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Piper's P•O•V

I sat next to Alec as he slowly started to weaken. He had gone from thrashing and writhing in his bed, to just groaning weakly in pain. His cheeks had sunken in, turning almost a gray color, and his breathing shallow.

"Where's Raven?" Alec asked me, his head tilted towards me, eyes barely open. His voice was hoarse from all the past screaming.

"She's in her room. Father sent her away so she wouldn't have to see you like this." I answered him softly, looking over to our parents who were in the corner of the room watching us concernedly. I moved my gaze back to Alec.

He lulled his head back so he was looking up at the ceiling and closed his eyes, swallowing hard as another wave of pain hit him.

"I want to see her." Alec murmured, furrowing his brow and wincing.

"I can go get her." I told him softly and held his hand. He nodded shortly. I got up from beside him, and before I could walk away he gripped my hand, grabbing my attention. I sighed and gave him a sad smile.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, brother." I reassured him and let go of his hand. His hand fell beside him.

I glanced over to my father and expected him to protest, but all he did was nod somberly. I took that as my cue to go get Raven.

I went to the door and was about to open it, and before I could, two guards burst into the room. I recognized them as the ones that had escorted Raven back to her room.

"Your majesty-" The blonde I had known as Grigore, said exasperatedly. Father instantly cut him off.

"What is the meaning of this?" He snapped, obviously angered by their abrupt entrance.

"There is something you need to see." Grigore said seriously. I looked to my parents in confusion, but they followed him and the other guard, Lucian, out of the room without another word. I followed them out, and gave a worrisome glance at Alec, just before the doors were closed.

The three of us didn't say anything else and followed the two out of the palace. They took us to the courtyard and once they opened the door, we were faced with Alec's horse about ten feet from us, neighing frantically and stomping. He nearly doubled the height of the guard that held him by the reins.

"Diavol." I breathed and rushed over to him. I could smell his blood and I looked down to see the tears in his skin, thorns sticking to him.

I didn't mind the slight rainfall as I took Diavol from the guard and tried to calm him down. He had stopped stomping but still huffed harshly like he had been running.

"The guards saw him come from the woods with this around his neck." Grigore held out a small medicinal bag. I snatched it from him and inspected it.

I looked at it with confusion, then looked up to Grigore.

"What is it?" I asked. Lucian sighed and held out a folded note shamefully. I grabbed it from him and opened it to find Raven's handwriting inside. I read it aloud,

Morgensterns...

By the time you find this, I'll already be gone... I have to do this. I'm the reason all of this happened and I need to make it right. Once I'm gone, the cure will find it's way to the palace. I know what DeMalo wants, and I'm willing to give up everything in place of Alec's survival. Alec won't make it if you don't get the cure to him. Please keep him away and don't let him look for me.

I flipped the note over and read the last sentence,

I will always love you, Alec.

My heart stopped when I read the last note. I shifted my eyes upwards and looked to Mother and Father. When I looked to Lucian and Grigore, they lowered their heads shamefully.

I passed the note and medicinal bag over to Mother so she could inspect them and faced Grigore and Lucian.

"What happened? Tell me you didn't let her leave her room." I told them sternly.

"We're so sorry your highness. We didn't know she was going to leave..." Grigore mumbled under his breath guiltily. My eyes flared at him. I grabbed his chin and pulled his gaze up to look me in the eyes.

"You look at me in the eyes when you confess your guilt." I snapped and released his chin with a swift withdraw of my hand. They both nodded. I sighed and disregarded them.

"Get out of my sight." I growled and they both left sharply, knowing damn well to stay away from me.

I turned to Mother and Father and they both looked up to me. Mother was stiff with shock and Father was investigating the bag. Tied to it was a small note, pulling it from the tie, I held the small piece of paper in my hand.

As promised. - DM

"We need to get this to Alec." Father declared and before Mother and I went to follow him, I stopped him.

