With all the follows the prologue got I feel like this chapter will be a disappointment. Also, I started this off with a kind of explanation of how this world works. I feel like this chapter is all over the place, too, but then again that's just how I write.

In the world I live in, there are four kingdoms. There are the Diamonds, where Vampyres reign. The Clubs, home to the Werewolves. The Faerie Folk settled the Hearts. And then, there are the Spades – the Dragon kingdom. Power is not completely balanced among these kingdoms. Not at all. You see, the Dragons hold more power than the rest. For when a Dragon Prince begins seeking a mate, he can choose anyone from any kingdom, so long as they aren't the reigning king or queen. There's also the humiliating aspect of ranks not being determined by gender. Meaning that you can be ranked a princess even if you are male and a can be a prince even if you're female. The same goes for Kings and Queens, though Kings and Queens have equal power. Princes rank higher than Princesses, and its infuriating.

I am ranked a Princess because I was very weak in my younger years. Granted, I've gotten stronger, but ranks only change when the situation absolutely calls for it. Thus, I technically rank lower than even my younger brother, who ranks as Prince because of his undying determination and confidence. And that makes me the only Princess in the Kirkland royal family as of this moment. Even my older sister is a Prince.

But to be completely honest, I had never had a total problem with being the only Kirkland princess. At least until the day the Dragon Prince, Alfred F. Jones chose me to be his mate.

I had just finished a mountain of work and had gone out to relax in my favourite part of the rose garden. When lo and behold, he shows up and ruins it. I had acted uninterested, but I made a mistake by asking who he chose to be his mate. Though I suppose it wouldn't have mattered because he doesn't even have to care if I want to or not. That's how it works. Whoever the Dragon Princes choose has no choice in the matter. They just must.

Personally, I feel as though we Fae are thought of as lesser beings, even though we have the most magic and culture of all the kingdoms. Not to mention the diversity. Dragons, Vampyres, and Werewolves are all one major species with some subspecies. The Fae are many different species rolled together in one. But I suppose that's just a little more unfairness. It's not like we Fae aren't used to it, after all.

- okay now on to the main story -

"Why did he have to choose me of all people?" I groaned, slowly packing my things with help from my sister. She sighed sympathetically.

"I don't know dearie, you aren't exactly the most pleasant person, after all," she teased, patting me on the head. "At least he's hot, right?"

"Yes. Hot like the pits of Hell," I grumbled.

"Now darling, that's no way to talk about your new husband," a new, dreadfully annoying voice chimed. I glared at the Prince standing in the doorway to my quarters.

"It is if you don't want him as your new husband," I spit, turning my back on him. He floated up behind me and leaned down so his breath tickled one of my pointed ears.

"Oh, but sweetheart, you haven't even gotten to know me yet," he whispered, and I shrieked, scuttling away from him. I'd rather not admit how much I was blushing.

"Stay away from me you pompous bastard," I growled lowly, stomping over to my bookshelf to gather up my books. I was infuriated when the man merely laughed at me. "Why the hell did you choose me anyway?" I grumbled.

"This is why," he said, "because you aren't afraid to speak your mind or lash out at me. You're feisty. And not to mention adorable." He had the gall to wink at me, and stupid me blushed more than I already had been.

"Shut up," I protested weakly, and I'm pretty sure my sister was staring at me in shock because the only other person who has been able to disarm me like Alfred did was Francis. Whom I also can't stand, under normal circumstances.

"Well," Alfred sighed, "I'll leave you to finish packing. See you in the morning, Princess." He winked again as he left, and I felt a new anger bubble up inside of me.

"I hate that man," I growled, angrily throwing books into boxes to move. My sister merely sighed and kept packing my clothes.

- dootdootdoot -

I fell asleep on the carriage ride over. It wasn't my fault, it was just surprisingly not-bumpy and it was a long trip. How one doesn't fall asleep to the lull of a carriage rocking gently, I don't know. Although I would like to know why I wasn't woken up upon arrival to Alfred's castle. Though I suppose that's because the bastard himself decided he wanted to carry me up to his chambers. Which explained why I woke up in his bed and promptly started screaming.

I seethed in silent rage as Alfred petted me as if he hadn't given me a heart attack. "Sorry, babe. I guess I should have woke ya up," he chuckled, and I glared harder. I smacked his hand away.

"You should have, you insensitive git. God, I feel so undignified – having you carry me up here. I must have looked a total fool. Or a total slob," I mumbled, my head in my hands. He laughed.

