revealed Isabella with her brother by her side. She looked at her mother who was down on her knees, and looked at her father. Her eyes filled with fear and intimidation from her father, she could feel his anger boiling inside of him.

 

"Isabella, over here!" She stood in the doorway. "Now!" She flinched as her father's voice raised.

 

She took a deep breath with her hands holding each other in front of her and lowered her head as she walked over to the living room where her father and mother were.

 

"Look at me!" She lifted up her chin to her father, then her cheek collided with his hand.

 

Her mother, still on her knees, gasped as her husband slapped Isabella. Jack, who stood on the other side of the living room, watched his sister get slapped, but it wasn't the first time he had seen his father slap anyone.

 

On the other hand, Isabella didn't move or speak. She just breathed heavily and thought about what her father just did. He slapped her, and it wasn't the first time.

 

"You are a grown young woman. You should know better than to sneak out at night." He scolded Isabella as she held in her tears. "I should not be dealing with this while the Fall Festival is in only 2 days." He said as he walked away from his daughter.

 

Her mother finally stood up and hugged her, kissing her.

 

"Everyone is dismissed." Mr. Valet said as he still stood in his position. "But Isabella has stay. I need to talk to her."

 

She could feel the tension building in between her and her father. Everyone obeyed and left. Isabella of course, not wanting to cross her father again, stayed.

 

"Tell me, why did you meet up with Colin when I specifically told you those four years ago to never see him ever again?" Her heart immediately speeds up as her father mentioned Colin's name.

 

"Father?" She said as she looked at her father. "What do you mean?" She lied to herself and to her father, which was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

 

Her father turned around and slapped her one more time, but this time it was harder. "You know better than to lie to me." He said, keeping his volume down as possible, but he was really horrible at containing his anger. "If Bryce didn't say anything about you being missing, you would've been gone all night."

 

Her anger also started boiling up as she heard Bryce's name, and what made it worse for her was how he mentioned her disappearance to her father.

 

"Hearken to me!" He yelled. "Were you with him or not?" She knew her father well and how he wanted the truth one way or another. "And don't you dare speak a lie to me." There was a long pause before she could tell her father. "So? Were you?!" He hollered.

 

"Yes." She said quietly, but unfortunately her father didn't hear her.

 

"What was that you said?"

 

"I said, yes." She said in a low voice but louder for her father to hear now.

 

She saw her father raise his hand once again, but stopped himself. She wondered why her father stopped in his actions of hitting her. Instead he lowers his hand back down and dismisses her to bed.

 

"Go to bed, Isabella." She's now confused on why her father had stopped his action. She walked out of the living room. "I want you to think about the actions you had done tonight." He said, loud enough for her to hear as she was walked up the stairs.

 

She walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She walked over to her bed and laid down and silently sobbed in her sleep.

 

She still remembers the last time her father had ever slapped her for the first time. She closes her eyes as she thought about the memory that separated Colin and her forever four years ago.

 

She was coming home when she heard a argument in the living room.

 

"Your son is wooing my daughter and I don't appreciate it!"

 

"And what's wrong with that?!" She looked around and saw that her father was arguing with Colin's father. "They're only good friends. Nothing more. Nothing less."

 

"Well, it doesn't look like that nowadays! I saw your son get into my daughter's bed one night and I didn't like it one bit." Colin's father's face immediately turned into disgust. "That's right."

 

Isabella's father spotted her at the door, listening to the conversation. "Isabella!" This was the first time she ever heard her father yelled out her name. "Come in here right now!" She went into the living room.

 

"Let me ask you a question." She nodded. "Did you sleep with Colin the night he came over?" She furrowed her eyebrows at her father, confusingly.

 

"What?! No, we had never slept together!" Her father walked up to her and slapped her for the very first time in her life. She lift her hand and held her cheek where her father slapped her. "Father, you-" she paused in shock as she looked at her father who had just raised his hand to slap his own daughter.

 

"This is what happens when you lie to my face." He just simply said with his anger written all over his face and she could see it in her father's eyes.

 

This was the very first time she had ever seen her father like this towards her.

 

Colin and his father just stood there in shock from what he just saw. "David! How could you raise your hand to hit your own daughter?"

 

"Go to your room!" He yelled at his daughter and she didn't look at her father one bit, she just quickly turned around and dashed to her room.

 

And this is the same place where she cried when her father raised his hand to hit her, then she heard her door open. She was afraid that it was her father walking through her door, so she quickly closed her eyes and faked sleep.

 

"Isabella, I know you're still awake." She opened her eyes and turned her body when she heard her brother, Jack's voice.

 

"Jack? What are you doing here? Father could come in and-" he put his finger in front of his mouth, signaling her to not talk very loud.

 

"Father went to sleep, and mother did too as well." He walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Did father hit you, again?" She curled herself into a ball under her sheets as tears streamed down from her eyes.

 

She nodded.

 

"I saw what you did as well." She looked at her brother and sat up and backed away from him, moving herself to the corner of her bed. "Isabella-"

 

"No, don't touch me." She cut him off as she watched her brother reach out to her, yet he stopped himself when he heard his sister cry out those words.

 

"Isabella, you know I didn't mean it in that way." He quietly spoke as she hugged her legs, resting her head on her knee and quietly cried. "I never told Father about what you did tonight, nor did I tell him those four years ago." She lifted up her head to look at her brother.

 

For a long time, she always thought that she could keep Shawn a secret, but not until her father found out about her and Colin those four years ago.

 

"You never told father?" He shook his head.

 

"And I know you had your reasons to hide your relationship with Colin, I would never tell father anything that has happened so far and so for." He looked at his sister and reached out to her. He feels really sorry for her, not because she was his sister, but because she had to go through a lot and he wasn't there for her all the time.

 

"If you didn't tell father, then who did? Alison couldn't possibly tell father because she already married Hunter the week before everything went down." Her mind was too busy analyzing things. She shook her head and looked at Jack.

 

"If you ever need anything, I'm still here." He said to her as he stood up from her bed and walked over towards her door. She lifted up her head, and felt sorry for her brother because he didn't know anything that she was going through.

 

She felt really sorry for Jack who had to deal with her at her worst. "You're always there, I know that."

 

"I know that as well but I'm not a hero, Isabella." He said as she looked at him. "Good night." He said as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

 

The next morning, she woke up with her blanket covering her from the cold outside, although it was only windy, it was only getting colder and colder as each day passed by.

 

She opened her door and looked around her surroundings to see if anyone was up.

 

No one was up yet, but she had to wash her face and brush her teeth and take a bath.

 

* * *

 

She walked back into her room and fixed her bed and sat down on her bed for a few minutes. She walked over to the window and saw the villagers opening their stores.

 

The silversmiths' fire were already smoking from their chimneys. The bakers were already setting out their foods and everything from what they cooked from the night before.

 

The Fall Festival was only tomorrow. After the villagers had opened up their stores, they had to get ready for the big day tomorrow.

 

Then there was a knock at her door, it was her brother. "Isabella, father wants to speak to you." She had a gut feeling saying it was from last night.

 

She nodded and followed her brother downstairs. She feared that she was going to get yelled at again like the last time, but when she got downstairs, her father was nowhere to be found.

 

"Jack, did you lie to me to just get me out of my room?" She complained.

 

"No, he didn't." She was greeted by a familiar voice from behind her. It couldn't be. She thought as she knew who's voice it was.

 

Her breathing stopped as she heard the voice, her heart stopped for a whole second. She could feel his presence very close to her, his breathing on her neck, syncopating with hers.

 

Jack looked at his sister, he could see her sadness and her heart breaking or slowly healing. He looked at the guest; the guest nodded.

 

He walked up to his sister. "Isabella," she didn't respond but he knew that she was listening. "You already who it is, but why do you still look sad? I saw him sleeping on the doorstep."

 

She looked at her brother and he nodded. She turned around to face the person who she wanted more than anything,

 

"Colin." She ran up to him and hugged him and just started crying. He put his arms around her and letted her cry into his chest.

 

He mouthed two words to Jack. Thank you. Jack nodded and left the two in the living room.

 

"Isabella, I didn't come here for no reason. I came here to speak to you about something very important." She pulled back and looked at him.

 

"Here, let's sit down first." They both sat down. Colin looked at her and he could tell she was really worried about what he was about to say.

 

"Colin, what is it?" She could tell it was something important.

 

He took in a deep breath and told her what was happening. "Isabella, after we saw each other last night, my father was arrested by the King." Her mouth dropped.

 

"Your father was arrested-" Colin covered her mouth and told her to not shout.

 

"Sh! I don't want anybody knowing. Half of the village already knows about this." She slowly breathed in and out.

 

"What are you planning to do?" She looked at him and she already knew what he was going to do.

 

"I'm planning on getting out of town." She gasped in shock, Colin covered her mouth again. "Like I told you, I don't want anybody else knowing about this."

 

"So I'm the only one who knows that you're going to run away?" He nodded. "Why did you come to see me?"

 

He placed his hand on top of hers and held her hands gently tight.

 

"Isabella, I want you to run away with me." She looked at him like he was out of his mind. "Just you and I. We could run away together and live the life we've always dreamed of, together."

 

She couldn't think this through. Colin wants her to run away with him. Ever since she has known him, he was always so innocent, she had never seen him rebel against anyone like this. This time he wanted to run away.

 

"Isabella, I know this is a little over the top for you to think this through right now. But I can't stay here while my father is in the palace dungeons." He held her hands to chest and looked at her.

 

"I'll give you as much time as you need to think about this. Isabella, you know very well that I love you, there's no place for any other girl in this village, perhaps in the world, to ever replace you." She looked at him and he kindly smiled at her.

Chapter 3

 

Inside in the palace, of course there was the king, King Henry Rivet and Queen Janelle, and their sons, Prince Charles and Prince Walker. The family was both wise and proud, the village loved and praised to them.

 

Then there was Chamberlin Duncan and his wife, Victoria and their son, Bryce. Their daughter, Nicola was married to another noble family in another kingdom.

 

There was also another family that lived in the palace, that was the Wasley family. They were well respected by others, perhaps they were the top Courtiers in court because of the respect they had from the King. In the Wasley family, there was Noble Chamberlin Harold and his wife, Elizabeth. Their sons, Curt, Percy and Clyde and their daughter Ava.

 

All the servants had to either live in the village or in the palace, if they were requested by the King, they'd had the privilege to reside in the palace otherwise.

 

"Percy, your mother would like to see you." His advisor, Rogers, was specially picked for Percy, to council him, called him. Percy was in his study in the Imperial Library in the east palace. He walked down the down the hallway with his work from his advisor. The sun was already shining brightly through the long windows.

 

"Hey Percy!" He was stopped by a voice from behind him, he turned his head to see who it was. It was Bryce calling out to him.

 

"Hey Bryce!" He ran up to catch up with Percy and patted him on the shoulders. "What's up?"

 

Bryce sighed heavily and rolled his eyes in doubt.

 

Percy scoffed humorously.

 

"What's up with you?" He said as he adjusted his folder of work from his advisor.

 

They both continued to walk down the hallway. "Hey, remember yesterday when my father told me to go over to the Schmidt's residence to get the wood for the back board for the stage?"

 

Percy nodded as he looked at his work.

 

"Yesterday, when I went there, I saw an angel ." Percy stopped and looked at Bryce dumbfoundedly.

 

"An angel? Bryce, I think you're just exaggerating a person as an actual angel." He said as he shook head at his best friend and looked back down at his work.

 

"No, Percy. I actually saw an angel yesterday. She was beautiful. Whenever she walked, her fragrance, strawberry watermelon, if I can recall, would spread throughout the whole room; then suddenly, you're memorized by the scent." He was cut off by Percy.

 

"Bryce, really?" Nash wasn't paying any attention to any girls, he was only focusing on doing his work in the palace.

 

"Percy, don't be ignorant like that." Bryce smirked as he nudged on his arm. "You know you wanna know who it is!" Percy really did want to know, but he just shook his head no.

 

"Bryce, come on! Stop. You know I don't." He was denying it.

 

"Fine, but I'll just tell you anyway!" He sighed, rolling his eyes in not wanting to hear him.

 

"She had beautiful long brown hair, it looked so soft and so luscious. And those beautiful almond shaped brown eyes, brown as the color of hot chocolate in the white wintertime. When I first saw her, she seemed so pure and innocent." Percy looked at Bryce like he was hypnotized by a witch to say all those things to him.

 

"Bryce, if all that you say there is true, I'll believe you when I see this mistress that you speak of with my very own eyes." Nash said as he continued to walk down the long hallway.

 

"You can go and see her, even today perhaps." Nash didn't pay any attention; Bryce ran up next to him. "Percy! You can ask your parents if you can go out to the village and I'll show her to you."

 

"No." He simply replied.

 

"What?! You just said you'll believe me if you see her with your 'very own eyes'." Bryce said, quoting and mimicking Percy's words.

 

"No, you know both of my parents will say no to that."

 

"You didn't even ask them yet!" Percy ignored him and just kept on walking. "How would you know if they would actually say no to it when you didn't even ask yet?" Bryce said to himself, which he should be saying it to him, but he wasn't paying any attention.

 

* * *

 

"Milady?" One of the palace guards opens Mrs. Wasley chamber door, notifying that her son was present. "Your son is here."

 

She nodded. "Let him in." The guard nodded and opened the door wider for Percy to enter.

 

As he enters, she runs up to him and hugs her son. "Percy." She said softly to her son.

 

"Mother, you called me?" She nodded and walked back to her desk in her chamber. She hands him an edict, and it was from the King. "Mum, what is this?"

 

She deeply breathed in and told her son it was from the King. "It's from the King." His expression changes as he looks at the edict in his hand again.

 

He opens the edict and reads it.

 

This edict is for Noble Chamberlin's second son, Percy Wasley.

 

The following is written by the King Henry the Great, and he has chosen Percy Wasley for the following.

 

Percy has been an extraordinary member in the Wasley family. He has been focusing on nothing more than his duty and his work in his lifetime. Therefore, he will be able to have special privilege to leave the palace whenever he pleases and when he wants to.

 

Percy has also been both a wise and charismatic member for Southern Isles's court. He has always given some of the wisest ideas to court. He also has been kind to all the villagers, and everyone he comes across. Henceforth, when he comes of age where he wants a marriage, the King and Queen will be responsible for wedding preparations.

 

He looks up at his mother, and he was speechless.

 

"Mum, this edict..." He had no words for what he thought now. "This edict is so rewarding. I can't-"

 

She looked at her son and simply smiled. "The King knew you were in your study, so he sent one of his guards down to my chamber and asked me to give this to you."

 

He looked at the edict one more time. He had privileges to leave the palace whenever he wanted to. Both the King and Queen will do all the wedding preparations when he decides to marry.

 

"Oh! I nearly almost forgot. The King wanted to speak to you." He raised one eyebrow at his mother. "Percy, don't you give me that look of yours."

 

"The King wishes to speak to me?" She nodded. He folded the edict and breathed in deeply as he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and left.

 

* * *

 

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Percy said as he bowed down to King Henry.

 

"You may rise." Percy got back up on his feet and looked at his King.

 

"You wished to see me, sir?" The King smiled kindly and nodded.

 

"I asked your mother to send you up here because I've been hearing that you've been seeking for a time outside of the palace." He raised his head to his King as he heard his words.

 

"Your Majesty, I-" He was cut off by a group of the guards as he was about finish his statement.

 

"Greetings to you, Your Majesty. We've received the wood that Mr. Schmidt gave to us, but now we've got a bigger problem."

 

Percy suddenly felt somewhat invisible by the King as he turned his attention to the guards. "What happened? Tell me!"

 

"Forgive me, Your Majesty! I deserve to die!" One of the guards cried out. "His Highness was helping with the setting of the stage, and he-he-!" There was paused as the guard's words trailed off into silence.

 

"My son Charles? What's happened to my son?!" The King stood up from his throne chair and walked over to the guard and asked him one more time. "You tell me what's happened to my son before I send you to your grave." The King threatened.

 

"You Majesty!" The guard fell to his knees. "There was a fire and His Highness went into the fire to help the women and children out, he got out but he fainted so suddenly." The King's expression changes as the guard told the truth.

 

"There was fire? Who set the fire?! Where is my son now?!" He screamed as his anger was boiling inside of him.

 

"Your Majesty, please mind your health." One of the guards told the King. "Your son is fine; he's been brought back to his chamber. He suffered a few burns from the fire, but luckily it's nothing serious." The guard said stammering his words, but still keeping his tone strong and firm.

 

"Nothing serious? Someone could've died!"

 

The guard looked up and quickly uttered a few words here and there. "Your Majesty, yes someone could've died in the fire, but if it had not been for His Highness, someone really could've died in the fire. But no one died. Everyone got out safe and sound."

 

Percy just stood there and listened, then kneeled before the king.

 

"Your Majesty, you should thank your son for saving the women and children who were in the fire. But most importantly, His Highness needs to see a doctor immediately." The King reacted to Percy's words and quickly called for a doctor to go check on his son.

 

"Gregory, go get all of the doctors to go check on my son. Now!" He said as he went to his son's chamber. "Percy, go over to the Valet's residence to get some medication for Charles's burns." He obeyed and left immediately.

 

He quickly rushed to the horse stalls outside. He went up to his favorite horse, Beverly, he was a dark brown horse with brown hair on its neck side.

 

Percy patted on Beverly's neck and the guard grabbed a saddle for Nash and put on Beverly's back. Nash mounded himself onto Beverly and rushed to the Schmidt's residence.

 

It didn't take him long with Beverly's speed to get to the Valet's residence. He got off of his horse and walked up to the residence and knocked on their doorstep.

 

"Isabella, could you get that?" He heard a shout from inside the house, for Percy, that probably meant that they were home. He looked around their house and it wasn't poorly made, nor richly made but rather decent. There were flowers implanted outside the windows and porch.

 

He heard the door knob squeak, signaling him that it was opening. The door swung opened and his mouth dropped as he saw a face of an angel. Then that reminded him of what Bryce kept ranting about, this must be the mistress or angel he was talking about. The mistress in front of him did have long brown hair that looked soft and luscious. She had that almond-shaped chocolate brown eyes that Bryce was talking about. He breathed in and she had the scent that memorized him, and it was strawberry and watermelon like Bryce said.

 

It's her.

 

She looked at him as he kept staring at her. "Hello? May I help you?" She said slowly, feeling intimidated by him cause he was staring at her.

 

Her voice cut off his thoughts as he realized he had been staring at her for a whole 5 minutes.

 

"Oh! I'm sorry. Where are my manners?" He quickly straightened himself. "I've come on the King's command to get some medications for the King's son."

 

She smiled and led him inside and grabbed the materials he needed.

 

He felt hypnotized by her stunning beauty. No wonder why Bryce seemed hypnotized by her whenever he spoke of her. She really is an angel.

 

She comes back with a medium sized box in her hands. As she hands him the box, his hands meets hers. She was startled by his hand contacting with her hand and looks at him.

 

She didn't think she noticed it before, but he had really blue eyes. He pulled her in and leaned in, she knew what he was going to do. She wanted to pull away, but in the same time she didn't want to.

 

She started getting butterflies in her stomach, a feeling she had never felt for a someone else, or a stranger in this case. She only had that type of feeling for Colin and only him, no one else.

 

But with this young lad who stopped by her house for some things, it was different with him. He gave her a feeling she had never had before: the feeling of being alive around someone.

 

"Isabella!" She stopped herself as soon as she heard her brother's voice from the kitchen.

 

Jack came in, interrupting the both of them. She finally lets go of the box and leaves the young stranger in the doorway.

 

"Did I interrupt something?" Jack asked as he watched his sister run passed him.

 

Percy shook his head. "No." He lied himself. He wanted to kiss her, the girl who he intentionally fell head over heels for in a matter of seconds.

 

"I'll take my leave now. Thank you." He said as he leaves the house and closes the door behind him.

 

Such a young and pure, fair mistress. Who is this girl? She looks rather so familiar. Have I met her before? Why would there be such a young and beautiful maiden, living outside the palace? I have to know her. I just have to.

Chapter 4

 

Back in the palace, all the servants were rushing back and forth to help with the Fall Festival set up while the King was busy, worrying about his son.

 

"Find everyone you can, and tell them to help everyone who isn't finished. We must have the Fall Festival tomorrow at dawn." The king said as he was sitting down on the chair in Prince Charles's room chamber.

 

"You can count on me." The guard said as he disappeared out of the King's sight.

 

Prince Charles was laying in his bed, sleeping. Could he be sleeping? The King thought to himself. He looked at the tall clock in Charles's room, it was already five after noon and half of the village are barely done setting up for the big day tomorrow.

 

"Henry," His Queen said as she entered the room.

 

"Janelle, my darling." He stood up from his chair and walked over to his Queen.

 

"How is he?" She asked, worried.

 

"I've asked one of the guards to go find the doctor and I've asked Percy to go to the Schmidt's residence to get some medications for the doctor to use." The Queen caresses her son's hand, worryingly. "My dear, please don't worry so much. He will be fine." He said as he rubbed her back, comforting her.

 

"I know, but did you order anyone to help with the setting?" She turned her head to look at him and he nodded.

 

"Yes." He replied as he smiled at her. They both turned and looked as their son was laying in his bed.

 

Few hours have passed by like the speed of a cheetah. It was already four, and getting dark outside. People in the village have finally finished with the setting for tomorrow.

 

Isabella was in the kitchen, helping with some of the things. "Isabella, could you fetch your brother to come here?" She heard her father say; she felt very unease as she heard her father's voice.

 

Every time she heard her father's voice, she'd flinch or tense up to the sound of him. So instead of getting herself in trouble like she's done before, she obeyed her father.

 

"Jack? Jack?" She went upstairs to find her brother, hoping to find him in his room. "Jack?"

 

Luckily he was in his room, but he was studying. She knocked on his door, and he opened it. "Father wants to see you, now." She said as she mimicked her her father's tone of words.

 

He nodded.

 

He followed his sister downstairs and their father was standing at the end of the stairs.

 

"Jack? I need to speak to you." Isabella looked at both of them. "Alone." She didn't want to get into any more trouble, so she had no choice but to obey.

 

She walked away until she was finally out of sight, but she kept her ears appealed of listening to them.

 

"Jack, tell me, son." He felt intimidated by his father's tone of voice he was having. "Your sister, did she do something behind my back again?"

 

I would never tell father anything that has happened so far and so for.

