Thanks GreenWithAwesome for helping me english.

Chapter 2 - A Villain Wife

Royal Palace - Council Room - Angeles Province, Illéa - 22 years into Brennan Schreave's Reign

A headache formed in Kaz's head. He'd been around bickering old nobles for the best part of an hour and he could not stand their mingling voices getting higher and higher by the minute. He had known that his impromptu decision would result in his father dragging him to explain it all to the Council of Nobles, but he had been hoping it would be a day until then and not the moment he stepped down the Report stage.

Currently, he sat on his father's right. The King had a blank expression, but Kaz knew he was listening to everything that was being said by the twelve nobles and Kaz wondered if he would ever be able to do that when he assumed the throne.

"Please, Your Highness, reconsider!"

"It's outrageous, Your Majesty! How could we possibly allow this?!"

"Prince Kassim, what on Earth were you thinking?!"

"Island residents haven't been allowed on the mainland since the barrier was put up 300 years ago!"

Those same phrases were being repeated again and again. Looking at his father, Kaz knew that Brennan would not move a finger to calm the nobles. I will not clean up your messes, was what Kaz could decipher from his father's attitude and his small, hard glances. Kaz sighed, his heart full of discontent and his mind running with ideas of how to shut those old geezers up.

"Please…" Kaz tried, but his voice was swallowed by the others.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and soon the room was filled with the growling and barking of canines. Kaz opened his eyes to the nobles' scared expressions as they scrambled to get away from the wolves who had suddenly appeared in the room, thankfully they had been too scared to continue making any sounds that were not little, short lived screams.

They still fall for it. Incredible.

"Now that I have your attention," Kaz said and the wolves disappeared, "In relation to the Isle, I think it is high time we set new regulations. Especially for the younger generation living there, as most have done nothing wrong. I just thought the Selection would be the best bet on seeing how we could integrate those young people into the mainland society."

The room was silent, the nobles seemed to be trying to process what Kaz had just said while the king looked at his son with raised eyebrows. Kaz looked at his father; there was the beginnings of a smirk and his blue eyes saying, "Could have warned me earlier".

"My Prince," the man who spoke was of short stature, wearing a ridiculous purple coat, the Marquis of Sonage, "to make such a decision on a whim, without consulting the Council so proper measures could be taken–"

"Had I informed the Council of my intention, Marquis, I surely would not have been able to set things in motion quickly. And my decision was not a 'whim' but a proposition I have been planning on presenting to your graces. My Selection just so happened to be announced close to the Council's monthly assembly."

"I am sure His Highness meant well, but the heart of the matter is that we have not prepared. The Selection is already such a big event, that the planners and security personnel already have drafted plans and to add such a dangerous variable, as the Isle children, will make the proceedings go much more slowly and we may not be prepared for all possibilities." The one to speak was a woman, her graying hair put in an updo with ruby red jewelry to decorate it. She was dressed in a navy long dress. She was the Countess of Yukon, Lady Catalina.

"I can assure you, Lady Catalina, that I will be personally involved in the drafting of new plans, as will General Vicenza and his son," Kaz forced a smile. He never liked this woman and the fact was that he had yet to talk to the General but he would never let her know, "You can rest assured that we will be as safe as we always have been."

The clock struck midnight and the room was silent for a few minutes, Kaz staring down any of the nobles who seemed to be thinking of opening their mouths. Finally, King Brennan decided to intervene and end the gathering, proposing of continuing discussion tomorrow, when all had had their rest and could discuss matters with a clearer head. One by one, the nobles made their way out of the room and soon there were only Kaz and his father.

"Your mother is certainly waiting for me to return so she can gloat," said the King, arms crossed as he looked at his son, "She made a bet with me, before the Report. Said you had something up your sleeve or you weren't her son."

"You know that mother knows best," joked Kaz.

"That she does," said Brennan, letting out a small smile that soon disappeared, "You should have at least told me."

