Nathan wasn't sure how he felt after announcing that his sister was going to be crowned queen. She seemed so happy when it was announced; she launched two hug attacks on Nathan and David. She seemed thoroughly happier than she did upon arriving at the castle.

David had said that he suspected her mysterious lover was her soulmate. At first, Nathan didn't think so; he knew what it was like to wait for your soulmate and finally meet them- there was no feeling to compare! He figured that if the mysterious man was her soulmate, she would know...wouldn't she?

But that's the thing- he had never seen her this joyful since her arrival. Though Nathan was happy she was satisfied, a feeling in his stomach rose every time he saw her this way.

Why wasn't she this happy to see me? he would think, and then feel selfish. Nathan was just her brother, this man could possibly be her soulmate. But it still made him sad.

Maybe she is just relieved.

That's what David said.

"I'm sure she was just as excited to see you," David squeezed his arm with comfort, "But she has had this weight holding her down. Now that her worries are gone, she can be as happy as she wants. She's relieved."

David always knew what to say to make him feel better.

Which is why he is such a wonderful soulmate. 

Days had passed since the announcement, and Nathan was supervising the preparations. They had to make this coronation nice, but not too nice. Mary requested that they keep her coronation quaint and small. She didn't want the whole kingdom invited- just her family and the required people that had to attend a coronation.

Mary mentioned that her lover planned on coming over to the kingdom shortly after the coronation- which both Nathan and David found strange. This was the father to her baby, and he did not want to attend her crowning?

Nathan wanted General Reno to supervise, to make sure that King William Kain didn't appear to kill the future queen, but Arnold had said that Reno had left. 

He had left? Why? Nathan thought it was because Reno had lunged at Mary, and he feared adequate punishment. But Reno didn't fear anything. Nathan knew this because he had seen the general fight before.

The man braved a fight as if it was a tea party.

Plus, his father always once said that, "The man who fears death the less, kills easier." Nathan had never seen someone kill human beings without regret such as Dominic Reno.

So what had convinced him to leave?

"Nathan?" he heard David say, the morning of the coronation, "Are you awake?"

Nathan knew it was still dark outside; his soulmate should have been asleep. Then again, so should he.

"Yeah," he responded, "Did I wake you?"

"Hmm," David hummed digging his face further into Nathan's warm chest, "No. I woke up by myself. Something doesn't feel right."

"You feel that too?" Nathan replied, wrapping David's arms further around his middle, "I think I'm just nervous. What if I don't approve of him?"

"Who?" David asked sleepily, "Mary's soulmate?"

"Mary's baby daddy," Nathan corrected, frowning. He hated the idea of the man the more he thought about him. He should have told Mary about his kingship before he put a baby inside of her!

"Well, do you trust Mary to pick a good guy?" David asked.

"I trust Mary, but not him," Nathan huffs, "And I'm afraid I'm going to punch him as soon as I see him."

David lovingly swished his thumb back and forth on Nathan's heart. "I love how you are so loving to anyone you care about," he said, "But not to worry. Mary's a vampire now; she can handle herself."

Nathan liked being protective, but he had started to realize that he was the weakest of all of his loved ones.

"You're right," he sighed, "As always."

"I'm not always right," he mumbled, slowly drifting into sleep, "After all, I thought Mary was a bad guy. Bad girl. Whatever."

Nathan chuckled, expecting a giggle out of David, but his soulmate had drifted back to sleep. He and David had grown closer over the days. However, Nathan had restricted himself to only kissing- passionate kisses, but only kisses nonetheless. He didn't want to scare David away with too much affection.

But he was craving it so badly. 

Next time, I'll try to step it up a notch, Nathan thought, looking down at David's sleeping face. The thought he had comforted him, made Nathan happy, so the king decided it was a good thought to fall asleep to.

Unfortunately, falling asleep to such a thought gave Nathan pleasant dreams. Perhaps too pleasant.

~{()}~

David woke up to Nathan's boner pressed against him. 

The said king was rolling around a little in his sleep, moaning David's name. He woke David up by rolling on top of him and almost suffocating him.

David could almost feel the leshy inside him humming with joy- he wondered if all inner-creatures obsessed over their soulmate. David, however, was slightly freaked out.