 

He promised his sister he wouldn't tell father anything, but he also couldn't lie to his father.

 

"So, has your sister done anything behind my back again?" He breathed in deeply and let it out.

 

"Father, you already know the answer to that question. So why ask me?" His father turned around and quickly pivoted around, about to hit him but he stopped himself.

 

He looked at his father's raised hand, above his head. He knew. "Were you about to hit me, father?" He asked his father and he slowly lowered his hand.

 

"I will ask you one more time, did your sister do anything behind my back?" He said lastly but angrily.

 

There was a pause. Tension was beginning to build in the room. Both of them could feel it, it was as if they were the only two in the house, but that wasn't true. They weren't alone.

 

Jack replied with a sigh. "No. No, she hasn't." He said it firmly, showing no lie in his voice.

 

His father's face softened and simply smiled, it was a fake smile, and Jack knew it. "Very well, then. You may go." Jack walked away and Isabella quickly backed away from her position.

 

Father must suspect something from me. Father doesn't trust me anymore. He doubts me. He doesn't believe a word I say anymore. I've done it. I've done it now. I need to get out of here.

 

"Isabella!" She flinched to the sound of her father's voice and cutting her off from her thoughts. "Come in here, right now!"

 

She walked into the room where her father was present. He glared at her, but she didn't meet her father's eyes. She kept her head lowered. "Yes, father?"

 

"Look at me when you're talking, I'm not the floor." Now she felt stupid for doing that, especially in front of her father. She raised her head, but still didn't meet his eyes. "I said, look at me!" He hollered.

 

She still didn't dare to look at him.

 

"I dare not to." She said as she kept her distance from her father.

 

"Why?"

 

There was a long pause between her and her father. She didn't know how to say because it was only easier to say it inside her mind.

 

I don't want to be yelled at again, nor do I want to get punished again. I just don't like being treated like a little girl.

 

She still didn't respond and her father was getting impatient.

 

"Are you going to answer my question or not?" He said impatiently as he walked up to her.

 

She reluctantly backed away from her father.

 

"Isabella, are you scared of me?" It was as if he had read her mind or read her actions. He stopped in his tracks, seeing how she reacted to him.

 

"Yes, father. I am genuinely afraid of you because I don't want to be yelled again, nor do I want to be punished for my reckless actions." She said as she finally looked at her father. "I'd be lying if I told you that I've never thought about running away, from home, from here. I just want to be free." She waited for her father's reaction to her words, but he didn't do anything, he didn't say anything either. "For the past four years of my life, I've lived in fear and depressed. I'm tired of being pushed around." She said with a teary eye and left from her father's sight.

 

She walked outside to the porch, hoping she could clear her head from the stress she's been holding in for a very long time.

 

I just want to be freed. Is it too much to ask for?

 

She thought to herself repeatedly. She looked around the porch; it was getting dark out but also windy. She went back inside to grab her cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders.

 

She walked down the pathway from her house to the streets of the village. She turned around to look at her house one more time before she left.

 

She was walking along the streets of the village. During the night, there were always a group of men roaming the streets. She kept caution of herself very much distance, though the side streets were long and narrow and she didn't have much space to keep herself from, she did what she could.

 

She walked passed by the bar, where most of those men were. She kept her head lowered, not paying attention to any of them, but one of the men grabbed her by her arm and pulled her.

 

"Hey missy," the man's raspy, drunk voice uttered, so it sounded more like 'ay messy'. She struggled to get out of the grip of the man, but he held onto her arm real tight.

 

"Where you going missy?" The man pulled her back before she could get take one step away form the man.

 

"Please, just let me go." She whimpered as she raised her arm to release from him, but he didn't care or listen to her.

 

"Why don't we spend a little time in Lover's hotel for tonight?" She was disgusted by the man and how filthy he was. She backed away but there was a man already standing behind her.

 

She gasped in shock as she bumped into the man behind her.

 

"Why don't you stay for tonight? I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together." The man behind her spoke as he wrapped his arms around her small fragile body.

 

"Come on boys, let's bring this mistress to a very special place." She struggled but no one payed any attention to her. "Stop struggling!" One of the men took out a small dagger and stroked her cheek and whispered to her.

 

She stopped as the dagger first stroked her cheek. She watched as the man slowly moved the dagger along her cheek and moving down to her neck, making her more vulnerable.

 

They took her into an alley, outside of the village. "No one can escape from a knife, no matter how big or how small." The man who had the dagger said and he pulled her body close to him.

 

"Let me go, please." She said, the words quivered her, intimidated her to the core.

 

"Oh I don't think I can do that, missy. Not after you and I are in bed together, and you spread your two legs for me to enter." His words made her wanted to dash away, but not with the dagger at her stake.

 

"No, let me go! Help, somebody! Anybody! He-" She screamed for help but the man held her and covered her mouth; she was still screaming but it was muffled.

 

"Shut up!" The man hissed into her ear but she didn't stop yelling for help. "You shut your mouth right now before I slash your throat right here and let you bleed to death." The man threatened harshly.

 

She felt she had no hope for herself now. She should've never left her house after nightfall. Then she heard a voice but she didn't see who it was. "I believe she asked you two gentlemen to let her go."

 

"And who might you, young gentlemen be?" She heard the other two say to the other. She tried her best to listen to their conversations, but her body was very exhausted. She was nearly about to pass out.

 

"I don't like to repeat myself more than once. Let her go." The person said with a firm and stem tone in his voice.

 

The man didn't let her go, instead he holds her even closer to his body. She felt like she was going to suffocate in his arms.

 

"No, I think this missy and I are going to spend a quality time together for tonight."

 

The man wasn't quite convinced that he knew the girl. "Really? Well, then what's her name? If you know her name, I'll let you two go. But if you don't, don't say that I'm a cruel person."

 

The man paused for a long time; he wanted to spend time with Isabella, but he didn't know her name.

 

"Well?" The man flinched at the sound of his voice. "Do you know her name or not?" He asked.

 

She started gaining her conscious and saw the black figure in front of her. She squirmed and struggle out of the man's arms. The man standing in front of them noticed how she reacted to the man who was holding her.

 

"Do you know her or not?! Answer me!" The man shouted.

 

"I don't know this man! He came up to me and tried to convince me into leaving with him!" She screamed but only loud enough for the unknown man to hear her.

 

"So, this young lady claims that you tried to convince her to leaving with you? What exactly are you planning to do with her?" The man looked at her and the person in front of him.

 

He looked frightened but wouldn't accept the fact that he didn't know the girl.

 

"Let me go!" She shouted as she struggled to move out of his grip.

 

"Shut up!" He hissed as he held her even tighter around her small and fragile body. She whimpered as if he were crushing her body.

 

"Please-" She said as she started lose conscious again. Her eyes were closing as her head fell, hanging over her body.

 

"I warned you, sir." The black figure zoomed up to the man and smacking him on the back of his head, making him loose his grip from her.

 

The man lets her go and the stranger walked up to her to catch her from falling. She barely opened her eyes, but all she remembered before she passed out was seeing a pair of brown eyes.

 

"You cruel man! Have you got no respect for a woman?" Another voice was heard from behind the man; he picked her up and carried her bridal-style.

 

"I'm one of the Courtiers in court. I can do anything I want to any woman as I wish." The drunk man said as he stumbled back to his feet.

 

The man just looked at him as he carried the girl in his arms, then it started raining.

 

"My lord, we need to get out of here." One of the guards said as he was coming down the alleyway to man who was carrying Isabella.

 

He looked at the girl, he recognized her. He's seen her before, not 2 days ago.

 

"We need to get back to the castle, let this girl get some rest and eat. She shall stay in the palace for the night." He said as he carried her out of the alleyway in the rain.

 

"Yes, m'lord." The guard obeyed as he opened the carriage for his master.

 

He carried her inside the carriage, positioning her in a comfortable position. He took out his handkerchief and wiped off the rain droplets on her forehead and cheek, but kept his distance from her.

 

During the carriage ride, he noticed that she kept moving around, which made him wonder what she dreams about in her beauty sleep. He smiled as she was trying to find a position to for herself to be comfortable in.

 

He moved closer to her, placed her head on his shoulder and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She then stopped moving and laid her head on his shoulder. He looked at her and smile as she rested on his shoulder.

 

Little did he know, she was smiling too as she rested on his shoulder with his arms wrapped around her.

PART 2 - FINDING BEAUTY

"Nothing makes a woman beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful." ~ Sophia Loren

Chapter 5

 

Valet's Residence

 

"Where did she go again?!" Mr. Valet shouted as he searched Isabella's room.

 

"This is why you should've never yell at her." Jack said, crossing his arms and stood in the doorway and saw his father searching her room. "Plus if she really was to hide, she wouldn't hide in her room. She'd be smart enough to hide somewhere more secretive, somewhere we don't know about, somewhere we all may never know."

 

His father turned around to face his son who was standing in the doorway. "You wanna explain why she would run away?" He asked his son as if it wasn't obvious to see it.

 

"Don't you understand? She can't deal with her life and having you telling her so many different things. She's got a lot on her mind." Jack said, frustratedly.

 

"Well what else could I do?" He gritted through his teeth. "She never learns her lesson."

 

"Because she was depressed for the past 4 years!" Jack shouted over his father's words, which he had never done in his life.

 

"What are you trying to say to me, Jack?" He said as he shot his son a look.

 

Jack wasn't frightened like his sister is with their father. He was strong, and never done anything wrong out of his mother and father's favor. But now, his sister is missing; he started acting intense, especially towards his father.

 

"She couldn't stand the fact that she had to stay away from Colin for more than 4 years. I thought you would've already taken notice of that but it looks like you never saw what she was really going through." He watched as his father was only amused. "You've watched her break down into pieces for four years. Staying away from Colin nearly cost her life!"

 

Mr. Valet let out a soft chuckle. "That was on her. She didn't do as I asked, so I had to punish her that." He said, lying to his son's face. "She deserved it."

 

"No, you yelled at her. You asked if she ever slept with Colin. You raised your hand above her head and slapped her." Jack said as he repositioned himself.

 

"I raised my hand above her head?" He looked like he just wanted to laugh. "Like I said, she deserved it. She didn't do as I asked."

 

"I've watched you do it, multiple times when I could've stand up for her but you always had the power to put her down like she was a lower class!" Jack took in a deep breath and told his father again. "She never slept with Colin. Does that answer satisfy you a little bit now? And you dare say that she deserved it when she lied?" Jack said, not losing his guard. "She lied because she felt cornered and she feared that she didn't have any way out of her troubles." Then a tear fell from Jack's eye as he told his father the next thought he's been thinking about for a while. "You wanna know something else? Sometimes, I don't know whether you're still the father who raised me or whether you're someone who fell for a false rumor from the village." His words were like a venom for him to say because he really loved his father so much.

 

Jack turned around, walking away and left his father, standing in her room. He stood there, guilty, regretting his words he's ever yelled at her, how many times he raised his hand on her. A teardrop fell from the corner of his eye as he thought about it.

 

He looked around her room, observing what she's done in her room. He caresses her bed as he wept over her bed. "Oh Isabella, I'm terribly sorry."

 

 

Royal Palace

 

"My lord Bryce." The guards greeted him as he carried Isabella in his arms.

 

"No need to bow down, I need bring this girl to the guest room chamber, now." The guard obeyed and led him to the guest chamber.

 

"This way, my lord." Bryce followed the guard down the long hallways.

 

Finding the guest chamber took a while because it was west in the palace, towards the seaside. Finally they made it, there were maids present in the room.

 

"Greetings Lord Bryce." They all curtsied.

 

"Hurry, help her to bed now." The maids walked up to him and carefully helped him put her in bed. "Thomas, go get the doctor to come and check on her."

 

Thomas bowed, obeying his order and left.

 

"You all may leave." All the maids curtsied and left the room, closing the door behind them. He watched them as they left.

 

He turned his head back to the girl who he just helped. He observed her features, he then thought to himself. This mistress is no prostitute or a girl who roams the village at night.

 

He took out his handkerchief from his front pocket, folding it and set it next to the pillow beside her.

 

He grabbed her hand and held it. It was cold. He held her hand, warming hers with his. He carefully moved a strand of her hair behind her ear without waking her up.

 

"Why would you wander in the night by yourself?" He murmured under his breath. She continued to sleep, so peacefully and beautifully.

 

Then he heard a knock on the door.

 

He quickly released her hand from his and placed it back where it was before.

 

"Come in!" He said.

 

"My lord, the doctor is here." He nodded.

 

"Oh my, first it's the young prince, now a young mistress. Okay let's check on what's the problem here."

 

Bryce stood up from the bed, letting the doctor do his job.

 

The doctor looked at the mistress, skeptically, and nodded. He took her hand and took her pulse.

 

"Doctor?" Bryce said as he was taking her pulse.

 

"Ah, I see what's going on." The doctor stood back up. "Her pulse is seems to be weak. She may be dealing with an internal conflict. She also caught herself a cold."

 

"How could that be? I brought her here as soon as possible." The doctor looked at her and back at Bryce.

 

"My lord, I believe she's had the cold for quite a while." Bryce's mouth dropped.

 

"Do you know what she may being conflicting with?" The doctor looked puzzled. "You said that she may be dealing with an internal conflict. What conflict could it be?" Bryce was desperate to know.

 

"Judging by her pulse, I believe she may be dealing with some kind of depression." The doctor told him and he was in shock. "I'll tell the maids to make a medicine soup for her when she awakes in the morning." Bryce nodded. "I'll take my leave."

 

The doctor bowed and left the room.

 

He looked at her and sat down on beside her.

 

"What's troubling you? I know we haven't known each other for long, but you can tell me anything if you want. I really do hope I get to know you." He watched her as she slept. He smiled as he stood up and walked towards the door, letting her get some rest and closed the door.

 

Next morning

 

Isabella moved around and woke up in a whole new different setting. She looked around the room, it was indeed big and much bigger than her own bedroom.

 

She saw a handkerchief on the pillow next to her; she grabbed the handkerchief and looked at it. It had a small design on it, it was a flower, a tulip to be precise. It was a shade of red, a beautiful shade of red and pink mixed together.

 

Then the door opened, a couple of the maids came in; she was confused of where she was. She was still holding the handkerchief in her hands.

 

"Good morning, mistress." One of the maids said she bowed before her.

 

"How did I get here?" She asked as she fixed her hair. "Where am I?" She put the handkerchief under the pillow secretively.

 

The room she was in was built with a beautiful shade of red on the walls, and the black, granite shiny tiles on the floor with a wolf-made rug. The room also had a small table, just like the one her house has. There was also a balcony outside the window, she got out of the king sized bed and walked over to the window. She looked out and saw the entire village, then she realized where she was.

 

"Am I inside the palace?" She asked and one of the maids curtsied.

 

"Yes. You're in the palace. How you got here? Someone brought you here from the heavy rain last night." Isabella looked at the maid, confused.

 

"Oh! You're supposed to take your medicine when you wake up." She look puzzled as she looked out the window again.

 

"Medicine? What happened to me really?" She said as she almost lost her balance, her head was spinning like a spinning top.

 

The maids quickly rushed next to Isabella, helping her back to her balance. "M'lady! Are you alright?" She nodded.

 

"Forgive us, but may we have the permission to ask who you are?" Isabella looked at the maid as they both released her arms.

 

"My surname is Valet. My name is Isabella." The maids both looked shock. "What?"

 

One of the maids walked towards the table in the corner, grabbing the medicine for her. The maid noticed the resemblance between her and her brother, Jack.

 

"You're Mr. David Valet's youngest daughter?" The maid finally spoke as she gave Isabella her medicine.

 

She nodded as she looked at her medicine and just drank it.

 

As she finished her medicine and gave the bowl to the maid, the both of them were still in shock. "Why do you two sound shocked that I'm his youngest daughter?" The maids kindly smiled.

 

"It's nothing--it's just that we never really knew. That's why." The maid said.

 

Something was telling Isabella that she was in grave danger. She needed to get out of the palace as soon as possible.

 

"Oh." She said as she nodded.

 

There was a knock on the door.

 

The maids and Isabella looked at the door and came in a tall young gentleman.

 

"Why good morning." He looked up to her and smiled.

 

Something tugged onto her heart that she knew the fine gentleman who was in front of her.

 

"Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I'm-" She finished his sentence by saying his name for him.

 

"Lord Bryce Duncan." She said as she curtsied before he could look at her.

 

"You know me?" She nodded, keeping her head lowered. "Please get up. Don't bow. You're a guest here, so please don't." He said as she got back up.

 

She lifted her head up to look at him. His mouth dropped as he saw who was standing in front of him again. Isabella Schmidt, youngest daughter in the Schmidt household.

 

"Mia, Aliyah, help her get ready." She looked at him.

 

"Mia and Aaliyah." Isabella uttered under her breath.

 

"Ready? For what?"

 

"The Fall Festival of course." He said humorously. She went into immediate shock.

 

"The Fall Festival?! Oh dear!" She freaked out.

 

"Hurry! Help her get ready!" The maids curtsied.

 

"Miss Isabella, this way please." They led her out the door to the bathroom for her bath.

 

On their way to the bathroom, Bryce Duncan was all that was going through her mind.

 

"Was he the one who brought me here last night?" She said as her memory from last night was coming back.

 

"Yes. He even asked for a doctor to check on you. You should consider yourself lucky that you are here inside the palace." The maid said.

 

Bryce Duncan, the young gentleman who saved me from those two filthy men last night.

 

* * *

 

The maids helped her with her dress for the festival. They curled her hair loosely and clipped it half up.

 

She stepped out of the bathroom chamber and Bryce was waiting outside the door for her.

 

He looked at her and was beyond amazed by her beauty and how the dress fitted her so perfectly. She curtsied at the sight of him, but he stopped her."You-" He lost his words. "You look beautiful." She simply smiled and thanked him.

 

He couldn't deny the fact that the dress made her look so beautiful and her curled hair expressed her beauty clearly.

 

"Thank you. You look dashing too." She said as she nudged him and walked past him. He watched as she swiftly walked down the hallway corridors.

 

"What time are they starting the Fall Festival this year?" She asked Mia.

 

"M'lady, they're starting it at night this year." She stopped and thought about something.

 

"At night?" Mia nodded. "But why at night?"

 

Mia shrugged.

 

"I don't know either, but all I heard was that His Majesty was planning it for it to be at night." Isabella nodded.

 

"Does His Majesty know that I'm here, inside the palace?" She nodded.

 

"Lord Bryce told His Majesty after he brought you here." Mia told Isabella as they continued to walk down the corridor hallways.

 

"This is awfully a beautiful palace." Mia smiled as Isabella spoke.

 

"You haven't been here before, m'lady?" She shook her head as she enjoyed the beautiful settings of the palace. "Well, I hope you have a wonderful time in your stay here in the palace."

 

She stopped and thought about it for a minute. "I hope I do." She smiled and walked down the hallway.

 

"M'lady-" Isabella cut off Mia for a second.

 

"Please, I'm not used to being called m'lady, so call me Isabella." Mia lost her words. She didn't say anything.

 

"I can't. I'll be in deep trouble if I dare do so." Isabella seemed disbelief.

 

"I'm sure nothing will go wrong with just calling me by my name. If anyone does ask, just tell them that I gave you permission to do so." She simply said and she skipped through the hallway.

 

Mia watched as she skipped down the hallway. She wasn't that much older than Isabella at all. She was only eighteen.

 

"So, I wanna know more about you, Mia." Again, she lost her words.

 

"I'm not that interesting. I doubt you'll even find me that interesting." Isabella stopped and looked at Mia. She noticed how Mia always kept her head lowered and wouldn't look at her.

 

"Oh, come on. I'm sure there's something interesting about you. I'm sure of it." She said as she stopped by the long and tall window, viewing the beautiful ocean. "Oh by the way, where are we going?"

 

Mia didn't respond. She just looked at Isabella and kept walking.

 

"Mia?" She followed Mia down to a dark corridor, or some sort. "Mia?" She called out to Mia but she didn't stop nor answer. "Mia?!" She called out one more time and Mia disappeared.

 

How could one person disappear into thin air?

 

Then she felt a cold wind of air blowing through the long, dark hallway ahead of her; she followed the dark and long passageway. She continued to walk down the hall, then she heard a creak like an old door opening itself.

 

"Mia?" She looked around, the only light that there was the window from the hallway that she came from. "Mia? Can you come out right now?" Then she heard a low growl, it came from the end of the hallway.

 

She squinted her eyes to see what it was, then the breathing came closer and closer. She felt the fear inside her stomach and her body frozen in place.

 

"Mia?" She still couldn't move her legs so that she could run off, but she doubted that she could even make it before she could take three steps.

 

The growl came closer and closer towards her. She breathes heavily and looked behind her, hoping that someone saw her, but to her surprise, there was no one.

 

She thought to herself before she could even flinch. I'm dead as a roadkill on the sides of the streets.

Chapter 6

 

Isabella stood there frozen, she wanted to move herself but she couldn't, the breathing came closer and closer towards her.

 

She was grabbed by the arms of somebody, she screamed for help but her scream came out as a muffled scream. She was then pulled into one of the rooms of the dark passageway.

 

She fought herself to get out of the grip of the person, but the person was a lot stronger than her own strength. It was helpless, even if she did get out, she wouldn't be able to say anything of it.

 

The person closed the door and pushed her against the door, holding her arms up above her head, so that she wouldn't be able to fight.

 

"Why hello there, you thought I wouldn't be able to find you?" She was alarmed by the voice, it was the man from the alley the night before.

 

"You?!" She tried to move her wrists but it was also helpless. She was already trapped in the room with the man who wanted her. "What do you want?" Her breath hitched as he leaned in. His heavy breathing, she could feel on her neck.

 

"Did you ever read Fifty Shades of Grey?" She was shock by the man's question. "Because if you didn't, I'd love to show you how what the book is about." He whispered into her ear while still holding onto her wrists above her head.

 

"You sick man!" He pressed his body against hers. She could feel him getting hard on her thigh. She felt helpless, no more, no less. She just wanted to get out.

 

He lets one hand go, but he was still holding onto both of her wrists with his one hand. With his free hand, he stroked her lips and cheek, then down to her opened chest that exposed a small part of her cleavage. "I can make you feel good, as long as you let me explore your beautiful body, every inch of it."

 

"You can dream on." The man let out a small laugh. He stroked her lips one more time.

 

She wanted to save her virtue for the one that she loved most, Colin.

 

"You still think that I can do nothing to you? Well, let's see about that."

