Matlin's POV

I looked at Cross with hatred in my eyes and he looked back at me in surprise as Queen Lana spoke up.

"Matlin, you have no place to be disrupting her punishment," she said sternly, but softly, yet I shook my head.

"King Samuel and Queen Lana please, don't give her a punishment like this. She doesn't deserve this."

"Princess Matlin," King Samuel said, "this girl has broken 3 rules of this dimension, and the dimension that you will soon be ruling over."

"Yes, you must understand that this is what's be-"

"Don't you dare say it's for the best because it's not," I spat with venom in my voice. "Dakota is my sister and I will protect her from anyone and everything, even if I don't rule this dimension, I will not let you kill my little sister."

The King and Queen stayed in silence for a while, so I spoke up, "Shouldn't she at least know how our mother died? Or should I say was killed?"

They exhaled and nodded their heads as I looked at the guards, "Let her go, now." They hesitated, but when the King raised his hand, they let her go. She tried to run to me, but Cross roughly grabbed her arm and forced her back.

"Tell every guard to leave except for Lane, Xavier (ha-vee-air), Nicholas, and Zander," I demanded. The Queen raised her hand as well and the guards all left except for the four I recommended. I glared at Cross and bared my fangs.

"I don't care if you don't want to marry me after this and I don't care if I'll be killed, but .." Cross stubbornly denied to release her. He can be so hard headed at times.

"Cross, I said to let Dakota go...now." I bared my fangs for emphasis, so he slowly released his grip on her wrist.

"Come here," Dakota ran past Cross to me and he didn't even have the urge to pull her back. She clung to my waist and I rubbed her back.

"Do you want to know exactly how mom died, Dakota?" I asked as she nodded, so I started to tell her what happened 10 years ago tomorrow.

Flashback-10 years ago

My mom and I were being hauled to the throne room by our arms and I was scared, very scared. I didn't know what was going to happen to us. We were forced to our knees in front of the young princes, king, and queen. We were told to say "true" or "false" if we committed that crime, and if we committed 3 crimes or more, we would be killed.

"True or false: you both committed fraud by saying you were a vampire?"

My mother answered for me, "True."

"You snuck into the palace and lied about your identity?"

"...True."

"You killed one of our kind?"

I looked at my mom. I hadn't known that she had done that, "...True."

Suddenly, we were forced to our feet and two vampire guards stood in front of us and roughly tilted our necks, but my mother yelled.

"No! Matlin had nothing to do with it!" The king and queen nodded, so the guard let go of my face, but my mother stayed in that position.

"Mom?"

"It's okay, Matlin, everything will be okay, I promise." I nodded, but I sensed something was wrong when the guard quickly bent over and sank his fangs into my mother's neck as she screamed loudly.

"Mom!" I tried to break free, but the guard held me down. I saw them let go of my mother, but she fell to the ground. I tried over and over again to get to her, I screamed her name, but she never moved from that spot.

"Take this girl to the farthest end of the Dimension and send her away!" the king ordered as the guards started to drag me away. I glared at the older prince.

"I hate you! You took my mother away! I hate you terribly! I wish you were dead!" all he did was smirk at me as he spoke up.

"Father, I believe that she is the one I want," I managed to hear him say.

"Cross, she is a spy, she cannot be the one you want," the woman said surprisingly.

"She is the one I want. You said so yourselves, I could have anyone I want, and I want her."

The man and woman looked at each other sadly, but nodded their heads.

"Scratch the banishment, take her to the dungeon, where she will wait to be prepared."

I kept screaming and yelling as they dragged me back to the dungeon and locked it. I knew I was never going to be able to leave this dimension, and I would never see my mother again.

End Flashback

I could faintly see tears streaming down Dakota's face.

"I lost my mother, but I am not losing you, Dakota. Or dad, and if anyone has a problem with that, speak now." King Samuel looked at me with compassion.

"We're very sorry, Princess, but we have to deny your request. This is where Cross comes in, so this is his decision to let her go, not yours." Suddenly, Dakota was ripped away from me and back into the guards' hands. Before Cross could bite her, I interrupted once again.

"Cross!" he stopped, but he didn't look at me.

"What?"

"Do you remember what you said to me the day I was changed?" I saw his expression change to look more softer, but as quickly it was there, that's how quick it disappeared.

"Yes."

"What did you say to me exactly?"

I heard him exhale before he answered, "I told you that I would love you forever and...I would never hurt you in any way."

"And by killing my sister, you're hurting me," I said softly. "If you kill her Cross I swear I'll-"

"You'll what?" he cut me off as he challenged me. I was mad. Before she could react, I took Selene's knife from the ribbon on her dress. She, as well as Cross, gasped at me.

"So what'll you do, Matlin, kill me? You did say that day that you wished I was dead," I saw him smirk, but I could always tell when he didn't mean something, and he didn't mean it.

"If you had my mom killed, and you're going to kill Dakota," I aimed the knife at my stomach as I looked back at him, "then I'll kill myself." I saw the color from Cross' and his family's faces drain.

"Matlin, please calm down," Rick tried to calm me down, but it wasn't working.

I shook my head as Queen Lana tried as well, "Matlin, put the weapon down so you don't hurt yourself."

I shook my head again as King Samuel tried furthermore, "Please Matlin, no one wants you to do this to yourself."

I kept shaking my head as Cross came closer and I felt a tear drop fall down my face as I looked at him, "Matlin, I love you more than you can ever imagine, please, don't do this."

"Will you hurt Dakota?" I managed to whisper and he shook his head.

"I won't hurt a hair on her head, just put the knife down, okay?" I nodded as I dropped the knife to the ground and he embraced me. He gently stroked my hair to soothe me. I didn't want anything to happen to Dakota as long as I was alive. The Queen played with her own blonde hair as she stood up and stroked my back and Cross let me go.

"You will make a wonderful Queen one day Matlin, you know that?"

I looked at her confusedly as the King came down from his throne as well, "Indeed, I had my doubts at first, but to risk you own life for someone else takes great courage."

I managed to crack a smile as Cross replaced his crown on his head and straightened out mine, "I admit, I thought I was crazy when I saw you that day, but I knew you were the one for me, you know?" I laughed as I clung to his neck and wrapped his hands around my waist.

"I love you, Cross."

"I love you too, Matlin." He leaned down and kissed me passionately on the lips. I finally understand what it meant to love someone.