Chapter Two-Hundred-And-Forty-Four
**3rd Person POV**
Kristoff had wanted to disappear quietly after dinner but he was stopped by his father who wanted to have a word with him. Once everyone had left the vast dining area and it was just them left in the room, King Armand said to his son, “Princess Charlotte, huh? Are there no beautiful women among our vampires?”
Prince Kristoff had no response to his father's question which sounded rather like an accusation. It was also a very weird question to answer. How was he to answer it? Vampire women don't turn me on? So, Prince Kristoff just stood still as his father grilled him for answers.
“You are lucky she is not interested in concepts of virtue and honour or else…”
“I am interested in those things, father. Would it be a bad idea to marry the princess?” Prince Kristoff asked deliberately to annoy his father and partly because it had occurred to him recently that he would have to settle down pretty soon and he could think of no one else he could endure being with most of the time.
“It would be a terrible mistake, Kristoff. What are you thinking?” demanded his father, whose face was now redder than roses. Prince Kristoff did his best to hold in his laughter.
“Do you think this is funny, Kristoff? Do you want our enemies to have a reason to pull us down?” demanded King Armand.
“Father, you raise your voice at me but you are guilty of the same thing,” returned Prince Kristoff in a calm voice.
“What?”
“Your only other son is hybrid; you have a werewolf mistress,” Prince Kristoff's voice was calm and clear. King Armand's face was no different from a tomato in colour.
“That is not true! You lie!” retorted King Armand. He had hidden his affair with the she-wolf very well. How his son had managed to find out, he did not know.
“A lie you would not like whispered into the Queen's ears, I believe,” Prince Kristoff smiled as he said this. King Armand meanwhile looked at his son as though he would implode with anger.
“Does my son threaten me?” demanded King Armand.
“I would not dare but Queen Agatha is due to return home in the next moon cycle, a lot of…”
“We shall speak no more of this! Out of my sight now!” shouted King Armand.
“What shall we speak no more of?” Father and son turned to see Queen Agatha step into the dining hall. King Armand pasted a warm smile on his face to greet his queen while Prince Kristoff's eyes twinkled when he saw his stepmother. Queen Agatha had no children of her own. Regardless, she had taken the children of her husband's concubines as her own and had trained them herself. The children all loved her dearly and their allegiances were with Agatha and not Armand.
“Mother!” Kristoff exclaimed drawing near to hug his stepmother. Agatha opened her arms wide to receive her stepson into her arms. Of all the children of her husband's concubines, Kristoff and his sister, Gabriella were the closest to her because their mother had passed on at a tender age, she alone was the only mother figure they had.
“How wonderful to see you son! And my dear Gabriella! Could she not wait for her mama to get home before getting married?” quipped Queen Agatha and they both laughed. King Armand just stood there smiling sheepishly and looking about awkwardly.
****
Prince Kristoff was able to sneak off when his mother joined them in the dining hall. He had slinked away under the excuse that his parents needed some privacy. He walked about the palace but somehow he found himself in the garden where he knew Charlotte spent her evenings. He watched her from afar, sitting on the shrubs and gazing at the stars. A smile danced on his lips; it was difficult to reconcile this peaceful version of Charlotte to the sword-bearing Charlotte.
Prince Kristoff knew this was the right time to turn away. Now that their clandestine affair had been exposed, it was time to end it. Besides, his mother was home now and while she loved him dearly she would also tear him to shreds if she found out that he was fooling around with a werewolf princess. He knew that for now his relationship with Charlotte was safe with his father as he had something to leverage his father against. But it would not be unknown to Queen Agatha forever and when that happened, he wanted to be able to tell her confidently that it had been a fling and nothing more.
However, as he stood there watching Charlotte gaze at the stars, he could not tear his eyes away from her beautiful frame.
“Do you love her?” he was startled by this question as he had not sensed that he had company. He turned around to see Reginald, Charlotte’s twin standing beside him.
He had no response for her brother.
“She may not care about her virtue as a woman but my father does. Should he learn of this debacle, he will not be happy,” said Reginald.
“No father will be, I understand. I will see her no more,” promised Kristoff. Reginald nodded and patted his back before leaving him alone. Kristoff was about to take his leave too when Charlotte turned around. When she did, he knew at once that he was going to renegade on his promise to Reginald.
She waved him over and like an obedient puppy, he walked towards her. He hated himself for being so weak. He knew that werewolves did not practice magic but he wondered if perhaps she did because, since that time in the corridor, he had been under her spell.
“You should not allow Major Drieden to trouble you,” she said to him when he had reached her side.
“I should be saying that to you,” returned Kristoff with an uneasy smile.
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