 

The man aggressively pulled her and pushed her onto the bed that was in the room. She was about to get up but she was pulled back by the man and was pushed onto the bed with the man on top of her. He forcefully kissed her lips while she was using all of her strength to push the man off of her, but he didn't budge.

 

"Oh don't push me back, you know you want me as much as I want you." He said as he pinned down her arms and aggressively kissed her neck.

 

"Let me go!" She screamed as he continued to kiss her neck. The man ripped off her dress, exposing her in her bra. He kissed her chest.

 

He then reached over and grabbed something. He took one of her wrists and tied it, as well as her other hand. She pulled the both of them, but they were tied onto the bed.

 

"Don't pull yourself. It won't help. Besides, we have all day. Let's enjoy that time together in here." He giggled at her ways of trying to get away. "You can't get away now." He said as he tied a cloth around her mouth, stopping her from screaming for help.

 

His hand ran up and down on her sides, tickling her, teasing her, making her body move from side to side. She didn't enjoy it one bit; she screamed for help but it was useless. The man had her in his hands and she couldn't get away from him.

 

The man unclipped her bra, exposing her bare breasts. She breathes heavily as he massaged her breasts, squeezing them. She squealed as he touched her breasts.

 

She was doing everything in her will to resist the man.

 

Wasn't there someone to help her? Where was Mia? And Aaliyah? And Cameron?

 

She watched as the man played with her breasts. She sighed in relief as he backed away, but he came back in as he ripped off the bottom of her dress. She shook her head, begging him to not do what she didn't want him to do: taking her virginity.

 

"Oh, I see. I got a virgin mistress in my hands." He said as he looked at her exposed body; he ran his hand, starting from her chest down her stomach. She squirmed as he was going lower and lower.

 

"I promise I'll be very slow and gentle with you." She watched as his hands were caressing her inner thighs. What's the use anymore?

 

"What's the point of resisting anymore? No one can save you now." She closed her eyes as he went in between her legs and made her feel him against her body. "Besides, you can't run away from a man who desires sex, especially from the woman who makes him very hard."

 

* * *

 

"Miss Isabella?! Miss Isabella? Miss Isabella?!" Mia and Aaliyah ran through the halls of the palace, looking for her, but couldn't find her.

 

Then they bumped into Bryce and Percy, they saw how the two servants were looking for something.

 

"Are you looking for someone?" Aaliyah curtsied quickly.

 

"My lords, Miss Isabella has gone missing. We've been looking for her for the past half hour." Aaliyah said quickly.

 

"Yes. After we got her dressed, we were both knocked out by something or someone. And when we woke up, she was missing!" Byce and Percy looked at each other. "Please help us find her!" Mia got down on her knees and begged them.

 

"Please we can't delay anymore time. She may be in danger." Then something sparked in Bryce's mind, it was the night before when he found Isabella in the alleyway.

 

What the man told him that night: I'm one of the Courtiers in court. I can do anything I want to any woman as I wish.

 

"Let's go find her now!" Bryce said but Percy was left confused.

 

"Wait! We don't even know who this girl is!" Bryce breathed in and sighed.

 

"Percy, let's just help them?" Percy didn't want to go on a wild mistress chase, but be didn't want to sit there and wait.

 

"Okay. I'll help." They nodded.

 

"Isabella!" Bryce shouted as he ran through the halls.

 

They all looked for her for an hour and still couldn't find her. Mia and Aaliyah felt stupid for leaving her after she got dressed, but right now the person who worried her the most was Bryce. He found her in the alley the night before, and she could in danger by one of the Courtiers.

 

"Where is she? We've been looking for an hour!" Mia said. "I should've never left her in the dressing room." Mia cried out as she fell to knees. "My lords, kill me right now! I'm the one who left her alone!"

 

"Mia, don't! Get up!" Aaliyah said as she helped Mia back up. "It's not your fault." But she refused to get up.

 

Bryce couldn't stand having one of the servants kneeling and begging him to kill them. "Mia, don't blame yourself so harshly. Get up." He said to her, kindly. "The one place we haven't checked is the dark hallway on the west side." Bryce said.

 

"But no one's been down there for years, not since the first ascending throne of the first king." Aaliyah said as she held Mia.

 

"We should at least go and check. The imposter who pretended to be one of us, must've led her down there." Mia said as Aaliyah released her.

 

They all agreed and went down to the dark side in the west of the palace. They all walked down the dark passageway together. They all felt a cold wind breeze from the hall, then they heard a muffled scream from one of the rooms.

 

"Mistress!" Mia and Aaliyah whispered.

 

"Besides, you can't run away from a man who desire for sex, especially from the woman who makes him very hard."

 

Bryce slowly opened the door of where the voice was coming from. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, a man on top of Isabella.

 

He slowly walked up behind the man and forcefully pushed him off of her. He saw Isabella and helped the untied the ropes around her wrist. Mia and Aaliyah ran up to her and covered her naked body with the blanket. Isabella's eyes were filled with tears and fear.

 

Percy came in and pinned down the man who was about to rape her. "Who are you?" Bryce asked as he finished untying the ropes.

 

The man just chuckled and didn't answer. "Okay, then we shall bring you to the king himself." Percy picked up the man and dragged him out the door.

 

Bryce followed Percy out the door, but stopped to look at Isabella. She didn't bare to look at him, yet it broke his heart to see her like this.

 

She pulled her legs together, hugging them and sat there and cried.

 

"Mistress, we can't stay here. We both know how scared you are now, but we cannot stay here." Aaliyah said as they both helped Isabella up to her feet, but she lost her balance and almost fell over.

 

They brought her out of the room and down the hallway. They both had to hold her, in order to keep her on her feet.

 

Her eyes were getting sleepy and her body was exhausted. Her breath was getting heavy and it was getting harder for her to breath. Her wrists were red and looked bruised from the ropes. Then her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

 

"Mistress!" Mia shouted as she fell over her. Bryce heard the shout and quickly turned around, running back. When he got there, he saw Isabella on the ground, passed out. He quickly ran up to her.

 

"Mistress!" Mia cried out.

 

Bryce carried her bridal-style and brought her back to her room chamber with Mia and Aaliyah behind him.

 

Aaliyah opened the door for Bryce to go inside her room, Mia rushed over to the bed and opened the covers for Bryce to place her in.

 

He put her in her bed, and quickly covered her bare body with the blanket.

 

"Mia, make sure when she wakes up, she should take another bath and get her a new dress." Mia nodded. "I'm gonna go find Nash and see if he's already seen with the king."

 

Bryce quickly left her room chamber, leaving her with Mia and went to find Nash.

 

Bryce then heard yelling from Imperial dungeon, the interrogating room. "Who are you and why would you take a mistress?!" Percy yelled at the man. He walked in, his eyes changed into a different color.

 

Bryce grabbed the man by the neck, forcing him to lift his head. Percy's mouth dropped, shocked as he saw who it was.

 

"Why isn't it our good old friend, Sebastian." He smirked.

 

"Who else could it be?" Bryce still had him by the throat. "Go ahead, Bryce. Choke me." He hissed at him; his eyes changed color into a dark raging red.

 

"Wait Bryce!" Percy stopped him. "It's almost time for the Fall Festival, now's not the time for killing someone." Bryce looked at Percy and he nodded.

 

"Fine then. Since it's the Fall Festival tonight, I won't kill you. But when it's done, I will." Bryce growled as he released Sebastian's neck.

 

"Guards! Make sure he doesn't get out. If he does, don't spare him." The guards bowed, obeying their orders.

 

Bryce and Percy left the interrogating room from the dungeons.

 

* * *

 

"Mistress." Isabella woke up from her long nap and looked around her surroundings, she was back in her chamber.

 

"Mia, what time is it?" She asked while sitting up.

 

"It's one in afternoon. You've been resting for quite a long time." Mia said as she helped Isabella up. She looked down and she had no clothes on, then she remembered what happened.

 

"Mistress, don't be scared. I'm here now. No one can hurt you." Mia said as she sat down down on her bed.

 

"You-you led me down to that dark hallway-" Mia shook her head.

 

"No. No. It wasn't me. It was someone pretending to be me." Mia said in her defense.

 

Isabella saw no lie in Mia's eyes, then she pulled her legs to her chest and hugged them. "If it wasn't you, then who was it?" She said as she started crying.

 

"I don't know. But right now you need to get ready for tonight." She looked at Mia, scared. "I won't go anywhere this time." Isabella nodded as she carefully got out of bed. Mia helped her out of bed to go to the bathing room.

 

"I've prepared warm water for you to relax your mind and body." Isabella nodded and thanked Mia.

 

"Thanks Mia." She stepped into the water and sat down and thought about so many things that's happened to her in the past couple days.

 

 

An hour later

 

"Bryce, I think you should tell this Isabella about this." Bryce shook his head.

 

"No, at least not yet. Besides, what can I tell her?" He stopped by the window, looking at the sky growing darker.

 

"Just say-"

 

"Say what to her? 'I'm a vampire.'" Percy stood there and shaking his head. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll have a wonderful time trying to understand what I'm saying." He said sarcastically.

 

"You're gonna have to tell her sooner or later." Bryce's hand curled into a fist.

 

"No. I'll find some other time to tell her. But it's not right now."

 

"Bryce, you don't even know her that well. Plus I think she's already accepted the fact that she's in-" Percy paused as Byrce zoomed out of sight. "Danger." Percy finished his sentence and sighed.

 

"You haven't even known her for at least a year, and yet you still act like you've been into her so deeply."

Chapter 7

 

It was almost time for the Fall Festival which was taking place tonight at night; everyone was finishing up with the stage.

 

"Mistress, here let me help you." Mia said as she helped Isabella with her new dress. The dress was a long silk dress that covered her feet. The dress was designed in a pattern from the straps to her waist area. While her hair was curled at the ends and flowed nicely onto her, Mia pinned strands of her hair up and added a flower crown on top.

 

Clips of images were flashing through her mind, what happened to her earlier, the man, all the things he told her.

 

Mia noticed how Isabella was off guard. "Mistress?" She looked at Mia and answered.

 

"Huh?"

 

Mia looked at her and noticed how she was sweating. "You're sweating. Are you still thinking about that?" She was caught off guard again as the events haunted her; she was about to faint again. "Mistress!" Mia caught her then she caught all her senses and stood up tall on her feet again.

 

She looked outside the window at the sky. "It's getting dark. Isn't the Fall Festival starting anytime soon?" She loved the beautiful view of the village, all the lights, and beautiful scenery of the ocean.

 

"Yes. It will begin soon." Mia said as she slipped on the outer coat for the dress on Isabella. "Mistress, it's time." She turned her head and nodded.

 

They walked out the door out of the dressing room, and to their surprise, Bryce was standing there, waiting.

 

Mia and Isabella both saw Bryce and curtsied at the same time. "Greetings to you, my lord." They both said.

 

Bryce walked over and helped Isabella up. "You're a guest. You don't have to bow to me if you don't want to." She looked at him and he curved a smile from the corners of his mouth.

 

"I may be a guest, but I'm still a commoner girl from the village who still has to curtsey to the King and all Nobles." Isabella said as she lowered her head, not looking at him anymore.

 

Bryce didn't like how Isabella was seeing herself as such a low ranked person in this world, even though he knew what she said was true.

 

He wondered how it would be like to be loved by her, to hold her in his arms, to have the privilege to kiss her, to touch her. He always wondered what it would be like to be able to call her his.

 

"I'd like to show a very special place." Isabella was scared it was another imposter being Bryce and dragging her into places again. Bryce saw how scared she was. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. You can trust me."

 

For Isabella, after hearing those words from Bryce, she thought to herself. Can I trust him? I've only met him for a couple days.

 

Bryce avoided reading her thoughts because he wanted to respect her privacy and her inner most thoughts, but he wanted to know what she always thought about on a daily basis.

 

He reached out his hand to her; she hesitated to reach out, but she finally reached out to his hand and held it tight.

 

Mia, who saw what was happening, left her mistress with Bryce. Besides, he was her half-brother.

 

"Where are you taking me-" Bryce pulled her hand and their bodies collided together. She smiled awkwardly as she backed away from him and was still holding his hand.

 

"I wanna show you a beautiful view up on the roof." He said as he smirked at her.

 

"The roof?" She let out a quiet laugh and looked down. "Isn't that a little too dangerous?"

 

He lifted her chin and looked into her deep brown eyes and smiled passionately. "But isn't a little danger fun as well?" He held her hand and led her down the hallway, bringing her to the roof of the palace.

 

When they both reached the rooftop, no doubt it was really was beautiful. A sight that Isabella haven't seen in a long time, the view, there was something special about it.

 

"This is-" Isabella said, followed by Bryce's words.

 

"So beautiful." He smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

 

For Bryce, it was one of the only times he ever saw her smile ever since he met her. All he wanted was to see the beautiful smile on her face everyday, but inside her heart, she's broken, in pieces. He wanted to be the glue and help her heal by putting the pieces together for her.

 

Isabella, remember you still have Colin! Her inner conscious came in as her smile vanished. So don't live happily ever after just yet! If Colin finds out you've been with another man, who knows what he will do.

 

But Bryce though.

 

She felt sorry for leading him on. She didn't want to regret for leading him into believing that they were actually going to be something in the future. Your future is with Colin, not with Bryce!

 

He made her feel special, he's helped her with pretty much everything. She couldn't lie from it, she's really grateful for everything he's done for her. From the night in the alley to today. It may have been only a day that she's been with him, but she just couldn't betray her love for Colin.

 

Bryce looked at her, still avoiding to read her mind, noticed how deep Isabella was into her thoughts.

 

"Isabella?" She flinched and looked at Bryce and sighed as she turned, facing towards him. "Is there something wrong?" She shook her head, denying her problems and lowered her head, holding her hands together.

 

She already felt guilty for him, for leading on such an amazing and sweet gentleman like Bryce. She couldn't imagine how he'd react if she told him that there was nothing real between them.

 

Bryce walked up to her and cupped her face with both of his hands and looked at her. "You can trust me." He dropped his hands, reaching for her hands and holding them into his chest. "I didn't want to tell you this and I will not lie to you, but ever since I first saw you, pardon me but I feel like I've fallen for a girl who seemed like an angel sent from the beautiful heavens."

 

Isabella teared up, but she didn't tear up cause of his beautiful words, but how she was going to regret this.

 

Bryce saw how she was tearing up, he caught a tear that was coming from her eye and wiped it away.

 

"I honestly don't want anything from you much because you're already all I could ever ask for."

 

Stay away from Bryce, Isabella! You can't do this to Colin. You promised yourself, that you would love only Colin for your lifetime.

 

Before she even realized it, Bryce locked his lips with hers.

 

Now you've done it!

 

Isabella was surprised by Bryce's actions, but she didn't retaliate or stop him; she just simply kissed back. Then Bryce backed away as he caressed her cheek, and he smiled at her.

 

"I only want you and your beautiful soul, nothing more." She smiled and laid her head in chest and looked at the beautiful view; Bryce held her in his chest, putting his arms around her.

 

He looked down at the village, the people were already starting, the guards were guarding the perimeters of the village and the stage.

 

"We should probably get going." Bryce said as Isabella was still in his arms.

 

Isabella felt safe in his arms, it was like he was sent down from the Gods to protect her from all harm. He had the face an actual angel and a heart of an angel, which was rare in this society. Which made her wonder, why was he single when he has every girl in the village, falling on their knees, just begging to be in bed with him?

 

It was getting pretty cold, plus with the cold wind blowing on them. Isabella was shivering from the wind and needed his warmth for her comfort. He felt her body shivering and held her close.

 

Isabella, don't blame me, your inner conscience when problems occur!

 

Bryce led her back inside, holding her hand, making sure she was right beside him. As they walked down the hallway, they ran into Percy and Charles.

 

"Yeah, and then I told my mother that I want to see the Fall Festival this year." Charles said from a distance. Charles looked over at Bryce, he was with a mistress, for the first time. "Who's that with Bryce?"

 

Percy looked over at Bryce with a mistress. "I'm not sure, that's probably the guest mistress."

 

Charles looked at Percy and back at Bryce and the girl. "I didn't know we had a guest. What's her name?"

 

Percy thought about it for a second. "I think he said her name was Isabella...?"

 

Charles was amused by how amazing she looked. He wondered if she was a mistress who lived nearby.

 

"Does she live nearby?" Percy shrugged his shoulders.

 

"I don't know, but I heard that Bryce found her in an alley one night when he was coming back from a trip in the woods." Percy said as he watched the both of them were talking and smiling.

 

"Bryce!" Bryce's attention was turned to Charles and Percy who were down on the other side of the hallway.

 

"Who's that?" Isabella asked as Bryce looked over at the two young gentlemen.

 

"Oh, you haven't met them yet?" She shook her head. "Then, I can introduce them to you." She smiled and nodded.

 

"I'd like that." She said as they walked over to them.

 

As they walked down the hallway, Isabella felt tense when she approached the two gentlemen, they were different, way different compared to Bryce.

 

"Who are you with, Bryce? Finally got yourself a mistress?" Charles teased as he looked at her.

 

"No. I'm just showing her around." She didn't look at them. "Isabella, this is Prince Charles, youngest son of King Henry."

 

She raised her head to look at him. Prince Charles. She curtsied and greeted him. "Greetings Your Highness." Charles nodded as she got up back to her feet.

 

"And Charles, this is Isabella, daughter of Mr. David Schmidt." Charles bowed down before her. She couldn't help but think of how handsome Prince Charles was, but she couldn't build improper thoughts on him.

 

"This is Percy, son of Noble Chamberlin Wasley. He was also with us earlier."

 

Percy finally got a look at the mistress, then he realized that it was the girl he supposedly spoke to a few days back.

 

"Greetings to you, my lord." She curtsied while Percy stood there frozen. She looked at him and met his blue eyes. She then realized that he was the stranger who came and asked for some medical materials at her house.

 

"Percy?" He flinched as he didn't realize he was staring at Isabella for a long period of time. "Is there something about Isabella?" Charles asked, Bryce and Isabella were still standing there with them.

 

"No, it's just that, forgive me. Greetings to you too, Miss Isabella. It's just that I think we've met somewhere and I just didn't realize that you were the guest." Isabella nodded, understanding him.

 

"You've met her before?" Bryce asked. Percy nodded. "Isabella?" He asked her, just making sure.

 

"Yeah, he came by my house and asked for some medical materials. But we didn't know each other till just now." She said as she looked at Percy.

 

Charles, standing there awkwardly, tried to catch on with the story of how Isabella and Percy met. He looked at Isabella and noticed how kind she was and how innocent she was.

 

"The Fall Festival is starting real soon, ten minutes to be precise." Charles said, disturbing the silence.

 

They all looked at Charles, Bryce nodded. "Ah, he's right. How about all of us go together?" Bryce offered. Percy and Charles agreed, and Isabella kindly smiled and they all walked down the hallway.

 

Isabella stayed close by Bryce, while Charles and Percy walked on their own.

 

"Isabella, may I ask how you are liking the palace?" Charles asked, starting a conversation.

 

She smiled and replied. "The palace is really beautiful. I've been wondering and adventuring around for a bit.." She trailed off as she thought about the dark hallway where she was earlier.

 

Bryce looked at her and she was flustered. "Isabella?" She looked at Bryce and smiled.

 

Avoiding the detail about the dark passageway, she just put a smile on her face and continued on. "Like I was saying, I was adventuring around for a bit and I found that servants don't just act like servants."

 

Charles giggled with Isabella as she laughed. "What do you mean that servants don't just act like servants?" Charles was amused by her humor and her presence.

 

"What I meant by that was the servants don't act like any regular old servant, they all have an education of some sort. And I've heard that way back in the 1200s, the kings never let any servant learn or have an education. They were always treated as an outsider."

 

Charles raised an eyebrow as if he never about it. "You're just playing with us with your smarts, aren't you?" She shook her head.

 

"Nope. Even if I was just flattering you with my smarts, I wouldn't brag about it or show off." She said as she stopped by some batch of flowers. She smelled one of the flowers. "These flowers look like," she smelled them one more time. "These flowers look like purple mallows, am I right?"

 

She looked back at them as they stood there looking at her. Bryce nodded and she smiled and looked back at the beautifully bloomed purple mallows.

 

"If you want them, I could order one of the servants to bring it to your room chamber where you're staying." She heard Aaron say behind her; she turned her head and looked at him.

 

"You would do that?" She was surprised.

 

"If you insist." He said as she looked back at the batch of flowers, she really loved how they had their rich color and their unique pattern in the center.

 

She turned her head again and smiled at Charles. "I'd appreciate that very much."

 

Bryce walked up to her and picked off a flower. He put it behind her ear.

 

"The flower matches you perfectly." Isabella pushed him off playfully as he teased her.

 

"Stop teasing me." She said as she ran off. She could feel her temperature rising up and her cheeks were really warm. Her heartbeat beating racing faster than normal.

 

But little did she know, she was gaining even more feelings for Bryce, and perhaps even for Charles and Percy as well.

 

Isabella, don't you dare forget about Colin.

Chapter 8

 

The Fall Festival was going to take place until midnight, then tomorrow was a huge feast that was hosted by the king and the queen.

 

Isabella was finished with her bath, grabbed a bath robe and put it around her naked body and her hair was already dried. She looked around to see if anybody was in her room, or broke in. Then she remembered she locked her chamber door.

 

She walked over to her wardrobe, debating whether she should go back outside to the Fall Festival. She grabbed her old clothes that were already washed and dried and wore them. She then grabbed her robe and walked outside of her chamber.

 

She looked around the hallway, and she walked down the hallway where she went to the roof with Bryce earlier. She quickly strides through the hallway and go to the roof.

 

When she got to the roof, she stood in the same place as she was before. She looked down at the festival, she saw all of the villagers and noticed that they were preparing for the fireworks.

 

She reached into her pocket to grab her handkerchief but when she reached into the pocket, someone else's handkerchief was in her pocket. She pulled out the handkerchief and looked at it, it had a small design on it just like the handkerchief she found this morning. In fact it looked exactly like the one she found this morning.

 

"I should probably return this." She said to herself. But you don't know who it belongs to! "Right." She sighed as she held the handkerchief in her hands and watched the fireworks by herself.

 

For the past four years, she's been watching the fireworks by herself. But before those four years, she always watched them together with Colin. She let out a sigh as she fiddles with the handkerchief in her hands.