Kaz sighed, letting himself relax on his chair. He should have let his father know, but then he'd never be able to do what he did. Brennan was a great king, admired by the people and by Kaz himself but the man did have views that Kaz deemed old and he was also as stubborn as a mule.

"You would have stopped me."

"I would," the King nodded, "I would, but I am proud of you, even if I wish you had chosen a better time"

"A better time? Proud?"

"Of course. Kassim, even if I would have preferred not to have this sprung on me, I am glad to see that you care about your people and you want to change things. But yes, the timing was unfortunate, but this is a discussion better left for later."

"Seriously Dad, do you need to be so mysterious all the time? You and Yvone are the worst conversationalists I ever met," complained Kaz, making his father let out a small laugh.

"Tomorrow we will talk more about this, Lavinia will want to be here for when I give you that sermon, so she can play the good cop." Brennan got up and Kaz followed, both going to the door, ready to depart to their respective rooms.

"Do you really need to do that?"

"Someone has to tell you off now and then, at least so those snobs can shut up and get off my case and on to yours."

The Holt Estate - Likely Province - 22 years into Brennan Schreave's Reign

"I can't believe it!" a short haired girl exclaimed, clutching her newly bought phone in her right hand. She stared at it with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open.

Harlow Murdock suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at Jessica, her employer´s daughter. The two girls were alone in the vast Holt estate, with Jessica lounging on the white sofa of the living room while Harlow tried to make the golden chandelier sparkle as if it were new. Jessica Holt was good company most of the time but her girly reactions were bit exaggerated if not downright annoying, especially when she saw any news to do with the Illéan Prince. Harlow had little interest in what the Royals as she was not her brother, but she still could guess what would make Jessica have that reaction.

Concentrating back on her job, Harlow used her unoccupied hand to get some strands of her curly dark hair behind her left ear. She was on top of a ladder so that she could clean the chandelier, a task she did almost everyday since this particular piece of furniture was prone to get dusty very quickly. The Holt Estate wasn't the biggest place she'd worked at but it was one of the most luxurious, with its floor to ceiling windows, golden chandeliers and marble floor. Harlow was vaguely aware of Jessica pacing and furiously tapping her phone.

"Can you believe this?!" Jessica started, "Have you seen the announcement?"

Harlow didn't have time to respond, as Jessica soon continued.

"The Selection has been announced!"

Oh.

Was that all? Harlow didn't understand what was all the disbelief coming from Jessica's voice. A Selection was traditional and Illéa had already been expecting one to take place soon, seeing as the Prince was past the age crown heirs normally had their Selections. Harlow wanted to continue her work but she knew that Jessica wouldn't stop until attention was on her, so the curly haired girl stepped down the ladder before an accident occurred.

"Harlow, did you see this?!" Jessica was quick to grab Harlow's arm, pulling her toward the sofa before pushing her phone into her face, too close for Harlow to read anything.

"Jess, stop for a minute," Harlow said, "I can't read like this."

Harlow took the phone, putting distance between her and the device. The search page was open and various articles about the Selection were displayed, Harlow still couldn't understand Jessica until a word caught her attention. Isle. She quickly pressed the link, ending up on the most well known news outlet site of the Royals: The Online Report.

'The Breaker of Walls? Prince Kassim Wants a Villain Wife'

Harlow couldn't believe her eyes as she skimmed through the page. Prince Kassim had gone mad, only that could explain the insanity she was reading. Or maybe she was still asleep? She was certain she had a dumbfounded expression on her face, after all, Harlow was having a hard time processing all the information the article gave. That Prince Kassim Schreave would permit Isle girls to take part in the Selection, to have a shot at being Queen, of being loved by the public. The article's title was certainly appropriate, the Prince really wanted to break walls with this.

"Can you believe this?" asked Jessica again and this time Harlow only nodded, her thoughts passing through her head rapidly. "I gotta call the girls, emergency sleepover!"

This could be her chance.

