"Bye," Ana said softly to Nick with a bubbly romantic tone of voice. She shut the front door of Genna's house behind her. Her happy-go-lucky smile dropped when she saw Genna's state. "What the hell happened?" She ran over to the sulking Genna who was curled up against the wall bawling her eyes out. Something clicked in Ana's mind. "Where's Brendon?" she asked seriously.
Genna couldn't even think straight. How could she possibly talk? Ana seemed to understand that and sat down next to her pathetic friend and put her arm around her.
After a good ten minutes of trying to bring herself together, Genna was able to ask, "What time is it?"
"Two in the morning. New Years, just in case you repressed this memory already."
Genna appreciated the joke but couldn't find the humor laughable. She coughed.
"Are you up for talking?" Ana asked.
Genna shook her head. She looked up as she heard the front door open. Stephen had the same look of utter enjoyment on his face until he saw Genna.
"What happened?" he asked, voicing the question more towards Ana. Ana shrugged in response.
It was a half hour with some hot tea and comforting words before Genna was able to explain everything that had happened.
"And the Queen… she said I was a princess or something," Genna added at the end. "What did she mean?"
Stephen sighed. "I never meant to tell you. I wasn't hiding it from you, Gen, it's just… that's a part of my life that I never wanted you to be a part of. I used to be a king. Well, I used to be the King of the Wolves. But I chose to marry your mother, a Vampire, which was unheard of. Both sides thought it was borderline-suicide. So, I gave up my title and your mother and I came here. Technically you're a princess, but we're in exile, Gen. The royalty of both sides is made up of ignorant, unchanging gits, trust me."
"I'm sorry," Ana interrupted. "Did you say your wife was a Vampire?"
"Yeah," Stephen said bluntly, giving Ana a wary look.
"But, that's impossible. There are no documented cases of that."
"Well, we wouldn't be documented, would we? If both our clans hate us for getting married?"
"I always thought it would be impossible," Ana said, exasperated. "No offense," she added towards Genna. "It's unheard of. Unprecedented."
"Not impossible," Stephen said. "Rare. But not impossible."
"I can't believe Brendon would just leave," Ana said, finally hitting the nail that stung Genna the hardest. "That's not like him."
Genna shrugged, unable to say anything productive. She silently agreed.
"I can't believe the king died, either," Ana added, talking to herself now. "But Brendon's always said he would never go back. He hated his parents. At least that's what I thought."
"You can't hate your parents," Stephen said. "Trust me. I've tried. They tried everything to slow my radical thoughts when I was a teenager. They were the ones that exiled me. But I can't hate them. Not even through all of that. They're my parents, after all."
"Doesn't that make you…?" Genna asked, looking at Ana.
"I'm a duchess," she said. "Not really anything special. I'm allowed to do whatever I want, really. Except for interact with Wolves… so I'm in deep shit, aren't I?"
Genna smiled sadly.
"It's not like Brendon," Ana assured Genna. "He might not have gone back at all!"
"He went back," Genna decided. "And I don't think he's ever coming back."