 

"Looks like I'm gonna have to watch the fireworks by myself, again." She said sorrowfully. Then she was greeted by another voice from behind her.

 

"Then may I have the privilege to watch them tonight, with you?" She turned her head to see Colin, her mouth dropped as she saw him again. He smiled as he walked up to her and hugged her.

 

"I thought I was going to be lonely for the fifth time since we've last watched together." She said as she pulled away; he looked at her and stroked her nose bridge.

 

"Silly, you know I'll do anything just to watch the fireworks with you." She smiled and wrapped her arms around him and he did the same thing.

 

"But you're the silly one. You know better than to not come into the palace and come to the roof like this." She giggled as Colin stroked her back with his hand. "You know you'll get caught sooner or later."

 

"And if I do get caught, I'll still come inside the palace just to see you. Besides the palace guards are too busy guarding the perimeters of the city." She raised her head to look at him and smiled, then he pecked her lips and she rested her head on his shoulders.

 

"I'm just happy that I won't be spending my time tonight alone." She said as the fireworks were going; she didn't realize that she still had the handkerchief in her hands. She quietly put the handkerchief inside the robe, hoping Colin didn't see it.

 

* * *

 

"You can't stay here for too long." She urged Colin to go.

 

"Like I said, even if I do get caught, I'll still take the risk to see you." He caressed her cheek, and she lowered her head.

 

"Go. I don't want either of us getting caught." She said as she grabbed his hand from her cheek. "I don't want to live to see a day where there's no more you and I; I don't want to live without you--" He cupped her face, placing his thumb on her lips, stopping her from finishing her sentence.

 

They both looked at each other as she started to break down; he looked at her and it was obvious to see her pain right through. He has seen her through so much pain, and it made him want to kill himself that he couldn't protect her from all harm. He felt like an idiot person who just fell in love with an angel who needed to be protected at all times.

 

"I'm sorry for troubling you." She said, moving his thumbs from her lips. "I'm sorry-" He cut her off.

 

"Stop, I don't ever want to hear you apologizing for something you didn't do. I don't ever want to hear you say you're sorry." She lowered her head, with his hands hanging. "Okay. I'll go before someone sees or catches us." She nodded. He pulls her in for a kiss.

 

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself." She nodded her head.

 

"You too?" He nodded as well, then left.

 

She watched him as he left her on the rooftop, by herself again. He turns his head, looking at her, and curved a smile from he corners of his mouth. She smiled at him as he walked away into the darkness of the night.

 

She turned her head back and watched the festival coming to its end for the night. It was getting windy and cold, she decided to go back before Bryce came looking for her.

 

She walked down the hallway to her room chamber, she quickly made her way to her chamber and opened the door. She took off her robe and pulled her hair back from the messiness that the wind caused.

 

She walked over to the mirror and looked at her reflection. Isabella, what have you done? You've only caused troubled between the four of them. Bryce has to worry about you constantly, same thing goes for Colin. You're gonna suck in Charles and Percy into your dwell of complications.

 

Her subconscious said to her as she fixed her hair. Then she was interrupted by a knock on her door.

 

"Come in." She said without looking. Mia came in and greeted her.

 

"Good evening mistress." Hannah looked over and saw Mia in the doorway.

 

"Mia. What are you doing here?" She looked at Isabella with a nervous expression. "Is there something wrong?"

 

She smiled and shook her head. "No. It's just I came by to see if you wanted anything." She gave Isabella another look as she brushed her hair.

 

There was a long quiet pause as Mia still stood in the doorway. "Can I tell you something?" Mia hesitantly asked her mistress. She looked at Mia and nodded.

 

"Of course. What do you want to tell me?" Isabella said as she turned around to Mia's attention.

 

Mia walked over and sat down on the chair by the small table. "I don't know if you've noticed because of our total different personalities, but Bryce is my half brother."

 

Isabella's mouth dropped as she looked at Mia and started noticing similar features between the them. Yes, they were totally different people, despite the fact that she was a servant and Bryce was a Lord. But it didn't make sense.

 

"My father, well also his father, met my mother and she was a servant. She started having a sexual relation with his and my, our father." Isabella could tell that she was uncomfortable of calling Bryce's father her own father because she kept stuttering and sounded nervous.

 

"Back then, the palace was just as peaceful like now, but soon after a rumor broke out saying that our father was having an affair with one of the servants who was my birth mother." Mia kept pausing in between her words, but she listened closely.

 

"Mia, you don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable telling me." Isabella said politely as she stood up and walked over to Mia, caressing her shoulder.

 

"No. I need to tell you because I don't want the same thing to happen to you too." Mia looked up to meet with Hannah's eyes.

 

"Same thing happening to me?" Mia stood up to Isabella's height.

 

"Please listen. What I'm trying to say and about to explain to you is very important and very personal. And because I trust you, I'm telling one of the biggest secrets in my life." Mia desperately responded. She nodded.

 

"Like I said, rumors were going around saying that my mother was sleeping with father, but what made it worse was when someone made a rumor saying that my mother slept with another man as well. That made him angry and more than furious, he was rather pissed that she did that." Mia looked out the window, shrugging her shoulders.

 

"What did he do when he found out? You know, about that.." Isabella reluctantly asked.

 

"When the King found out about the affair, he was no doubt furious about the gossiping and rumors spreading rapidly." Mia slowly sat back down on the chair and Isabella turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed.

 

"But when he found out about that, he wanted to kill her right off the bat. But she was already pregnant." Mia looked at her mistress and watched as her emotions and expressions change as she explains the story to her.

 

"She was having you?" Mia nodded. "What happened to the other man?" Mia stopped for a second.

 

"He was killed right away by him, with the authority from the king." Isabella gasped, almost losing her breath. Then Mia continued.

 

"Of course, even though my mother was already pregnant by the time he found out, but it's a sin for a man to murder a pregnant woman. So he kept her alive for the nine months she carried me." Isabella felt sorry for Mia, she honestly thought Mia was a girl who had loving parents she had to care about.

 

"Then after the nine months and I was born, the King sent an order to behead my birth mother soon after I was born." Isabella gasped in shock, speechless. There was a sense of vengeance and anger in Mia's voice.

 

Her mother was killed right after she was born?! Isn't that another sin?

 

"Then when the question came around asking if anyone was willing to take me as an adoptive child because my father didn't want me after the incident with my mother." Isabella just looked at Mia as she explained her background story.

 

"Then I was taken in by a single mother who had a daughter, and that daughter was Aaliyah, the one who was with me, if you don't recall. But we both grew up together, and she's only a few years older than me." Isabella looked at Mia and didn't realize that her and Aaliyah were a few years apart, they didn't look that many years apart from each other.

 

"I'm seventeen and Aaliyah is nineteen." Isabella nodded, but she still didn't quite understand something.

 

"But Mia, there's something I still don't understand. Why did you say before that the same thing could happen to me?" Mia paused and looked down at her black and white servant dress, playing the material on her dress.

 

There was an awkward silence between them both; Isabella sat there and thought about some things, again.

 

Why is she telling me this? Is there a purpose why she told me about her past? She didn't seem too comfortable telling me about it, but she insisted on telling me. I swear she was on the verge to break down into tears.

 

Isabella looked at Mia as she sat there quietly, waiting for a response from her mistress.

 

"Why did you tell me about this?" Isabella said as she looked at Mia and she lifted her up her head to look at her mistress.

 

She bit her bottom lip, holding in the pain and the tears from her eyes. She looked at Isabella, worried.

 

"Mistress, do you love someone who lives outside of the palace?" Isabella paused as Mia's question popped up. "Well, do you?"

 

Colin.

 

"Yes." She quietly said. "Why?"

 

Mia sighed and kneeled in front of Isabella. "Don't fall for a royalty." Isabella looked at Mia like she was warning her about something.

 

"Mia, what are you say-"

 

"I don't want you to be separated from the person you truly love." Well the only problem for Isabella was, has she really fallen for a royalty?

 

"Mistress, I've seen how Bryce has been acting around you." Isabella looked at her as her eyes grew wider. "He's been acting like you're his prize possession, feeling like he always has to keep you close to him. He will keep an eye on you whenever you're not around him."

 

Then she remembered how just tonight Bryce kept asking her where her secret place was, he must've asked her because he wanted to follow her. He saved her those couple times.

 

But he cares about you dearly.

 

No! He will ruin your life one way or another!

 

But he's only looking out for you.

 

Remember that he will destroy you and Colin's relationship. He may be a Prince Charming on the outside, but you don't know his heart and what's he really like!

 

He loves you, he's told you that before. He expresses it very clearly and it's clear that he cares for you. He really does love you.

 

Oh bony love is all that he shows, his love is shallow. It's a shallow love, Isabella. Listen to your subconscious, me! Listen to me!

 

Listen to your heart, Isabella.

 

She looked at Mia and shakily asked her, "Mia, tell me. If Bryce does find out that I was with another man behind his back, what would he do to me and to the man I love?"

 

Mia stood there, speechless, not knowing how to respond to her. "He may do the same thing as his father did to the man that my mother loved, kill him. And if he's benevolent, he may spare you, but he will kill whoever you were with and he will ask you demandingly who you were with."

 

"Would you tell him if I told you who it was?" Mia quickly shook her head saying no.

 

"No. I'm not that kind of person who gossips about others, especially after my mother's death." Isabella sighed in relief. "Who is this mysterious Prince Charming that has my mistress's heart?" Mia said as she teased a little.

 

Colin.

 

Isabella smiled at the thought of him; she loved the way he had his own true passions in life. She loved how he was ambitious and determined to make his dreams come true. She loved how he would always go much farther to help her with anything.

 

But then she encountered Bryce Duncan, a Royalty. Don't fall for a Royalty. Mia's words repeated inside her mind.

 

That meant if she were to fall for Bryce, things will go badly wrong. For Colin. For Bryce. And for her. But what?

Chapter 9

 

Everything happened so fast, Isabella didn't think that it would affect her relationship with Colin. But what Mia just told her, she was beyond speechless and flustered.

 

She knew Bryce had feelings for her but she didn't know that he would keep her away from those who she loved. She knew that he didn't love her for nothing.

 

Mia was right. If Mia has been noticing that Bryce has been acting weirdly around her, that would mean that he may be getting attached to her.

 

But what would stop Bryce from doing the things he's doing?

 

"It's getting late. I should probably let you get some sleep." Mia said as she stood up from her chair. Isabella politely nodded and smiled.

 

"Okay." Isabella also got up from the edge of her bed and walked over and got in bed. Mia closed the door behind her as she left.

 

Isabella got under the warm blanket and thought about it again before she drifted off to sleep.

 

If Bryce's going to keep me away from Shawn, then I must leave tomorrow after the feast.

 

* * *

 

Isabella woke up in the same position last night, but she sensed someone next to her. She looked over and Bryce was there.

 

She gasped but covered her mouth as she didn't want to wake him up. But he made her jump out of her own skin with his presence next to her, in bed. Shirtless.

 

She looked around to see if Mia or Aaliyah were around, but they weren't. Then she looked at the clock. 10:46. She sighed in amusement as she looked at sleepy Bryce.

 

She looked at his messy light brown hair; it was so tempting for her to run her fingers through his hair because it looked so soft and smooth. She looked at him and thought how did he get into her bed. She slowly and quietly got out of her bed which Bryce was sleeping in as well; she quietly tip-toed to her side chamber and take a quiet bath.

 

Luckily, she didn't wake him up, but he did move as she was getting out of bed. She wondered what he would do if he saw her getting out of bed. Would he pull her back into bed and cuddle with her? Would he do things that she'd never imagine he would do? What would he do?

 

She walked into her side chamber and the bathtub was already filled up, the water was still warm.

 

"Mind if I join you?" Isabella flinched as she heard a familiar voice from behind her. She turned her head to see a shirtless Bryce, standing in the doorway. Her eyes immediately went down to his toned abs and his muscular built body. What a breathtaking sight!

 

He watched her as she looked at him. "Isabella?" Her eyes then met with his, then he followed her eyes and smirked. "Love the view? I've been working out for the past few months."

 

She lowered her head and turned back around, thinking to herself, calling herself an idiot. Isabella, you are seriously an idiot. Why did you look at his body, like? Yeah, he is in fact really handsome and surprisingly he has a well-built body.

 

He was still standing behind her in the doorway. "Mind if I join you?" She turned her head, thinking what he meant. She was about to take a bath, and he wanted to join her, in the bath, naked. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna do anything to you. I promise." He said as he raised both of hands up in defense.

 

She thought about it for a few seconds.

 

"If you're still nervous, then I'll leave you if you ask." She looked at him and stopped him.

 

"No." She paused and let out a breath. "You can join me if you please." Bryce kindly smiled and walked over to her. She felt his hand touch her shoulders, his touch made her body tingle and made her body weak. She observed his deltoids and how they were strongly built, they weren't normal built. They were as if it was molded to his body and he evolved into them.

 

"When did you wake up anyway?" She asked as he was about step into the bathtub. He turned his head and his eyes met with hers.

 

"I woke up about an hour earlier, and you were asleep, so I decided to prepare some warm water for you when you woke up." He said as she nodded.

 

"When did you come into my room?" She said with a quiet laugh.

 

"Oh about that..." He said as he walked up to her, only inches away from their lips making contact. He wrapped his arms around her small, petite body waist.

 

"Bryce-" He stopped her words with his thumb; she looked deep into his eyes, seeing his desire and lust for her.

 

He leaned in, kissing her. She came into shock by his actions, but she couldn't resist his touch and what affect he had on her. She tilted her head as he trailed down to her jawline, a quiet moan escapes from her lips; his heavy breathing and his wet kisses made her body tremble. Her breath staggers as his fingers tickle up her torso, biting her lip.

 

She wraps her arms around his back and gently scratches his back in pleasure as he gently bit on her neck, leaving his bite marks on her. Then his fangs came in, but he didn't want to hurt her without her consent.

 

He stopped, released her body and quickly turned around, facing away from her. He didn't want her to know about his vampire side. She stood there for a second, and thought to herself. What's wrong? Everything was going perfectly perfect.

 

"I'll leave you to your bath time." He said as he walked out of her room. Isabella, who was still standing in the bathroom, flustered. She turned around and stripped off her dress.

 

Bryce walked out of her room, shirtless. He quickly opened her chamber door again and walked into her side chamber to see her stripping off her dress in front of him.

 

Isabella felt a presence of someone in the room chamber with her. Her eyes widen as she realizes she's only in her undergarments. Then she was wrapped around a pair of arms around her shoulders.

 

"Hey." He whispered into her ear as he gently kissed her neck. She grabbed his hands, interlocking their fingers together. He stopped and looked at their hands. "Your hand fits in mine perfectly." He smiles as he holds her hands.

 

"If you keep coming in like this, I'll never be able to take that bath." She said, letting out a giggle.

 

Isabella, have you completely forgotten about Colin?!

 

"Oh! Sorry about that." He said as he released her. He turned around as she took off her undergarments and stepped into the tub.

 

He turned his head to look at her, she was washing her body with the bar of soap, then he saw how she was struggling to reach over her shoulders to wash her back.

 

Then without any hesitation, he walked up to her and offered his help.

 

"Here. Let me help you with that." She turned her head a bit at the sound of his voice; she handed him the bar of soap onto his hand. Then he gently scrubbed her back with it, it was awkward for a few seconds until Isabella broke the silence.

 

"What happened with you earlier?" He stopped at the question and she sat there, waiting for his response. "Bryce?" He flinched. "Is there something wrong?"

 

He slowly scrubbed her back again. "No. Nothing's wrong." She turned her head to look at him; he smiled.

 

It'd be hard for me to tell you. But I can't lie to you either. Ugh. Why does things have to be complicated with this secret of mine?

 

"Are you sure?" She asked as he stopped scrubbing her back. "Bryce?"

 

His temperature was rising and his breathing was getting heavier and heavier. Isabella tuned her head fully to look at Bryce, he looked like he was having a panic attack.

 

"Bryce?!" Isabella said as she grabbed Bryce by his arms and placing him on the ground next to the bathtub. She then grabbed her bath robe on the hangar next to the tub, wrapping it around her naked body.

 

She crouched down to him, he was breathing heavily and his heart beat was faster by the minute.

 

"Bryce?" She didn't know what to do. If she went to go find someone, leaving him here, he could die without her knowing. If she stayed, he really could die.

 

She had no choice but to bring him back onto the bed, so she grabbed his arm and carried him to her bed. She looked at the clock, 12:28, and the feast was in less than four hours.

 

Then Mia came in and she was interrupted by Isabella. "Milady-!"

 

"Mia, you have to go find someone who can help Bryce!" Isabella shouted as she dragged Mia over to Bryce. "He's breathing really heavily and his heartbeat is unsteady. And I don't know what to do." Isabella said as she paced back and forth in her room.

 

"Mistress, he's fine." Mia simply said as she looked Bryce.

 

"How can you-?" She said as she looked at Bryce, who was sleeping peacefully as he was before. "But he-!" She was lost in her words.

 

"He's fine. He was having a panic attack." Isabella looked at Mia and walked up to her.

 

How can he be fine the next minute? This is getting fishy . . . something doesn't seem right.

 

"But isn't that a serious matter?" Mia shook her head. "What the bloody hell is this then? Few minutes ago, I was panicking because I didn't know what to. Then I get told by you saying that it's nothing serious?"

 

Mia lowered her head, shaking it. "Other than that, did you take your bath?" Isabella's eyes widen as she realizes she didn't exactly take a bath, she only washed her body but she forgot to wash her hair. She then quickly dashed to the bathing room and washed her hair.

 

Bryce groaned as he woke up from the event. "What happened?" Mia looked at her half-brother, who doesn't know his half-sister yet. He sat up and saw Mia standing in the room. "I said what happened?" Bryce said with a firm voice.

 

Mia gulped as she heard his strong voice. "You had a panic attack." She said in a quiet voice. He looked at her as she said it with weak tone in her voice.

 

"What?" He said as if he didn't hear her.

 

"You had a panic attack, sir." She didn't like calling him 'sir' for a reason: he was her half-brother.

 

"A panic attack?" He said with a laugh. "Nonsense. For all my long years never have I ever had a panic attack." Mia looked at him, avoiding his naked body.

 

"Mistress was in a panic when she didn't know what to do, my lord." He looked at Mia who had her head down, not looking at him.

 

"Isabella? Where is she now?" He said while he scanned the room, looking for her. Mia looked over at the door to the side chamber. "Oh. Well, I best be going, tell her that I left to also get ready as well." Mia nodded as he left.

 

Then Isabella walked out soon after he left; Mia walked up to her mistress, helping her get ready. She looked around, looking for Bryce. Mia saw the look on her face and she assumed she was looking for Bryce.

 

"Oh, if you're looking for Bryce, he went to go ready for the feast as well." Isabella smiled and nodded as Mia dried her hair.

 

"What's this huge feast anyway?" Isabella asked as Mia helped drying her hair.

 

"Well, I heard that there's going to a masquerade ball after the feast." Isabella's eyes widened.

 

"A masquerade ball?" Mia nodded.

 

"You'll gonna love it. I promise you." Mia said as she started playing her mistress's hair.

 

* * *

 

"You look wonderful!" Mia exclaimed as she was in love with the sight of her mistress's beautiful look. The sequined top with a design on below her rib cage, then there's the long ruffled to top off the dress. Her hair was curled and pinned halfway down and the rest fell into place on her shoulders.

 

"And what's a masquerade ball without the mask?" Mia said as she handed Isabella a white and gold patterned mask. She looked at the mask and looked at Mia.

 

"What about you?" She asked as Mia shook her head.

 

"Oh no! Us servants are not allowed to dress up on occasions." Mia said quickly as she grabbed the mask and helped Isabella put it on. "Now you're ready to go." Mia escorted her mistress out the door and headed down to the main ballroom where the event was taking place.

 

The room was lit and festive just like the festival the night before. It had a chandelier shining bright above the ground. The floor was polished and shined. All the table filled with snacks and drinks were on the ends of the room.

 

Isabella looked around the room, looking for one particular person: Colin.

 

"I'll shall leave you here." Mia said as she left Isabella in the doorway of the ballroom.

 

A guard then came up to greet her. "Good evening, my lady." Isabella kindly smiled at the guard and looked around the room. "Are you looking for someone?" She looked back at the guard and shook her head.

 

"No. But have you seen Lord Bryce?" The guard looked around the ballroom as well, but shook his head.

 

"No. I believe he's not here yet." Her heart sinked. Isabella sighed and nodded as she walked into the ballroom by herself.

 

Looks like you're gonna be alone tonight, Isabella. Now where's Colin?

 

"Nate, I think you should find a fine lady tonight." Nate and Stephen were conversing in the ballroom as everyone was dancing.

 

Nate smirked as he was enjoying his drink. "For what?" He said with a deep laugh.

 

"For you to take to bed and make her yours tonight." Stephen smirked as Nate finishes off his drink, then his eyes laid onto a girl.

 

Stephen noticed his gaze was laid onto someone. He followed his gaze across the room, and he saw a mistress, standing alone across the room. He smirked as he looked at Nate.

 

"So I see you've got your eyes on a mistress there..." He said, talking to his friend who didn't pay attention. "Shall you bride her to your bed and make her yours? Or shall I do that for you while you stand there and watch me do it?"

 

Nate shot him a look. "Quit with your dirty words and comments, Stephen. I bet you can't even get a fair maiden in your bed before I could." Stpehen didn't respond.

 

Nate followed the mistress to the snacks and drinks tables; he decided to make the first move to talk to her.

 

I think I'll take a cup of grape wine. She grabbed the cup of wine and she was greeted by a stranger.

 

"Hello." She looked at the man, distinctively. "I don't believe we've met yet. My name is Nate. Nate Edwards."

PART 3 - FINDING YOURSELF

"Be yourself. The world worships the original." ~ Ingrid Bergman 

 

Chapter 10

 

Everyone in the room was dancing to a classical waltz music that was played by the orchestra band. Everyone was all dressed up; most of the men were wearing black suits, hardly any of them wore any other color other than black. Women wore long beautiful dress of all different kinds of colors, white, black, red, blue, green, all different shades of each of the colors.

 

Bryce stopped by Isabella's room, hoping she'd still be in her room and waiting for him to escort her down to the ballroom, and hoping dance with her.

 

"My lord, Miss Isabella was already been escorted down to the ballroom." Bryce looked at his guard and looked back at her door, about to open it.

