So, so, so, so, so sorry about the wait! I have had a BUNCH of really crappy stuff in my life, then my Wi-Fi went out, and I just got it today! Ok, I have a new story, Back to Back out, so… Go check that out. Love you all for the reviews and patience with my painfully slow updates!

~Stardust

Max's P.O.V

Here I am, waking up (very rudely, if you want to know) by a paranoid Fang. Although, I suppose he had right to be upset; I'm not the best person when it comes to being on time. Then we started talking, and everything that I had been feeling for the past… as it really only been fifteen years? Fifteen years then, just kind of gushed. I had been reduced to a bitter, slobbering baby by this man- boy, I guess, he was no older than I. He just held me in his lap while I sobbed my tiny, cold, bitter heart out.

So, after I finished my sob-fest, I looked up at him, my eyes (I'm sure) were red and puffy, my face streaked with the salt and misery. He, however, wasn't paying any attention to me, staring off into the distance, wrapped in his own thoughts, so I decided to journey to mine. I laid my head on his chest, gently, and let memories, long buried, wash over me,

I was only about five or six at the time we were going to the Sea Kingdom. My father, whom I trusted at the time, said they had a prince, about my age, who I would be spending most of my time with. I remember the changing signs, how the trees would morph from the needle-covered pines of our kingdom, to the hardy deciduous trees with their golden and scarlet leaves. The mountains would change to the flatter, sea-bound plains, the rivers crisscrossing in dizzying patterns.

He was, as I remember, a very quiet child. He had black hair, a light tan skin, and… dark eyes. Sometimes you would think they were black, sometimes a dark brown, and every once in a while, a deep golden shimmer would incase the iris. He was tall and lean, and had one friend other than me that he got to see at all… But I couldn't remember anything else.

I sighed, dragged from my sparse memories by a very quiet sob escaping from the rock I was sitting on… Wait, rocks don't sob or cry! (Don't pay any attention to my moment of stupidity) I looked up to see Sir Smarty-Pants- oh, who am I kidding? - Fang's face twisted into an ugly grimace of pain and fear.

I reached up, cupping on side of his face in my palm, whispering sweet nothings while he silently cried. What's going on in his head to make him crack like that?

Fang's P.O.V

He pulled his belt off, bending me over the chest that had been in our family forever. He beat me in his drunken rage, wanting me to be the prefect child like my older brother Griffin, which I could never be. Griffin only used horses as tools, loved classes, and would, at some point, be taking the throne; whereas I would be crowned a duke or baron and be sent to live my life without regrets.

I held completely still while Father beat me and scolded me afterwards. He moaned and groaned as how I wasn't even good enough to be considered a part of Griffin's family, and what a disgrace I was on the family crest. I took everything in silence, just like he taught me; otherwise I would be beaten again.

I thought to myself how lucky I was that Max would be coming this summer; next week, in fact. We would compete to see who could run farther and who was stronger. And my friend Aland would be coming soon, with his new colt. He wrote to me last week, saying it was a really pretty white colt with big blue eyes. I wrote back, saying that the two of them were identical then, since they were both tall and pale with blue eyes. I don't think he thought was very funny, but I haven't heard back from him, so I wouldn't know.

I'm fairly sure that Max got her little filly for her birthday too. King Jargon sent us really big presents on our birthday every year, and I thought that he was pretty nice; Max and I didn't like his son, Prince Dylan, though. In her words, he was a 'conceited, filthy, slobbering, greedy fool who cared nothing for any one or thing besides himself.' Of course, had our parents not been there, she probably would have used some more 'colorful' language, seeing as how she had friends inside the Northern Palace who cussed like sailors, so said my mother.

Max and Aland were my only friends, seeing as how I was a prince, so the common people were 'below you, Brenner.' So, I wasn't allowed to play with them. And the royals always thought that my parents were 'disagreeable' or 'too punishing', which I totally agreed with.

*A week later*

"Nikolai," Max came bolting up the steps, "You have no idea how much I've missed you!"

She threw herself into a hug that knocked us onto the porch. She laughed, springing up, yelling something about her getting the first point this time. So, I snuck up behind her, tickling her hips, making her jump and squeal, before running off laughing.

I could vaguely hear her shouting, "Fang! Fang! Fang! Fang!"

"Fang!"

I woke up with a start, face to face with a very concerned and angry Maximum. I was confused, why was she waking me up now? Was there something wrong? She slid off my lap and knelt in front of me, looking me in the eyes, checking for lies just as she always had. Of course I recognized her, that was part of the reason I took the job, but she could never know who I was, unless we wanted the whole thing to go up in flames.