The door to the study slammed open as Helia threw open the doors, knowing that his father would be in his study. He had it on good authority from the physician that his father had not left his study since he heard the news that Duncan had been killed. The room was dark and quiet, the only light from the small candle that had been slowly burnt down to the last of its wax on the desk that Azrael sat in front of.

The desk had usually been littered with documents and maps, Azrael enjoying the messiness of pouring over strategy. But now that the war with Koria had been won and Duncan gone, the desk was clean. Helia never thought that he would be able to see the dark wood of the desk that had once been covered by off-white paper. All that was on there now was a glass of clear liquid, leaving a ring of condensation on the desk.

Helia glared at his father who was sitting silently at the desk, his chest rising and falling as he had just quickly marched from his room to his father's study. He was going to get Flora back, he did not care what mood his father was in. Too long had Helia worried about what his father thought about him or what he would do. However, because of his father, Flora was now in the dungeon being subjected to more trauma than Helia promised himself that she would not have to endure if he had any control. If Flora was harmed, Helia did not care what his father would do to him. If Flora is to be...he didn't care what happened to him.

Helia thought that with Duncan gone, Flora was his and that nothing would tear them apart but he had forgotten about the sullen man sitting at the large, wooden desk. Duncan had always been the son that Azrael had wanted, nobody needed to tell Helia that as his father made it abundantly clear where his love and affection lied. Duncan wanted Flora and Duncan was now dead, but now Azrael would make sure that Duncan's wish would carry on beyond the grave.

So, Helia glared at his father. He stared down at the large man hunched over the desk, his black eyes looking down at his hands. Helia would have taken pity on the man if he had not been the one to deny him the one thing that he could have ever wanted. Helia was used to his father hating him but his father had ordered Flora's arrest and Helia held no pity for the man in front of him. The only emotion that he felt was hate. He hated him.

"How could you?" Helia's voice was still and no louder than a whisper as he spoke.

Azrael kept his head down, his black hair falling into his eyes. He was silent as he stared at nothing, barely acknowledging that Helia had barged into the study.

"Answer me!" Helia shouted across the study, "How could you take her from me!?"

Azrael raised his head and met Helia's steely glare with one of his own. He breathed heavily through his nose as he looked up, staring at the angry man in front of him.

"You ask me how I can take her away from you?" Azrael spat out, "Take her away from you? I should have had her killed on sight! I should have had her ripped from your arms on the training field after all she took away from me!"

Azrael shot up to his feet, the heavy chair scraping against the floor and falling behind the king.

"I should have forced her away from you the minute that she came to the kingdom! I knew that she would be the ruin of this kingdom from the first time I saw you lay your eyes on her! You looked at her and I knew that she was going to be a problem! I knew that she was going to be the ruin of Hademort when Duncan had the same look in his eyes that you had that first night! She has taken so much from me! So, I will take her from you!"

"She has taken nothing from you!" Helia yelled back, "Do you not know what he did to her the night before!? He took what was left of her and you dare to say that she is the villain in this story!?"

"You think that this is a story!?" Azrael grabbed the glass that was on the desk and threw it at Helia's head. Helia dodged the crystal glass and heard it shatter against the stone wall behind him. "Have I taught you nothing!?"

"Taught me!? What have you ever taught me!?" Helia shouted as he stepped over the shattered crystal, careful not to step on the sharp shards with his bare feet. "You have taught me nothing but suffering! And you still insist on teaching me that same lesson! I am done suffering! You will release Flora this instant!"

"Do you command me?" Azrael scoffed before his voice grew louder once again, "You command me to release some common whore!? I am king! I decide who gets to live and die in my kingdom! I say who is released! I make the commands!"

"Then tell me," Helia's voice was softer but still filled with hate, "did you command Duncan to harm Flora last night? Was she also taught one of your lessons?"

Azrael was silent but his silence spoke volumes. It was more than Helia wanted to hear.

"She needed to be taught her place."

Helia took a step back, his foot crunching over the glass shards that peppered the stone floor. He paid no attention to the sharp pain in the soles of his feet, only the pain that came through his heart.