 

The music was playing from a distance from the ballroom. Bryce decided to go down to the ballroom without looking into her room, but he was hoping she'd actually be down at the ballroom.

 

He walked down to the ballroom and the guard who was guarding the ballroom bowed as he walked past by.

 

He walked in and searched the room for Isabella, he hoped he can find her quick enough before a man got the chance to dance with her.

 

Then he saw Isabella, even though she had a mask on, he could spot her in a room filled with other women. He looked at her and he saw her talking to another man. His anger was boiling inside of him, his heart had turned black and cold like coal, just waiting to be lit up with fire. He'd kill anyone who got in his way into making Isabella his. He zoomed across the room and casually walked up to her.

 

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll be here sometime soon." Bryce looked at the man who was talking to Isabella and he knew exactly who it was. Nate Edwards. "You seem like a nice person." She softly laughed and shook her head.

 

"Please don't say that, I may not be the girl you think I am." Nate looked at her as he saw Bryce walking up to them.

 

Bryce cleared his throat, hoping Isabella would hear him. She turned around and smiled at him.

 

"Hey. I was looking for you. Where were you?" She asked him as he was looking at Nate, and of course Nate glared right back at Bryce.

 

Stay away from her; she's mine. Bryce thought to himself, hoping Nate would read his mind and knows what's his.

 

Be careful who you're dealing with here, my friend. Bryce read Nate's mind and let out a heavy sigh. You should know who you're dealing with here.

 

I don't have to. I already know who you are and what you are. Stay away from her. And I think I have to say it once again; she's mine! Nate looked at Isabella who was standing there, looking at the both of them, quietly.

 

"Is there something wrong? Do I need to know something?" They both shook their heads and Isabella just sighed and slowly walked along the tables.

 

"Hello." She was greeted by another man, who looked awfully familiar. She looked behind her to look at Bryce and he was still standing there with Nate; it looked like they were having a serious conversation without speaking. Weird.

 

She then looked back, then to her surprise she bumped into a young gentleman with blond hair, but his roots were brown. He was also wearing a black suit as well, which she didn't lie, he looked very fine in.

 

"Hi, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you." She said as he smiled at her. She smiled back.

 

"No, no, no. It's okay." He looked at her as she was about to walk away. "Oh where are my manners? I'm Stephen Hart." She stopped and turned around to look at the young man as her mind lit up as she heard his name. Stephen Hart. Her sister was married to his brother. "What might your name be?" He said as he grabbed her bare hand and kissed the top of her hand.

 

"I'm Isabella Schmidt." Matthew paused as he heard her name and he looked at her, not noticing that he was speaking to his sister-in-law's younger sister.

 

My dear, where have you been all my life?

 

Stephen stared at her for a period of time while Isabella was standing there and looking at him, examining his features.

 

"You're Alison's younger sister?" She nodded. "Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Isabella." His romantic gestures were no different from Bryce's.

 

"Well, the pleasure is all mine, Stephen." She said as he walked away. She looked as he walked away, she heard the clicking of his heels under his shoes. His hair was pulled back and a little bit of gel.

 

She looked at Bryce and he was gone. Her heart fell to her stomach for a whole second until someone tapped on her shoulders. She turned her head to see another man. How many men are going to talk to me for tonight? And what's up with Bryce today?

 

She turned her back around and observed the ballroom, then she felt the person breathing next to her ear. "You seriously going to ignore me?" She recognize the voice from anywhere.

 

She turned her head and looked at the person. "Colin. How long have you been here?" He stood back up as he was drinking the cup of wine that was in his hand.

 

"Not that long, but long enough to wait for you." He looked at her and saw her dress. "You look lovely in that dress." Then Colin crouched down to her ear again and whispered into her ear something she had never heard from him. "But I don't think you'd still be in that dress in my bed."

 

She looked at him and quickly stepped away from him as he smirked. "What's with you today, Colin?" He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the ballroom and taking her down to a hallway.

 

They both stood there for a few seconds. What's wrong with Colin? He seems so hesitant. Something was empowering over Colin, his member was getting harder, urging him to take her.

 

"Fuck it. I can't take this anymore."

 

He walked up to her, cupping her face and kissed her lips. His tongue was in her mouth exploring her, his hand was unzipping her dress while she allowed him to finally take her. She slipped out of her dress, exposing her undergarments.

 

Without breaking the kiss, Colin took off his coat as he ran his fingers up and down her delicate, virgin body. She then undid his buttoned up white shirt; he moved a strand of her hair behind her ear as she opened one of the chambers to a room. She pushed him in and grabbed her dress and his coat.

 

"We gotta pick up after ourselves." She said as she came back into the room and was on top of him, kissing him. She felt his member getting hard, knowing his frustration, she teased him by palming his area with the palm of her hand.

 

Colin let out a groan and a moan as she continued to teased him in his area. He looked at her and turned her over so that he was on top of her. "Don't play with me like that." He kissed her lips and his hands were cupping her breasts; he bit gently bit her lips as he backed up. "Because you have absolutely no idea what I could do to you with just my hands and my mouth."

 

She giggled at the thought of him inside of her. "Then I'd love to see what Mr. Colin Meyers can do with just his hands and his mouth." He curved a smirk at her as he kissed her.

 

"I'll be more than glad to show you." He whispered into her ear and kissed her neck, biting onto neck. She scratched down his back and he continued to kiss along her neck, gently leaving his bite marks on her neck.

 

She arched her back and let out a moan as he found her sweet spot on her neck. He heard her moan, he figured he had found her sweet spot on her neck. He continued to suck on her sweet spot, making her moan a bit louder, but she bit bottom lip, holding in her moan.

 

His hand trailed down her stomach, tickling her stomach with her body moving from side to side. He sat up and pulled her up to his lap. He wanted her to undo his pants, and she was more than happy to do so.

 

He unclipped her bra as she undid his pants. He slipped the straps of her bra down her shoulders and he took off his pants. He wrapped around her body, kissing her and laid her back down on the mattress. He took her bra and slipped to the side, kissing her breasts. Running her fingers through his hair, he trailed down her bare stomach with his wet kisses and gently biting onto her body.

 

He looked at her and their eyes met as he smirked; he placed his hands inside her underwear, playing her virgin clitoris. She bit her bottom lip as he was teasing her with his own way. He watched as she was moaning and groaning in her pleasure; she covered her mouth, holding in her moans.

 

"Fuck." She said frustratingly as she was wanting to stop Colin from giving her an orgasm. He quickly stopped before she came, but just quick enough to get her going. "You wanna play around with me, huh?" She giggled as she turned him over so that she was on top of him. "Now it's my turn."

 

She smashed her lips against his and his fingers trailing up and down her torso. She backs away and kisses down his neck, gently biting onto his neck and her bite marks are located on his neck.

 

She then moved her hands down to his lower waist area, past his v-line and rubbed against his member.

 

"Stop teasing me and just get to it." She heard him saying in his deep voice as her hands went inside his underwear and stroked his member. She watched him as he moaned in pleasure; he then kicked his lips and bit his bottom lip as his eyes met Isabella's.

 

"I never knew you were so good at giving a hand job." He said she leaned in for a kiss.

 

She giggled as she started stroking his member faster and faster, watching him enjoying and moan in pleasure. "There's so many things you don't know I could do."

 

He then sat up and grabbed her free hand and pulled her close to only inches away from their lips touching. He panted as he quickly uttered, "if you got me, I got you."

 

With his free hand while holding her other hand behind her back, he slipped his hand inside her underwear and penetrated her clit. Her back arches as she feels her body tingles to his penetration. She bites her lip, hiding her moans.

 

She begins to stroke his member as he continued to penetrate her clit. As much as she wanted to stop him from her having an orgasm, her other hand was held behind her back with his. She groaned as if she couldn't take it anymore, but that only gave him the motivation to do it even more.

 

Chills ran up quickly her spine as she was biting her lip from her orgasm. He watched as she gave up to him; giving in to his domination. "This is why you should've never teased me." He whispered to her ear as she ran her fingers through her hair, moving it away from her face.

 

She panted as he kissed her lower neck area on her sweet spot; his hands were caressing up and down on her inner thighs and close to her entrance. "Your body is very responsive. I like it, very much."

 

She arched her back as he kissed down to her chest, leaving a few marks here and there on her breasts. He looked at her as she slowly spread her legs out for him. He gently planted a few kisses on her inner thighs which made her body feel in a wonderland.

 

He knew for a fact that she was a virgin, so he was careful for her first time and was gentle with her as well.

 

She looked as his hand caressed her thighs and kissing them, going closer and closer to her entrance.

 

Her body tingled as he moved in closer and closer, then she gasped as she felt a warm tongue on her area. She looked at him as his tongue was inside her; her hands clinched onto the mattress as he moved his head from side to side.

 

Her heartbeat was beating fast as she gasped and moaned, panting. "Shawn, oh my god." She moved her body up the mattress, grabbing onto the sheets. He wrapped his arms around her thighs, placed his hands on her stomach to hold her down and stop her from moving around.

 

She ran her fingers through his hair as her breath hitched and groaned, releasing her fingers from his hair. She watched as he slowly inserted a finger inside her, she licked her lips, biting her bottom lip as he penetrated her with her finger.

 

She felt him moving his finger inside of her, she bit her lip while flashing a cheeky smile at him. Her expression changes as he picks up the pace slowly, arousing her, pleasuring her needs. She arches her back as he slowed down and came up to kissed her.

 

He caresses her cheek and whispers to her. "You taste very good." He said as she giggled. She pulled him in, crashing their lips together and she then slips her hand down to his member.

 

She flipped him over so that she was on top of him; she kissed him as her hips grinded on his member, she felt him getting hard. She slowly worked her way down; he gently pulled her hair so that it was away from her face. She pulled off his underwear, exposing his member.

 

To her shock, his member was a lot bigger than she had imagined it'd be. Oh dear! She grabbed his member, stroking it then to her risk, she put her mouth around his member.

 

He watched as she bobbed her head back and forth on his member, he pulled her hair back, twisting it. She then stopped and kissed her way back to connect with his lips; he caressed her torso and backed away.

 

He reached into his suit jacket, pulling a small package.

 

She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his muscular body, compared to hers. He turned around to meet her eyes and her lips; she looked at him as his hands caressed her cheeks.

 

"You sure you want this?" He asked her as he kissed her. "I don't want to do something you're going to regret in the future." He leaned in for another kiss but she stopped him with her pointer finger right before his lips landed on hers.

 

"I want this." She moved the finger away and politely smiled. "And no I'm not going to regret this. It's just you and I right now." He leaned in and this time she didn't stop him, just letting continue his doing.

 

His hands went up her torso, wrapping around her small, fragile body. He kissed her neck as she breathed onto his neck, his kisses made her feel some type of way.

 

"Jump." He whispered into her ear and she did so.

 

He wrapped his arms around her hips, holding her up in his big and strong arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck as their lips were touching. He then walked over back to the bed and placed her on the sheets.

 

They both looked at each other as he slowly went inside of her; she closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip and inhaled sharply, holding in the pain. A moan escaped from her mouth even though she was doing everything she can to hide her pain.

 

He looked at her as her eyes met his; it broke his heart to see her in pain, but it was her first time. They both knew the result of it. "You okay?" She nodded. He leaned in and kissed her as he slowly went faster. He grabbed her hands, interlocking their fingers together and stretched her arms out on the bed. She groaned in excitement as he picked up the pace. "Colin. . ." He loved hearing her moan his name.

 

"Say my name." He gritted through his teeth. "Say it!" He was getting aggressive but was still in control.

 

"Yes, oh my god! Colin yes!" Hearing her moan was giving him the pleasure and motivation to go faster. "Colin!" She quietly screamed his name. He released their hands and her hands cupped his cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss; she moaned as they were still kissing.

 

"Isabella." He moaned her name as he was about cum. He moaned as she was about to too.

 

"Oh my god, Colin." She wrapped her arms around his neck as he released himself and caught himself.

 

He fell beside her and moved her into his arms. He held her in his arms and played with her hair, and kissed her forehead. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him, cuddling in his arms.

 

"I wouldn't be lying if I said that was the best thing ever that ever happened to me tonight." She quietly uttered as he played with her hair. "Colin?"

 

"Hmm?" He said as she lifted up her head to look at him.

 

"I know I don't say it enough, but I do love you, very much." He smiled and she did the same.

 

"I love you too." He kissed her forehead and whispered. "My princess." She smiled and moved in closer into the warmth of his body. "You cold?" She nodded. "I got you baby girl." She was shocked to hear him call her baby girl, for the very first time.

 

And then soon enough they both slowly drifted off to sleep, in each other's arms.

Chapter 11

 

"You already know who you're talking to, so don't even try me." Nate smirked sinisterly as Bryce walked past him; Nate stopped Bryce, pushing him back. "Just where do you think you're going?"

 

Bryce gave him a dirty look, glaring at him as his eye color changed from his innocent and sweet chocolate brown eyes to a fiery yellow color, expecting Nate to back off before he lost it. But to his surprise, Nate didn't flinch nor blink. He just stood there.

 

Nate chuckled as he wanted to laugh at Bryce's face. "Think you could scare me with your alter ego, vampire side? I highly doubt it. Any vampire that stood in my way, with just the grasp of my hand, I've already got their precious life in my hands." Nate took two small, baby steps towards Bryce.

 

Bryce didn't move from his position, yet he just stood there in the same spot. He wanted to go find Isabella, she just vanished from the ballroom. He was worried, desperately for her safety.

 

"Cat got your tongue?" Nate said as he clapped his hands loudly, echoing down the dark hallway outside of the ballroom, which was only lit by a small chandelier from round ceiling.

 

Bryce walked up to Nate and hissed as he pushed Nate off his balance. "I don't have to intimidate you with my vampirism, but you will be intimidated by the King's presence when he finds out that you've returned from your exile all those years ago."

 

Nate scoffed, the heels of his shoes clicked on fine glass floor as he circled back around to Bryce. "If he does find out . . ." He placed his hands in the pocket of his pants. "By the time he finds out, I'll already have his head ripped off his body and maybe already have staked his heart."

 

Bryce growled. "You may not be an official of the court anymore, but you cannot insult the King like that in front of me." He said as he grabbed the collar of Nate's black jacket. "You'll always be a werewolf who howls at the moon at night, but be careful who you howl to at night."

 

Nate chuckled evilly. "You mean, the young and beautiful Miss Isabella?" He smirked at the thought of her. "You know if she agreed, I'd be more than glad to show her."

 

Bryce hissed. "She's not yours, so stay away from her." He lets go of his collar and as Nate fixes his jacket, brushing it off back to its smooth form.

 

"I can do whatever the fuck I want if I please to do so. And that goes for the beautiful young mistress, Isabella, as well." Bryce growled as he grabbed Nate by the neck and pushed him to the wall.

 

Nate smirked as he laughed at Bryce. "What? You think I'm gonna do something bad to her?" Bryce didn't answer. "No wonder why she's lonely in the nighttime, because she doesn't have someone to keep her company."

 

Bryce squeezed his grip tighter around his neck. "I'm not some sick perverted person, like you, who would sexualize a woman's body and treat it like a toy."

 

"Oh come on, not even for one second?" Nate said as he looked into Bryce's eye. "She has a very unusual yet a special affection, and even during the little time I had with her, I can already smell the beauty of her virgin body. You know she already makes me want push her against the wall and fuck her fragile body, giving her the best of the best."

 

Bryce showed no emotion as he spoke. "Admit it Bryce, she gives the same feeling as well. You want to be able to push yourself inside of her fragile body." He grabbed his wrists and pushed him off of him. "You want her to scream your name while you thrust yourself inside her." He was getting under Bryce's skin. "Be a man for once, Bryce!"

 

"Shut up!" He chuckled as Bryce wanted him to shut up.

 

"Fine. Besides, I don't deal with people who don't know how to pleasure themselves." Nate said as he walked away down the dark hallway. "And don't think I don't know you saved her from the streets the other night when she ran away from her home."

 

"You stay away from her. She's got nothing to deal with you." Nate stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at Bryce. His eyes were still glowing with the bright yellow tone in his eyes.

 

"Actually in the short amount of time I've spent with her, I've known her well enough already; unlike you, you haven't even spend one minute with her to know her." Nate played with one of the rings around his fingers. "Also, she's not the girl you've known for the past few days."

 

Lies. I can see it all over his face. Bryce thought to himself as he leaned against the wall off to the side of hallway.

 

"What makes you think that I'm not relevant to her? You're the irrelevant one who wooed her in just a few short minutes. You don't even know her."

 

"Neither do you." Bryce stopped, lost in his words, not knowing what to say. He just scoffed frustratedly, not bothering Nate as he walked.

 

Speaking of Isabella, where is she? I hope she's in the ballroom. That bastard, stinking Nate Edwards thinking he's so confident and cocky.

 

Bryce walked down the dark hallway back to the ballroom. As he walked down the hall, he ran into a maid; he grabbed the maid and pulled her into one of the rooms of the hallway.

 

To her shock, Bryce pushed her onto a bed of the room. "My lord." She said nervously, as a maid, she couldn't do anything to protect herself. If she did, she would be punished.

 

"Get up!" Bryce shouted at the maid. She nervously stood up, keeping her head lowered. "What's your name?!" She flinched as he yelled at her.

 

"M-M-M--" Bryce growled.

 

"Quit your stammering before I rip your head off!" Bryce said as his hand collided with her cheek, making her fall to her knees. She whimpered as she held her cheek where he hit her; she was scared to say anything or do anything.

 

"Now let's try this one more time, what's your name?" He said more calmly but there was no sympathy in his voice.

 

"M-M-Mia..." The maid stuttered as he grabbed her arm. picking her up back to her feet.

 

"Mia . . . Aren't you Isabella's maid?" She kept her head lowered. "Look at me!" She flinched as she quietly responded.

 

"I dare not to." She said as she took one step back away from him.

 

"Look at me!" She slowly lifted up her head to look at Bryce, but not meeting his eyes. "When I say you look at me, you look at me in the eye!" He said as their eyes met. He scoffed in amusement.

 

"I'm afraid I've overlooked your beauty. You are in fact beautiful, I will not lie." He said as he began caressing her cheek, her eyes followed his hand as his finger circled around down to her chest. Her breath hitched as he continued to do the same thing but he was going down lower and lower.

 

"So tell me, where is Isabella?" She inhaled deeply, smelling his strong cologne from his suit.

 

"She's at the ball." Bryce looked at her as he walked around her, standing behind her. He leaned his head next her ear, and his hands slowly trailed up her torso.

 

"How much do you know her?" He whispered into her ear as she heavily breathed in and out.

 

Although Mia knew that they were both brother and sister through their father's blood, but Bryce didn't know because he was told that he was the only child.

 

She could feel her heart beating inside of her; she was really scared that he could do anything to her in a split second before she could even blink.

 

"So, how much do you know her?" He caressed her loose hair from her shoulders. "Did she ever talk about anything important?"

 

"No." She said weakly as her voice shook.

 

He didn't seem convinced. "You lie!" He shouted into her ear. "Tell me what she told you or else...!" He paused for a moment. "Or else, I will just have to make you tell me." She tilt her head up as her eyes skimmed the dark room and how vulnerable she felt at the very moment.

 

"I am telling you the truth, she never told me anything other than her name. I swear, she never told me anything more than her name." Mia wanted to rush out of the room and find Isabella and get her out of the palace.

 

Bryce moved to her other ear. "Yeah, but your eyes say something else. She told you something very important, something very precious . . ." Bryce laid his hand on her shoulder as she flinched as he caressed her shoulders.

 

"I swear on my soul that she never told me anything else other than her name." Mia quickly said as she slowly walked over to the door, but to her surprise, Bryce zoomed over to the door and blocked her way, holding the door.

 

"Tell me. Just tell me. I won't force you." Mia backed up as he dropped his arm, looking at her as he walked up to her.

 

"No . . . You just said--" He cut her off, unsatisfied.

 

"You are a servant. You dare talk back at me?!" Mia closed her mouth and breathed in. He moved closer to her and again she backed away from him, keeping her distance away from him as possible.

 

"Now, Mia, tell me, what did she tell you?"

 

A knock on the door interrupted them. Bryce sighed angrily while Mia sighed in relief; as he walked over to the door and opened to see who it was, it was Percy.

 

"Percy." He looked into the room and saw Mia in the room as well. Nash looked at him and glared at him as Bryce followed where he was looking at. He was looking at Mia, then noticed the look the on his face. "Oh no, we weren't doing anything. Weren't we, Mia?"

 

Bryce turned his head to look at her, giving her the death stare. She saw looked at him and quickly shook her head no.

 

"See?" Percy, flustered from the situation, dragged Bryce out of the room, pulling him into the hallway.

 

"Mia, stay here." Percy said as he dragged him out of into the hallway.

 

Percy pulled Bryce down the hallway towards Isabella's room chamber. "Where have you been?" Percy said as he lets go of him.

 

He scoffed as he brushed off his suit. "What do you mean? I've been around." He said as he fixed one of the buttons on his suit jacket. He didn't pay attention as Percy pushed him off of his balance. "Whoa! What's your problem?"

 

Percy gave him a look that he seemed so clueless. "What's my problem? It's not me that has the problem, it's you. You just gave Nate a new target to go after."

 

Bryce looked at him, scrunched eyebrows together, looking at him. They were alone in the hallway while Mia stayed back in the room. The chandeliers were dimmed as they stood in the hallway.

 

"I did nothing. He came up to me and started all this." Bryce said as he was denying the truth. "Now if you're excuse me, I have to go find Isabella."

 

"That's what I'm saying -- or at least trying to say!" He stopped Bryce at his words.

 

"Fine. Then I'm going to get Mia!"

 

"Wait, wait! Mia had nothing to do with this. Even if you ask her, she was the one who escorted her to the ballroom. Her orders were to escort her to the ballroom and go straight back to the chamber." He pushed him back to the other direction.

 

"What makes you think she isn't involved with that twisted, sick bastard Nate?" Bryce said as he attempted to go back to the room, hoping to ask Mia a few questions. "Now if you're excuse me, I have to go talk to Mia."

 

"No! She knows nothing! What are you going to do when she says she doesn't know what you're talking about?!" They both looked at each other and stopped each other.

 

"It won't hurt to ask." He swiftly walked passed by him and head back to the room.

 

"It will hurt if you torture her." Percy said, stopping him in his tracks.

 

"I won't lay a finger on her." He turned around, raised his hands in defense.

