Eric's POV:

I stare at De Castro who is sitting across from me at his desk. I am still feeling confused and stunned by his stipulation. Is he serious? The fury starts to rise within me as I begin to get passed my initial astonishment. But I know that the consequences will be dire if I lash out in anger at him.

After a long moment I finally speak, "Your majesty, you know that I am already married."

"Yes I am aware of that. But I am sure that you are also aware that royalty can form political marriages with other monarchs. Of course you would need the approval of the council but seeing as Mizz Stackhouse is not a vampire, it would be an easy task to convince them to approve," he responds.

"Why do you want me to marry her?," I ask in a low tone still trying to rein in my anger.

"Because it would be a good political strategy for not only your interests but mine as well. You would always be my ally and with her as your wife, we would have a strong tie to Europe."

"Then why don't you marry her," I say my tone getting even lower.

He smiles at me, "I am already considering proposals from the east in China and Singapore. So when you look at the bigger picture, your marriage in the west and mine in the east, we will become even more powerful and potentially wealthier."

"Get Madden to marry her," I say in a clipped tone.

He looks at me, "Do you not think I have thought of that? Madden has not established himself well enough in this world. He is only a few hundred years old. I doubt I could convince her much less anyone else to form a political marriage with him. Rosamund, on the other hand, wants this union with you."

Suddenly it all clicks. This was why she appeared out of the blue with De Castro a month ago. I recall the key moments we have had with each other. We were attracted to each other the moment we first met a few hundred years ago. She was beautiful, fearless and energetic. The sex was incredible and she was always willing to do anything that pleased me. I had helped her establish her place in France as the new reigning Queen with the aid of my connections and skills. We stayed together for a few years but naturally I began to grow tired of her. When I decided to leave her, she begged me to marry her and stay with her. She wanted me to become her king and was willing to share her kingdom with me equally. She began to become clingy with me and would become jealous of every woman that I was with. She was even jealous of Pam. Pam was still young and our sexual relationship had only ended several years earlier. When Rosamund saw Pam and me in an innocent embrace, she struck Pam in a rage of jealousy. That final act prompted me to leave her. She kept in contact with me over the years writing letters hoping that I would come back to her. When she married, I was relieved and felt that perhaps she had gotten over her strong feelings for me. I met her again in the 1930s and it looked as though she had moved on so I began to have sex with her again occasionally whenever I saw her. Apparently I was wrong.

"Then your majesty, but I must regretfully refuse your offer for the throne of Louisiana. I cannot accept your terms." I begin to rise out of my seat in order to leave the room.

"Sit back down Northman," De Castro says sternly, "I have not dismissed you."

I narrow my eyes at him and promptly sit down.

"Very well Northman. Do you have a sense of what the cost may be for your refusal?," he asks. I immediately think of Sookie.

"I told you about my dealings with Marten for a reason. I admit that he has more power than I do, but when it comes to you and I, I am the one holding the authority." He rises from his chair and walks around his desk to stand before me. "If you refuse my offer then the telepath will stay here permanently. Because you are bonded and wedded to her, you may also choose to stay here. But nonetheless, without you or not, she will stay. Because of her special gift, she is an important asset within my territory."

"If you keep her here, you will be breaking laws," I tell him coldly.

"She is a mere human and I'm sure that you already know that she has no rights in our world. I know that the council will be on my side if I tell them that her safety is in jeopardy with you. It shouldn't be too hard since they already know all about the attack from those pesky fairies. And as for your marriage, no man will touch her since that is still your right."

If I had been a younger vampire I would have surely killed him instantly and would have suffered the consequences of my actions. It is taking all my years of learning how to control my anger to not attack this insufferable vamp. "I resign my duties as Sheriff and I will leave the area immediately," I tell him.

He laughs, "Oh Northman. Of course you can get up and try to leave with your bonded. Doesn't she have family and friends in that pathetic little town? I have heard that her brother's wife is with child. Tell me how do you think she would react if something happened to them? You saw how swiftly I overtook Louisiana from Sophie; it would be no trouble at all to make something happen to her family and friends."

He continues on, "I gave her three years to recover from her injuries only because of the life debt I owed her. But now I feel I have given her enough time that I have fully repaid that debt. You should have turned her and made her your child during that time, and then her rights would be recognized."

He has the audacity to lean over and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you are a very smart man and a cunning vampire Northman. Take the deal. You can keep your telepath and become king of Louisiana. All you have to do is swear your loyalty to me and marry the Queen of France, when her marriage to Ulric is over."

