Hi guys, just a little info I thought you might want to know. Also, not meaning to be annoying but this is my own continuation of the story Beth Fantaskey's novel, I write this for myself and my sister so while constructive criticism is helpful, criticism is not. On a brighter side thanks to everyone who's reviewed, it's always good to get a little reassurance.

Antanasia means "one who will be reborn/immortal"

Lucius was taken from Lucien which means "light"

Alexandru means "defender of mankind"

Nicola was taken from Nicoleta which means "victory of the people"

Adrian Cel Rau means "dark" and "the evil"

Voda means "prince

Voda stared at Lucius. His face was pale from blood loss and pain. He had healed himself but there had been no additional help from Lucius's staff, or any pain medication supplied.

"Why did you do it Voda?" Lucius tone was cold and unforgiving.

Voda sneered. "How is your precious mate, your Majesty?" He spoke slowly, his tone scathing.

"She'll live, interesting poison you used of the blade Voda, I seem to remember the same poison being used on an attempt on my life just after the wars finished. Surely you would have realized that the poison was ineffective after the first failed try?"

Voda smirked at Lucius. "Perhaps my aim was not to kill her your highness. How long do you think it will be before another Vampire makes a move on you precious 'love', now Lucius?" Voda sneered at Lucius.

"You've marked her as different now. We've made moves on all of your acquaintances; Alexandru, your parents, all of your staff, and sure you stood up for them, killing all the attackers. But now, Lucius, you've slipped up. You dragged me in for questioning when previously you would have just killed me. So you have now marked your precious princess as different. Your weak spot."

Lucius stood up and walked over to the wall of assorted weapons. Selecting a stake he turned back towards Voda.

Striding quickly over to him, Lucius paused in front of Voda. He considered the stake for a moment, then without a moment's hesitation plunged it into Voda's leg.

"You're right Voda. She is different. But you know what; everyone else that attacked who would have noticed is dead. And because you were not willing to talk, you are now dying too. We all know there is no way to reverse the effects of a stake wound."

Lucius strode to the door. Voda's leg starting to smoke, the effects of the stake beginning to appear on his torso as well. Voda's screams began to fill the air.

"Good bye Voda."

…..

JPOV

Jessica willed herself to fall back to sleep. She was still exhausted from the events of the previous night, but her mind was wide awake. Her thoughts racing over the information that Lucius had told her.

She turned her head towards the woman standing at her window.

"You said your name was Alice?"

"Yes Princess."

Jessica nodded. Pausing, she asked. "Do you know if Nicola is available?"

"No sorry Princess. Master Alexandru took her away from the castle for the day."

"Right. Thank you."

Jessica turned her head towards the door. She was beginning to feel very lonely. Currently she only had Nicola as a close friend. She supposed that Lucius counted as a close friend as well but he was also her mate, her only love. Even back in America she'd had a couple of close friends, even after the drama with Lucius.

There was a knock on the door and before she could even blink Alice was positioned in front of Jessica's bed, both of her swords in her hands and pointed at the door.

"Who is it?" She yelled at the door. Jessica held her breath as she waited for the answer.

"It's me." Lucius voice yelled back through the wood.

Jessica reached out and touched Alice's arm. "It's okay. You can let him in."

Alice slowly relaxed her stance but her swords remained drawn until Lucius poked his head around the edge of the door.

By looking at his face, Jessica could tell that his 'talk' with Voda hadn't gone well. She turned to Alice. "You can go now. Wait outside the room."

Alice nodded, waiting for Lucius to come inside the room before exiting herself.

"How did it go?"

Lucius sighed warily. Making his way over to the chair beside the bed her flopped down into it.

"Not well, love. Not well at all."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Jessica spoke up.

"Lucius?"

"Yes, love."

"Do you think I could meet the other young women in your allied families?"

Lucius looked at her for a moment, processing her request. "Of course, but why?"

"I'm lonely Lucius." Lucius looked at her pouting."Oh don't look at me like that" Jessica chuckled.

"You know what I mean. Nicola can't always be with me, and like it or not, neither can you. You have a kingdom to run and pretty soon I'll be helping you run it. But for the time being I'm beginning to feel like Scott no friends."

Lucius looked at her, his expression puzzled over the term she had used.

"I'll explain later. But that's not the point. You have your friends and allies, people you know and can talk to, aside from me of course. But I have no friends except for Nicola, Jason and Dmitri, and I'm sorry but they're body guards so they hardly count."

"Ok. Once you're well again we can invite some of the nicer young women from the surrounding Vampire estates for you to meet."

"Really!"

"Of course. It's a reasonable request on your part. There will have to be some conditions, not about how you chose your friends, you've already proven to me that I have no say in that, but the way that they travel to the castle and their escort will have to be inspected. I won't start a war because one of the girls goes crying back to her father."

"So how do I go about meeting them?"

"I'll get Barbara to send up a list of the nicer families and you can choose from there. I'll have Nicola's status elevated to Lady in Waiting so her presence won't seem suspicious."

"Will Alexandru go for that?"

"Hopefully, love. But after the past week I'm not sure how much more I can ask of him."