"Naw, you looked cute. All sleepy and peaceful," he said, winking at me again. I glared as fiercely as I could.

"Stop winking at me!" I growled, shifting away from him. He laughed obnoxiously.

"You're so cute," he said, sighing in contented-type way. "Anyway, you need to get ready so I can tour you," he said, and I scrunched my brows in confusion.

"Tour?"

"Yes, of the castle you silly goose," he grinned. "If you're gonna live here, you need to know where everything is," he said, standing. "I'll return for you in ten minutes, be ready, would ya?" and with that, he left the room. I sighed, looking around his chambers. They were elegant, for sure, and surprisingly light. There was a lot of blue. He also had a lot of stuff related to astronomy.

"Huh," I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, standing slowly. When I turned, I noticed a set of clothes for me. I growled a little to myself when I realized they were woman's. 'Luckily I'm used to this crap,' I thought, slipping out of my old clothes and into the ones provided. I inspected myself in his mirror. I suppose I didn't look that bad. The dark green dress accentuated my hips a little more than I would prefer, but otherwise it wasn't all that bad. I sighed, staring at the jewelry that was also provided in disdain. I sighed again, putting on the earrings and bracelets and struggling with the necklace. When hands touched my hands (which were behind my neck in my efforts to clasp the necklace), I jolted, dropping it. Movement in the air behind me told me they had bent to pick it up. They clasped it around my neck, and I turned to see Alfred. I should have known.

He stepped back away from me, and for a moment I thought I saw an expression other than arrogance in his eyes.

"You look... Nice..." he said, turning away and going to the door. He turned back towards me and his usual crooked grin was back in place. "Care to go?" he asked, offering his arm which I refused to take as I approached him. He sighed, rolling his eyes as he led me out for my tour.

- skips the tour because blegh -

I collapsed onto the bed, tiredly removing the jewelry as Alfred sniggered. I sat up and dropped the jewels on the bedside table, glaring at him.

"What's so funny?" I growled.

"You're tired after a tour of the castle."

"It's huge. And don't say anything about your genitals or I'll remove them myself."

He laughed, bringing over a white nightgown. The one I wore back home. I gulped quietly, trying to not lose myself in memories of playing with my little brother and singing him to sleep in it. "Here, you'll most likely want something to sleep in, because I doubt you want to sleep naked with me," he said, handing it over.

"Quite right..." I mumbled, glaring at him until he turned around. I dressed quickly, my back to him. As I smoothed out the nightgown, he spoke.

"You have a nice ass, by the way. Very lovely."

I attempted to smother him with his pillow. I didn't succeed.

- makes gurgling noises -

I nearly screamed the next morning when I woke up flush against his chest. His arm was wrapped tightly around my waist, and I couldn't move away. I growled softly, glaring at his sleeping face. His snored quietly, his face completely peaceful. I hated it. He mumbled something under his breath, and I could've sworn I heard my name. His grip on me tightened unbearably. I shoved against him.

"A-Alfred... I can't... Crushing me..." I gasped, and he finally woke up and let go. I took deep breaths.

"Shit! Arthur, I am so sorry!" he looked extremely worried as he stared down at me. It confused me. Wasn't this the man who went about life completely carefree and without consideration for others? He touched my cheek, and I snapped back to reality, squirming away. He looked... Hurt? It didn't last, however, as he grinned. "Don't be shy. I know I'm sexy but even the shyest give in eventually," he practically purred, and I scoffed.

"You're full of it," I said, and he feigned the hurt this time.

"You're so cruel to your husband."

"I'm an unwilling wife, of course," I said, slipping out of bed and stretching. I turned my head to find him staring. I huffed when he caught my gaze and smirked. "Creep..." I muttered under my breath and he laughed loudly.

"Get ready quickly today, darling, we have people to meet," he said, stripping off his night clothes – I looked away quickly and unfortunately blushing – and dressing in his outlandish day clothes.

"What kind of people?" I asked, a little disinterested as I wandered in the direction of the bath.

"Family people. My parents and brother, namely," he said, chuckling at my obvious displeasure. He brought over a stack of clothes. "Wear these," he said, kissing my cheek and exiting before I could react.

"Fuck…" I muttered, carrying the clothes into the dressing area and setting them down before I continued to the bath. I know my husband had maids and servants for this, but I always preferred doing it myself. Thus why I never called for them. I filled the bath with hot water before I stripped down to my bareness and stepped in. I let out a relaxed sigh, soaking in the warmth. I vaguely wondered why he had such a huge bath, but I opted to not think about it too much. Chances are I'd just depress myself.