Not because of the boner pressed against him, no. He wasn't surprised by that. It was the fact that Nathan's grunting noises and name-moaning were giving him a boner that was freaking him out.

Despite being a male, David almost never got boners before Nathan came along. He wasn't attracted to any people, especially girls. His penis only decided to give him those surprise-boners, just when it was making sure the body parts were working. Normally, David would just wait until it goes away or just jump into a cold stream, but what does he do now that he has a soulmate?

David didn't know how any of it works.

"Nathan!" He squeaked when his soulmate moaned right in his ear, "Wake up!"

Nathan's eyes immediately obeyed, and they blinked open sleepily. Nathan was faced with a tomato-red David, who looked very uncomfortable, and the king knew what the problem was as soon as he woke.

He had a wet dream, about David, and now his morning wood was causing a problem. 

Nathan quickly sat up.

"I'm...I'm so sorry!" sleepy Nathan said. He was afraid that he had scared David, who looked majorly freaked. "I'll go...in the bathroom." He stumbled his way out of bed and almost tripped on the covers making his way to the bathroom.

David wanted to protest, tell Nathan that he didn't need to be sorry, but the leshy was too embarrassed to speak. He watched as Nathan shut the door to the bathroom behind him. David then started to feel guilty. He could have helped Nathan, maybe, possibly; he could have done something a soulmate would do- whatever that may be.

Then he felt insecure. You were the smartest in your class, he thought to himself, and you don't know anything about love and affection. Philotes would have known what to do.

Philotes. That name got rid of David's problem below the belt. David rose from the bed, walking to the window, from which he could see the forest.  He looked down at the pretty green trees, but there was not one sign of life, not even a gossiping bird. The leshy could see why.

The sky seemed sad, almost foreboding. Unlike the previous days spent there, when the sky was bright and blue and the Sun was shining, it seemed as if the atmosphere had a mood swing. David sighed disappointingly because it wasn't even raining. Rain meant the forest received a drink from weeks of hot weather; the animals too. Rain filled the oceans for the aquatic species, and it brought dew for the insects. 

But not a drop fell from the sky. David thought that it was a waste of a gloomy day, for the rain to be absent.

He decided to not look outside.

 It made him upset.

~{()}~

The coronation was minutes away.

Nathan and David were both dressed nicely, already at the site of the coronation. It was an unusual coronation because, usually, such things had a solemn feel to them. Usually, they followed the death of the previous ruler, like Nathan's had.

But the previous ruler was standing in the room with his soulmate, holding hands tightly. 

Nathan still felt nervous. He kept questioning if it was the right decision, but then he stopped himself. This was for his sister's happiness. He was just so used to being king, it was odd to give the position away. What would he do after he is no longer king? He will serve no purpose.

David sensed his nervousness throughout the entire thing. Once the coronation started, Nathan tensed, and David kissed his shoulder. The leshy noticed Nathan relax when he saw his sister walk up the aisle to her seat at the throne, as per tradition. 

She looked beautiful in a stunning gown, big and heavy-looking. David thought back to what Mary said about hating proper princess stuff like that; she must hate it. How in love she must be to wear such a thing just to get crowned queen. However, she had taken other measures to down-play the coronation. 

The crowd watching was just a small group of necessary people and loved ones, excluding Mary's "baby daddy." He had yet to show up. She had sparse decoration and little to no civilians of the kingdom within the room. An event that usually took months of preparation and execution was happening within a week's time. 

Her dress had to be tailored, however, because a small bump was forming on her stomach- a bump that told everyone the truth.

As she was being anointed, David saw her smiling happily, as if her dreams were coming true.

And, just like that, Mary Drake was the queen of the Kingdom of Mare.

Nathan loosened up after she was crowned queen, as if he expected something bad to happen. He started smiling as Mary immediately came over and gave him a hug.

It was a joyous time, in fact; she seemed positively radiant. She thanked David over and over for convincing Nathan to allow her the opportunity.

"So, when's the father of your child supposed to be here?" Nathan asked, suddenly getting tense again. David knew what he was thinking, and he prayed there wasn't a fight between the two.

"Oh, he should be here soon!" Mary smiled, almost mischievously, "I can't wait for you to meet him."