"What about Raven?" I ask concernedly. He sighed, as I continued, "Are we not going to go find her?"

Father shook his head.

I scoffed and looked to the guards behind him that come with us.

"Gather some more of the guards. I want a search party tracking the grounds for Raven-" I started to order them, but before they could agree, my father held his hand out to stop them.

"No. There will be no search party." He told them. I gaped at him.

"There's nothing we can do. She left so Alec could live. We need to respect her wishes. " he tells us.

I narrowed my eyes at him harshly as he said this.

"You're just saying that because you don't care what happens to her. You've disliked her since Alec brought her here." I accuse him with a glare. He returned my glare with a stern look.

"We are not going to argue about this while your brother is dying. We need to get this to him." He said and turned to go back into the castle.

I rubbed Diavol's neck as I watched my father retreat inside.

I knew this argument wasn't over.

Raven's P•O•V

"Where are you taking me?" I asked as we trekked through the woods, the cloak DeMalo had given me weighing me down. Although I knew it was to mask my scent, it kept the rain from soaking me as much.

"Can't tell you, Love." DeMalo answered me, a bit ahead of me as he led us through the woods. I nearly gagged at the sick way he talked to me, as if I was his girlfriend and he hadn't tried to kill his brother that I had fallen in love with.

I didn't ask any further, my shoulders stiff as an ill feeling filled me. I kept telling myself that there was no other way and continued to follow reluctantly behind him.

We were walking uphill, which DeMalo took to like an easy task, while I on the other hand was trying to keep my balance as the soaked earth of the steep hill made my feet slide. I breathed deeply and trudged up the hill, knowing that I couldn't give up.

I was doing this for Alec. For once, I needed to be the strong one and do what was right.

Once I caught up with DeMalo at the top of the hill, we were looking down at a road. Parked there was an expensive car, looking stereotypical in this situation. Black paint with tinted windows. A perfect fit for a rich, psychotic Vampire.

I guess he wasn't a horseman like his brother...

Shaking my head, I followed DeMalo down the hill. Thankfully, it wasn't as steep.

He unlocked it and got into the driver's seat, knowing he wouldn't have to make me get in the car. We had already established the fact that I wouldn't run away. So I walked over to the passenger side and opened the door.

I looked down the road and didn't see anything but endless trees. I closed my eyes and felt my eyes start to well up with tears. I suppressed the harsh pain in my chest and slid into the car, closing the door and letting DeMalo drive.

♱

A couple hours went by and the trees thinned out. The farther we got, the worse the pain became. I found it hard to control the deep heartache, but soon I ended up turning my head to look out the window and felt a tear or two fall. I held in the rest, knowing well enough that if I started to cry, I wouldn't be able to stop.

You're strong, I thought to myself, letting the words sink in and keep me from breaking. I closed my eyes and imagined Alec waking up and thinking it was all a bad dream. I dreamed of him going out into the pasture and finding Diavol and taking him for a ride. I dreamed of him living, breathing, being in good health and taking care of his kingdom.

Without me.

The thought cut the dreams off immediately, and I slumped in the leather seat, feeling the pain drench me again.

"Where are we going?" I asked again.

"I told you-" DeMalo started to say, but I cut him off.

"Cut the shit DeMalo, I'm not in the mood for a surprise." I said, focusing on the road ahead.

He sighed.

"We've just crossed into Crişana. Once we get to the airport, there will be a flight to Milan." DeMalo explained. I turned my gaze to him and furrowed my brow.

"Why Milan?" I questioned.

"Oh, we won't be staying," He said, "Sadly, we will only be staying for no longer than a couple of hours."

"A couple of hours?" I repeated, confusedly.

"You can't really expect us to hide in Milan." DeMalo told me, glancing over at me like I was absurd. Then a smirk played on his face.

"Oh no, we're going back to where this all started." He threw me two tickets. I read the destination and my face fell.

"I believe you're going back home, Sweetheart."

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