-0-0-0-0-

When Harlow got home it was already late and she tried to enter the house making the least possible sound. It wasn't that she had done something wrong, it was more that what she was carrying could get her in trouble.

But nevertheless, she was no ninja.

"Did you pick an extra shift at the Holts?"

Harlow could've jumped out of her skin right then and there, her hands clutching her mint green bag to her chest as she turned her back to the door to look at her brother. Cassius had his arms crossed, his lips pursed in a thin line that Harlow knew well. His dark hair fell just above his eyes making him look more dangerous.

"Yeah, Mrs. Holt asked me to give another go at the dining room, the Holts will have a party tomorrow." Technically, Harlow wasn't lying. Much.

Cassius only nodded.

"And you? How was your day?" asked Harlow as she passed Cassius, her bag still tightly held against her body.

"Fucking unbearable."

"Oh?"

"This chick came around the store today, her and a bunch of her girl real dumb types, that share half a brain cell, you know? Snobby shits. All talking about the Royal Prick." He huffed, walking toward the small sofa and throwing himself on it as Harlow left her bag on the hanger besides the bathroom door.

"Maybe you met the future Queen then."

"As if that family wasn't bad enough."

Harlow rolled her eyes and went to sit beside her brother. Cassius was still grumbling under his breath but Harlow paid little attention to it as her mind wandered to what was inside her bag. She had to find somewhere safer to hide those papers, maybe she should've just waited until morning to get them. After all, the Holts would be full of those papers if Jessica and her sleepover party had anything to do with it. Harlow didn't even want to know what her brother would do if he saw those papers, Selection papers, on her bag.

He'd probably try to shock some sense into me, she thought.

Cassius didn't have the highest opinion on the Royal Family and Harlow just knew that if he discovered that she planned on sending her application to compete for the Prince's heart, that he'd lock her up inside their little one room apartment for the rest of her days. Stop having stupid fucking thoughts, he'd probably say to her. Well, that or he'd just finally decide to let it all go to hell and all out rebel against the crown for their taking of his precious kid sister.

"If dad was here he'd already be gathering people to end that fucker's party."

"What?" Harlow asked, confused from being pulled out of her head, "Party?"

"Wake the fuck up, Har." Cassius rolled his eyes, "The Prince, he must be having the time of his goddamn life don't you think? He doesn't have to do shit and the world is handed to him on a silver platter, like he owns all of our asses. Dad would be ready to crash the fucker's party."

"He'd try."

Not that he'd go with that stupid plan of crashing it. He'd be more clever.

And we are not on the Isle anymore, we can't crash shit.

Swanstone Village, North of Yukon - Yukon Province, Illéa - 22 years into Brennan Schreave's Reign

Zia Swanstone had a brilliant smile on her face as she ran down the marbled corridors of her home, in her left hand was a stack of papers. She was excited. She had been unable to sit still since morning, waiting for the mail to arrive and pestering Cordelia, her closest friend – Stop wiggling those bird things, you are shedding everywhere!.

Not like I can help it, destiny was about to knock on my door!, thought the blonde, as she stopped in front of the grand doors of her father's office and tried to catch her breath. Zia thought of knocking would be better, but the thought passed as soon as it came and she threw open the doors.

"Daddy, look!"

Rohe Dermies was seated on his comfortable leather chair behind a dark carved table, papers covered the entirety of the dark surface. Zia knew her father had been busy in the last few days. After all he was a businessman and the Selection announcement had everyone in a frenzy but Zia was also sure that her dear father would open a time slot for his favorite – and only – daughter.

"What, Princess?" Rohe smiled, tearing his eyes off the documents and focusing on his daughter, who had already made her way to the seat in front of the desk.

"My Selection papers! They were delivered today and Mister Pocker said that all the girls around were filling his store to get theirs! He saved some papers for me so I wouldn't have to wait until more arrived!"