"She was Duncan's and she disobeyed him. And when people step out of line, they are-"

"SILENCE!" Helia shouted, causing his father to snap his mouth shut. Never had Helia yelled at him like that before. But the sudden shock wore off and Azrael opened his mouth once again to speak but Helia had beaten him to it.

"She was never his! She didn't want to be his! Spirits, I wish that I could say that she is mine but she isn't. She is her own person filled with a strength and power that I have never seen before. Flora belongs to nobody but herself, but I am glad that she chose me! Me! Flora chose me! And you allowed Duncan to beat her, choke her, rape her!"

Azrael's angry face wavered just a bit when Helia yelled. He had no idea that the general had gone that far. He didn't think that he would have...nevertheless, it was done with and that did not bring the general back. Duncan was dead and with his death, Azrael watched his hopes and aspirations for the might of Hademort quickly vanish before his eyes.

"Was it so hard to know that someone like Flora could choose me!? I always lived in Duncan's shadow, ever since mother died-"

"Do not mention your mother!" Azrael quickly commanded.

"Ever since my mother died, I have never been enough for you! But I was enough for Flora! She loves me despite my faults, despite the anger, despite everything you have put me through! She loves me and I love her! Yet, you still insist on ripping the only happiness that I have in this world!" Helia's chest rose and fell as he inhaled and exhaled through shouts. But as he glared at his father, his eyes lost their hostile edge as a question that had been on the tip of his tongue for as long as he could remember fell out of his mouth and into the empty space between Helia and his father.

"Why?"

"Why what, boy?"

"Why couldn't you choose me too?" Helia asked, "Why Duncan over me? Why was I never enough for you!? I did everything you asked of me! I trained! I fought! I gave up all that I loved and all that made me happy, for you! And I still wasn't enough for you! Why couldn't you, for once, have just chosen me?"

"You stupid, boy," Azrael remarked with his usual vitriol, "I did choose you! I chose you every day!"

Helia took another step back from his father in disbelief at what he had just been told. The glass continued to cut into his feet, but he couldn't care less about the pain.

"The moment that your mother died, everything around me turned black and I was plunged into suffocating darkness. She was the only light that I had in my life. Or so I thought. In the midst of the darkness, I saw you and you were the last of the light. I was dark so I needed you to be dark like me."

Helia stood in silent shock and confusion at his father's uncharacteristically poetic explanation.

Azrael continued, "I didn't want you to suffer the same fate that I did. I didn't want you to see your world come crashing down one day the same way that mine did when your mother died. I wanted to save you from the pain. So I wanted to make it so that you could never feel. Love made me weak, and I wanted you to be strong. Love cannot hurt you if you do not know what love is. I chose you; I chose you every day. You would be strong, and you would never know pain as I did."

"You are wrong," came Helia's reply to his father as he raised his head to meet his father's gaze, "love did not make me weak. It is love that made me challenge Duncan and it is love that has made me stand in front of you tonight. Flora showed me how strong and how...magical love can be. Your twisted idea of a lesson was no match for the woman who has captured my heart. If I am to suffer the same fate as you, so be it. If Flora were to join the great spirits before me, I would know that I loved her, and she miraculously loved me in return. You didn't choose me and now I don't care."

Azrael's face hardened as he looked at Helia, "You forget who is king."

"You forget that with Flora locked away, I have nothing to lose." Helia replied, "I would kill Duncan a million times over just for myself, and I would kill him even more times than that for Flora. I would destroy armies for Flora, I would raze entire kingdoms to the ground for Flora. I will always choose Flora. And I will choose our children that she will carry. What makes you think that I am not above killing you?"

"Not if I kill you first, boy."

"If you kill Flora, I hope you do kill me. If I do not have her, I have nothing. I was fighting for my crown because I couldn't let Duncan have it but now all I fight for is Flora and our child."

"Child? Do you mean to tell me that Linphean tree-fucker is pregnant? With your bastard?"

Helia said nothing as he marched towards his father across the room. Pulling his fist back, Helia met his father's face with a swift punch. He didn't know for certain the state of Flora's condition, but he wouldn't let his father know of his uncertainty nor would he allow him to speak of her in such a manner.