'Okay. Enough relaxing on your ass, Arthur, you need to get up.' I growled at my internal thought process as I stood and shivered, quickly getting out and wrapping myself in one of the huge, fluffy towels. I dried off quickly, dressing in another dark green dress, though with this one he provided glittering emeralds to accompany it. It fit similarly to the last one, though I noticed this one had a slightly differently styled top that exposed my shoulders. I had thin, feminine shoulders that honestly made me a little uncomfortable. I wasn't very comfortable with my body at all, to be honest… I sighed, existing the dressing area and re-entering the bedroom.

"Gorgeous…" I barely heard, though it did come out as barely a breath. I looked up – startled – to see Alfred standing there, staring at me.

"E-excuse me?" I stuttered out, staring at him with wide eyes. He walked around me, looking me up and down. 'Now I feel even more self-conscious…' I gulped.

He stopped behind me, placing his hands on my arms. "You look gorgeous," he said, kissing my shoulder. I yelped, wiggling away. I thought I saw a hurt expression, but it went away so quickly I can't be sure. "My brother's here," he stated, giving me his trademark grin and offering his arm. I hesitantly took it, letting him lead my out. Though he had to shorten his strides because I couldn't quite keep up with them.

The man known as Matthew Williams was Alfred's brother. He was "wife" to Matt Williams, a large, scary-looking, antlered Faerie. Their betrothal was a strange one. Normally, non-dragons don't pick dragons to be their mates, but Matt and Matthew met and enamoured with each other almost immediately. When the time came for Matt to have a mate, he had chosen Matthew. It had turned out that they had made a promise to be married long before. I personally love their relationship. I wish I could've had that…

Ah, speak of the devil, Matt's here, too. We both bowed in the way that was customary among Fae. Matt unwillingly bowed to Alfred. It was a little awkward, seeing as Matt is even taller than Alfred.

"It's been a long time, brother," Matthew said, smiling softly. Alfred nodded, returning the soft smile I had never seen before. I felt suddenly out of place as they caught up with each other, and Matt motioned me to step off to the side with him.

"This is the first time I've seen Alfred with an expression like that," I whispered and Matt nodded, grunting.

"He's actually not as arrogant as you think, truly. He just… Doesn't know how to act," he said, and I gave him a sly grin.

"Are you defending his behaviour?" I asked, and he shrugged embarrassedly, grunting as he looked away. I giggled.

/ I really hate writing at school \

Alfred's parents never did arrive. I think he was hurt by that, since he kind of sulked all through dinner. I mean, he was happy that Matthew came, but his parents not coming seemed to bring him down. I'll probably hate myself after tonight.

"Alfred…? Are you alright…?" I whispered, sitting on the bed in my nightgown, watching him wander around the room. He snapped out of it when I spoke, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" he muttered, finally walking over and getting in bed. I remained sitting. His gaze slid over to me. "Aren't you getting in bed…?" he asked, sounding dejected.

'Now or never,' I thought, slipping under the covers and crawling over to him. He watched me with an expression similar to shock. I cuddled up to his side. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around me before he just squeezed me, curling his entire being around me. This confirmed my suspicions that he was upset, if anything. I let him cling on to me until I fell asleep.

/ like I really hate it \

I woke to the feeling of soft kisses being pressed to my neck, shoulders, and collarbone. I stiffened, and he knew I was awake. He moved away from me, and it felt cold.

"Sorry…" he muttered. When I looked at him, I noticed his eyes were reddened.

"Have you been crying…?"

"N-no…" He sniffled.

I sighed, reaching my arms out under the covers in an invitation, and he curled around me once again. "Tell me."

"My parents disapprove of you… They were disappointed when Matthew married Matt, but now that I've also chosen a male… They aren't happy…" he mumbled, voice muffled by my nightgown. I ran a hand soothingly through his hair.

"I see… But it's common… Why are they upset by it…?" I wondered, honestly confused.

"The way they were raised… They don't really believe in two men being together… And they're disappointed in me…" he mumbled with a depressed tone. His grip on me tightened. "I won't let them do anything. If they try to take you away, I won't let them…" he growled, muttering other things under his breath, but I didn't catch them. He quieted down after a while.

I lay there, closer to him than I ever thought I'd allow, in shock as he practically confessed his possessiveness of me. And as loathed as I am to admit it, I think... I think I'm starting to like him.

2775 words, yeha! I'm just gonna end it here because I think this is a good place at this point. Also, I've created a poll on my profile regarding this fic. Go look! Go look!