Raven's P•O•V

I was frozen on the bed, shocked. My expression set into a frown as I looked at the door Alec had left out of. All I could think was, how many times could he stand me up like this?

I got out of his bed quickly, feeling weightless. Oddly weightless. Must have been a side effect of vampire blood, I thought to myself. I shook off the weird feeling and rushed out of his room. I pulled open the door and emerged into the hallway. I looked down the hall to the left, then down the right and saw a glimpse of his shadow turning the corner.

"Alec!" I hollered, and hurried to follow him. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement.

I turned the corner and paced to catch up to him. I huffed.

"You can't just stand me up like that. Not again." I protested and finally caught up to him with an impossible ease. I grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around so he faced me. For a second I felt strong, but I knew that there was no way I could've jerked him back to look at me without him allowing it.

Alec's shoulder drew back and caused my hand to be shrugged off. His arm forced a distance between us as he held it up as a signal for me to stay away. I ground my teeth at this, suddenly angered by how he was acting.

"Look, I know I didn't exactly give you the easiest month. I know that I was a bitch, okay? And I'm sorry." He couldn't seem to look at me as I spoke so I kept talking, thinking that finally something would click in that confusing mind of his.

"I don't know if you think rejecting me like that is going to make me feel the way you did or what, but you can't do this! You can't act like you care and then leave, no questions asked. You don't have the right." I growled, feeling the hurt from his rejection spilling out as angry words.

"You can't just ignore your feelings. They're real, don't you get that? They're real." I attempted to convince him but he still couldn't look me in the eyes. I felt like he wasn't even hearing me and that feeling hurt. I sighed.

"Alec, look at me." I told him. Finally Alec's eyes met mine and all I could see was the conflicting feelings and confusion buried in them. I stepped closer to him, breaking the distance he had put between us. My eyes now glassy.

"Can't you see it? Can't you see how I feel about you?" I asked him with a weak voice. I studied his eyes, wondering what thoughts were going on inside his head. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something before he shut them again and pressed his lips into an expressionless line. He swallowed hard and clenched his jaw, pushing the words he was about to say back down.

"No. No I don't. And I don't need to ignore my feelings, because dead men don't have any." He said bluntly with a cold expression and turned away, leaving me in the hall for the third, and what felt like the final time.

♱

Alec's P•O•V

"You don't understand! I didn't even know what I was doing!" I countered with my father. He got up from his leather seat at the old mahogany desk that would one day become mine. The bookshelf walls were filled with old books handed down through the kings. The sun shone in from the gothic styled window behind his desk as he came around the corner.

"Sit." He ordered me but with that calm, counseling voice he always seemed to have. I huffed, flustered obviously and sat in the chair. He sat in the chair that faced the one I had settled myself in.

"You weren't in control? When you touched her I mean." He asked and I felt aggravated. I held my temples and rubbed them shortly before snapping at him.

"Didn't I just say that?" I said sharply to him with a bit of a glare. It was like he wasn't even listening to me.

"I gave Raven my blood to take away her concussion but I didn't think it would lead to us making out in bed." I told him, now hunched over with my arms resting on my knees. My hands folded behind my neck.

"And you were afraid that you'd hurt her if things got out of hand." He narrated my thoughts, sounding like some shrink. I looked up at him and met his eyes with my own guilty ones.

"Yes." I deadpanned. It grew quiet as we just looked at each other. Father and son. King and his heir.

Finally he sat back in his chair and broke the silence.

"Then you know what you have to do." He declared, face calm and his statement vague. I looked at him for a second with a confused expression, until I understood. I shot up out of the chair and looked at him in disgust.

"If you're implying what I think you are then-" I growled at him, looking at him with a cynical expression. He stood up and cut me off, almost challenging me to argue another word.

"Then what? I'm out of line?" He retorted. I gritted my teeth together.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Father." I spat. He remained calm as I grew angry.

He sighed and reached out to place a hand on my shoulder.

"You're out of order. You're too attached to her humanity. I'm not the only one wondering when you'll finally turn her. The whole kingdom is on edge, waiting for Raven to become one of us. They're starting to question your authority and strength. Do you want that?" He asked. I didn't respond and he continued,

"Don't look at me like I'm the one out of line, when it's you who hasn't turned your bride." My father told me with a distinctive voice only a father would use on his son. I'd heard him counsel many people and he never sounded like this with them.

I ripped away from his hold on my shoulder, giving him a look of disbelief.

"She's not my bride!" I exclaimed. "She's a twenty year old Mortal that I was forced to bring back here! I'm not going to turn her and that's that." I turned to walk away, making my terms known to my father.

"Fine. It's your choice. Either you turn her and continue as my heir," He stopped me as I went to open the door and leave,

"Or you will be stripped of your crown and both you and that Mortal girl will be banished from ever seeing this kingdom again." He threatened. I turned around, gaping at him like he had just lost it. I hoped that this was some kind of sick joke.

I was only faced with his serious expression and I could tell that his threat was true. It was no joke to him. Just the cold hearted threat that only a king had the power to give. And deep down, I believed that in this circumstance I was no longer his son. I was just another vampire that he could toss out of the palace if I didn't do as he said...

"You have a month."

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