I let out an unnecessary breath. "I need some time to consider this, your majesty."

He stands up and goes to sit behind his desk again. "Very well. You have until tomorrow night to make up your mind or I will make your decisions for you."

I get up to leave and as soon I reach the door he speaks again, "Northman. By the way, if you try to flee tonight with your bonded and make plans for the escape of her family and friends, keep in mind that I already have people in place watching them right now. Have a good evening."

Murderous rage is threatening to overcome me. I need to get out of here before I do something I will regret. I walk back towards the table to retrieve Sookie so that we may get back to our room as soon as possible.

Sookie's POV (when Eric was in Felipe's office):

I remember her from the party last month in Shreveport. I also remember Eric telling me that they were intimate once upon a time. She looks absolutely stunning in a red silk dress. Her strawberry blonde hair is swept up in a ponytail.

"Do you mind if I join you? Honestly, I don't know anyone here," she tells me. I can tell she is not entirely as hopeless as she appears but I smile at her and tell her yes. She sits down beside me.

"I hope you remember me. I remember you of course, Miss Stackhouse?," she says.

I politely smile at her. "Yes I believe your name is Ms. Lefevre."

She smiles back, "Yes, I'm happy that you remember my name. You can call me Rosamund if you wish. As long as I can call you Sookie."

"Agreed," I say.

"Where is your husband?," she asks me.

"Umm, he is with Mr. De Castro right now in his office. I'm waiting for him and then we were planning on going back to our room."

She looks at me as if she is trying to read my mind, "I can see how deeply you are in love with him. I was in love too once, but perhaps I will be again."

I don't know what to say so I give her a sympathetic smile.

For a brief moment she appears sad, but she brushes it away and smiles again, "Well I must be going. I only stopped in here to see if there was anyone or anything interesting. I have found you so that definitely interests me. Goodnight Sookie and tell your husband I said goodnight to him as well."

"Goodnight," I tell her. She gets up and leaves the club.

As soon as she leaves an overwhelming feeling of rage engulfs me. I know it's not my feelings. There is something going on in that office with De Castro and Eric. I can feel that he is not physically harmed but whatever is going on has made him angry. I put my hand on my forehead trying to deal silently with his emotions. A little while later I can feel that he is coming back and I look up to see fury in his facial features.

Eric's POV:

I stalk back to the table where Sookie is looking at me with worry in her face. She is feeling my rage. I go to take her hand to tell her that we are leaving when suddenly I smell the presence of another vampire.

She was here, sitting at this table, I think grimly to myself.

"Rosamund, she was here, when did she leave?," I ask Sookie coldly as I grab her arm a little bit too roughly to bring her to her feet.

"Eric are you okay?," she asks concerned.

"When was she here and what did she say?," I ask.

"Umm she left not too long before you came back. She didn't say anything much really just wanted to say goodnight. She only sat down for a few minutes," Sookie answers.

I begin to realize how rough I am being with her, so I rub her arm for a moment and put my hand around her waist. "We are going now."

I lead her back up to our room and close the door behind us.

"Eric, you're scaring me, tell me what's the matter?," Sookie says on the verge of tears.

I stalk towards the window and look out for a moment. I need to tell her everything. "There are a few things we need to talk about," I say as I face her again.

I go back to her, take her hands, and lead her to the sofa. We sit down and she puts her hands on her lap.

"Sookie, there was a reason why I was working so much these past few months." She looks at me with curiosity waiting for me to continue. "I have been working so much so that I could improve my chances of becoming a monarch for the Louisiana state. The reason for this was you. I wanted to make sure that no one would ever harm you again or try to take you away from me. I have been becoming more... friendlier with De Castro in the hopes that he would let me take over the state. Tonight he offered me the throne."

Her face lights up with hope. "That's great Eric. We won't have to worry about him anymore."

"Sookie let me finish," I say to her gently. The hope diminishes from her face. "He offered the throne to me with a few stipulations. One of which is to marry another monarch."

A pained feeling shoots across the bond and her face. "Who?," she says her voice breaking. I know that she already knows the answer.

"Rosamund Lefevre, the queen of France."

She looks at me with stony eyes but I can feel her anguish. "What did you say?"

"I refused his offer but with my refusal, there are consequences that will accompany that."

She looks away briefly and looks back at me again, "I suppose the usual threats. Your life, my life, and even my family and friends?"

