The next day as it was slowly approaching lunch hour, I was interrupted by my maid, Magda. I had been lying on my bed, listening to music. My days as a princess were often filled with hours of complete boredom unless occupied by a royal event. Seeing as it was Monday and Jessica was in school, I didn't have a whole lot to do. I was up to date with all my television shows; I had read all my books and didn't have a sport to play since my father claimed he had business to attend to today. My mother was probably doing some womanly thing, knitting or what not. So I stayed in my room for most of the morning.

Magda came in my room in a hurry, which was much unlike her. She was a cute older woman; I had known her since I was a child. She was about half my height, but she would jump in front of a bullet for me. I loved her, sometimes so much that I thought of her of my mother rather than my own flesh and blood.

"Tessa love," she was the only servant one who didn't call me princess. "Come downstairs immediately, your mother is a whirlwind."

"What happened?" I took off my headphones and put on my slippers. I was still in my pajamas, so I wrapped a robe around me. I put a bandana on to push my hair away from my face.

"I don't know," she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my room. "But she is demanding your presence."

I frowned and walked downstairs with her, all the way to where we sat to eat our meals. When I got there, I jumped in surprise, tightening my robe around me. What I was wearing under wasn't exactly very lady-like.

"Mother," I walked around the table, my arms tightly crossed against my chest. Magda followed me the whole way around. "What is the meaning of this?"

Sitting at the table was Elijah, looking calmly perplexed, while my mother walked in back of my father's chair at the head of the table. She had a newspaper in her hand and was, as Magda had said, a whirlwind. She was inexplicably angry. I had to say though; I didn't quite like Elijah seeing me looking like this. Normally, I didn't look so unprepared when a handsome man was in my dining room, even though that so rarely happened.

Elijah said quietly. "I was summoned." He didn't seem very happy about it. My guess was the Original Vampire was not quite used to being summoned, but rather, he usually did the summoning.

"You tell me Tessa." She snapped. She walked over to my father and slammed the paper on the table, pushing it towards me. "Look who made the front page!"

I frowned and picked it up, sitting next to my father. There in large bold letters read:

THE ROYAL SCANDAL

"Oh no," I put my hand to my mouth looking at the two pictures on the front page. The first, the larger of the two, was Elijah and I at the gates of Buckingham, him leaning to kiss my hand, and me smiling. The other right next to it, but considerably smaller was he and I, arm in arm, with one hand over his chest, just as it had been yesterday. I was laughing next to him and our eyes were drawn to each other.

My mother waved her hand angrily. "Go ahead, read it aloud."

I swallowed, avoiding Elijah's gaze, I began to read. "England's golden prize, Princess Tessa, is according to pictures taken yesterday, quite the rebel. The princess was seen dressed as a commoner, arm and arm with an older unidentified gentleman, walking the streets of London. From the square all the way back to the palace they walked arm and arm, before he left her with a kiss on the hand before allowing Tessa to sneak back into the castle that her parents, nor her guards knew she had left from. Could our royal princess be falling for a commoner? After a decade of arranged marriages in the royal family, how will the king and queen react to this?" I put the paper down, not quite wanting to read anymore of it.

"Well?" My mother said.

"Well what?" I mumbled.

"How could you do this to us?"

"Do what? I didn't do anything with Elijah. In fact, I sneaked out with Jessica and Elijah knew I'd be in trouble so he brought me home."

Elijah however, still did not speak.

"How do you expect us to react?" she snapped. "When family members and news reporters start asking questions about you sneaking out with some strange man—"

"Darling—" My father sighed.

"—what are we supposed to say?" she screeched.

"You could tell the press that I didn't get a childhood so the teenage rebellion is kicking in a few years too late!" I snapped back, standing up. "I do not need to take this from you, mother, I am an adult, capable of making my own decisions."

"Clearly not," my father said with a quiet authority. "Since you felt the need to sneak to sneak out, it is quite clear that you in fact cannot make your own decisions. Had you asked us politely to leave the palace in the first place, we would have sent someone with you and Jessica, and the two of you could have surely made your way through London."

"With a chaperone," I said bitterly.

"You are a princess Tessa; this is the life of a princess."

"It does not have to be."

Elijah stood up then, surprising my parents. He fixed the jacket of his suit and looked at them. "If I may your majesties, but seeing as this is not my business in the slightest, I will be leaving. I have my own family issues."

"On the contrary Lord Elijah, but it is your business." My father murmured. "This must be fixed. As the newspaper so rightly pointed out, marriages in this family are arranged to other royal families."

I fumed. "And I told you that I would rather die a widow than marry a man I do not love."

Elijah ignored me. "I had no intentions with your daughter, since as she informed you; I am not the one who asked her to sneak out of the house. While I understand your concerns, it has nothing to do with me. Make of the situation what you will, but I will be leaving. I am sorry for the trouble I have caused."

My mother walked forward. "And what exactly are we supposed to tell the press."