The Selection. Zia couldn't stop excitement from bubbling inside of her when she thought about going to the palace to meet her destiny! Just imagining her glorious future made her glow, the small halo above her head shining brighter. Zia played nervously with her blonde hair as she looked at her father with expectation, he had promised to fill the application with her after all..

"They came faster than I expected," said Rohe, motioning for Zia to sit at the vacant chair in front of his desk.

"Yeah, Mister Pocker was pretty surprised too!"

Zia bit her bottom lip as she passed her the papers over to her father, excited to fill the blank spaces with her own information. And picture. She made sure to get the best picture of herself. After all, it wouldn't do for Prince Kassim to find her unattractive – not that he would be able to, they were destined to be, how could the prince ever find her ugly then? – and she certainly had to be more model like than that demon, the Duchess Elizabeth.

Letizia had been ecstatic when she saw the news of the Selection, her father had been right. Of course he was, he'd never lie to her. The Selection meant that Prince Kassim was ready to find a wife and she, Zia, was ready to fill those shoes after waiting so long for him to separate from the Duchess. One of the main events of her life was finally coming around.

"Daddy, how about we start from the most difficult questions? Then we can go faster after doing them!"

Rohe only nodded and smiled at her while she kept talking, too animated to even take a breath.

Royal Palace - The Queen's Rooms - Angeles Province, Illéa - 22 years into Brennan Schreave's Reign

Lavinia Schreave rolled her eyes while listening her husband. They had decided to hold their customary afternoon tea earlier and Lavinia was starting to regret it as Brennan used the extra time not to talk about his day but to complain about the Council and politics. No matter how much Lavinia loved her politics and Brennan, she had not wanted her relaxing tea time to end up as a business meeting.

"And dear old Catalina was on a roll this week, the meetings could have ended much earlier if not for her. And–"

"Darling, can we leave the Council for a minute?" Lavinia sighed, sipping her tea, "You have been complaining about them for thirty minutes and I think we have some things to resolve between ourselves, no?"

Brennan looked at Lavinia with one eyebrow raised, his lips closed in a tight line. He had been trying to escape the matter as he always did whenever they fought, which had been frequent in the last months, but she couldn't let the subject go until she had a satisfying conclusion.

"We've been over this again and again, Lav. Can't you just let it be?" Brennan relaxed against the chair and looked out one of the glass walls of the room.

"You know I can't. Ilene was my friend."

"Ilene died fighting, I don't see why you need to push me to look into her once again. We did it before and came up with nothing we hadn't already known." Brennan closed his eyes and huffed in frustration, messing his dark hair with one of his hands.

Lavinia looked down to her lap, letting herself be inundated by her thoughts. The Angels will be back you know?, it was Yvone who had sparked the obsession of Lavinia with Ilene's death. It was comical that the words of her 15 year old had made the Queen compulsively pour her heart and soul on to piles and piles of documents and interviews involving Ilena Mary Sue Wetherby. Lavinia went so far as making her husband open an investigation into the life of her deceased friend but it was to no avail as no new information was found.

"Why must you insist on this?" Brennan asked.

Lavinia hadn't told him much about her reason to put so much effort on someone who was no longer alive, she had only told him that she had a bad feeling about Ilene recently and wanted to make sure her family was alright and that no documents of hers was out of place. She also had no intention of mentioning it was Yvone who had caused said bad feeling. She didn't need Brennan questioning Yvone even more than he already did.

"Just a feeling… But… I guess you are right," she breathed out, "We would have found something by now."

Brennan's intense gaze softened when he saw Lavinia's shoulders sag in defeat, it wasn't like her at all to demonstrate vulnerability or to accept she lost and Brennan just hated seeing his wife look as she did right that moment. He reached one hand out to rest above her unoccupied one and gently squeezed it.

"I will open the investigation again, let it be for some more months all right?" said Brennan and Lavinia smirked at him, making him laugh, "You know exactly how to pull my strings, don't you?"

"We've been married for years and you still fall for the sad act, I should think you like to lose, darling husband."

