Rosangela: The Runaway Princess (Book #2)

After Prince Xavier helped Rosangela and her friends escape through the secret passage, the guards managed to catch him. They forced him to tell them where Rosangela and her friends were going, but the vampire prince refused to reveal anything.

Suddenly, King Joaquin blew in and told the guards to stop interrogating his son because he had known where Rosangela aka Princess Mirabelle was right now. King Joaquin ordered his soldiers to wait in the fringe of the woods for he was sure it was only a matter of time before they got to that place.

The soldiers soon obeyed their king’s order. Prince Xavier intended to follow them, but his father prevented him. King Joaquin threatened to kill his mother if Xavier determined to run after those soldiers. Prince Xavier knew his father meant what he said. Because despite the fact that she’s his mate, King Joaquin never truly loved Queen Estrella; the only thing he loved in this life was power. That’s why Xavier decided to stay behind while his father caught up with the soldiers.

About an hour later, King Joaquin and his soldiers finally returned. To Xavier’s utter astonishment, King Bellamy along with his soldiers and a pack of werewolves, that he supposed to be Rosangela’s father’s pack, came with his father.

Rosangela, her adoptive uncle, Sigmund, Prince Maximilian, and his bodyguard, Jasper were the last to arrive. All of them then were shown to the guest bedchambers.

Prince Xavier approached one of the soldiers and asked him what had happened. At first, that soldier would not tell him anything. But after Xavier bluffed to kill him, he finally spilled his guts.

Anger bubbled up inside him when Xavier found out that his father had provoked King Bellamy and Rosangela’s father, Donovan, into fighting a duel to the death. Leaving the soldier, Prince Xavier hastened to his father’s study because he wanted to demand an explanation from him.

Xavier took hold of the door handle and was about to turn it but stopped short when he overheard a conversation between his father and one of the guards, Pablo, inside the study.

“You had me worried for a moment, Your Majesty—I thought you really meant it when you pleaded for King Bellamy’s mercy,” said Pablo.

King Joaquin gave a short, derisive laugh. “You surely don’t think I would stoop so low as to beg for someone’s mercy, Pablo? Of course, I was just putting on an act.”

“Well, I must say, you’re really a great actor, Your Majesty,” Pablo gushed.

“Of course, I am,” King Joaquin said arrogantly.

Prince Xavier rolled his eyes, then continued listening in on their conversation again.

“It was a big mistake on my part to have underestimated King Bellamy, Pablo,” King Joaquin conceded, “He’s apparently much stronger than I thought. That’s why I begrudgingly admitted defeat. I think instead of making an enemy of someone like King Bellamy, we’d better make friends with them.”

“You’re telling me, Your Majesty. As the saying goes, ‘keep your friend close but your enemy closer’, right?” Pablo commented.

“Yeah, Pablo,” said King Joaquin, “I thought if I stayed close to King Bellamy, it would make it easier for me to assassinate him. I was willing to wait patiently for that chance to come. But surprisingly, my luck was in. An opportunity presented itself to me. King Bellamy’s son-in-law suddenly turned up. And I immediately got a brilliant idea to provoke them into fighting a duel to the death in order to take Princess Mirabelle home. Much to my relief, the vampire king and that werewolf fell for it easily. So, now, I can just sit by and watch King Bellamy and his son-in-law kill each other.”

“Whoever dies in the duel will work to our advantage, Pablo,” King Joaquin went on, “If King Bellamy were the one who died, I could take over the Kingdom of Clanbella easily by marrying off Princess Mirabelle to my son. On the contrary, if that werewolf died in the hands of his father-in-law, other werewolves must want to get revenge for the murder of one of their friends. And the war between Clanbella and the werewolves will break out.

That way I can kill two birds with one stone.”

‘Oh no, I must tell Rosangela and Maximilian about my father’s evil scheme! We ought to stop King Bellamy and Donovan’s duel before it’s too late,’ Xavier thought.

Prince Xavier hurriedly left his father’s study and headed straight to the guest bedchambers to meet Rosangela and Prince Maximilian.

“Xavier?” The vampire prince stopped short when he suddenly heard his name being called. He swung back and saw a woman dressed in a dark cloak with the hood pulled over her head standing squarely in front of him.

“Who are you?” he asked warily.

The woman pushed back the hood on her cloak to reveal her face.

Xavier’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he recognized her.

“Y—you!” he stuttered.