"Tell them what you like," he said nonchalantly. "It does not affect me one way, nor does it affect my family. Next time you wish to see me, a phone call would suffice. Not a band of guards at our doorstep demanding my presence."

I nearly laughed; my father was in shock of Elijah's sudden turn of formalities while my mother was beyond angry at this point. She had never seen someone, besides me, give attitude to my father or herself. This however, was even worse, not because Elijah was of a lower status in their eyes, but he was so calm that somehow that made them more infuriated.

"You are subjects to the king and queen!" she exclaimed.

"I am subject to no man, and no woman." He said with a quiet fury. His eyes were hard as he stared at my mother. "I am an Original Vampire. I have lived longer than your entire bloodline, I did not answer to any king then and I will not answer to one now. If I wanted, I could overthrow everybody in this entire palace in less than a minute without the help of my siblings."

I couldn't stop smiling. My father stood up. "Is that a threat?" he whispered.

"No," Elijah buttoned his jacket. "It is a fact. I'm an Original, show some respect." He looked at me. "Tessa, it was a pleasure seeing you again. Next time however, I hope it is on better terms."

"Wait—" my father walked over to him and stopped him. "What if I could make a proposition for you?"

"What would that be?" Elijah asked.

"We need to pass this off to the press to make it look like it is nothing but fun and games. Like you said, you are an Original Vampire, so what do you say to being a bodyguard?"

"They're moving here?" I demanded a week later, chasing my mother around the palace as she ordered her maids and servants around.

"Well what do you expect darling after that little scandal you pulled?" she pointed at a frame and motioned to the maid. "That needs to be moved six inches to the left."

The press had bought my parent's story about Elijah being my bodyguard. How they managed to cover up the kissing on the hand or me sneaking through my bedroom window I didn't exactly know, but apparently, it didn't matter anymore. My personal guess was that they had paid the press off not to talk about it anymore—my father clearly didn't want anyone snooping around his personal life. Unfortunately however, that had come with some other ramifications.

"Mother," I continued. "I do not need a bodyguard."

"Your father and I discussed it," she continued walking around, two maids on each side of her, cleaning this and that. "And you seem to be bitter over the fact that you did not get to experience things in London as a normal teenager would have. so, we are letting you, but Elijah must accompany you at all times."

"But mother, I—"

"Tessa," she sighed and turned around. "We are giving you what you wanted. Can you not take it and leave it be?"

I frowned, knowing she was right. "But still," I moaned. "Why are they all moving here?"

"Well it makes no sense for Elijah to go through an hour of travelling every other day. So, he and his family will stay here with us. It's not like we don't have the room, and besides, they are vampires. They can only stay somewhere for so long before people start to get suspicious of their non-aging. It will only be for a few years at most."

"This is ridiculous." I twirled around, going back down the stairs to try and reason with my father. It seemed however, that I was too late.

I stood on the stairs watching two doormen keep the palace doors open as many items were being brought in, followed by just as many people. The Mikaelson's were all present along with four other people, which from the tales I had heard must be the other family members. I went through them quickly in my head, placing my chat with the Mikaelson's upon our first greeting to what I was seeing before me.

The two whom were not Mikaelson's had to be Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert—both of whom were exceptionally beautiful. The man, Damon was tall and lean, with dark hair and matching eyes. Completing his look was a perfectly arrogant grin—he reminded me of Kol. Elena was his equivalent, slim with long, straight brown hair.

Kol was helping his wife bring in her things, her name was, as I recalled Lana. She had spiky dark hair in a pixie like fashion, skinnier than Elena with large cat like eyes. Coming up behind those two was Rebekah and Stefan Salvatore. He had lighter hair than his brother, up in the front with a brooding stance about him.

Then there was Klaus' wife, Caroline Forbes. I couldn't help but stare, and it wasn't because of her looks. Although, I had to admit, she had a natural beauty about her. Her hair was as blonde as Rebekah's but was a series of waves going just past her shoulders. Her eyes were a gorgeous aquamarine color. She wore a sundress with a jean jacket and combat boots and had a great big smile on her face. Yet none of this was why I couldn't stop staring at her and Klaus.

I had never seen such complete love and devotion pass between a couple without a word.

The way Klaus touched her, carefully, his fingers leaving silent kisses on her neck, or her lower back as he led her through the entrance—it was like he was scared of her breaking. The way he looked at her, was as if he had never seen something more beautiful than his entire life, or as if he didn't somehow still believe that he had a woman like this. As for Caroline, she left similar touches to her husband, but less subtle. A hand on his chest or a caress to his cheek—and when they would lock eyes, I felt the need to look away, feeling like an intruder on a private moment.

Elijah walked inside last, thanking the men who had held the door open for him. I couldn't help but allow my gaze to travel over to him. I found myself suddenly getting self conscious, his eyes had a way of piercing you, of travelling so much further than your general appearance. He of course, was dressed more formal than the others—he had a thing for suits clearly. He bowed his head lightly to me and gave a small smile, mouthing a hello.

I grinned back.

"Well," my mother said as she came down the stairs. "Looks like the gang is all here."