"Is he at least a nice person?" Nathan sighed, wincing at the cheeky smile she gave.

"Well, he's nice to me..." she said, "I'm not sure about everyone else. But I'm sure we'll be fine!"

Suddenly, the doors were opened, and a man stepped in.

Mary gasped and squealed, jumping up and down as he walked over and sat on the thrown. He locked eyes with her, smiling and beckoning her onto his lap. She practically jumped on him.

David could see Nathan was uncomfortable, and he thought he knew why. The man looked almost ten years older than Mary, which was an unusual age gap, especially for soulmates. David thought that was why Nathan paled like he was going to vomit, froze in his spot, and squeezed David's hands until they hurt. David assumed Nathan was trying to withhold punching the man.

David also knew he was a vampire- a man-eating one. His eyes were blood red, a color only expressed in a vampire's eyes after a recent human kill. 

Everyone was still.

"I'm so glad you're back," she sighed in bliss, kissing him on the cheek.

"Well, I can't deny a queen can I?" he chuckled. His hair was so blond, it was basically white. It was curly and jiggled back and forth when he shook his head. Jake's vision.

Nathan's breath hitched. David looked over, concerned and confused.

"What's wrong?" David whispered, trying not to gain the attention of the two on the throne. They seemed to be in a little bubble, and the rest of the room was silent.

"David, that's-" his breathing quickened, as if he was having a panic attack, "That's William Kain."

David's eyes widened. That's William Kain? The evil king of the north that wants to take away Nathan's kingdom?

Then David's heart dropped when he realized-

He just did. He just took away the kingdom.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," King Kain replied to Nathan's statement with a cruel smile, squeezing Mary tighter in his arms. And she was enjoying it. Nathan's eye twitched. "Isn't my soulmate such a talented actor?"

David's mind flashed to when Mary told him she wanted to be an actor one day. Why was he so stupid?

Mary had acted the whole thing. She was William's soulmate the whole time. The baby in her stomach was William Kain's. The letters she was writing were for William Kain. She just wanted to become queen...to give William Kain the crown.

"Now, the funny thing to do, Mr. Drake, would be to lock you up in a dungeon and, maybe one day, hang you- just to brighten up my mood if I'm feeling blue!" he smiled while saying this, almost like Umbridge from Harry Potter, but a middle-aged murdering man, "But I'm a very generous king, you see. So, you may leave this castle without any icky complications, as long as you go...willingly. I don't want to deal with you and your...Drake family pride."

Nathan didn't respond, but instead, someone else spoke up.

"May I interject, sir?" it was Arnold, and he held his head high, "You are not the ruler of this kingdom; therefore you have no authority over him. Queen Mary Drake is the ruler, for now, so it is up to her who will and who won't leave the castle. And if you think she will throw out her own brother-"

Mary held a hand up to him, and he stopped speaking obediently.

"What's your name, slave?" she asked him.

"I-I'm not a slave, I'm a-"

"Answer the question," she ordered.

"...Arnold Atkinson, your majesty," he replied.

"Well, Arnold, you have been relieved of duty," she replied. Arnold paled. "On your way out, please escort my dear brother and his soulmate."

She no longer showed pure joy but mixed in her eyes was a crazy look of malice and cruelty. Arnold wished Reno was with him.

"I can't believe I was happy to see you again," Nathan said, his eyes tearing up, "Why did you do it? After all our family has been through? After mom and dad? How could you do this to me?!"

David was seconds away from killing this woman, but Nathan's tears were holding him back. This was his soulmate's sister. He should not be the one to kill her.

Mary laughed, "You are so idiotic, Nate! Couldn't you tell I was unhappy, the way I was living before? The night I found William, it was the best night I ever had. And our parents?! HA! How did you think they died?"

"W-What?-" Nathan asked, eyes wide.

"I killed them, Nathan! I killed them for William! He's the only person who ever understood me!" she was screaming at Nathan, "And the only reason you didn't die of the poison was because of that little f**king watchdog DOMINIC RENO. After mom and dad, you were shoved into a panic room, and he was always guarding it! I didn't try to take my chances. But now? Now, I don't need you dead. Now I can be happy...with William." She looked back at William Kain with a loving smile on her face.

David was in shock, everyone was.

She was no better than the king.