 

"Don't give me that crappy lie, you always end up hurting someone when you want to know something." He said as Bryce chuckled.

 

"It's just some simple questions. What could be wrong?"

 

"The way you ask them, you make it look like a threat-" Bryce looked at him. "Most of the time." He reassured his words. "But other than that, can I ask you something?"

 

Percy looked around, making sure that no one was listening to their private conversation. Then he looked at him, grabbing his shoulder for a second then dropped his arm.

 

"What?" He looked so clueless, Percy was worried of how he'd react if he told him. "Percy, what are you going to ask me?!" He still didn't respond. "Seriously? You're just going to stand there like someone who doesn't know what to say?!" He mumbled a word under his breath so that Percy wouldn't hear him.

 

"You're my best friend! And as your best friend, I worry about your actions. And right now, I worry about your anger and happiness." Percy walked over to one of the doors, resting his arm on the door frame.

 

"Percy, why do you worry so much?" He said with a humorous laugh as he turned to Percy's direction. But Percy was still standing there, not a sound. "You're serious?" Without looking, he nodded his head. "Okay, ask me then."

 

* * *

 

Isabella suddenly woke up from the long nap after everything, but it was nighttime. She got up from the bed, quickly fixed her hair, and put her dress back on.

 

She looked at Colin who was still fast asleep, naked on the bed with the covers over him. She smiled and caressed his hair as he slept.

 

Why did loving you had to be like a virus? My father actually thought you and I slept together those four years ago until now. It hurts to know, I may possibly not be able to be with you when I love you so much. I don't know what to do with my life right now. But I don't regret knowing you in my lifetime, to be honest, when I first met you, I felt as if my whole world lit up like those sunny days. And I hope you'll always remember that I will always love you no matter what. I love you so much, Colin.

 

She leaned in and kissed his forehead as a tear fell from her, taking in his scent. She got up and wiped away the dry tears on her cheek and from her eyes. She turned her head to look at him, and a tear fell from the corner of her eye and she wiped it away before it could fall.

 

Why am I crying?

 

She slowly opened the door, looked around the hallway and glanced at Colin and looked back around the hallway. She walked out of the room and quickly paced down the hall.

 

"What?" A voice came from a distance. She followed the voice, she looked around herself to make sure no one was following her.

 

"Percy, what are you going to ask me?" Percy? She quickly thought as she stopped in her tracks, she slowly peeked around the corner where she was at. It is Percy, and who? Even though Percy didn't even see her when she was standing right down the direction where he was facing, she still kept caution.

 

She quickly moved back as Percy looked over to her direction. She inhaled and exhaled quietly. Then she heard Percy shouting.

 

"You're my best friend! And as your best friend, I worry about your actions. And right now, I worry about your anger and happiness."

 

She peeked her head to see what was going on, the other person was just still standing in the same position as he's always been. Percy, however, walked over to one of the doors and rested his arm on the frame.

 

"Percy, why do you worry so much?" She looked as the other person turned its body and she finally saw who it was. Bryce. She looked at Percy who didn't make a sound.

 

"You're serious?" He didn't look at Bryce, not even one glance. His voice went lower as he watched his best friend, not respond or look at him. "Okay, ask me then."

 

Ask what? What are they even talking about?

 

Isabella, eavesdropping like this is going only going to make things worse. She quietly groaned as her subconscious emerged. Who cares what they're talking about?! All you gotta care about right now is Colin.

 

She moved back as she walked backwards, not watching where she was going, and bumped into a table stand in the hallway that was behind her. She gasped but quickly covered her mouth as she quickly rushed back to the room where Colin was and closed the door.

 

She pressed her ear against the door as she listened for a pair of footsteps walking down the hallway. And just as she expected, she heard a pair of footsteps walking down the hallway.

 

"You see anyone?" She heard one voice, which was Bryce's. She kept her breathing quiet and controlled her breath.

 

"No, sir." Sir? She thought as she heard a different voice from the hallway. She couldn't make out the voice who just spoke. All she knew was that it was female's voice.

Chapter 12

 

Being nearly caught in the act of something you should never do inside the palace is like your one-way ticket to hell for high treason. You'd be convicted by the King himself and you would be decided to be exiled or executed.

 

But for Isabella, it was more than a ticket to hell for what she's done; she had sex before marriage, something that's not tolerated in this kingdom. And if people found out, you'd be executed along with the person who you had sex with. If you were raped, then the person who raped you would be the only one to be executed. Even if you were to have kids without a spouse, you would be sent away to another country with your children. You would be held captive until the King says so.

 

"Okay, ask me then." Bryce said as Percy turned around to look at his best friend. They were alone in the hallway still; he walked up to him and sighed.

 

"Bryce, did you and Isabella--?" Bryce stopped Percy before he could finish his question, indicating he already knew what he was about say.

 

"Whoa! No! Nothing like that, Percy. And you already know what would happen to me if I did that to her...?" Bryce said as he heard something or someone. "Shhh..." He heard a pair of footsteps shuffling around the corner.

 

Percy looked around, puzzled. Bryce followed the sound of the noise, he walked towards the corner of the hallway as the footsteps were shuffling quickly. He looked down the hallway, he saw a servant at the end of the hallway.

 

Percy followed him to the hallway as he walked down the hallway. "I'm going to get her." Bryce said as he walked back the other direction.

 

Percy furrowed his eyebrows as Bryce walked passed by him; he pivoted around and ran up next to him. "Wait!" Bryce stopped as Percy walked passed him.

 

"Stay here." He shook his head as Bryce stopped him at his tracks. "No Percy, you gotta stay here and make sure no one comes down here."

 

Bryce walked off, leaving Percy standing there alone in the hallway. He looked at the other hallway as he grabbed a cup of scotch that was on the table in the hallway; he downed the whole cup as he was waiting for Bryce to come back.

 

"What an idiot." He mumbled as he walked down the direction where he went and followed him. He turned his head to look back to see if anyone was behind him, and yet there was no one. "My goodness, why Mia?" He walked back to the spot where he was standing before.

 

"I believe she's the only one who knows where exactly Isabella is, Percy." He quickly turned around as Bryce walked in with Mia behind him. "Plus, she's the one who got Nate to come back." He turned his body, revealing Mia standing behind him. "She's probably going to be useful later on."

 

Percy rolled his eyes as he turned around to go pour another cup of the scotch. Mia, she was still standing behind Bryce; she wanted to ask what was going on but she wouldn't dare to do so.

 

"Mia, where exactly is Isabella?" Percy turned around as he finished pouring his whisky. Bryce, however, was asking Mia all the questions he could possibly ask her. "Where is she? Just simply tell me and I won't do anything to you."

 

Percy noticed that Mia's hands were shaking as she stood there in front of Bryce; he then looked at Bryce and saw both of his hands curled up into fists. Percy zoomed in between them as Mia looked like she was going to pass out.

 

"What? You wanna get into a fight?" Bryce said as he looked at Percy. He scoffed.

 

"You almost got yourself killed earlier." Bryce laughed as he thought of what Nate said to him earlier.

 

"That sick bastard started it." Bryce said as he laughed at Percy. "Is it too much ask where she is?"

 

Percy stopped and looked at how his best friend was out of his mind right now. He feared that Isabella would have to go through so much for just being with him. Despite the fact that Bryce has completely probably lost his mind.

 

Percy didn't want to mess with him, despite the fact that he wasn't himself at the moment, but to know that his best friend was losing his mind over a girl was outrageous.

 

"That bastard is Nate who you're talking about." He turned around to look at Mia, who was clueless on what was going on. "See? She has completely no idea what we're talking about." Bryce looked dissatisfied and unconvinced by the look on Mia's face.

 

"That's what you call 'acting'." Bryce snatched Percy's cup of whisky from his hand and drank it. "I highly doubt she wouldn't know without acting like it."

 

Percy turned his head back at Bryce as he snatched his cup of whisky. "And that's mine." He grabbed Bryce's wrist and grabbed the cup and finished it and placed back in his hand.

 

He walked away as he stopped after he took his third step and pivoted back around to Bryce. "You think Mia's acting?" Bryce nodded. He smirked sinisterly. "Well, then! We have tonight to find out, so why not get started?"

 

Ballroom

 

It's been a couple of hours since the ball has started. Everyone that the King knew was there, with a few exceptions.

 

Nate walked back into the ballroom after his little talk with Bryce; he was hoping that he got under Bryce's skin and his mind.

 

Stephen, however, was a little busy. He had a lady in his hands to take care. Since he finally first encountered Isabella, he hasn't been paying attention to where Nate went off to or any other maiden who was there that night.

 

Nate walked up to Stephen and decided to converse with him during their spare time. Stephen turned his head to see Nate next to him. He scoffed in amusement as he drank his cup of scotch.

 

"So what happened between you and Bryce?" He said as he played his finished cup. Nate didn't bother to respond, he was looking around the room looking for Isabella.

 

"Nate?" Stephen nudged his arm, trying to get his attention. He looked at Stephen and drank his cup.

 

"What?" He said as he lowered his cup away from his mouth. Stephen exhaled as Nate walked over to the food stand and grabbed a small snack.

 

He rolled his eyes as he followed Nate to the food stand; he wasn't hungry as Nate was. He walked back with a small bowl of meat and fruits. Nate, who was still ignoring Stephen, walked passed him towards the outback of the ballroom.

 

He didn't bother to follow him this time; he scoffed grumpily as he watched Nate walk out the back door.

 

"Fine, ignore me then. Thanks for the invite." Stephen said sarcastically as he turned around and grabbed another cup of whine as male servant walked passed by with a tray of whine.

 

He looked around the room and saw Isabella walking in through the doors into the ballroom. He watched as she walked in her long, beautiful gold dress. She examined the room as he made his way up to her.

 

Now's my chance.

 

He walked up to her and went up to her side as he placed the cup on a table. She didn't noticed that he was standing next to her until she looked to his direction.

 

"Care for a dance with me?" He said as he held out his hand to her. She skeptically looked at him and smiled as she politely accepted his request.

 

"I'd be more than happy to do so." She placed her hand on top of his hand and escorted her into the crowded people.

 

Matt turned to face her and she looked at him and smiled. They both stood across from each other, then the music played as they both waltzed up to each other. They raised their arms up as their finger tips touched each other and their palms rested against each other. They slowly walked in a circle as the waltz music played.

 

The room was filled everyone's chatter; everyone was chattering about the young and the strikingly handsome Stephen Hart and the who he was dancing with, who most people didn't know was Isabella. They just saw a young, fair maiden dancing with the young, dashing Stephen Hart.

 

"We never really got the chance to talk earlier." She smiled as they danced.

 

"Well then, what would you like to know?"

 

* * *

 

"Bryce, you're drunk." Percy dragged Bryce into him down the hallway, but he pushed him away.

 

"Nah, I not drunk." His words came out like a person who was high and full on drugged. "I a-m just ti-ared." He kept swaying from side to side and laughing. "I just need to find Isa-" He fell to his knees as he laughed on his knees.

 

Percy followed him down the hallway, shook his head as he helped Bryce back up on his feet. "Bryce, seriously. You're drunk. You don't need to find her right now." Again, he pushed him away and pointed at him.

 

"You. You wanna take her away from me. You're a bastard for trying that!" He stood back up on his feet. Nash shook his head and sighed in disbelief. "You wanna take her away from me! You're taking my woman!"

 

Percy looked at him as he pushed him off his balance. "Bryce, you're drunk. Stop, please."

 

"No. I'm not drunk. I'm perfectly and totally fine with who I am. It's you. You're the one who's planning on taking her away from me. You may not be planning it right now, but I know you will." Percy scoffed as Bryce foolishly accused him of trying something he wouldn't do.

 

"Bryce, you really do think I would try and steal her away from you?" Although in his heart, he knew that Isabella was Bryce's, but he also loved her as well.

 

He wanted to protect her, but he knew couldn't do much without having Bryce catching him in the act, or else it would be a death round for him to fight through.

 

Bryce then laughed hysterically and fell off him balance but caught himself. He waved his pointer finger at Percy as he continued to laugh.

 

"Wow Percy, you're very funny." Percy didn't move but he watched as his best friend was only getting more crazier and crazier. "You're so funny. You don't think I don't know what you're thinking?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm a vampire."

 

"A drunk vampire." Bryce's eyes darkened; a soft growl came from his mouth.

 

"I'm going to find that little bastard from yesterday and I'm gonna rip his throat out." Bryce zoomed off into the dark hallway.

 

Percy didn't have any powers of any kind. He was no vampire, nor was he a werewolf. If he was one, Bryce wouldn't dare go near him, or befriend him.

 

He ran after Bryce. "What do you mean he got away?!" He heard him yelling from the end of the hallway of the dungeon. When Percy got there, Bryce had the guard who was supposed to be guarding Sebastian while they were gone, at the grasp of his hand. "I ask you to do one simple task and you fail to do it!"

 

Percy rushed up to Bryce and grabbed onto his forearm and looked at him as he quickly shook his head at him. Bryce looked at the guard and then Percy; he took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth.

 

"Alright." He letted go of the guard and looked at Percy and back at the guard. "But only because Percy asked, otherwise your head wouldn't be on your body by now." Percy stopped him by holding him back.

 

"We asked you to guard him and what happened to him? How on earth did he escape?" The guard looked clueless but he stated his reason.

 

"Someone came down here earlier." Percy and Bryce both looked at the guard. "He said he needed to talk to the person who was held captive, and he asked me to step out." Bryce, who couldn't hold in his anger, picked the guard up by his neck.

 

"You let someone come inside and you go outside?!" Percy stopped him; he relaxed a bit and dropped the guard and backed away.

 

"Before your master gets angry again, tell me. Who came down here without any permission? Because if anybody was to come down here, they wouldn't have any authorization from the King or any of us." The guard didn't dare to look up but he uttered a name under his breath.

 

"What did you say?" Bryce tilted his head as he asked the guard. The guard mumbled the name again, but he didn't raise his voice to make Percy and Bryce hear him. "Quit your mumbling! Speak clearly, you sound like a complete idiot right now." He said sternly but he giggled as he finished his statement.

 

Percy shook his head and asked the guard again. "We both heard you say something, who was it?" The guard didn't look at them not answer.

 

"Come on, Percy!" Bryce screamed in rage as he punched the dungeon halls, sending an echo down the halls. He walked up to the guard who stood silently. "You know what, I'm going to break off an extra large of poison oak branches, wrap it around with rose thorns and stick it with a dagger and shove it up your fucking ass!"

 

Percy walked up to Bryce and stopped him, pulled him back and tried to calm him down. The guard didn't retaliate, he just let Bryce's words sink into his mind as he's always taught to do.

 

"Bryce, I think he gets it." Bryce ignored him and walked up to the guard. He crouched down to his level and looked at him and stood back up.

 

"Percy, look at him. He's as dumb as any other palace guard would be. He should've been taught better." As much as words can kill, the guard wished more than anything right now, he wanted to leave, but he knew he couldn't without having his master getting even more angry.

 

Bryce stormed out of the dungeons, leaving Percy with the dungeon guard. The guard uttered something as he left; he said it under his breath so quietly, Nash didn't even hear a word from his mouth.

 

"I'm sorry."

Chapter 13

 

Meanwhile, Isabella and Stephen were on the balcony and having a little side conversation outside of the ball. The moon shone through the pitch black darkness, its reflection flowing against the ocean. The stars were visible but yet to be seen.

 

"I've had a lovely night. Thank you Stephen." In the back of her mind, she was thinking about Colin, and only Colin. You silly girl, you only had a lovely night because of Colin, not this unknown so-called Stephen Hart.

 

"I'm thrilled and honored." He said as he offered her a drink. She accepted the drink and took a sip of it. Under his breath, he utterly whispers something. "Step one, complete."

 

She turned around and walked across the balcony; Stephen kept his distance but was at least 2 steps behind her.

 

"Isabella, where's your escort tonight? I'd like to speak with him." She looked at him with a bit of confusion; she peeked inside the ballroom, looking for Bryce, but he wasn't there or at least from where she was standing.

 

"I don't know exactly. He must be somewhere in the ballroom, probably having a wonderful time with the guests tonight." She took another sip out of her cup. Stephen looked at her as lust filled up his mind.

 

"Why would a gentleman choose someone else over you, an exquisite and beautiful soul heart like yours?" Isabella giggled as he was amusing her with his words.

 

"You sure are quite the gentleman, Stephen." He smiled as she complimented his kind gesture. She looked inside and she saw a glimpse of what looked like her brother, Jack.

 

She walked inside into the ballroom and followed her brother, then finally she caught up to him. "Jack." She whispered as she grabbed his arm. He turned around and looked at her, then he realized it was his sister, Isabella.

 

"Isabella?" He said as he tilted his head. She quickly nodded.

 

"Yes, it's me, your little sister."

 

"Where've you been?" He asked as she looked around the room of crowded people.

 

"Let's talk somewhere quiet." She said as she pulled her brother to a room in the back.

 

"Seriously, where've you been?" He asked immediately as she closed the door behind them.

 

"Inside the castle of course, away from home, away from Father." Jack rolled his eyes as soon as he heard her say 'Father'. "Jack, I can't spend the rest of my two years, trapped inside that house." He gave his sister a stern look.

 

"You know why Father kept you away from the other side of the village, Isabella." She scoffed; she felt that her brother was turning against her and joining her father's side.

 

"Are you going against me on this? It's Father's fault that we're in this mess, spending his life preaching and selling all of the things that once belonged to our grandfather."

 

"Isabella, you're making no sense at all."

 

"No, the one who isn't making sense is Father, Jack." She said as she paced back and forth.

 

"Isabella, stop rebelling against father!" He grabbed her shoulders and stopping her from pacing back and forth. "It won't help you do a thing."

 

"Then I suggest Father should reevaluate himself on how to be a real father." Jack's jaw dropped as he heard her say that. "I don't believe Father is the person who should be a parent." She looked at her brother angrily.

 

"Isabella--" She stopped him before he could finish his statement.

 

"No, Jack, listen to me first. I may not be coming back home if Father doesn't reevaluate himself on how to be a loving father." Jack scoffed. "What are you scoffing at? Are you on my side or Father's?" He looked at his sister and walked up to her; he didn't dare touch his sister.

 

"You may not care much about Father, but there's still Mother who's worried sick about you." She looked up at her brother with sadness in her eyes. As a daughter, Isabella didn't take fully responsibility for her actions, she only took half. "You still love Mother?" She looked away and nodded. "Then come back home."

 

"Jack, you know I can't stand in the same floor as Father. You know I can't stand in the same house as him. I don't stand a chance of ever meeting my lover without having any sort of punishment from Father." She inhaled deeply and exhaled. She was ready to burst into tears, in guilt, regretful. "I don't want to be trapped, and it doesn't matter to me whether Father cares about that or not, but I do not want to be held captive and locked up forever."

 

Jack saw how his sister was about to cry, he walked up to her and rested her on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you." He rubbed her shoulder in comfort as she laid her head on her brother's broad shoulder.

 

* * *

 

"Where are you going now?" Bryce was pacing down the halls as Percy quickly followed him.

 

"Where do you think I'm going? I'm going to find Isabella and tell her the truth." Percy sighed in disbelief and stopped Bryce before he could go any further.

 

"Bryce, wait. If you tell her the truth now, she'll leave you out of fear. If she knows that you're not human and you're a vampire, who knows what she'll do. She might even tell King Henry, who knows?" Bryce looked at Percy bewilderedly. But Bryce didn't think Isabella was the kind of person to spread rumors and gossip.

 

"I will not lie to you, you are right on how she'll leave me out of fear, but I don't think she's the kind of person who will report to the King." Bryce continued on walking and before he walked inside the ballroom. He put on his mask and walked inside.

 

"I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say." Percy looked at Bryce as he put on his mask and walked into the ballroom.

 

Percy looked around the room for Bryce or even better, Isabella. But they weren't in the room, even Bryce walked into the ballroom. Where did he go this time? He thought to himself before going off to find him.

 

Meanwhile Isabella and Jack were still locked inside the room where they were in; they spoke to each other about how they were going to find a way out of the village before anyone knew. She had already told her brother about Colin's escape plan.

 

"What do you mean he's going to leave?" She looked at her brother with worried eyes and paced around the room.

 

"That day when he came to our house, he told me this, and believe me I was shocked too when I heard he was planning to leave." She played with her hands and the seaming of the dress she was wearing. "But he didn't tell me how he was going to do it."

 

"Then that's useless." Jack crossed his arms across his chest and shrugged. "So is he still planning to do so?"

 

Isabella looked at her brother. She pressed her lips together, trying to figure out whether he was actually going to try to escape or was it going to backfire.

 

"I don't know." She lied. She already knew Colin was going to stick to his plan of leaving.

 

"Then how do you know he's still going to do it?" Jack walked up to Isabella. She sighed as he continued asking her all these questions.

 

"I don't, okay!" He looked at Isabella as she stopped, then he noticed a stain on her dress. It was a bit red since her dress was a light peach color.

 

"Isabella." She looked at her brother and shouted at him.

 

"What?!" He shut his mouth as he was about to tell his sister.

 

"Did you notice that you have a red stain on your dress?" She scrunched her eyebrows as her expression changed from frustrated to shocked.

 

She opened the door where they were in and ran back to her room, but as she was running back to her room, she bumped into Stephen.

 

"Oh dear Stephen, I'm terribly sorry for running into you. Are you hurt?" In fact, Stephen didn't feel a thing at all, even when she ran into him. She had to leave but he reached out and grabbed her hand, making her fall into his arms. Their lips were so close to touching each other; she looked at him as he looked back at her. It had seem like the whole world had stopped when they looked into each other's eyes.

 

Then out of the blue, Bryce's loud voice was heard from the background. "Let her go!" She sharply turned her head to see Bryce charging towards them both. Bryce pulled Isabella from Stephen's arms, then he walked up to Stephen. "Now, I wonder what the King would have to say if he saw you right now."

 

He smirked at Bryce as he was boiling with anger. Isabella, however was standing right behind Bryce and saw what was happening, including everyone who was present in the room. Everyone had their eyes on Bryce and Stephen who were having a bit of a stare-showdown with each other.

 

Then all of a sudden, all the lights went out, everyone in the room let out a scream and gasp. Isabella was trying to find her way to the door and get out, but before she could do anything, a wind of rush passed her, grabbing her by the waist of her petite body.

 

Then the lights of the room turned back on; Bryce then looked around, Stephen was gone, along with Isabella.