Azrael stumbled back at the force of Helia's punch. He raised a hand to his jaw and chuckled, much like Duncan did hours ago. Helia's fractured knuckles screamed at him after they had registered the force of the punch but just like with Duncan, the anger and adrenaline took over. Helia raised his fist and landed another punch to his father's face. This time, Azrael was knocked back, his body hitting the desk, causing the large wooden piece of furniture to scrape against the floor.

"She is to be my wife! The future Queen of Hademort and-"

"No common whore will sit on the throne of Hademort! And I will not have you father a bastard and soil our family name!"

"Soil our name!?" Helia exclaimed as he hovered over his father, "I would soil our name?! Hademort has destroyed innocent kingdoms all for your enjoyment and sport! Koria did nothing to Hademort, yet thousands are either dead or suffering because you thought that it would be a good idea to play war with them! Flora will soil nothing! She is probably the best thing that could happen to this frozen, miserable, kingdom!"

"Hademort is known the world over for our strength!" Azrael countered.

"Hademort is known the world over because everyone hates us! They fear us!" Helia's voice softened as he remembered Flora's calm voice and beautiful smile, always calming him when he was upset or angry, "I don't want that. That is not the future that I want for Hademort. I want peace and I want prosperity. No more war, no more anger." Helia glared down at his father, "No more."

"And tell me, boy," Azrael looked up at his son as he returned to his standing position, "what will you do when the Linphean goes before you? What happens when the grief becomes too much? What shall you do when she realizes that you are not enough?"

Helia knew the answer. He would sooner die than live without Flora. However, if Flora's instincts were right, he would have a child on the way and that child would be everything to him. If Flora were to go before him, he vowed to himself that he would never turn into his father.

"I am not you." Helia replied. "I will not allow my child to grow up in the same way that you forced me. My child is not even born yet but I will never allow them to feel the same way that you made me feel. I spent my whole life thinking that I was a disappointment but the only person who has disappointed anyone has been you."

"How idealistic of you." Azrael scoffed, "And what then if your bastard is the spitting image of the woman that you claim to love? What then? How will you be able to look into the eyes of your child and not feel the pain of the loss?"

Helia always knew that his father's weakness lied in the fact that Helia had his mother's eyes. It was the constant reminder of the wife that Azrael lost and a reminder to Helia of the small amount of his mother that he had in the midst of the features that he had inherited from his father. He knew that every time his father looked into his eyes, Azrael saw nothing but pain and misery; a reminder of what he had lost. But deep down Helia knew that if Flora were ever to leave him, looking at their child would bring an incomprehensible and unmeasurable joy. He would remember that it was love that brought his child into the world and his child should feel loved every minute of their life, even if they were the spitting image of Flora. Deep down, he hoped that his child did look like Flora for everything about her was better than the best that he could hope to be, both inside and out.

Helia inhaled as he looked at his father, "I love her and nothing is going to change that. I will love our child, the next King or Queen of Hademort after we have passed, and I will know that every moment spent with Flora was filled with warmth and love."

There was a short pause as the two men looked at one another, their eyes holding one another in place, neither daring to be the one to look away first.

It was Azrael who spoke first and when he did, Helia was once again brought into a state of rage and wrath.

"The bitch will be dead come the morning."

Azrael's voice was cold and Helia's mind immediately went to imagining Flora's head on the stone block in the courtyard of the palace. The stone already having been stained with the blood of the people who had previously met their fate on the block. Helia knew that Flora would not cry. She would be strong, like her sister. But deep down she would be afraid. Helia would be forced to watch as the only woman he could dare love was dragged out in front of the court and council to have her beautiful head severed from the rest of her perfect body.

Without thinking, Helia reached to the candle on his father's desk that had been nearly burnt down to the wick. Grabbing the metal candle holder, Helia raised his arm and brought the heavy metal down to his father's head. Azrael once again stumbled back and reached up to find blood on his forehead. Azrael looked up and gave Helia a lecherous grin.

"You are just like me, boy." Azrael chuckled, "You cannot fight it for long and if I allow that woman to live, I don't know if I will be helping you or harming her. She will come to see the real you, the you that is like me."

