A/N: I'm so so sorry it took too long! Exams have been keeping me busy, and I had to spend most of my time studying. I still have one for math on Monday, but here I am posting a fanfiction. I am such a model student

Anyways, thank you for everyone who had read, reviewed, and favorited the first chapter! You are all awesome! I hope you'll like this one too.

Enjoy!


II.


After hours of riding and listening to his younger brother's inappropriate jokes, King Niklaus and his entourage finally reached their kingdom. The townspeople bowed down as they passed through the crowded town, and the King felt a little bad for not really acknowledging them and instead just spurred his horse to run faster. But they had been out for a hunting trip for two days, and he was dying to see his daughter. It was no secret that the Princess had her father wrapped around her fingers right after her birth, and the late Queen's death drove the father and daughter to be even more attached than they already were. It was almost twilight when they arrived at the palace. The sky was turning to an orange shade, and the lights in the garden were already lit.

King Niklaus hopped off his horse by the gate, leaving the animal to be tended by one of his guards. He strode to make his way to the front door of his palace, knowing full well his daughter would be waiting for him by the grand doors. But when he reached his destination, he couldn't see his little girl anywhere. Instead, there were only some guards and his daughter's governess, and there was also his new fiancé whom was taking Edlyn's usual spot.

"Where is my Princess?" he asked the group, and just then he noticed the nervous look upon his daughter's governess' face.

The middle-aged woman kept her gaze down, not having the gut to look the King in the eye. She was nervously squeezing her hands together, her forehead wet with sweat—which was odd, because Mrs. Gold was a very tidy and proud woman. The King was certain she would never leave her room before she was sure there was not even a single strand of hair sticking out.

"Mrs. Gold, where is my daughter?" the King repeated.

"She's probably too absorbed in her own world. You know how she loves playing in the back garden," Tatia cut off, waving her hand dismissively and quickly linking her arm with King Niklaus'. "She probably lost track of time and forgot that you're coming home today."

The King's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "This is so unlike her," he commented.

"You never know with young children," Tatia brushed off, leading him inside the palace. Behind them, Mrs. Gold and the guards shared a look.

"Your Majesty," Mrs. Gold finally croaked, and the King stopped in his tracks, turning around to face her.

"Yes, Mrs. Gold?"

The governess squeezed her hands together, gulping the lump in her throat. She took a deep breath, bracing herself to speak.

"We're afraid that the Princess has gone missing."

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/

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"How is he?" Princess Rebekah whispered in her brother's ear, taking a stand next to him in the grand ballroom.

Prince Kol shrugged, glancing to his brother who was pacing back and forth like a mad man by his throne, fuming in anger. "Well, you can see for yourself."

Soon after he received the news of his daughter's disappearance, the King had sent half of the guards to all parts of the kingdom to search for her. He also had already summoned Lady Sheila and Lord Luka's help, sending a knight to pick them up. He thought they could use a little bit of help from magic to help find his daughter. He knew there was a locator spell that could be very useful for them. He had asked Tatia to perform it, but she declined, saying she was never taught of such spell by her mother. King Niklaus held back the urge to snap at her. She was useless to him, but he bit back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Tatia kept trying to get the King to calm down, but she didn't succeed. He kept shrugging her off whenever she tried to place a hand on him, kept barking at her not to touch him. The Petrova Princess pouted and stomped her feet every time he told her to leave him alone, and had the situation not been so serious Rebekah would have laughed at the sight. She had always hated the Princess Witch, and it seemed like the feeling was mutual.

The doors opened, revealing the Lady and her nephew behind them.

"Your Majesty," Lady Sheila bowed at the king, and behind her, her nephew did the same.

The King nodded at the two, swatting Tatia's roaming hand away.

"Lady Sheila, Lord Luka."

"What can we do for you, Your Majesty?" Lord Luka asked politely.

King Niklaus took a deep breath, regaining his posture as he prepared to speak. "I came home from a quick hunting trip just a few hours ago. I have missed my daughter dearly, and I was hoping she would be waiting for me when I got back," he began, and there was a smile playing on his lips, but everything about his smile felt so wrong that it made Rebekah grimaced. "But then I was told that she had gone missing," he spat, glaring at each person in the room, except for Lady Sheila and Lord Luka.

He was angry at everyone in the palace. All of them were supposed to look after his daughter. How could they let anyone take her? Yes, he was sure someone had kidnapped his daughter, because he knew his daughter very well and he was more than sure that she would never run away from her home.

Lady Sheila had looked up right after the King finished his last sentence, a worried look plastered on her face. Everybody was fond of the Princess. She was charming just like her father, but bright and warm like her mother. Lady Sheila had given the Princess a special necklace on the day of her birth. It would give health to whoever wears it, as it protects them from any disease.

"Do you want us to perform a locator spell?" she asked, and the King nodded at this.

"Let's hurry then, we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the princess," Lord Luka agreed. He signaled a guard to come to him, and told the guard to go collect a map. Two other guards also went to fetch a table for the ritual. The three came back almost immediately. Lord Luka quickly placed the map on the table.

"Your Majesty," Lady Sheila looked up to the King, "We will need your blood."

The King quickly rolled up his sleeve, revealing his toned arm and held it out to Lady Sheila. The woman took it almost immediately, not even in the slightest bit looking like she felt awkward when she was touching the King. Her family had served the royal family for generations, and since she had been friends with the late Queen Esther, she had watched all the Mikaelson children grew up; from Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, and the youngest of the five, Rebekah.

One of the guards pulled out his sword and handed it to Lady Sheila, whom then carefully used it to slit the King's palm. A pool of red started forming on the map as droplets of the King's blood fell on it. Once Lady Sheila felt they had enough blood, she closed her eyes and started chanting a spell to cure King Niklaus' hand. The wound in his palm started closing, and soon he was fully healed.