 

When he realized that Isabella was with Stephen, he quietly cursed to himself. "That insane, psychotic son of bitch."

PART 4 - FINDING STRENGTH

 "Sometimes the strongest among us are the ones who smile through silent pain, cry behind closed doors, and fight battles nobody knows about." ~ Unknown Author

 

Chapter 14

 

Everyone was in panic and the King came rushing into the ballroom and asked what was going on.

 

"Gracious, what has happened?!" The King shouted and the guards quickly move around to the door to greet his highness. "I thought you were all responsible for the event!" The King was furious, then the Queen came rushing in.

 

"My dear, what on earth?" The Queen was shocked to see the sight.

 

Bryce rushed up to King Henry and told what happened. "There's appears to be assassins present in the room, sir." The King's jaw drops at the words and looks at Bryce. "I'd suggest you block off all entrances. No one comes or leaves. If they do, we hold hostage and ask them questions." The King nodded and agreed with Bryce's suggestion.

 

Bryce then sneaked off to find Isabella; he made sure no one was following him, but little does he know Jack and Colin were following him down the halls.

 

"Where's he going?" Jack whispered to Colin as they carefully and quietly followed Bryce outside into the woods.

 

"Where's Isabella?" Colin asked Jack and he looked at him. Jack became in furious and ran after Bryce. "Jack?!" Colin followed Jack as he followed Bryce into the woods. Colin stopped and looked around his surroundings and just kept running.

 

"Oh Bryce!" He stopped as soon as he heard someone's voice, almost like singing but it wasn't Jack's voice. It was someone else's, one whom Colin couldn't recognized. "You've been after me for decades." He followed the sound of the voice, which lead him to the edge of the forest where he found Isabella the other night. "You couldn't even catch me, in fact you couldn't even kill me!"

 

Colin was trying to figure out who was who but he didn't know these people. He looked around and saw nobody else but those two having a face off.

 

"I've been trying." The other one said, who he assumed was Bryce. "And I've been waiting for this battle. You and I, on a face off battle with each other. You were actually my best friend, Stephen." Now Colin finally figured out who's who, the one who Bryce was after was Stephen.

 

"Face it Bryce, there's no one here. No one was ever there for you. Face it, you have no friends to help you." Then came another person, one who Stephen wouldn't have thought of: Percy.

 

"He's not my friend but he is my brother. He still has me." Percy growled as he stood next to Bryce. Stephen looked at the both of them and growled as he was becoming frustrated.

 

"You think Isabella is never going to find out about your secret? Don't forget Bryce, you are an immortal and as for her? She's as pure with great beauty as a white rose." He growled as Nate brought in Isabella and hold her neck with his claws.

 

"No--!" Bryce said and Stephen interrupted him.

 

"Bryce, if you want her to get of this alive, you alone, will have to face me and Sebastian." Isabella gasps as he continues. "But if you lose, you'll have to move out of the castle and give up your title." Bryce was debating on what to decide. "And if you don't follow the following, I'll kill her myself and let her blood be the water of this village and her body be the food that the village eats."

 

Isabella yelled out for Bryce; he looked at her with pity. "Bryce! You don't have to do this." He looked at her with confusion. "Stephen doesn't even know what he's talking about. Using my life on a bet against you, probably the most foolish things I've seen ever used." Stephen growled and rushed up to her, pushing Nate out of the way. He now had her life on the very palm of his hands.

 

"You have my word, Bryce. If you win, she lives, along with everyone else. If you lose, she dies and you lose everything." Percy looked at Bryce and pulled him back to talk to him.

 

"Don't, he's just betting her life and yours to get himself to the top. You know that." Bryce looked at Percy and then at Isabella.

 

"Right now, she just wants me to do the right thing and not fight with Stephen." He turned to Stephen who was still waiting for an answer. Isabella, on the other hand, was still in the hands of Matthew.

 

"I've made my decision." He said as he walked up to Stephen.

 

Stephen smirked as he had his claws closer to Isabella's neck. "Then let's hear it."

 

Bryce looked at Isabella and nodded. Isabella didn't have to hear it but she already knew what he chose. "First, let her go. She's no threat to you or me." Stephen scoffed and released her. She rushed to Bryce and Percy's side. "Are you okay?"

 

"It's okay. I'm okay. They didn't do anything to me." She quickly said to them. Then they looked at Stephen who was still waiting.

 

"So? What's your final answer?" Stephen said as he put his hands up.

 

Bryce looked at them and then turned to Stephen and said it. "Fine. I'll fight you and Sebastian." Percy and Isabella looked at Bryce and pulled him back.

 

"Are you insane?!" Isabella yelled at Bryce as they spoke to each other about his decision. "I thought I told you to not risk your life for mine."

 

Percy walked up to her and held her back and talked to Bryce. "Bryce, you know the price if you do this?" He looked at Percy and nodded.

 

"I understand my consequences and I accept my consequences." Isabella scoffed in disbelief.

 

"Bryce, I don't care what Stephen and Nate have done to any of you in the past, but you are risking your life for nothing." Bryce looked at her with confusion.

 

"I am willingly doing this for you." He settled the ground between him and Isabella. He looked at Percy and told him to keep an eye on Isabella. "I'm gotta go now before anything else happens, and we're all dead. Percy, take Isabella back to the village and make sure no one follows you there. If anyone follows you there with her, kill them." Percy nodded and pulled Isabella back. "Go with Percy back to the village. But I promise I'll come back alive."

 

"What? No! I'm staying here with you." Bryce turned back around to her and told her the same thing.

 

"Go with Percy back to the village." Isabella looked at Bryce and fought to stay with him. "I can't risk your life again. As I already told you, I am willingly doing this for you myself. Please go with Percy back to the village." She didn't fight back but she stood there frozen. "Percy." Percy looked at Bryce and nodded.

 

Percy walked up to Isabella and took her back to the village. They both left Bryce in the forest by himself and headed back to the village. It was nearly morning after the interrogation between Stephen and Bryce.

 

Meanwhile, Colin and Jack followed Percy and Isabella back to the village. Colin watched as Percy had his arm around her, protecting her; he watched as she walked with somebody else other than him.

 

He knew she loved him. He knew she had risked everything for him. But he couldn't watch his girlfriend be with someone else and risking her life to save someone else.

 

Percy and Isabella finally made it back to the village but Isabella felt something wasn't right. She felt something was off. "We should've never left Bryce back there." She said as she turned back around but Percy blocked her way. "Percy, get out of my way, please." But he didn't budge.

 

"Where are you going?" She pushed him out of the way. "Isabella!" She stopped and turned around.

 

"I'm going back in there and help Bryce." Percy walked up to her and pulled her back the other direction. "Let me go, Percy!" She yelled at him but he didn't care. He was just doing what he was told to do. "Percy!"

 

"I belive she told you to let her go!" They both stopped and turned around. Isabella saw Colin walking up to them. "She told you to let go." Percy looked at the stranger distinctfully.

 

"And who do you think you might be?" Colin didn't answer him but he let go of Isabella. They both stood face to face and then Percy pushed Colin to the ground. "Even if you don't tell me who you are, but I can definitely tell you your name since you don't know it. You're Colin Myers, the son of Frank Myers. The man who was arrested by our King three days ago for treason." Isabella watched as Percy turned into somebody she never seen in Percy before. She felt nothing but fear of Percy. "I'd like to see what the King will say when the son of one of his prisoners has committed treason as well."

 

Isabella rushed in front of Percy and begged him to spare Colin's life. "Percy! Please, I beg of you." She felt to her knees. "I don't care what you do to my life but I only ask you one thing, is to not kill Colin." Percy looked at her dumbfounded.

 

"What's your relation with him?" He said as he pulled out his sword and held it under her neck.

 

She looked at Colin and then Percy. Just say it. Save Colin. Do it now! "He's the love of my life. Please Percy. Spare his life." Colin looked at Isabella and immediately denied it.

 

"I don't know her." He looked at Percy. Percy, however, was confused on what was going on. "I don't know why she's doing this but I do not know her." Isabella turned her head to look at Colin; she felt nothing but betrayed by Colin. He saw the confusion and anger in her eyes, then he looked away, cutting eye contact with her. "My Lord, do whatever you please with me." He closed his eyes and kneeled in front of Percy.

 

Isabella didn't know how react. She just sat there while Percy was debating on what to do. She looked at Percy and dashed off back into the forest to find Bryce.

 

"Isabella!" Percy shouted as he only saw her shadow leaving back into the forest. He looked at the stranger who was still kneeling and he drawed his sword away. Colin opened his eyes as he saw Percy running back inside the forest.

 

Colin then felt really regretful for doing that in front of Isabella. He saw how she looked at him when he denied her statement. He knew how she already felt for him. I deeply sorry, Isabella. I deeply regret for doing that to you but I also want to protect you. He thought to himself as he wept over her.

 

Chapter 15

 

"Come on Bryce! I thought you were stronger than that!" Sebastian shouted as Stephen pushed Bryce to the ground. Bryce looked at them both as they laughed at how weak he was.

 

"Brycie, we know you've got a lot more strength than that." Sebastian kicked Bryce in the stomach and he spat out blood from his mouth. They both walked around him, waiting for him to fight back. "You said you would fight the both of us. What happened to you? Isabella turned you soft? You know what that makes you? Weak as hell!" He then thought of all of the things about Isabella.

 

"Isabella, please meet the one of the sons of Bruce Duncan."

 

"She had beautiful long brown hair, it looked so soft and so luscious. And those beautiful almond shaped brown eyes, brown as the color of hot chocolate in the white wintertime. When I first saw her, she seemed so pure and innocent." 

 

"Let me go!" "I believe she asked you two gentlemen to let her go."

 

"What's troubling you? I know we haven't known each other for long, but you can tell me anything if you want. I really do hope I get to know you."

 

"Let's go find her now!" 

 

"Greetings to you, my lord." 

 

"The flower matches you perfectly." "Stop teasing me."

 

"You can join me if you please." 

 

"Bryce?!" 

 

"Where are you taking me-" "I wanna show you a beautiful view up on the roof." "The roof?" "Isn't that a little too dangerous?" "But isn't a little danger fun as well?"

 

"This is-" "So beautiful." He smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

 

"Bryce! Come on! What's gotten into you?!" Stephen shouted as Bryce regained his strength to fight back. He pushed Sebastian as Stephen came charging for him. He dodged him and made him run into Sebastian. Stephen gasped as he turned around to look at Bryce.

 

"You will never experience what it likes to have someone who supports you." Sebastian brushed off his shoulders and scoffed at Bryce.

 

"I don't give a damn about what experience it is. I don't even want to feel it." Stephen and Sebastian surrounded Bryce, circling him. Bryce stood in one place, looking on both sides and keeping himself stable to fight. "I never would've thought that Bryce Duncan would be able to have strength from just a mortal."

 

Isabella, however, was still searching inside the forest. She went back to the same area where they were before, but there was no one. Why is there no one here? The place was nothing but grass, dirt, bushes and trees. She would look back from time to time to check if Percy followed her; she couldn't stand to see Colin's face right now. Why would he do that to me? Percy might suspect something of me; oh god, he might even tell Bryce about the incident.

 

"Looking for someone?" She heard a voice coming from somewhere. Then she saw a person's shadow standing behind a tree across from her.

 

"I can see your shadow." She heard the person scoffed and then the person walked out. She looked and saw Nate's face coming out of the shadows. "Nate . . ." His eyebrows raised up.

 

"What? Surprised to see me?" She looked around and there was no one in sight. She suddenly felt a cold breeze coming from the wind. She then looked at Nate and he slowly walked up to her; she saw how slow he was taking his steps to her. Her eyes flashed fear towards Nate. She started backing up and looked around as she was doing so. She tripped over a root from a tree. Nate stopped as she got up from the ground so quickly. "Isabella?" She didn't pay attention to him.

 

"Stay away from me, you monster!" Nate looked at her with confusion.

 

"What do you mean?" He continued to walk up to her.

 

She repeated it again. "Stay away from me." Her voice trembled. She then felt utterly weak and vulnerable.

 

Nate zoomed up to her, blocking her way. "Why would I want to stay away from you?" Her back was against the tree. He walked up to her and reached out his arms and pushing onto the tree. His claws dug deep into the trunk and his face was close up to hers and she tried to keep herself as far back as she could. "Just tell me, if Bryce was this close up to you, what choice do you have?" She looked at him straight in the eye and her breath hitches as he lifted his arm and caressed the tips of his claws on her pale, soft cheek. "I just hope you have techniques to protect yourself."

 

She closed her mouth and looked at Nate. "Actually I do." She grabbed his arm and held the back of his neck and pulled him into her direction as she moved out of the way and ran away. Nate quickly stopped himself and saw a glimpse of her leaving. He silently growled and ran after her.

 

 "Isabella . . ." Nate said as he chased after her. She didn't look back to check but eventually he caught up to her. She stopped and hid behind a tree; she glanced behind her for a second and saw him running in the other direction. "Isabella, I know you're around here!" She quickly stopped her heavy breathing. "We can play hide and seek if you want, but I can smell you." Her stomach filled with butterflies of fear. She was being hunted alive. She listened carefully to hear his footsteps, but she heard nothing but the gust of wind. "Isabella . . ." She heard his voice from the distance.

 

Where is Percy, Bryce or Jack when I need them the most? I'm gonna be killed if Nate finds me soon. They need to find me or I'm going to ripped limb by limb.

 

Find your strength, Isabella.

 

Colin was my strength but I don't have him no more. He betrayed me.

 

Then find your own strength.

 

I can't! I'm literally going out of my mind. I can't think straight. I can't do anything for myself. I can't even save those who I love most. I can't even take care of myself.

 

Isabella! Listen to me, be your own anchor! You hear me? Be your own anchor.

 

"Isabella, you better come out now! I don't like playing games." She heard Nate coming closer to her. She grabbed whatever was going to help her fight off Nate; she grabbed a piece of branch from the ground. She examined the stick; she didn't know much about the different kinds of trees but she knew this one though. Isn't this a remain from a moutain ash tree?

 

 She stood on her feet and walked out in the open and immediately she saw Nate. "There you are." She kept a strong face as Nate walked closer to her; he looked at her and saw what was in her hand. "You think you can fight me with a piece of stick? Come on, Isabella." She listened to how he spoke to her and she knew he wasn't the same person who was with her before. She still could feel her heart beating rapidly inside her chest. "I can hear your heart. You don't want to fight me. You're only doing that because you want to protect Bryce." He was only a foot away from and she held up the branch up at him.

 

"This stick? Oh, this isn't just any ordinary stick I found on the ground. You should know what kind of stick this is." He looked at the branch and silently gasped and growled. "You're right, I can't do much with this one stick but I think I can hold you off for quite a while."

 

He scoffed and chuckled. "What can you do to hold me off?" She looked at him and dropped the moutain ash stick. She looked around and saw a batch of wolfsbane. She had to lead him to the wolfsbane but she was afraid he would smell it. Then they heard a scream from the distance and she knew whose scream it was: Bryce. "Looks like your savior is having some trouble."

 

She turned to him and held up the mountain ash stick at him. "You're going to lead me to him." Nate stepped back and looked at her.

 

"No."

 

Chapter 16

 

"Why am I such an idiot?!" Percy said as he was rushing through the woods by himself and Isabella was all alone by herself. He didn't have any special powers like everyone else and all he had was a sword and himself. "What am I even doing? All I have is a sword and myself."

 

"Perhaps, you can use my help." Percy heard a voice from behind him as he slowly backed up and drawed his sword. He turned and pointed it at Charles who followed him. He sighed relievedly as he saw Charles and lowered his sword. "Charles, what are you doing here?" He whispered to him.

 

Charles walked up to Percy and put his hand on Percy's shoulder. "Don't you need help to get Bryce out of here?" Percy looked at him.

 

"Okay. First things first, how did you even Bryce was out here?" Charles gave him a straight face.

 

"I was in the ballroom. I saw what happened between Bryce and Nate; no secrets but Isabella is a girl worth fighting for though. So, I can definitely see why they would fight over her." Charles dropped his hand as Percy turned around. Percy walked away deeper into the woods while Charles was still in the same spot. "You want my help or not?" He stopped and turned around, Charles raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

 

"Not to offend you or anything, but do you know how to fight?" Charles scoffed and chuckled.

 

"Percy, why do you think I'm carrying a sword with me? You think I would be walking around with a sword and not use it?" Percy eyed him and blanked repeatedly. "Hell no! You gotta use the weapon when you have it."

 

"You know I can use this." They both went silent as they heard a female's voice. "Don't you dare play me like that." They looked at each other and followed the voice.

 

"So what? You only have the stick of it! You can't shred it into small pieces." Then Nate heard footsteps coming towards them. Without realizing it, Isabella was held captive in Nate's arms. "Make a sound or I'll slash your throat." He said as he took out a dagger from his pocket.

 

She looked at the dagger and immediately recognized it. She remembered exactly when she last saw it; it was from the night when she was trapped in the alley with the two drunk men. "It was you." She said quietly and Nate heard her.

 

He held the dagger closer to her throat, touching the bare of her skin. "You remember now? Well, it's a little too late, princess." He looked around the woods and shouted out to the woods. "Percy! I know you're there!" Then he saw Percy's shadow coming out. He also sensed another's presence. "You too, Charles!" Charles also came out in the open, standing face to face with Nate and Isabella. "What's the deal here, huh?"

 

They looked at each other and then out of the shadows from the trees, Stephen and Sebastian were walking towards them. "First things first, you're not going anywhere with Isabella." Nate scoffed. He lowered head and sniffed Isabella's hair, taking in her scent. Percy and Charles watched as her shoulders lifted. They both knew she didn't like what Nate was doing to her.

 

"Okay, to start off, she's not going anywhere. She's staying with us." Stephen said as he forcibly grabbed her wrist. "You know she could make a very good meal anytime we want her to." As much as she wanted to pull her hand away, she didn't want to die in their hands but Nate had his dagger around her already.

 

"Hey, can we stop stalling here? I'd really hate to keep our lovely guest waiting . . ." Sebastian said evilly as he stroked his finger on Isabella's soft, rosy cheeks. Percy and Charles looked at each other and had to come up with something. "And please don't bother coming up with something . . . Even if you set up a trap, we'd find out in a split second."

 

But little did they know, Jack was behind them with Bryce. Jack had a spear that he made while he was in the woods that night. He carved the metal of the spear himself with silver, dipped in wolfsbane juice; he made the wood out of mountain ash.

 

"I think that's where you are wrong." Charles said as he looked over their shoulders to see Jack standing with the spear by his side. Stephen, Sebastian and Nate turned their heads around behind them and see Jack with a spear. They only chuckled.

 

"You think your human friend can save your asses with his little spear? You've got to be kidding me!" Sebastian said as he was knocked over by Bryce. Stephen and Nate gasped and backed up. Nate didn't realize it but he was on the ground and Isabella was gone. "What? You haven't had enough yet?" He said as he was still on the ground.

 

"Believe me, I've had enough." Bryce growled as Sebastian got up on his feet.

 

Jack quietly sneaked up on Stephen and slashed his back with the tip of the spear. Stephen dropped to his knees as he screamed in pain because he thought he felt something was burning his back. He looked at Jack as Jack circled him.

 

"I won't kill you but the cut on your back will kill you in a matter of hours."

 

"What have you done to me?" Nate, who was still on the ground on his back, watched as Jack circled them both. Sebastian, however had company with Bryce.

 

"Haven't you heard of the legend folklore about a young maiden killing a werewolf with a spear made of silver?" Stephen looked at him and looked away.

 

"Tell him, Jack. They need to know before anything else happens." Isabella said as she walked up next to Percy and Charles. Nate, Sebastian and Stephen turned their heads, as clueless as they were.

 

"Long ago back in the late 1700's, there was a beast used to roam the lands of France. In history, we would know it as The Beast of Gévaudan." Their expressions changed as they looked as they've heard the name before. "You heard of the beast before? People have made theories that the beast was just a myth but the evidence to prove it were as strong as stone. The beast was no myth or folk-story animal; it was a real life werewolf, just like you." Sebastian looked at Nate and Stephen and they continued to listen. "For three years, many French citizens have tried to hunt down the beast, but no one was able to catch it."

 

"We know the story." They looked at him and thought how stupid he was for telling them the story that they already know. "Blah, blah, blah. We know the goddamn story!" Nate said as he sat up.

 

"Well, I'm sorry. I'm gonna tell you anyway because this story has to deal with our family." Sebastian looked at him, shocked. "It's true that no one knew who really did kill the Beast, but we can tell you who killed the Beast." Stephen still couldn't get up on his feet cause of the scratch on his back. Everyone else was still standing or sitting around in the area. "She was a huntress, one of our family members in the Valet family. In history, she is famously known as the Maid of Gévaudan."

 

"My goodness, just tell us who it is already!" Sebastian complained.

 

Jack looked at him with disgust and continued. "Her name was Maire Jeanne Valet. She was young and fragile but she was strong and powerful because she was highly-skilled at archery." Nate, Sebastian and Stephen, their expressions came shocked as they found out who it was.

 

"So, Maire Jeanne was your ancestor?" Jack and Isabella looked at each other and nodded. "What does that have to do with us?"

 

"For three years, she hunted down the beast and eventually she finally cornered him in this very forest. And remember about the spear I was talking about earlier? Well, she didn't made the spear alone; she had the help from a distant friend, Henri Argent." Isabella walked up to her brother. "Like I said, she cornered him and used the spear, made with wolfsbane and mountain ash, forged with her blood on the light of a full moon." He pulled the spear he had and examined it. "Eventually, she killed him and left him to die but rumor says that he didn't actually die." Jack chuckled. "Funny thing is that she decided to marry Henri soon after."

 

"Bryce, you've seen her before. That framed picture in our living room, above the fireplace? That's Maire Jeanne in the photo." Bryce's expression went from understanding to shocked and looked at Isabella and noticed how similar they both looked.

 

"But Isabella, she--she looks exactly like--Maire Jeanne." Bryce pointed out their similar features. "They both look very similar, especially their eyes and their smiles. How is that--"

 

Isabella stepped in and explained more. "Possible? I've been told all my life that I've always looked like Maire Jeanne Valet-Argent. Whether, I was five years old, ten years, or even fifteen years of age; I've always had her similar looks and features." She said calmly. "My parents even trained me in archery and apparently I was a natural at it as well."