"I am not like you." Helia stated once again as he hovered over his father, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"Rage festers deep inside of you," Azrael rose back up, the blood still falling down the sharp planes of his face, "and rage is far better than the pain of love. She will be consumed by your rage and she will suffer. Do you really think that you have changed? Do you really think that just a few months with this woman has made any difference? Don't be stupid, boy."

"All I know is that in the few months that I have spent with Flora have been filled with more happiness than the years I have been trying to gain your approval. And that's just it, Flora doesn't see past my faults. She doesn't see past the anger; she sees the anger. She sees the pain that I have been through, and I see hers. She sees all of me and still loves me for who I am. When I am with her, the rage seems to float away and I can truly be the man I am meant to be, the man that I am. Flora doesn't try to fix me," Helia took a deep breath, "because there is nothing to fix. I don't want my child to grow up in a world of violence and rage and the only way that will be possible is if Flora is alive and you are gone."

"Gone?" Azrael's black eyes narrowed as he glared at Helia, "What do you mean gone?"

Helia gripped the candle holder in his hand and stared at his father, "After today, the violence ends. Flora will live and the reign of King Azrael of Hademort will be over."

"Silence, boy! I will-"

Azrael was cut off with another swift blow of the candle holder to his head, more blood splattering out and Azrael fell back against the large, wooden desk. Helia raised his arm again and brought it back down across his father's jaw. The desk scraped against the stone floor and back against the tipped-over chair. Azrael scrambled to his feet, his legs shaking as he stumbled behind the desk.

Opening a drawer behind the desk, Azrael reached inside and pulled out a small, silver dagger, and held it out in front of him.

"I didn't get a chance to do this over twenty years ago, but I will do what I have should have done. Nobody is here to save you, boy." Azrael spat.

"And nobody is here to save you."

Helia rounded the wooden desk and kicked his father to the ground. The dagger fell from Azrael's hand and Helia kicked it to the edge of the room, no longer a direct threat to his life.

His father looked so small on the ground, just like Duncan had looked hours ago when Helia held the tip of the sword to the tight flesh of his neck. Helia saw Azrael for what he truly was, a man with faults just like him, a man who had allowed the rage and grief to consume him, and a man who had no right to be on the throne. Helia reckoned that he didn't belong on the throne either. His father had been right, there was more of Azrael in Helia that Helia wanted to admit. But Helia also learned from his grandfather that violence was never the way, he learned that he was capable of love and understanding with Flora, and it was Krystal who taught him that he deserved to be happy. Helia was blessed beyond measure to have them in his life and the lessons that they taught him would carry with him for the rest of his life, no matter if they were physically there with him.

But Helia would not let them go without a fight. He had to beat his father and he had to release Flora from the dungeon cell and bring her back to safety.

Helia hit his father again, sweat pooling down Helia's face as the room became hot as his anger and need to protect the people that he cared for most filled his body. He had seen so much blood in the past few days that his stomach began to churn as he watched his father's blood begin to stain the dark rug in the middle of the room. He reveled in Duncan's blood coating his hands as he punched, he wanted to throw up when he saw Flora covered in bruises and bloody scars, he wanted to beat Duncan again when he saw the blood begin to pool from between Flora's legs as he held her. But when Helia looked down at his father, his face bloody, Helia found himself feeling an odd sense of pity and sadness for the man.

While there was no excuse for what his father had done to him, Helia began to once again see himself in his father as he laid there bloody and bruised. Azrael no longer looked angry, but sad. Helia supposed that after the death of his mother, Azrael felt just as alone as Helia had in the past twenty years.

Helia signed before slowly bringing down his arm again and delivered a final blow to his father. Not killing him, no, he couldn't do that. He didn't have it in him to do it. How he had longed for the day to finally be free of his father, but Helia couldn't do it. Kill Duncan after all he had done to Flora? Easy. But there was something in him that had called him to stop. Maybe it was the thought of the disappointment that Saladin would give him if he had willingly taken a life in anger. Or maybe it was the way that Flora's panic-filled voice filled his head after she had killed Duncan, an action caused by her own rage. Helia might wish his father dead, but he couldn't do it.

Maybe he was as weak as everyone said.