Lord Luka stepped closer to the table, then. He closed his eyes, and just like what his aunt was doing earlier, he started chanting a spell in a language that no one in the room understood with the exception of the Lady and Lord, and probably Princess Tatia, since she too was a witch. The blood on the map started flaring up. It then flowed uncontrollably around the map. Lord Luka stopped chanting, and opened his eyes. Both he and Lady Sheila inspected the result, and their brows furrowed at what they saw. King Niklaus too took a look at the map. He understood how the locator spell works, because it wasn't the first time he saw the Bennett witches performing it. But this time confusion was written all over his face. The blood had flowed all the way outside of the map. It was now stagnating on the table.

"Why is the blood on the outside of the map?" he asked the Lady and Lord. "Does that mean she's no longer in this world?" he panicked at the possibility. More lines were forming on his forehead and he could feel his chest tightened at the thought of his daughter being dead.

"She is no longer in this world," Lady Sheila solemnly nodded. King Niklaus was about to throw something in grief, but then she continued, "But she's in the other dimension."

This caught the King's attention, and his head snapped towards the Lady's direction. "The other dimension? How could she end up there?"

"Magic," Lord Luka answered; his eyes were wide in realization. "That's the only way. You have to create a portal to go to the other dimension, and only witches and warlocks can do that."

"Go and collect every witch and warlock in this kingdom and take them for questioning. One of them must have done this to my daughter," King Niklaus ordered his guards, who quickly scattered out of the room. He then turned to Lady Sheila and Lord Luka. "That includes the two of you too, I'm afraid."

"It's alright by us, Your Majesty. We want to find the Princess as much as you do," the Lady replied in an understanding tone.

"And you too, Tatia," he turned to his fiancé, giving her a look that simply said that she was not to argue with him. But Princess Tatia was used to people taking orders for her, and always giving her everything she wanted. Despite the silent stern warning from her fiancé, she still opened her mouth.

"But I am to be your Queen. I refuse to be treated the same way with the people who are below me," she whined.

"I said every witch and warlock, Tatia. No exceptions," the King snapped.

"I am your fiancé!" she yelled, emphasizing the last word, as if that would make any difference in King Niklaus' eyes. "You should know that I would never do that to my soon-to-be daughter!"

"No. To be honest, I don't know," King Niklaus said in a tone that sent a shiver down Tatia's spine—and not in a good way. He sounded murderous—like a predator threatening his prey. "I don't know you. And if I choose to believe the things I have heard about you, I would say that you are capable of doing anything."

Tatia gulped as he held her gaze for a few seconds. The look in his eyes made her feel so small—it made her feel powerless—it made her feel scared. She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath. The tension was thick and everyone in the room could feel it. They too held their breath as the event unfolded right before their eyes. Finally King Niklaus broke the eye contact, and turned to face the honorable witch and warlock in front of him instead. At last Tatia and the rest of the people in the room could start to breathe normally again.

"So how do we get my daughter back?"

"The portal can only be opened during full moon. Someone needs to go to the other dimension right now before it's over," Lady Sheila explained.

"I'll go," the King quickly said. "Now let's create this portal."

"No, Nik," Kol interrupted, "You can't go. Who will look after this kingdom while you're gone?"

"So what are you suggesting, Kol? That I should just sit around while my daughter is lost somewhere in a place that is so foreign to her? That I should just sit around while she's probably feeling so scared to death?"

This got the younger brother stupefied, not knowing how to reply. He stepped back and looked down. But Niklaus knew Kol had a point.

He sighed, walking towards Kol and placing his hands on his brother's shoulders. "You are responsible of the throne while I'm gone. I trust you. Don't fail me; don't fail our people," he told him, looking at him in the eye.

Kol's jaws tightened, and he slowly nodded. People had always labeled him the least responsible amongst his siblings. The loose cannon, they said; the one who had always been too busy drinking and bedding different woman each night. His brothers were all Kings—Finn had traveled south soon after he turned seventeen and built a kingdom of his own, while Elijah was married to the Queen of a kingdom in the east, which made him the Prince—and his little sister Rebekah was betrothed to one of the Princes from the Salvatore kingdom. But Kol—he was nothing. He only inherited the title Prince because of his parents. He knew his siblings loved him dearly, but he was also aware that others looked down on him. No one had ever said that they trust him, let alone trusting him to be responsible of the throne, even if it's just temporary. Even his father never trusted him. He thought he had seen him breathing a sigh of relief right before he died when he realized that Niklaus would be the one on the throne, and not Kol.

"Alright," King Niklaus clasped his hands together, spinning on his heels to turn around and face Lady Sheila and Lord Luka again. "Now let's send me to my daughter."

"We will have to create the portal outside, because we need to channel the power from the nature and the full moon," Lord Luka accounted.

The King, Lord Luka, and Lady Sheila then made their way out. Before the doors were closed behind them, Lady Sheila threw a glance across her shoulder, stealing a last look at the people inside the room.

She spotted Princess Tatia still standing by the King's throne, fiddling with her hands. To her surprise, the Princess looked up. She squinted her eyes, holding their gazes. There was something swimming in her eyes—something that threw Lady Sheila off.

She was challenging her.

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/

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Tbc…


A/N: I know, I know. Still no Klaroline. But it will get better next week! I can promise you there will be lots and lots Klaroline in the upcoming chapters. So as always…don't forget to leave your feedback. ;)

And if you haven't already, follow my Tumblr: ( www . klaus - s - mistress . com ) I'm currently trying to get a hang on Photoshop, and hopefully, soon I will be able to create some art for this story.