I hold her hands. "He said that if I did not accept his conditions that you would have to come live here permanently with or without me."

"But I thought we were married..."

"We are. Which is why if we take that option I will stay and live with you here." I don't tell her that in all likelihood De Castro will have me killed in some way very soon. But Sookie is smart and she already knows this.

"He will find a way to kill you if you come to live with me here anyway." She wipes a tear away that escapes from her eye. "What are our other options?," she asks.

"We can leave. I have money and other homes in various parts of the world, so that is not a problem."

"What about my family and friends?"

I look away from her unable to tell her what would happen if we took that option, but my silence betrays me and she begins to cry.

"He will kill them, won't he?" she says between sobs.

I hold her as she cries feeling her grief. A moment later her grief turns into anger and she stands up.

"Why is he doing this? I will be his telepath whenever he fucking wants. I saved his fucking life so why can't he just leave us alone!," she yells.

I go to hold her as she continues to cry. Her sobs soon become silent and I can tell that she is starting to calm down.

She looks up at me and I wipe the tears from her face. She speaks again. "If you accept his offer, he will leave us alone and my family?"

I nod to her.

"But why does he want you to marry her?," she asks.

"He said it was mainly for financial and political reasons, but I suspect that there is more to it."

She walks away from me and goes to the window. "How long do we have before you have to decide your answer?," she asks, her back turned away from me.

"Until tomorrow night, I have to give him a definitive answer or he will choose for me."

She stands there for what seems an eternity before she turns towards me again. "I can't decide on anything right now Eric. My mind is too flooded and confused right now."

I go to her and hold her hands, "I will do whatever you think is right."

She looks up at me, "Are you asking me for permission to marry her?," she says somewhat angry.

"No. I will figure a way out of this and make everything alright. If I agree to his terms, then at least we will have a month before a marriage is to take place between me and her. She is still technically married till then. Though I will become king as soon as possible." I hold her again.

"There is another alternative Sookie," I say quietly. We are finally going into a topic that we haven't dealt with words yet.

She is quiet again. Finally she speaks, "You mean turning me into a vampire."

"If you were to become my child, then you would have more rights in my world. You would be bound to me and you would never be forced to leave my side. Humans cannot ascend into royalty, but you could become my queen if you became a vampire."

"But he could still kill my family," she says.

"Possibly, but he knows that would be useless since you would not be able to leave me anyway."

I can feel her turmoil as she thinks about the option. "If you turned me, I would eventually leave you anyways. You said once that a child always leaves their maker when they are ready."

"We would fight it," I tell her firmly.

She laughs, "You mean fight thousands of years of vampire instinct? Come on Eric, I'm not stupid. I know I would eventually have to leave you whether it be a couple of decades from now or a hundred years. Even if I became your queen we would only have one hundred years together."

"Then Pam will be your maker."

She looks at me with incredulous eyes. "No, if we were to take that option the only person who will change me is you. Do you want to know why I was so adamantly against becoming a vampire? It's because I was scared of losing my freedom to someone and having someone else have complete control of my life. With you I have already done that these past three years and it does not terrify me."

She removes her hands from mine and looks away. She breathes in deeply. "You said you have till tomorrow night. I need a little bit more time to think about this Eric."

"I know you do," I tell her in my gentlest tone.

She goes to our bedroom and I follow her. We don't speak as I help her out of her dress. She goes to the bathroom to wipe her nose and wash her face while I take off my clothes. She comes out the bathroom wearing her nightgown and we both climb into the bed.

"Please Eric just hold me tonight," she asks in a quiet tone.

I take her into my arms and hold her. A half hour later she is finally asleep. I remove myself from and go to the living room. What a mess... I place both my palms on my forehead as I sit down on the sofa. I was truthful with her when I said that I would do whatever she thought was right. If I could have it my way, we would leave and never come back. But I know that she would not choose that option if her brothers' life is at stake. I work on my laptop until dawn. Finally I close it and head back to the bedroom and climb into bed beside Sookie. I let death overtake me.

Sookie's POV:

I wake up with puffy eyes and sorrow in my heart. I lie there in Eric's arms for a moment just thinking about what he has told me. I knew that my peaceful time period was too good to be true to last. It seems like trouble will always follow me no matter what.

I look over at the clock and see that it is 10 am. I remove myself from his embrace and head to the bathroom to take a shower. After my shower I give Eric one last kiss and head out to the living room. This afternoon I need to think about our future, my future, but I know that I can't do it here.