As his father laid on the floor of his study unconscious, Helia placed the bloody, metal candleholder back on the desk and wiped his hands against the soft, blue pants that he wore when he was in bed with Flora. With one final look to his father, Helia turned and made his way out of the study to find the one person who could help him finish dealing with his father.

Closing the door behind him, Helia made his way aimlessly through the palace, hoping to run into his grandfather. Saladin would know what to do, he always knew what to do. Azrael might have been Saladin's son, but Helia knew that despite his calm demeanor, Saladin wanted Azrael off the throne and out of their lives just as much as Helia. The halls were empty still as Helia continued to search the palace for his grandfather. It was by a stroke of rare luck that Helia spotted the short, old man talking with a male servant in front of the servants' quarters.

"Saladin," Helia huffed as he called out to his grandfather.

Saladin turned around to see his grandson running down the corridor towards him, his strides hurried yet deliberate. As Helia came closer, Saladin could see the blood that stained Helia's face and hands. His eyes lowered and saw the crimson stain on his clothes. What in the world had happened?

"Your Highness?" Saladin stared at Helia.

"Please," Helia huffed as he caught his breath once he was to his grandfather, "I need your assistance."

"Are you alright, Your Highness? Shall I call for the physician?" Saladin asked.

Helia frantically shook his head, "The blood is not mine."

Saladin's eyes widened and he turned to the young servant, "We shall talk in the morning."

The young servant nodded and gave Helia a bow. Saladin watched as the young servant went down the stairs to the dark servants' quarters and once he was out of sight, Saladin turned to Helia.

"What in the world is going on?" Saladin asked.

"Please, just come with me. You must help me."

"Helia, what have you done? What do you mean the blood is not yours? Has Flora started to bleed again?"

Helia shook his head once again. His eyes met Saladin's and silently pleaded with the old man to stop asking questions and to follow him.

"It's father's."

Without another word, Helia turned and made his way back down the stone corridors of the palace, Saladin following closely behind.

"Helia, what have you done? What is wrong with Azrael?"

Helia did not respond but instead kept walking, his eyes focused in front of him and blocking out the questions that his grandfather kept hurling towards him. Helia had to hurry, Azrael might wake up soon. Though Helia had knocked him out, Helia thought it better be safe than sorry because he might never get a chance like this again. If his father woke up, Helia would no longer have to wish for death because his father would guarantee that death met Helia at his earliest convenience.

Reaching the door to the study, Helia looked around the corridor, making sure that nobody had followed him and Saladin. Seeing that they had not been followed, watching to make sure that the woman from earlier had not followed him, Helia opened the door to his father's study.

"Hurry." Helia quietly commanded as he waved Saladin inside.

A gasp escaped Saladin's mouth as Helia shut the door behind him. His eyes met his son on the ground, bloody and small bruises already starting to form on his alabaster skin. Helia stood beside Saladin and looked down at his father, both men not knowing what to say next. There was something about seeing one's child on the floor that really hit Saladin, no matter how old or how terrible he became. When Saladin saw his son bloody and sprawled out across the stone floor, his mind flashed back to the time when Azrael had run straight into one of the large stone pillars in the palace when he was a boy chasing after one of the young princes who came to spend the summer in Hademort, back when people sent their children to Hademort despite the frigid temperatures.

"Helia," Saladin exhaled the breath that he had been holding, "what have you done?"

"I...I...I couldn't help it." Helia turned to face Saladin who was still staring down at his son, "He was going to send Flora to the block tomorrow and I just...I couldn't let that happen."

"Tell me," Saladin turned to Helia, "is he..."

"No," Helia sighed and shook his head, "I wanted to but...I couldn't. I know that if I did, I would prove to everyone that I was just like him. I knew that you would never forgive me and Flora...I have seen how much it troubles her. She didn't even mean to kill Duncan, she begged me not to do it, and when I looked at her after...I couldn't do it. After everything that he has done to me, I couldn't do it."

Saladin took in a deep breath and nodded, "So he is just passed out?"

"Yes, and I need your help to put him in chains and send him away from here."

Saladin's eyes widened, "Helia, your father is still the king. We cannot-"

"We do it in secret. We shackle him and send him on a boat to Omega Island in the far north. Do you think that someone might be able to take him?" Helia asked.

