Sapphire's consciousness surfaced and she was immediately confused. She was laying on a bed, not where she'd fallen asleep. Her mind wandered frantically before recognizing that she was still dressed.

  As her heart calmed down, her eyes fluttered open and she gazed at the unfamiliar ceiling. Taking a moment to collect herself she sat up and came face to face with a young boy with silvery wolf ears and tail, he was gazing at her from across the room when she sat up he flinched and glanced away.

  "Hey, your a-awake." He stumbled through his sentence with a blush under his down turned eyes.

  "You are?"

  "Ah, I'm Alfie, the son of the Alpha. . . And your engagement." He teetered off and the last part was barely intelligible. Sapphire couldn't help but smile softly, he was a little bit endearing and a breath of fresh air in all the recent tense atmospheres.

  She slipped from the bed and approached him, "So what's with the ears and tail, that's not normal for you guys right?" Sapphire jabbed at him a bit with a smirk.

  "Oh, yeah, it's weird huh. A partial transformation. . . I could never fully transform back to human when I first transformed." He explained in a quiet voice, his tail wrapped around and he pressed his ears down. Sapphire sighed as guilt crept up, she took one of his hands off his head and smiled softly.

  "Yeah, they're a bit odd, but so what they make you unique. Honestly they're kinda cute." She assured him, letting the guilt slip away. His tail wagged lightly and he looked up at her with tinged cheeks.

  "You think so? I don't know about all this. Father is so gung-ho, but war and fighting is scary and everything's moving fast and suddenly I'm here with you." He rambled slightly, mumbling as he trembled.

  "True, I'm overwhelmed too, at least you still have your father regardless of how I feel about him. You don't have to figure out all this by yourself." Sapphire sighed as she turned away, Alfie sighed as he watched her turn.

  "My father isn't very supportive, familiar bond only counts toward so much in the pack. I just can't seem to live up to what he wants. I think he's trying to finally find a use for me." Alfie explained, "losing your father was probably worse than if I lost mine. You vampires have very strong blood ties right."

  "Ha, yeah, it hurts like a piece of me is missing." Sapphire sat down on the bed, her eyes were down and a tear slowly trailed down her face. Alfie felt his heart twist and he subconsciously approached to comfort her, but she seemed to sense his intent.

  "Don't get conceited mutt, we're enemies, your father killed mine. And I'm a slave to you, this isn't a happy ending. I hate your fucking guts. Don't forget that." She snapped at him and he flinched, guilt flooding his chest and he nodded silently.

  "Yeah I know, sorry." He replied before sitting down in a chair across the room. "We'll have to pretend to get along at least."

  "I think it's manageable, but don't get confused." Sapphire replied, her voice cooling down.

  "I would never. . ." Alfie trailed off. "Um, we should probably head to the dining room soon though, father wants to have breakfast with the hero."

  "What are you guys planning." She asked as she stood up and turned towards the wardrobe in the room.

  "I don't know, father didn't tell me, he seems to be whispering with that fox a lot though." Alfie explained as he too began to get ready.

  "Unfortunate." Sapphire hissed, at the same time a maid was waking Cody.

  Knock knock

  Cody opened his eyes with a deep sigh, sitting up with a stretch. He straightened his collar as he got to his feet and brushed his hair, smoothing his pants. He stepped forward and opened the door, standing there was the maid from last night, she gave a bow before looking up at him.

  "Your presence is requested for a meal." She spoke politely, "would you please follow me to the dining room." With a bow and began to lead the way. Cody followed behind, his wariness had almost completely faded, he was being treated well.

  The maid pushed open a large set of doors to a large room, it was Gothic in style. A large Chandelier hung above a long table, a lit fireplace faced the long side of the table casting dancing shadows. The light and shadows of this place intertwined, there wasn't enough light to banish it so they danced together instead.

  Sapphire and a young silver haired wolf boy sat at the head of the table. The silver haired wolf alpha was sitting on his son's side while an empty chair sat near her. Cody sat down in that chair, the atmosphere was a bit tense, one side of the table were werewolves while the other had vampires.

