Disclaimer: I don't own the vampire diaries.

Chapter 2: The Wind of Change

The time was the toughest and the worst for the Royal family after Alarick died in a plane crash.

King Giuseppe was trying hard to manage everything.

Queen Lily was putting on a hard face in front of the world but deep inside she was deeply hurt and shattered. Prince Alarick was her first born son, her darling. He meant the world to her.

But now everything was ruined.

Princess Elena was on drugs now more than ever. She just stayed sober in the funeral. His elder brother was a hero to her. He saved her from everything, from everyone. She just could not believe he was gone.

And the condition of Prince Stefan was the worst. On one side he was heartbroken for losing his brother and the other side he is tensed and nervous about the future. Cause now he was the crown prince of the kingdom, heir to the throne.

He and Elena never really cared about the monarchy much. But now he could think about nothing but that.

So did Lily and Giuseppe. They were worried about the throne and had doubt if Stefan could handle everything.

The tabloids were also talking about the same topic mentioning Stefan's previous scandals. So it was not helping at all in making the people calm down.

…

Elena looked at her new personal guard. The previous one got fired because of the scandal.

"What is your name?" Elena asked.

"Matt Donovan, Your Majesty" The guard replied.

Elena raised her eyebrow, "It's your Highness, not your Majesty."

"Why did you come here to work, Matt?"

"I have been working for security details in Las Vegas for a long time, Your Majes… I mean Your Highness."

"Then why suddenly leave Las Vegas?" Elena got curious.

"It was not working out I guess"

"You are hiding something, Matt. I can sense it."

At that moment, Stefan entered the room.

Matt addressed him "Your Highness"

"The interrogation will continue later. Now walk away." Elena ordered Matt.

Matt nodded and went out of the room.

Elena sat beside her brother and offered a beer. Stefan took it and drank the whole in an instant.

"Slow down Stefan! You might choke."

"I don't know what to do Elena. Alarick was perfect for this stuff but I am not."

"Stefan, it will be fine. Dad will guide you". Elena took his hands in hers.

"You will manage everything."

Stefan sighed. "I don't know. You heard what Uncle Julian said, right?"

"Don't give a crap about that. You must not listen to Uncle Julian, Okay?"

Prince Julian and his daughters had been living with them since the funeral. Julian of course was discouraging King Giuseppe about Stefan. According to him, Stefan was not suited for the throne.

This made Stefan more nervous than before.

…

After talking to Elena, Stefan was feeling much better. He was taking a walk in the backyard garden. There he saw Caroline sitting in a bench.

Caroline looked at him and gave a smile.

He smiled back and walked towards her. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all, Your Highness."

Stefan sat beside her. "Just call me Stefan."

Caroline nodded. "Stefan, I am really sorry for your loss. You are going through a lot I understand."

"Yeah you are right. Suddenly I am endowed with the greatest responsibilities that I never even imagined."

"I get it. After that night I looked in the tabloids and learnt a lot about you and the Royal family."

"About that night…. It was really stupid. If I knew who you were I would not do that."

Caroline laughed.

"It's alright. We were drunk and didn't know each other that is all. That is past anyway."

"So we are cool?" asked Stefan.

"Totally, my Prince" smirked Caroline.

"Okay enough kidding, Caroline." Stefan laughed.

After a long time he felt laughing. He was amazed himself at it.

"Come on! That night your attitude was like only a dumb won't know you. So as I said I checked tabloids at last" Caroline grinned.

"And what did you find, Miss Forbes?"

"I found that you are great at archery, golf, polo and some other sports. You are seen at parties getting wasted most of the time and you are an infamous ladies' man."

Stefan smirked, "Spot on! You could not describe the future king of Windsor in a better way"

Both of them laughed.

Caroline looked into his eyes, "Stefan, jokes aside I see great potential in you. You are a good person. I think you will be a fine king."

"Do you really mean it?" Stefan asked.

"I do mean it" Caroline nodded.

"Thank you." Stefan genuinely said. "So are you free tomorrow?

"Yeah.. why?"

"Well I was wondering if you would like to have lunch with me."

Caroline raised her eyebrow.

"I got no agenda. You seem different and nice. So just want to get to know you." Stefan smiled. " Just lunch you know?"

"If that is your story, then sure" Caroline smiled back.

….

Elena entered the dining room looking for some fruits.

"Hungry, are we princess?" A voice came from behind her.

She could recognize that voice anywhere. She turned around and raised her eyebrow.

And there he was His Grace, Lord Damien 'Damon' of House Lockwood, best friend of Stefan. He was the son and the heir apparent of Duke of Kensington.

The two had known each other since forever. Elena could not stand him at all; she just tolerated him because of Stefan.

They always bickered with each other. Damon just liked to tease and irritate her all the time. And Elena hated that the most.

So yeah they had great history.

"What are you doing here Damon?" Elena asked.

"Well I was looking for Stefan obviously. I came here to ask someone but unfortunately it's you." Damon smirked.

"You should have seen this coming. It is MY house. So you will obviously see me, Damon." Elena was getting irritated as expected.

"Yeah or you could just refrain from the dining room you know. Getting fat is not good for health."

"You must be talking from your personal experience I see. It's high time you join the gym." Elena hit back.

"Oh can't do that, Elena," Damon smirked.

"The ladies are all over me already. If I hit the gym, they might just die seeing how sexier I will be,"

Elena glared at him and threw the apple she was holding at him.

Damon easily caught the apple and laughed. "I thought you could do better than this, princess."

"You obnoxious brat!" Elena angrily muttered and stormed off the room.

Damon smiled mischievously.

…..

Lily was sitting in the desk and checking some legal papers.

Julian entered the room and closed the door. Lily looked at him.

"I looked into the rumor as you asked me" Julian said.

"What did you find?"

"You were right, Lily. It is more than rumor. The group is plotting against us. They want to abolish monarchy in Windsor."

Lily shook her head. "No matter what, they will not succeed. Monarchy will prevail anyway."

"They have talked to Giuseppe." Julian paused.

" It seems like my dear brother is having some thoughts because of the recent incidents."

"I will handle him, Julian."

"You must handle Stefan, Lily. If he is under control, then my brother will calm down."

Lily nodded. "You are right. I will arrange that. No worries."

…..

The head of the Royal security details, John Forbes was sitting with the king in his office. He was showing some disturbing report to the king.

King Giuseppe shook his head. "It is not fair at all. Are you sure, John?"

"Yes, Your Majesty" John nodded. "It was not an accident. Someone conspired to murder Prince Alarick."

A/N: Thank you for the reviews and follows.

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Hold your breath guys. Katherine appears in the next chapter )

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