"To you? I'd lose a thousand times." Brennan smiled, "Now, do start your gloating, I know you were waiting for it."

"Well, I told you so." Lavinia continued to smirk, her expression smug as she crossed her legs, "Kaz would never accept a Selection without making sure you'd have a headache from it."

"I knew he'd do something, Kassim wouldn't be Kassim if he didn't, but to open the Selection to the Isle? I knew he had a project but to spring that on me like that… I'm proud of him but you know the timing couldn't have been worse."

Oh she knew. There had been whispers at court for a year and they had only intensified as the months passed, Lavinia wasn't one to pay attention to court gossip but what the nobles were saying was too worrisome to be ignored and she wasn't about to let any threats to her son go unnoticed.

"Maybe you should have thought about that timing before going along with those sharks of the Council," teased Lavinia.

The Selection had been another subject of their fights. Brennan had being bombarded by the Council to make Kaz hold one since the break up with the Duchess of Likely – not that Lavinia was sad to see her go, in fact, she opened the most expensive bottle of wine to celebrate – and Kaz was already twenty-four, the perfect age for the Selection to be serious but entertaining. A load of bull if Lavinia could say so herself, her son was much too precious to have to pick his wife out of only 35 out of all the girls in Illéa – the fact that Lavinia was once one of those 35 is not relevant to the situation of her own precious child – and she had someone in mind that would fit perfectly with Kaz.

"What is done is done," said Brennan, "Now we have to work towards making sure his little idea doesn't end up being what kills him."

Royal Palace - The Princess' Rooms - Angeles Province, Illéa - 22 years into Brennan Schreave's Reign

There was fire. Fire, strange lights, shadows, voices. 'Get up! Vone, you need to get up!'. Pain, screams. As she rises, others shall fall.

Yvone gasped as she woke up, hazel green eyes wide in terror as tears slowly made their way down her face. Her hands clutched her purple blanket to her body, her knuckles white and hand trembling.

The same vision, always coming to her in her sleep, always terrorising her nights. She had been having difficulty sleeping since two months ago and those nights spent awake were catching up to her. She felt more tired than ever. She couldn't make sense of her dreams and that was what scared her, not the dream itself.

Yvone looked around her large bedroom, the light pink of her carpet covered floor, the white of the walls in which numerous photo frames hung. Her floor to ceiling windows with its light purple curtains drawn. This wasn't where she wanted to be. Not now.

Slowly, Yvone relaxed her grip on her blankets and pivoted her feet out of the bed, intending on getting up. Before she could, however, there was a light knock on the door and it opened just enough for her brother, Kaz, to look inside and spot her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"Checking on you," said Kaz, walking towards his sister's bed, "I know you haven't been sleeping well. I noticed your midnight walks."

"You… Didn't need to…"

"Of course I needed to. Can't let my favorite sister lose her beauty sleep."

"I am your only sister."

"That's why you are my favorite," he joked as he squatted down, to look directly at her eyes. " Imagine what Claude would say about those eyebags next Report."

Yvone pulled a face and then laughed a little, tucking herself back under her covers as Kaz sat down on the floor besides her bed.

"Get some sleep, baby sister, I'll stay here with you," said Kaz.

Kaz put one of his hands just above Yvone and soon little lights started forming. His hand then descended to rest on Yvone's hair, playing with it softly while the lights turned into small horses and butterflies and flowers. Yvone smiled and focused on the beautiful illusions her brother had created for her, wishing those glittering horses running between the flowers with butterflies around them could be what she saw when she closed her eyes again.

Hi, yes, this is a miracle. wondy has finally posted! Sorry for the long wait and I'm sad to say this won't be a one time wait as I write slowly (slower than a snail trying to get from point A to B).

I'd like to thank Millyna and Headless Gummy Bear for the awesomeness that are Zia and Harlow! I hope I'll be able to do them justice! Also, thanks everyone who reviewed, it means a lot to me!

Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Until next time!