"And what do we tell the public?"

Helia sighed, "For all they know, the king is dead. You will take your place back on the throne and Flora and I can-"

Saladin placed a hand on Helia's shoulder, "My boy, I cannot be king. It is not what I wanted. If your father is gone, you shall be king."

Helia closed his eyes and turned his head away from Saladin, "I don't think that I am ready."

"You have shown more mercy in this single moment than some people show in their lifetime. You are wise, kind, patient, and-"

"I am none of those things." Helia interrupted.

"You are, Helia. And as king, you have the power to change the kingdom for the better and you are young that you will be able to reign for a long time." Saladin gave Helia a soft smile, "And Flora will be one of the best queens that Hademort has ever seen, well besides your mother and grandmother."

Both Helia and Saladin chuckled before Saladin continued.

"And I will be with you every step of the way."

"I thought that you wanted to retire to Espero?" Helia asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I thought that is what I wanted, and I was upset when I had to stay for your father's sake. But now, I want to stay here. Hademort is my home and you, Flora, and even Her Highness are family that I could not dare be parted from."

Helia surprised Saladin when he wrapped his grandfather in a tight and warm embrace. Helia never showed affection, except when it came to Flora, so Saladin did not take the gesture lightly. Who would have thought that the moody and troubled prince who used to drown his sorrows in whiskey would be the same man who had spared his father's life and opened his heart wider than he had before? Not Saladin.

"I will head down to the dungeon and ask for the guards to bring Flora here."

"But my father..."

"I know," Saladin nodded knowing that Helia was worried for Flora to see Azrael on the ground, "but I will be able to discretely get the shackles that we need and be able to free Flora. Please, just wait here and make sure that your father does not wake up."

Helia nodded before Saladin quickly left the study and made his way down the hallways of the palace to the dungeons.

Saladin made sure to keep his strides at an even pace, not wanting to seem too anxious or hurried. Saladin was not usually one to hurry and Saladin did not want to stand out. While most of the servants should be in bed asleep, there were a few that sometimes wandered the halls, making sure that the fires were still lit that helped to heat the stone palace. Still, he had to hurry before his son woke up and Helia might resort to doing something that he didn't want to. While Azrael might be groggy if he were to wake, Saladin knew that a lucid Azrael was never a good one.

Finding his way to the entrance of the dungeon, Saladin began his descent down the large, stone staircase. The only lights illuminating his way down were the small sconces on the wall and as he made his way deeper into the dungeon, the colder the air around him became. He rarely frequented the dungeons, always hating the damp and cold area. In fact, Saladin did not remember a time when he was king that he had made his way down to the cold underbelly of the basement. He never had a reason to.

Reaching the bottom, Saladin looked around at the cold and dark cells, empty save for one. Two guards stood on either side and in the back corner of the damp cell, a woman sat crouched to the ground, her arms wrapped around her legs. Flora's brown hair fell in front of her face as she looked down at her shackled feet. He had to get her out and back to Helia.

"Excuse me," Saladin cleared his throat, "His Majesty would like a word with the prisoner."

Flora raised her head at the sound of Saladin's voice and the two guards turned their attention to the small, old man in front of them.

"We had orders not to let her out." one of the guards stated.

"And I am telling you that His Majesty the King has requested I take the prisoner to his study." Saladin responded, keeping his voice as calm as he could yet with an authoritative edge so that the guards would not question him. "I trust that His Majesty would not be pleased to know that you are questioning his command. I am the Head Servant of this palace and I have been entrusted to this task."

The two guards looked at each other and then back to the old man. One of the guards sighed as he grabbed the metal key ring on his hip and turned to unlock Flora's cell door. The keys clinked together, and the lock clanged as the tumbler moved around the key. The door swung open and Flora rose to her feet and stumbled as the guard without the key grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the cell.

"I was told to bring her alone."

"But-"

"His Majesty said to bring her to him personally and personally I shall." Helia glared at the guard. The guard sucked his teeth before throwing Flora towards the old man. Flora tripped over her shackles and fell into Saladin's arms.

"Sorry." Flora whispered.

Saladin softly grabbed her shoulders and gently brought Flora back up to her feet. He gave her a soft and silent smile, communicating with her that she should not apologize.

