VANCE'S POV The weight of my father being in camp and having to maintain top spot was too much for me to bear at the time, so I couldn't react violently to Xavier snooping through our things, as much as I wanted to. I let him walk right past me and straight out the door. I took a deep breath and looked around. For a second, I regret not asking him to clean up the mess he had created. This was the first time Xavier was going to be snooping around, and I wasn't sure I could handle a second. He was merely lucky I didn't find myself in the mental space to pounce on him. My plan was straight–clean up and then report to the commander, and I got to it immediately. I had everything in place, except for the bag Xavier had in his hand when I walked in. I bent to pick it up and as soon as I straightened up, its content spilled everywhere on the spot. My legs felt drilled to the ground and my eyes went from item to item–items I couldn't make meaning of. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the
XAVIER'S POV I couldn't stand how much Vance was around him, always protecting him. Time and again, I convinced myself that I didn't care, but I couldn't wipe from my memory the good times we shared. Every time I tried to talk to Asher, Vance would not let me get in more than two sentences. “Dad?” I was just about to give up hope when they walked past me, but his father showed up. Asher did not seem very excited by his father's presence, but his excitement was a little less disturbing as compared to his father walking right past him, like he wasn't standing there. “Aren't you going to talk to him?” I asked Asher, after his father walked by, but Asher, without a word, dashed to his apartment. I was greatly confused. I knew about the rumors of Asher being adopted, but it still didn't justify his father acting like he was non-existent in public. If not for anything else, he was out here representing the entire Crystal pack and he was doing a great job at it. He rose from the last on
ASHLEY’S POV “It's very okay to be an adopted child,” “What?” I blurted, following Vance's statement. “Being a royal really isn't about the size or special powers we have. Being a royal is about the content of one's heart, and I've only known one other person my whole life with a heart as pure as yours.” I realized as he spoke that the rumors flying around was that I was an adopted son of my father. Vance's speech about being a royal by heart almost melted my heart, but I couldn't soak in it, given that I was in a perpetual state of panic. “Thank you,” I had more questions in my tone, than I did gratitude for his compliments. Vance nodded, “how did…” I hesitated a bit, “how did the camp find out?” I probed, “One of the guards confirmed that Alpha Smichtt never had a son. The only child born to him was a female.” Vance responded, “it didn't take long to put together that he needed a son to take over the kingdom and in the absence of his wife, he tried to adopt a son.” I nodded. “
ASHLEY'S POV I walked all round camp and was left in awe by the groups of princes practicing all manner of skill in preparation for the competition. Their circles from the outside looked impenetrable. The princes also displayed tremendous skill, from speed to strength to their ability to morph partially into their wolves and control things with their minds. As a princess, none of these was anything I had to do. I was taught courtesy and how to make visitors feel extremely welcome. My father's skills had always amazed me, but I assumed he was born with them as a superior breed, nothing prepared me for how intensely they had to train to be called Alphas. ‘If ever there's a time to leave, Ashley, now is,’ I thought to myself. I stood at the door of my apartment and was a little hesitant. I took one more look at the camp’s scope that was within my sight range. ‘Goodbye, royal academy,’ I whispered. My plan was simple –go in, pack up and return to tell the commander that I could no long
ASHLEY'S POV I spent all night pacing the room, after searching everywhere with no hope. I knew Vance was stupid enough to leave camp, or weak enough to have been killed if he did–I hoped he was not. I could not rest, even if I tried and I finally lost every bit of peace. I watched the sun blossom from a small orange glow in the sky to a full fire ball, lighting up the earth. There was still no trace of Vance. At the 7am alarm, I went into the bathroom and got ready for the day's activities.‘Vance knew what was at stake, right?’ I thought. Missing a day of training without a sick pass meant that you had exited camp and exiting camp would mean a strike and in Vance's case, another strike meant he had to leave camp. “Asher!” I walked with my face forward and pretended not to listen as Xavier called me, but Xavier would not stop chasing after me, continually calling my name, each time louder than the last. “Could you please hear me out?” He finally overtook me and stood in my way. “
ASHLEY'S POV I stormed out of the room with so much tears in my eyes that I was trying to hide from him. Of course, I shook hands on friendship with Xavier. If I spent any more time with Vance, there was no way I wouldn't reveal who I was and there was no telling how that was going to go down. Xavier had really been nice and not as terrible as I first knew, but I wasn't spending all my time with him because I couldn't get enough of him. I was spending all my time with him because it was better than spending all my time with Vance. Around Xavier, I had my guard and acted up, but with Vance, I got too comfortable and forgot I'm a totally different person. I knew Vance was hurt, but I had to think about myself first. “Let’s go,” Xavier held my hand and pulled me away from the hall, where I was meeting him. “Where are we going?” I probed, with very little resistance. “You need to see something cool,” Xavier was very unrelenting. If I hadn't learnt anything in the past week, at least