After I made that comment about having my wings removed, Dante was suddenly very attentive and nice in a way that was kind of creepy. He made a big fuss about holding my hand down to the breakfast table and giving me a kiss on the cheek. During breakfast he cringingly announced to the whole dining hall that he loved me on no less than four occasions. Thankfully the only person who was there to listen to his idiotic declarations was the grumbling Lord Manfred who didn’t seem interested in the slightest by Dante’s romantic musings. Lord Manfred was more concerned about the dragon King’s army that seemed to be growing. Apparently the Dragons were attacking more vampire villages and towns. All this talk of death and destruction didn’t seem to faze Dante who instead of sympathising with the loss of life continued to stare at me stupidly. By the end of breakfast Lord Manfred had given up and stormed out the room in exasperation.

“You should have listened to him.” I said to Dante.

“Why?” Dante said.

“Your people are dying. War is about to break out and you the one who is in charge.”

“People are always dying, the dragons are always up to something and when you are here in my presence I don’t want to talk about all this unpleasantness.”

“Why?”

“Because I am the Prince.”

“Pft, you’re not my Prince. I’m a British national and I have my own royal family, thank you very much. I’m not taking orders from some foreigner.” I replied patriotically.

“Well then you should obey me because I am your husband.”

“Did I mention I am a feminist and I do not believe in the patriarchal oppression which is marriage?”

“You agreed to marry me.”

“Because you were about to burn my dog alive!”

“Darling let’s not argue over small minor details.”

“You’re an idiot.” I snapped throwing down my napkin and leaving the table.

Dante groaned, “Come on Ebony don’t be moody.”

“Shut up Dante, I’ve had enough of your bull.” I snapped leaving the room.

Okay, I was already cross with Dante for the botched surgery he forced me to have in previous life with him and perhaps that contributed to my anti- Dante mood. Feeling a little smothered I wanted to just have some alone time which was hard because I wasn’t given much freedom around the castle and pretty much everyone seem to be spying on me. So I ambled about until so one fetched me when my dress was ready. Dante was seething quietly in the corner of our room when I entered and there was two small cases of clothes packed. My dress lay out on the side and was a cropped kind of Lolita dress that I wasn’t too keen on.

“Why can’t I have jeans.” I asked irritable examining the dress.

“Princesses don’t wear jeans.”

“They do where I come from.”

“Why are you arguing with everything I say today?”

“Because you are talking out your backside today.” I muttered quietly to myself.

“I resent that.” Dante replied.

Changing behind a screen I stepped out in my ridiculous outfit. Dante smiled and got up from the chair and circled me like a shark. Uncomfortably I folded my arms across my chest and impatiently snapped,

“The more time we stay here the more light we lose in the mortal world.”

Dante rested his hands on my shoulders and said, “Maybe we should go tomorrow.”

I blinked, “Excuse me?”

“I really like this dress but I really want to see what is underneath it.” Dante said.

He wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me against him.

“Do you like me wearing these mortal clothes? If you do I would wear them all the time.” He said lowering his voice an octave.

I swallowed hard and trying not to get carried away by his allure, Dante had some serious magnetism about him. Shaking my head I tried to pull away but Dante pulled me back. This was not good. We needed to get going to Scotland to visit the Loch Ness monster, this sort of behaviour was not helping our cause. Panicking I had to think fast.

“Dante,” I said struggling, “We need to go.”

“We can go any day.” His hand swept up to my neck and brushed aside my hair, he leaned down to kiss the pulse on my neck. I froze.

“Dante,” I said breathlessly, “I have a terrible headache.”

“That’s exactly why we should go to Scotland tomorrow.”

“Dante please, we need to go today.”

Dante ignored me and carried on kissing my neck.

“Dante stop.” I repeated feebly.

A voice in my head echoed, ‘try harder’.

“Dante-” I closed my eyes and reached up and grabbed a fistful of his hair. Resisting Dante was turning into mission impossible.

‘Ebony if you do not go tonight then all will be lost.’ The voice warned in my head.

‘I don’t care anymore.’ I told the voice.