"I will need the key to her shackles." Saladin held out his hand and the guard with the keyring handed Saldin the small, silver key, pressing it into his pale palm.

"Come," Saladin said loudly for the other guards to hear, "His Majesty is waiting for you."

Saladin grabbed Flora by the chain that connected the shackles to her wrists. He was careful not to pull too hard but had to make sure that his charade played out without question until they had made it back to Azrael's study. Saladin remained silent as he made his way up the dungeon stairs with Flora until they had reached the main floor of the palace. Both Saladin and Flora, thankful for the warmer air.

"Pease," Flora's voice was silent and weak, "don't bring me to him. I cannot...I cannot face him. Shall I be sentenced tonight?"

Saladin kept walking forward, "We must hurry."

Flora shut her mouth as she followed behind Saladin. The metal of the chains scraped against the stone floor as Flora and Saladin made their way down the stone corridor. Flora's breath became harder and harder to release as she came closer and closer to the king's study. Saladin was really bringing him to Azrael. There was a small part of her that still held on hope that Saladin was bringing her to Helia. But her dreams seldom came true.

However, when she and Saladin reached Azrael's study and Saladin opened the door, Flora gasped and broke into a relieved sob when she saw Helia standing in the middle of the study.

"Helia!" Flora exclaimed as she ran towards Helia but once again tripped over the metal chains that held the shackles around her ankles.

Helia was there to catch her, and he wasted no time in wrapping her in his arms.

"I thought that I was coming to see your father. I thought that I would never see you again. Helia, I thought that..."

Flora rambled through sobs as she cried into Helia's shoulder. He ran his hand over her head in a calming gesture. Helia felt whole again as he held Flora in his arms. She did not appear to be hurt, but the short amount of time that she had spent in the cell was more than enough to make Helia worry for her and crave the feel of her body in his. He was so stupid for thinking that he could be okay without her if she had gotten on that boat. His father seemed to be right about one thing; he really was an idiot.

"I would never let my father take you away from me and there is no way that I would ever be parted from you. I think that it would take more than death to separate me from you for my spirit would spend the rest of eternity searching for you."

"What are we to do about your father?" Flora asked as she calmed down in Helia's arms, "He seeks to sentence me and the guards say that I will be sent to the block come the morning. I cannot protest the king and-"

Helia pulled Flora away from him, immediately missing the warmth of her skin. He looked down at the shackles around her wrists and ankles and he immediately felt the same rage from earlier overtake his senses. But he wouldn't allow Flora to see him that way again, at least not now. He had to remain calm. He had to get those metal cuffs off of Flora and onto his father.

Flora looked up at Helia and gave him a small smile, sensing that he was angry with the way she looked at the moment. With everything that they had been through, Flora came to learn that Helia would do anything for her and that seeing her like this must have made Helia angry. However, Flora's attention was brought down to her wrists as she felt Saladin place the key into the keyhole and unlock the shackles.

"What are you-"

Flora was cut off when she looked over to the side and gasped when she saw Azrael sprawled along the floor of the study. How had she not seen him before? His face was covered with blood, and she had never seen his face so relaxed and calm, the scowl falling from his face. With his eyes closed and his face relaxed, Flora couldn't help but to see Helia in his father. They really were the spitting image of one another, with the exception of their eyes.

"Is he? What happened? What is going on? Helia? Saladin? I..."

"Flora, listen to me." Helia grabbed Flora's unshackled hands and brought her attention back to him, "He isn't dead. I couldn't do it. He is just passed out, but Saladin is placing him in your shackled and he will be sent to Omega Island."

"Omega Island? But is that not the prison for the most-"

"Yes, Flora." Helia sighed, "I cannot risk him coming back here. He cannot come back; he will not come back. I told you that I would do everything in my power to keep you safe and to keep our child safe." Helia's hand subconsciously lowered down to gently rest on Flora's flat abdomen.

"Will the guards at Omega Island know that he is the king? He will demand his release." Flora looked back over to Azrael and watched as Saladin placed the shackles that were once on her wrists and ankles onto Azrael.

"I shall be king, and everything shall be as I say. He will not come back here. I will not allow it."