 

"Did they even think that you may be Maire Jeanne in your past life?" She looked at Charles and Jack nodded. "Isabella, do you think you might've been Maire Jeanne in your past life?"

 

"I--I don't know, to be honest."

 

"I can help you with that." Someone else's voice came from the forest. "Isabella Maire Valet, youngest child in the Valet family, doppleganger of the imfamous Maire Jeanne Valet-Argent. You have been chosen to save this world." As confused as Isabella was, she regconized the voice. It was she knew, someone in her family. Then a shadow came out from behind the trees, the person was in a black cloak with a hood on.

 

"Who are you?" Percy said as he was going to draw his sword on the stranger.

 

The stranger then put down their hood, Jack and Isabella were both shock as they saw who the stranger was.

Chapter 17

 

"Alison. It's you?" Jack said as everyone stared at Alison. She nodded. "But how? And why?"

 

"I knew our sister looked like someone and she was going to find out sooner or later. But I didn't want to tell anyone because of the consequences and sacrifices that have to be done." Isabella walked up to her sister and asked what happened.

 

"What? What are you scare about?" Alison looked at her beloved sister and smiled as a tear fell from corner of her eye.

 

"Because you look exactly like an ancestor of ours, Maire Jeanne, many of our family members believe that you are the one who can save the world." Isabella looked at Alison in disbelief.

 

"What is this?" She backed up from everyone else. "What do you mean I'm chosen to save the world?"

 

"But that's not what I'm scared of, I'm scared of losing you as my sister." She looked at her and furrowed her eyebrows. "Because when you're done with saving the world, you'd have to be sacrificed to the Gods."

 

Isabella shook her head. "No . . . No . . ." She turned around and needed to think about this for a minute.

 

"There was one thing many people didn't know about the legend because evidence of this incident were erased, no one knew about the sacrifice of Maire Jeanne. About seventeen years after she married Henri, she was kidnapped and was sacrificed to the Gods after killing the Beast." Isabella turned around and looked at Alison. "Which is why I'm scared for you."

 

"Why me?" She asked Alison and she walked up to her.

 

"I don't know, but I think the people who chose you have a very good reason to do so." Isabella immediately freaked out.

 

"I don't know anything! I'm barely educated. I can't even make a perfect target; have I practiced? Well, not lately but what gives? I don't know anything and how am I supposed to save the world when I'm just me?!" Alison looked at her helpless and confused sister and couldn't but feel pity for her.

 

Bryce looked at her and walked up to her. "But it's not going to stop me from killing the three men who all attempted to hurt Isabella." He snatched the spear from Jack and pointed it on Stephen, Nate and Sebastian.

 

Isabella quickly rushes up and rises the spear up in the air and stops Bryce. "Bryce!" He looked at her and looked at everyone else who were watching him. "Give me the spear." His eyes looked back at hers and she slowly and gently slipped his hands off of the spear. He released the spear. She turned to everyone else in the circle.

 

"Do you know what you're going to do when the time comes?" Percy asked Isabella as she gripped onto the spear tightly. She looked down at the ground and exhaled sharply.

 

She shook her head and looked up at everyone. "But I'll be ready when the time comes." She switched the spear to her other hand and walked away. She headed back to the village. She had questions and she needed answers.

 

She walked all the way back to her home. She wanted to ask her parents: was she really set to save the world? She knocked on the door and waited for the door to open. "Isabella." She turned around to see Jack and Alison and then the door opened.

 

"Isabella?" She turned around to see her mother. "Jack, Alison." She looked back at Isabella as Alison walked up to the doorstep and stood next to Isabella.

 

"Mother, we want to talk to you and Father about some things." Then their father walked down the stairs and saw what was happening. Mrs. Valet nodded her head and let them in as Mr. Valet followed them into the living room.

 

"Isabella, where on earth have you been?! Don't you know your mother and I have been worried sick about you?" Isabella turned around to look at her father. Her eyes were red and watery.

 

"Father--" Alison tried to help Isabella out but he cut her off.

 

"Shush, Alison. Your little sister has been missing for four days and she's in some serious trouble." Mrs. Valet closed her eyes as her head dropped over her shoulders. Jack walked up to his mother and caressed her shoulders.

 

"Father! Isabella has some things to talk about." He looked around and nodded.

 

"Good! I have some things to say as well." He looked at Isabella. "You do know--"

 

Isabella cut off her father, for the first time. "Was I set to save the world?" He stopped and looked at Isabella with stupidity.

 

"Who told you that?!" Mr. Valet scoffed and chuckled in amusement. "Is this some kind of joke?" He looked at Jack and Alison, waiting for them to say that Isabella is stupid to think that. But they didn't answer, they just stood there and stared at him. "Are you serious?"

 

"Tell me, Father. Was I or was I not to save the world?" She said with a firm tone. "Is there a reason why I look exactly like Maire Jeanne?" He looked at her and Mrs. Valet looked up and slowly walking up to Isabella. They were both silent as a night and didn't answer. "I've been told so many things in my life but there was always one that stood out to me; the fact that I've been told that I've always looked like Maire Jeanne Valet-Argent. Is there a reason why to hide that from me?"

 

"People look like other people for reasons. Just like you and your siblings." Mr. Valet denied the fact and tried to change the subject from Maire Jeanne.

 

"Father, you are not listening to me! You've never listened to me once. And probably, never." Isabella said that and ran out the door. Mrs. Valet looked at Jack, Alison and her husband and followed Isabella outside.

 

Jack looked at his father with no sympathy. "She's right." Mr. Valet looked his son, shocked. "You've never listened to her. When she told you the truth, you immediately just thought she was lying straight to your face."

 

Mr. Valet immediately retorted and defended himself. "When have I thought she was lying to me?! I only wanted to know the truth as well." Jack pressed his lips together and shook his head.

 

"I thought I told you already, she never slept with Colin and you thought she was lying to your face. You've asked me multiple times and I've been telling you the truth. You've hit her many times I could count my knowledge. In all my years of lifetime, never once have I heard you say 'I love you' to Isabella, perhaps to any of us." Jack took a step back away from him. "Trust me as your son, I don't want to go against you or anything but how you've been treating your family, I just can't even . . ." Jack then stopped and looked away. Alison was still standing in the room with her brother and father and she couldn't believe what she just heard.

 

"Alison, my daughter." Mr. Valet walked up to Alison as she tried to cope herself from losing everyone in her family. "You still love your father, don't you?" She couldn't look at her father without crying. She loved her father dearly but she couldn't watch her family being emotionally abused by her father.

 

*   *   *

 

How can I save the world when I don't even know what I'm supposed to do? Isabella ran all the way to fountain where her and Colin would meet. She sat down on the fountain. She placed her head on her palms and wept. Why do I feel so weak right now? Then she heard a pair of footsteps coming towards her. She lifted up her head and grabbed the spear. "Who goes there?!" She turned around to see Colin. "Colin, what are you doing here?" She said as she kept the spear pointed on him.

 

"Isabella, please." She didn't react. She just looked at him furiously. "Please let me explain about earlier."

 

"And let my heart soften and cry of sympathy for you, not a chance." He looked at her and had his hands up in the air. "Perhaps, I should let you think what you think about me because I don't give a damn what anyone thinks of me anymore. Doesn't matter who, I don't give a damn who thinks about me or what not." Colin slowly walked up to her and she pointed the spear higher to him and he stopped.

 

"Isabella, please don't do this to yourself." He begged her to stop torturing herself every time she was upset.

 

"What's there for you to ask me anything anymore, Colin? You've completely dropped my love for you." He closed his eyes and waited for her to kill him. "What are you doing now?!" She shouted as he kept walking towards her. "Stop! Colin, I'm asking you to stop right now! Colin!" She said as she pulled away the spear as soon as he was about to walk into the spear. She looked at him and took a few steps back. He opened his eyes and he was confused as to why she didn't want to hurt him.

 

"Why didn't you kill me?" She shook her head. "Isn't that what you want to do to me? Kill me because I've betrayed you?"

 

"Stop it, Colin! Stop!" She shouted as she backed up away from him even more. She looked at him one last time. "I've never wanted to kill you. I've always loved you." She turned around and ran away from him. She then vanished deep in the woods.

PART 5 - FINDING CHANGE

"Change. One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go. Whether it's guilt, anger, love, loss, etc. Change is never easy, you fight to hold on, and you fight to let go." ~ Unknown

Chapter 18

 

Three years after Isabella vanished from the entire Southern Isles, the Valet family decided to pronounce her dead because of her disappearance. For three years, she never returned home. There were search parties held to look for her but nothing turned up, not even a body remain that belonged to her. Mr. David Valet became depressed in the three years and became severely ill; Mrs. Holly Valet has been taking care of her husband for the three years. Jack and Alison still haven't given up on their sister just yet.

 

Bryce, Percy, Charles and Colin, however, they all have given on finding her. After the last search, they already accepted that she was gone forever. Bryce had already thought she was killed by Stephen, Nate and Sebastian and have been looking for the three of them. Percy have been staying by the King's side as any loyal subject. Charles was already King of the Southern Isles after his father stepped down and let him take the throne and a year after Isabella's disappearance. He was already married to Madeline who was bearing their first child.

 

After Isabella's last words to Colin, he decided to move on from her because he thought that's what she wanted for him to do. He married Gwen two years after. He still felt regretful for what he's done to Isabella but even though he was married, he's never forgotten about her.

 

 

Royal Palace

 

Bryce was in the library and reading some books and then Charles came in. "Bryce, I need you to run some errands for me." He looked up to see Charles who gave him some contracts. "I need you to bring that to the Myers's residence." Bryce looked at Charles with confusion.

 

"My lord, excuse me, but that's the residence where Colin lives." Charles looked at Bryce and nodded.

 

"Yes, it is . . . And I know what happened after the search party between you and Colin." Charles said as he grabbed Bryce's shoulder. "Don't worry, I despise him as much as you do."

 

"Well, isn't that your job?" Bryce said as he scoffed. Charles shrugged his shoulders. "If Isabella were alive today, she'd be proud to see you." Charles said in words of comfort, making Bryce smile, for which he hasn't shown in the three years Isabella has been gone.

 

She always lived in his memories, her smile, her giggle, her words, her scent. Not a day has passed by for Bryce if he didn't think of her. Anytime he thought of her, he kept her words of comfort and knowing that she was in a better place. Everyday, he would visit the room where she was during the time she was in the palace.

 

"Bryce, can you bring the errands to Myers?" He looked at Charles and nodded. "I'll see you around." Charles walked out of the library and Bryce looked at the errands and zoomed out of the library. He went out to the carriage and his guard, Thomas was waiting for him by the carriage.

 

"Sir," Thomas greeted Bryce as he walked up to him.

 

"Take me to the Myers." Thomas obeyed and nodded. He stepped on the carriage and Bryce got inside the carriage. Nothing was going through his mind but how he was going to face the person who pushed his Isabella away from him. Do I have to yell at him? Do I have to do something to get his attention and get his brain to think where Isabella could possibly go? Or do I need to torture him to get him talking? Do I need to kill him? The carriage was going on the other side of the village and soon enough he was at the Myers's house. "Thomas, stay here."

 

He stepped out of the carriage and walked up to the house. He's never been to their house before, and it was quite bigger than he thought it would be. He knocked on the door and heard footsteps coming up the door and it opened. "May I help you?" A young woman who was dressed formally and nicely greeted Bryce.

 

"Gwen, darling, who's at the door?" Colin said as she turned her head and he saw Bryce. "Bryce, what are you here for?" Colin said as he eyed Bryce up and down and noticed a paper in his hand. "What's that in your hand?" Bryce handed the paper to him and Colin snatched it out of Bryce's hands. Colin looked at the paper and it was a letter from King Charles.

 

Colin Myers,

 

Your father, Frank Myers, will be released from the dungeon due to false evidence that were provided by the Prosecutors and the court. He will be sent home two days from now. I'd like to apologize for the misunderstanding that my father, Henry, he was mislead and mistaken for accusing your father. We hope you understand the circumstances and hope you cooperate.

 

Signed, King Charles Vivet

 

"What is it, Colin?" Gwen asked as Bryce was standing outside their door entrance. He looked up from the letter and looked at Bryce.

 

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Colin was rather pissed than relieved. "You think after three years, I'm going to forgive your King Henry for framing my father?!" Gwen looked at her husband and pulled him back. Bryce didn't show any emotion. He just stared at Colin. "What are you looking at now?!"

 

"What did you do to Isabella?" Colin gasped and scoffed.

 

"You still want to pick a fight with me about this?" Bryce rolled his eyes and shook his head. "What's the amusement?"

 

"I'm just being amused by how idiotic you are to realize that you pushed her away when she needed you the most." Gwen released Colin as he walked up to Bryce.

 

"You don't know what happened, Bryce. She pushed me away and left."

 

"Yeah, when she comes back alive, I'll believe that she actually pushed you away herself." Bryce walked inside their home and stood before Colin.

 

"You never knew how she struggled to survive in her home. You never knew why she did what she did. You never knew anything about her. And look at you!" Colin stepped back. "Now you're the one accusing me that I made her disappear." Bryce looked at Colin and saw how he was becoming a maniac. "You didn't know a single thing about her!"

 

Bryce closed his eyes as he realized that Colin was right. He didn't know a thing about Isabella and her life and what she went through. "Fine, you're right! I didn't know a thing about her. But in the short amount of time I was with her, all I know is that she was a beautiful person with a broken heart and she knew but she didn't want to accept it." Colin looked at Bryce as he stepped back outside. "And I think I already know who broke her heart, it was probably you, Colin."

 

Just as Bryce had enough and turned around and walked away from the argument, Colin rushed up to the door and stopped. "You don't know anything!" Bryce walked inside the carriage as he didn't bother to look back because he was just in anger.

 

"Thomas, take me the Valet's."

 

"But My Lord, you're not supposed to be there." Bryce looked at Thomas and glared at him.

 

"Just take me to the Valet's." Thomas nodded and took him to the Valet's residence. On the way there, he thought about what he was going to say to her family. Then he thought about the story that Jack and Alison told everyone, he still didn't quite believe the sacrifices. If Isabella really did have to die to save the world, he wouldn't let her.

 

"Sir?" Bryce turned his head to see Thomas opening the carriage door. He was already at the Valet's residence.

 

He walked up to their doorstep and was hesitant to knock. He lifted his arm up to knock but he stopped as the door opened and Jack was there. "Bryce." Bryce looked at Jack as he was about to walk outside. He glanced inside the house as Alison walked out the door with a bag.

 

"Bryce, what are you doing here?" In fact, Bryce didn't know why he came to their house. Was he missing Isabella? Was he just thinking about her?

 

"Where are you guys going?" He asked and Jack and Alison looked at each other.

 

"I was just sending Alison back to the Donnovan's. Why?" Bryce's face dropped, biting the inside of his mouth. "Is there something wrong?" Bryce fell to his knees as he ran his fingers through his hair. He was crying.

 

Just as he thought he was over Isabella, though the first thing he said was about her. "Did you find her?" Immediately, Jack became puzzled. "Did you find her? Did you find Isabella?" He looked up at both of them, waiting for an answer to satisfy him. Alison's mouth dropped and shook her head.

 

"You said you'd never ask anything about Isabella but you did." Jack said as he got down to Bryce's level. "You still think about her, don't you?" Bryce turned his head to look at Jack. "You still feel her presence with you. You still feel her love with you. You still remember her every smile and laugh and giggle, and you feel as if she's here with you." Bryce stood back on his feet and walked inside their house. "And if I'm correct, you still love her with all your heart."

 

He turned around and looked at them and turned back around. He walked inside and then he remembered the first time he first saw her on the stairs; he remembered how he fell for her gracefulness. He then walked into the living room and looked around the empty room. There was no one in the house but Jack and Alison. Mr. and Mrs. Valet were out of town for their business. He then saw the same framed photo on the fireplace, it was just as he stepped inside the house for the first time. That framed picture in our living room, above the fireplace? That's Maire Jeanne in the photo. He walked up to the fireplace and looked at the photo more closely.

 

Alison and Jack walked into the living room as they saw Bryce looking at the photo. "You guys remember what she said before she left us in the woods?" They both nodded.

 

"Yeah, she said she'd be ready when the time comes." Alison replied as Jack's eyes widened.

 

"It can't be . . ." Jack uttered as Alison turned her head.

 

"What did you say?" Jack looked at Alison and Bryce.

 

"It can't be . . ." Jack uttered again. Alison and Bryce were confused as ever.

 

"Seriously, what do you mean 'it can't be'?" Alison said as Jack started pacing back and forth.

 

"Alison, you remember where Mother and Father would take Isabella to practice archery?" Her eyes wondered and back at Jack.

 

"Yeah, I remember. In the small cottage at the edge of the woods." Alison also soon came to the realization just like Jack. "You mean . . ." Jack nodded.

 

"I'm confused." Bryce interrupted them and they both looked at him.

 

"Sorry, guess we should fill you in . . ." Jack looked at Alison and she nodded. "When Isabella was younger, our parents would take all of us to a small cottage in the edge of the woods. They'd help her practice with archery and in hopes she would be a huntress just like how Maire Jeanne was." Bryce nodded.

 

"So you think she may be at the cottage?" Bryce asked them and they both looked demented.

 

"We don't know." Alison said as she put down the bag she was carrying.

 

Bryce narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean you don't know?"

 

"We mean that we don't know, as in we haven't been to the cottage in years."

  

Chapter 19

 

Deep inside the woods were where no one has gone to, there was something or someone inside the forest. Nobody's ever really been in that deep inside the woods before, so no one knew except for few who have ventured farther than anyone in the village. Everyone has talked about this place but no one knows what lurks inside of the place. It was the small cottage owned by the Valet's.

 

The small cottage was already starting to rotten up and the place started falling apart because no one has come to patch up the place. Stephen and Nate even have encountered the cottage and stayed there for a few nights before but they're not there anymore; they've moved somewhere closer to the village. Sebastian, however, vanished the same night Isabella did.

 

"How do you suspect she'd be here?" Bryce said as Jack navigated Thomas to the cottage. Alison, who was in the cottage with Bryce, was answering his questions. "You even said, none of you have been there for years."

 

"It's true that we haven't been there for years but that doesn't mean we don't remember where it is." Alison looked outside the carriage window. Bryce looked outside as the sun started fading and it was getting dark.

 

"It's midday. Why all the darkness all of sudden?" He said as they travelled deeper into the woods.

 

"Don't you know that the trees block out the sunlight and it causes for woods to look darker?' Bryce shook his head.

 

"No, it's just I've never been this deep into the woods during midday." Bryce said calmly.

 

"Jack, are we there yet?" Alison said.

 

"No, but we're almost there." Jack replied back as the carriage came to a sudden stop. "Stop the carriage!" He shouted and Thomas stopped. He stepped off of the carriage and walked up to a pool of blood. "What is this?"

 

"Jack?" Alison said as she walked out of the carriage and Bryce followed her. They walked up next to Jack and saw the blood. Alison gasped and quickly looked away.

 

"Oh my!" She walked away for a second. Bryce kneeled down and examined the blood.

 

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be a blood-thirsty vampire?" Bryce looked up at Jack and scoffed.

 

"Yes but I've learned how to control myself around blood." Bryce stood up and looked down at the blood again. "But judging by the time this blood was spilled, it still looks fresh. Something must've happened earlier before we were coming here." Jack looked at him as he walked back to the carriage. Bryce looked around while he was listening attentively, there was no sound of the birds singing their songs, no wind. He looked around again and he saw a small little house at the end of the road where they were going. "Hey Jack!" Jack turned around. "Isn't that the cottage you and Alison talked about?" Jack looked at Bryce and he pointed at the cottage at the end of the road.

 

"Yes, but . . ." Jack said as he noticed smoke coming from the chimney. "Someone's already there!" He ran ahead down the road, leaving Bryce and Alison back with the carriage.

 

"Jack!" Bryce yelld out to Jack but it was no use, he was going straight for the cottage. Bryce quickly got on the carriage and took the rails of the carriage. He followed Jack to the cottage. "Jack!" He stopped just as Jack busted into the door but he stopped. Bryce walked up next to Jack and he walked up to the table that was in the room.

 

He grabbed the bow that was on the table and looked at it; his mouth opened as he realized that it was Isabella's bow. "This is Isabella's bow." He was searching for something on the bow.

 

"How would you know?" Jack didn't pay attention but he heard Bryce talking to him. Jack continued to look for a marking on the bow: her initials. He kept looking and looking and then he found the markings.

 

"This is how I know." He showed Bryce the initial markings.

 

"So? It's just a marking." Jack groaned and rolled his eyes.

 

"Yeah, it's just a marking but they're initials." Bryce looked at the markings again. "They're Isabella's initials." Bryce looked at the initial markings and it had the two letters of her name: IV. "This bow still looks pretty new and it's in the cottage." Bryce shook his head and just thought that someone might've stolen it and put it as a decoy or something.

 

"Jack, this could mean--" Bryce was starting to gain hope of finding her again. Jack scoffed as he looked around the cottage that was old and starting to fall apart.

 

"Look at the cottage, Bryce! It's old and abandoned. Our family hasn't been to the cottage for years. No one knows about this cottage but few, which made rumors go around in the village. Colin didn't even know about this cottage. The last time we came back here, our parents didn't want us coming back to the cottage because of how dangerous the woods were." Jack walked back and forth. "They knew how dangerous the woods were, with all the werewolves and vampires lurking every night and every day, just waiting for an opportunity to ambush."

 

Alison then walked into their conversation. "Jack, I think Bryce already gets the idea." She said as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

 

"No, Alison. He needs to know what horror and terror we had to face as children."

 

"Jack!" She pulled him back and looked at him. "What's wrong with you?" She let him go and walked up to Bryce and grabbed the bow from him. "But Bryce, Jack is right." Bryce lowered his head and looked at the broken floor. "Whether Isabella came back here or not, we don't know for sure." She looked at Jack. "But all we can be sure is that she may be alive and out in the woods alone by herself. She's probably even wondering about everyone as well; Mother, Father, you, me, Bryce, Percy, Charles, and Colin." Jack and Bryce looked at Alison and she nodded. "You may think that there's no hope of finding her no more, but remember that there's always hope."

 

Little did know, there was a stranger listening to their conversations inside the cottage. The stranger listened to every word of it but were also touched by them. Then the stranger walked away from the cottage as they cried on their own way, heartbroken.

 

Chapter 20

 

"Anyone could've done anything to find you."

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 30.06.2016

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