  "Welcome Cody, I hope you slept well." Sapphire spoke warmly, Cody nodded and she smiled. "Since our guest is here I think it's time to eat." She announced loudly and lifted her glass, he didn't think it was wine that filled it. The Red liquid was too viscous, but he ignored the ice touching his spine and lifted his own glass which held a red liquid of a more watery viscosity.

  Tasting the wine he controlled himself, his body wanted to flinch. Wine was never really very tasty to him, he set the glass down with a smile.

  The food was similar to what he was used to, eggs seemed to be a staple, but there was more meat and sweets mixed in. Nobles really did live a high life, a full roasted bird and an entire cake just for breakfast.

  He touched his food but for some reason the quantity made him not very hungry.

  His attention was turned to Sapphire and the young wolf boy, they were eating with a bit of distance in their gazes. He frowned slightly, it was definitely an arranged marriage. That was made obvious previously, he was now wondering who arranged the marriage though. Theoretically it should be Sapphire's father, the king. Though he hadn't seen him, from what he could see, the wolves seemed to be getting more out of this than the vampires. Though that was only speculation and it wasn't his job or place to meddle.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  After breakfast Cody politely excused himself with the excuse of wanting to see the soldiers train. Really he just wanted to escape this atmosphere.

  With the guest gone the two sides immediately left, only Sapphire, Alfie, and Alkasaar. It was quiet, the atmosphere electric.

  There was an abrupt sound of a chair being dragged as Sapphire stood up and turned to leave. Alkasaar also got to his feet and approached her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

  Alfie frowned as he noticed her trembling, he shakily got to his own feet. "Father, could you please not touch my mate. . . It'll bring issues for the ceremony. . . You s-should look amongst the other vampires or maybe that other princess will be caught soon." Alfie stumbled through his sentence, though his words caused Alkasaar to grunt in annoyance before releasing his grip and leaving.

  The door slammed behind him, leaving Alfie alone with Sapphire who began so shiver, he stepped forward to comfort her but she suddenly spun around. Her face tinted red and her eyes wild with rage. "Don't ever talk about my sister you fucking mutt!"

  He didn't have time to react as her fist slammed into his face, and audible crack rang out as his head slammed into the dining table. Before he knew it he had tears in his eyes while he held his bloody nose.

  She stared at him for a moment, her eyes shook lightly before she turned and stomped away.

  Alfie was left alone, he pulled himself up, wiped the blood and tears before kicking himself. "Fucking stupid." His tail hung low as he left the room, hands shoved into his pockets.

  Around the same time Gordon was entertaining some special guests, he frowned at what he'd just heard.

  "This is annoying, not having eyes on the second princess anymore is gonna throw some extra variables into the plan." Gordon grumbled, slamming his fist down on the table. "Damnit I hate these kinds of sneak around plans I'd rather just go for the kill myself."

  "I understand how you feel, however I also believe Maxwell has his reasons." Keith replied, "I attempted to follow them, however it was impossible without blowing my cover. They seemed to head away from Gulress though."

  "Oh? Well that's good. I think we'll be able to wrap things up before anything happens." Gordon explained with a sigh, "it's just that damn hero. He's the reason I can't act, blood magic is dark magic fighting him with my ability will force me to use more blood than I can replenish. . . It's not something I can win right now I'm just not strong enough."

  "That is probably the main reason Maxwell made such an elaborate plan to disarm the hero." Keith assured him. "If we can cut the blood contract between him and his sword and his magic power should be halved, giving you the edge."

  "True, but if the chance arises, I want to fight her." Gordon licked his lips. "I've heard about her from Maxwell and Lilly. She'll be fun to fight."

  "Skarlet?"

  "Yes, the one holding back the plan. The wielder of the demon king sword must be killed." Gordon growled, "Maxwell will be proud of me if I can do it! And he'll look more favorably on me and my sister."