Flora's eyes once again lifted her gaze to meet Helia's, "You shall be king?"

"And you will be my queen." Helia smiled. "I already had the intention of making you my wife and eventual queen, but it seems that the queen part is coming sooner than we both have thought."

"Alright, the shackles are on. We shall move him to my room for the evening. I shall see to it that I sneak him out of the back door on the cart in the morning. I shall bring him to Coakley who can help me secure passage to Andros and then onto the ferry to Omega Island. I shall return in a week's time. Flora, my dear, you must tell everyone that His Majesty has died. You cannot tell anyone of our plan, not even Her Highness."

"But I-"

"Flora," Saladin interrupted, "you cannot tell the princess. Azrael, King of Hademort died in his sleep and I had already brought the body to the town to be cremated. I shall also return with an urn fit for a king. Flora," Saladin stared into Flora's eyes, "nobody else can know."

With a silent nod, Flora promised to keep the secret. Her life depended on it and so did Saladin's and Helia's. She couldn't let anything happen to them so she would keep the secret of the king's true location.

"Very good," Saladin gave Flora a smile, "Helia, please help me with your father."

Helia stepped away from Flora and over to his father before picking the large man up and throwing him over his shoulder. Flora knew that Helia was strong, but she didn't know that he was that strong. It definitely sent her head and body into a pleasant whirlwind. With every moment that passed, Flora grew more confident that her magic may have saved the pregnancy. She wanted Helia to put down his father, send Saladin away, throw her over the desk, and...

Curse those bothersome pregnancy hormones.

"Flora, go back to my room with Saladin and I shall meet you there when I am done. Don't let anyone see you."

"Come, dear," Saladin once again grabbed Flora and dragged her out of one part of the palace to another place, each place getting more and more safe and comfortable, "we must hurry, lest we be caught and before Azrael wakes up."

Without another word, Saladin and Flora left the study, leaving Helia behind with his father and king draped over his shoulder.

For the second time that night, Flora found herself in Helia's bed and surrounded by the comforting warmth of his strong arms. Her hormones had calmed, and she was more than content to just spend the night wrapped in Helia's embrace.

Helia had returned to her after taking his father to Saladin's room in the servants' quarters. His face was still but before Flora could say anything he pulled her into his arms. Neither paid any attention to the bloodstains on Helia's clothes or the small marks around Flora's wrists and ankles from the heavy, metal shackles. All that mattered was each other and the promise of a safer tomorrow. Duncan was gone, Azrael was gone, and all that was left was each other and the people that they loved.

Flora felt herself slowly drift off to sleep in Helia's arms, but she feared that at this moment if she were to fall asleep, she would discover that she was actually waking up from the dream that was Helia. She would wake up and be back in the cell in Linphea, or perhaps in her bed, Miele sleeping across the room. While she would have given everything and anything to see Miele again, Flora finally accepted that everything that happened in her life, both good and bad, all led to Helia. He would never fill the hole in her heart that was once occupied by her parents and sister, but he made her feel less alone.

She was safe in his arms, and she could finally breathe.

"Helia..." Flora sighed, breaking the long silence that had filled the air since Helia had walked in.

"Yes, Flora?" Helia's arms tightened around Flora's body, pulling her closer to him.

Flora placed a kiss on the dip in Helia's collar bone, "Thank you."

Helia dropped his eyes to look down at Flora. He could only see the top of her head that rested on his upper bicep, but he could make out a small smile on her face.

"For what?" Helia asked.

Flora took a deep breath and closed her eyes before snuggling into Helia. With a final sigh, Flora muttered her response before falling asleep, hopeful for the next day and for all of the days that she would spend with Helia by her side.

"For everything."

So that is the end of the main story. I have left out a few scenes and instead jumped to Flora and Helia but that is because that will be important in the, you guessed it, the sequel! The next chapter will be the final one and it is an epilogue that i hope that you will enjoy. I do not know when the sequel will be because I am finishing up school this winter and there are other stories I need to work on beforehand. But I cannot wait for the sequel and I hope that you will read it. Thank you to all who commented and shared an interest in this story, it makes writing it all the more worthwhile and makes me excited to write. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

For everything.