I decide to call Alcide and ask him if he could take me for a drive somewhere. Felipe had offered the use of one of his cars. We head downstairs with only Taylor to the lobby and wait for the car.

"So where do you want to go Sookie?," Alcide asks me while we're waiting.

"I don't know, just somewhere quiet and away from the city," I tell him.

He looks at me for a moment, "What's the matter Sook?," he says with worry in his eyes. "Did something happen between you and Eric?"

"No there's nothing wrong with us. There's just some stuff I need to think about. Don't worry about it Alcide," I say with a weak smile.

We drive one hour outside of Las Vegas on the highway. Alcide decided to take us to a state park. We stop and I step out of the car to look at the stunning desert landscape and mountains. I ask Alcide if I could just walk around and be by myself for the next couple of hours. He says it's fine but I know that he and Taylor will still be close enough to see me.

I walk for several minutes on a trail. Today it is clear, sunny and hot. I continue to walk until I come across a picnic table underneath a tree. I sit down and my first instinct is to start crying but I hold back the tears.

For twenty minutes I do nothing but stare at the scenery before me. Then my mind becomes plagued by all the new problems that lie ahead for me and Eric.

"What am I going to do...," I mutter quietly under my breath.

If we run away then they will surely kill my brother and friends. Even though a huge selfish part of me wants to do that, I know I would not be able to live with myself if they died because of me. Even if we ran away sometime within the next month, I doubt that they would be happy about it. They would have to seriously change their lives and leave their family and friends. There would be no peace with them because they would be constantly looking behind their backs.

Then another option that Eric did not mention was if I left him. I start to feel guilty because he has had to sacrifice so much in his life for me. I know that his life would be so much better without me, but the selfish part of me won't let him go. I doubt that he would let me go either under any circumstance. So that's not an option for me either.

Then there's becoming a vampire. When I was still recovering, becoming a vampire was something that I felt that I could do. I wanted to be with Eric forever and I still do. But I don't think I'm ready to give up the sun, breathing, and the other things that come with living. He's never mentioned how I would change mentally. Would I still be the same person or would I inherit traits associated with vampires? Could I see myself drinking the blood of other humans? Would I be able to ignore the vampire instinct of associating sex and blood? No, for now, becoming a vamp is definitely also not an option.

I think back to the past three years. It was him that saved me. I know that if he wasn't there, I definitely would not be alive today. He helped me recover mentally and physically. I owe him for so much that I don't think I will ever be able to repay him.

Could I watch him marry someone else even if was just a marriage for political reasons and not love? I know that they would have to consummate their marriage at least once a year for the next hundred years.

I sit there for the next couple of hours dwelling on my thoughts. I forget about the time and where I am until Alcide interrupts me from my deep thoughts.

"Hey Sook, I brought you some water. It's damn hot out here," he says as he hands me the water.

I smile weakly at him, "Thanks Alcide."

He sits down beside me. "Look I know you won't tell me what's up, but just remember Sook, I'll always be your friend and you always have the loyalty of the pack." He puts his hand on my leg.

"Thanks Alcide, I know. Listen, there's going to be a lot of changes coming soon. Probably not good, but don't worry about me, I will be fine," I tell him.

I can tell that he is more concerned now. "How bad is it?"

"It's pretty bad," I tell him, now I am struggling with my tears.

He puts his arm around me and I begin to cry. I cry for the next hour until I notice that the sun is starting to go down. I wipe away the last of my tears and Alcide hands me a piece of Kleenex from his pocket.

"Thanks," I say.

We head back to the car where Taylor is waiting for us. We drive back to the city and I am coming closer to my decision. When we reach the hotel I go back to my room. I head to the other bathroom and wash my face and look at myself in the mirror.

Eric has done a lot for me, now I am going to have to sacrifice some things for him. I down on the sofa and wait for him to rise this evening.

A/N: Hello, I actually kept my promise, lol. So I know you are probably wondering what type of deal Felipe and Rosamund have. I was going to add that sidestory in this chapter but I think it will work better in a later chapter, so I will explain that in the future. As for the next chapter, I really wish I had my books now to use as references. I would greatly appreciate it if someone can PM me a quick summary of how a vamp coronation ceremony goes. I can't remember if there was any scenes like that in the books, but if there wasn't then I'll just make something up. Have a good day!