Our embassy in Malachi received a note. To keep an eye out for king Griffin. He has crossed the line when he repeatedly tried to abduct me. He angrily delivered the message. He is not going to send any more abductors ever again. If they come then we the Nocturnals will send our toughest sentry Debria to end his life. He sent the response, "The king laughed at me. He says he knows what he wants. He is going to get her Highness. Because he believes he is the only one who can make her happy. He believes her marriage is just for show. He has never seen anyone like her. He isn't the only one. The prime minister has asked if her Highness would consider divorcing her husband to select another in his place." The only sentence I could think was go lay an egg. The next one was grow up. The next ones were not suitable to send as messages to foreign dignitaries. Oleg was so angry that I can see steam coming out of his ears.
I was allowed out back in the capital but I had to go in disguise with a Wraith or a Reaper as a companion. I couldn't change my looks once I was outside. I was not allowed to interact with the tourists in case they figured out who I was. I don't go outside out of boredom. I go out to see how my family was doing. I like to see their daily life. It felt like we had won. No more zombies. I don't need to worry about people trying to experiment on my family anymore. I can relax and finally unclench myself. The alarm in my head was finally switched off when the King Griffin had to send his men to get me. He sent an emissary asking for my hand in marriage. After I had sent him a message that I am already happily married. He didn't believe me. He was so sure that he tried to come to get me. His general Athos Drakar stopped him. He has been sending one after another. I asked him what he is going to do if all his men are dead.
I kept the shield around me as I walked out of the palace. I did so after I had practiced the deflection on tourists. I was accompanied to the gate by a Pretorian guard named Bear. A Wraith named Elias chose to accompany me once I was outside. We pretended we were siblings and went for a walk. I got to see the city. He took me to a pizza shop where we ate deep dish pizza. Then I attended the opera before going to see the city square. I sat down to watch my family go about their daily life. I felt joy. This was barely possible on Earth. We had Tsar as our stronghold for a few hundred years and things got ugly. The October guards got in and they turned everyone against us. Which is why transparency was key. I will not allow anyone to tear us apart. If I catch such a person I will tear them limb from limb. I heard Orum promise that he will kill that idiot first. This family lives by one rule. United we stand.
Søren sent his regards as he stayed in the Umbrella fortress. I asked him to take a seat in the council. Since we used to do that. I declared him the crown prince so his place is in the capital. He explained if anything happens to me then the chain of command won't be broken if he is away. I made sure he attends the meeting so he knows what to expect when it is his turn. The others weren't happy with his explanation. Alina was the one who left for Solaris prime after the invitation was sent. She came back with a message from the King. He promised to fight whom we fight and help whom we help. The catch is we must not allow the Semites to leave the galaxy. The council told my family to vote to evict the evil ones. If they vote anything less than the eviction notice they will punish them. I made it clear I don't want to support terrorism. Once the vote was done the senate ordered the Semites to move to the lawless regions. They were given one week to move their belongings.
Solaris prime was told to mind their own business. If they give citizenship to these people. Then the bank will be forced to deny their request to extend their loan. I watched as the Semites were placed into ships and deported. To the very edge of the galaxy. They were all threatening us with plague and curses which were just empty words. We had several parties to celebrate their eviction. The next week I got invited to Hae. I had thought of going but Caleb went instead of me. He was sure king Griffin would be there hoping to nab me. As always he was right. He watched as the southern king discussing his terms of friendship. He asked for this meeting just so he could see me again. I wasn't impressed and my family wasn't taking this lying down either. I sent a message to the Kaiser explaining my predicament. But Oleg was the one who truly managed to convince the Kaiser. She asked the King to consider the kind of example he is sending to his people. The lovely lady asked him to stop this pursuit since he was breaking the law of his own land. In the end he had to marry a lady from the noble house of his own planet.
The next festival came and I attended it. It was a masquerade ball held in the upper regions of the vampire District. It was in the city called Aiden. The only tourists allowed zone in the vampire district. I was dressed in turquoise robes and gold mask. Oleg and I were flown to the ice hotel. Everyone inside had wore carnival masks and party outfits. There were court jesters and jugglers. A few trapeze artists were on swings above us. There was an opera singer. There was someone who was spitting fire. People in regal outfits were dancing in the center. The tourists were stared in fascination. A few observed before joining the dance. I was served blood. Oleg got a rare steak. There were people who served blood and cured meat. Oleg and I danced till morning. We went to the mansion on the hill. It had gargoyles and iron gates. I saw no cemetery. But we did see the garden was covered with different types of black flowers. Everyone had wore either black or gray. Which was depressing but still they wore it because it helped them to blend in.
They are hunters and their prey are less likely to notice something that is hidden in the shadows. Bjørn asked me to be extra careful. He wasn't sure what was going on but he believes someone wants to hurt me. I guess he still believes king Griffin would send someone to nab me. Alina explained, "We don't want you to get hurt." I gave her a hug and she tried to explain further, "We have been dishonest with you. We wanted to bleed you the day we met you. But you have genuinely won our hearts. Slowly and surely you have proven you want peace and unity amongst us. These few hundred years you have earned your status. We want to put aside our differences and sincerely work together. You have saved us. And despite Sam's orders to let us die you saved us. I have seen the lengths you have gone to protect us. Which is why we say you are truly off limits. We won't let anyone hurt you. There are vampires who still treat us badly"
Roland interrupted her, "Mayday. Should have left that part towards the end. Now she won't hear anything else till she gets us to hold hands and forgive each other." I summoned every vampire who had a problem with the werewolves. They had to sit down and talk till they came to an agreement. Once they shook hands and made friends I walked back to the my room to change out of my pyjamas. I had meet foreign dignitaries because they were here trying to invest. I was going to say no. They might blackmail us to obey their demands. Because if we end up on opposing ends. They will use the money to influence us to bend our morals. If we chose to oppose them then they will yank their money we could go bankrupt. I just wanted to stick with local investors. At least they will be considerate. I took a bath and came out to see the council had met with the investors to speak to them. They had politely declined their offer. They were furious as they demanded to see me.
One person insisted on it. I wore a midnight green robes with blue and red embroidery. A platinum mask and gold nail extensions. I walked to the throne room and took my seat. The dignitaries came demanding we allow them to invest. Signe spoke, "We don't allow any foreigners to influence us. Because if we do something you don't approve you could yank the investment. We could face bankruptcy. So we prefer to stick with locals." They asked her to be quiet as they wanted to hear this from me. I simply nod my head. There are only a few nations who chose to refuse foreign investments. They have thrived. I wanted the same for my family. Independent and safe from harm. They asked when my reign ends as they will try again. I had to warn Søren. He promised to keep local investors as he is not interested in being a marionette. The foreigners left and a small girl from the tour group came to me. Security called her family and they took her away.
Ertan send the message us saying the men were going to try to sabotage our hotel. I told them to broadcast any and all incidents. If they try anything we will punish them. They send samples of silk, saffron and cocoa to a lab to examine it. They discovered that silk is good for the skin and hair. Saffron was examined at length. They discovered it has healing properties. Saffron has antidepressants, protects cognitive function, strengthen the eye and also helps with managing weight. Cocoa help with natural mood elevation, cardiovascular and also with endothelial support, reduced stroke and improved lipid profile. So the prices rose. We had less supply than they were in demand. We had a request to have the raw materials moved off world. We made it clear we will not hand it over. This is ours and it stays that way. The process is kept a secret. The investor also sent a vanilla pod to test. It is shown to have many medicinal quality. For example it is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory. It is also antibacterial and antimicrobial. The farming committee asked us to handover a few of each. We refused.