  "What's you're relationship with the master?" Keith asked out of curiosity.

  "Adopted tools you could call us. . . " Gordon's voice wavered slightly as he spoke.

  "I see. . . Maxwell has given me a separate task, since things have calmed down I'm going to go see to it." Keith explained with a bow, then he turned and left the room.

  Cody skidded back from the strike, a smile on his face as he twisted the metal training sword to counter a second hit, knocking the feet from under his second attacker.

  Resetting his stance, Cody beckoned the other three forward. "Come on guys, I said y'all could attack me all at once didn't I?" He taunted with a light hearted voice.

  The men glanced at each other before dashing forward, two split and went from each side while one pushed head on.

  Seeing their strategy Cody leaped forward, engaging the middle early and forcing him onto his heels. He thin twisted under a swing and elbowed the man in the spine. Sending him stumbling towards his companions.

  Now that Cody was out of the pincer he leaped in for the attack. Pressuring the leader while sprinkling jabs at the other two. He used them against each other, using attacks and dodges to force his opponents into each other's way. Keeping the three vs one as a mostly two on one.

  Eventually he managed to eliminate them one by one till all three sat on the ground panting.

  "Y'all are quite good, only issue in your teamwork is how quickly you rebound from me breaking one of your formations and how quickly you notice and react to me forcing you into each other's path." Cody explained as he whipped his face with a towel. "If I keep one eye on two of you and focus fighting one, I can keep side stepping and countering in ways that keep your companion in between you and me. Effectively turning a three on one into a one on one or two on one. The purpose of which is to make it easier on me. No matter the skill numbers always win, so taking advantage of the environment and your opponent to lower the numbers as much as possible is always best."

  "That makes a lot of sense sir, we're not taught to fight multiple people on our own though, we're soldiers. We're taught to fight as a team." The captain spoke up to explain the deficiency.

  "Of course, normally you'd never encounter an enemy soldier whose adept at fighting multiple opponents. But it doesn't hurt to learn it, could get you out of a bind." Cody replied as he put his training sword away. "I'm the Hero, I was trained to be a one man army, though I'm still just human."

  "You truly are skilled." The captain bowed politely.

  "Yes well, the sword helps allot. It's helped me with the experiences of past heroes." Cody sighed while looking away, "it's not that impressive. By the way, does the castle have a library?"

  "Yes sir, if you leave the courtyard from that direction and take a left, it'll eventually lead to the library." The captain explained while pointing.

  "Great, thanks for the spar, it was enjoyable." Cody bowed and the captain returned the bow. "Would be nice to do it again before I leave." And with those words he left the court yard and entered the castle, the library was quite easy to find. Hopefully I can find information on the GodBeast of Gulress in the library. He hoped silently as he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  It was quiet inside, dimly lit with the scent of old books filling the air. Honestly it was pretty, there was a sky light and a tree in the center. The tree was planted in the center of an artificial island with a small moat like pool of water surrounding it.

  The shelves were circular and set up in rings around the pond. This is a big library, this could take awhile. As he thought that with a slight frown, he approached the tree and began to hear a slightly surprising sound. Humming, a girl's voice was coming from the other side of the tree and she was humming a soft, but sad toon.

  Filled with curiosity he approached the edge of the water and gauged the jump, it was a bit far. He took a step back and leaped, stumbling as he landed and his foot slipped into the water.

  A lightning shock of cold stabbed into his foot as his boot landed in the water, it didn't get through the shoe, however it was just that cold.

  He felt the slight urge to compare it to dry ice or liquid nitrogen. He pulled his foot out and shook it off with a frown dang why's the water so damn cold? He grumbled mentally.

  "It's from the labyrinth. It's called Frost water and it never warms no matter the temperature." A voice suddenly spoke up, the sound of a book closing made Cody turn his head.

  "Princess?" Cody stuttered in surprise, the girl standing by the tree with a book in her hand was Sapphire in a casual dress with her hair down. A small smile played on her lips.