Finn

  Tired, he stretched and pulled the duvet over his head. o him, he heard a quiet protest. fused, he sat up. Julia y on his side and slept. Leopold was also asleep and had his arm arouhe protest had e from Marko, who was lying kind of around Finn and whose belly, as he now realized, he had used as a pillow.

  In the evening, Marko rushed to him and asked for a hot chocote for the princess. Finn wo first why Marko didn't take care of it himself, but then he remembered that Marko had burhe st hot chocote and Sophie had forbidden him to cook. Leopold had ughed about it for days. Shortly afterward he saw the frightened princess and he realized that Marko and Leopold thought that they should all be with her. Finn silently agreed. The princess was now like a sister to him. Even though he was her servant.

  Marko muttered a little in his sleep and stretched out his arm in search of Finn. At the same time, Julia pulled on the duvet and stole it from Marko and him. Marko was not happy about this and frowned. Finn grinned and climbed out of bed. He urgently o go to the bathroom.

  Julia had been shtehat all three of them had stayed with her... However, Finn couldn't remember falling asleep. Quietly he crept into the princess's bath. When he came out of the bathroom a little ter, a person stormed ihe room.

  "Good m little sister!" Prier came inside. He wore a light blue nightgown and his dressing gow. Surprised, he looked at the sleeping people on Julia's bed and the wolf that had just e out of her bathroom.

  "Wild night?", he asked while Julia sat up yawning, Leopold pulled the b over his head and Marko looked like he was trying to remember his name.

  "Good m, Yhness", Fined the prince.

  "Niightgown!" Julia climbed out of her bed and shuffled to the bath.

  "Isn't it?" Peter spun in circles so that the fabric fluttered around his legs. "I dressed up for Babette. And what did you do? Wildly celebrated with your servants?"

  Marko climbed out of the princess's bed and stood o Finn to hug him. "Celebrate?", he murmured, fused. "Where? Isn't the ball already over?"

  "We didn't celebrate," Leopold answered the question and tidied the bed. "We kept the princess pany." Said princess had meanwhile disappeared into the bathroom.

  "I see that." Peter looked at the three servants. "And in her bed!"

  "We must have fallen asleep..." Finn leaned against Marko, who had his face buried in his shoulder. "The Vampire Prince scared the princess, so we stayed with her."

  "Marlon? He scared her?" Now the prince seemed armed. "What happened?"

  "He tried to drink her blood. We were able to stop him. Apparently, he expects to be married to her in two years." Leopold shook Marko, from whom came soft sn. He looked up irritated. "You're leaning on Finn. You're certainly too heavy! And you are sleeping in front of the prince!"

  "rince?" Marko let go of Finn.

  Immediately, Finn missed his weight. He had hardly leaned on him and had therefore not been too heavy. "Prier?", he helped Marko. "The oanding in front of us?"

  Marko blinked, looking at the prince. "Are you wearing a dress?"

  Leopold groaned.

  "A dress? No! This is a very expensive suit!" Peter made a mog curtsy. "The test fashion."

  "That's fashion now?" Marko looked for help at Finn, who giggled softly.

  "Wake up." Leopold put his arm around the shoulders of the not yet fully awake wolf. "The prince is just joking."

  "Oh." Marko nodded. "Then that's a dress?"

  "What did I miss?" Julia came out of the bathroom smiling.

  "Your delightful servant." Peter poio Marko. "He just realized that I am particurly beautiful to look at today."

  "You're always beautiful to look at Peter." Julia shook her head. "Why are you here?"

  "Babette was standing in front of my room... I just mao escape her... She wao take me for a m walk... I need a hiding pce! At least until breakfast!"

  "What did she think of the nightgown? Didn't you say you dressed up for her?" Julia tugged at the fabric. "Did it have the desired effect?"

  "She thought I was kidding and insisted I was wearing a suit... She just won’t give up. At some point, she should realize that I am not the way she would like me to be... And that I don't want her!"

  "She's stubborn." Julia hugged her brother. "Will you keep the nightgown on? Where did you get it from?"

  "A small, nice shop..."

  There was a knock at the door and soon Sophie was standing in the princess's room. "Princess? You're already awake... Good M, Prier... And your three servants are here too?" She smiled at Peter, but then she looked at Finn, Marko, and Leopold sternly. "I wasn't expeg you here at this time... I e to wake the princess. What are you three doing here?"

  "I'll get her some nice clothes!" Finn quickly fled to the princess's dressing room to avoid Sophie's reprimand. He just heard Marko point out to the old servant that the prince was wearing a dress. "I see that." Sophie ughed.

  Marlon

  The princess had escaped him. He had been about to taste her sweet blood, but her servants had stopped him. Servants! An elf and a dirty dog!

  Luckily, his sister hadn't watched it. She might think he was weak. A weakling. Not suitable for the throne! Annemarie wahe throne, but he would not allow that. He was the heir to the throne! He would rule one day, not Annemarie!

  Vampires lived long lives, but not indefinitely. How much longer would his parents rule? A hundred years? Two hundred? It wouldn't take much longer for them to crumble to dust... Except something accelerated the process... An act, perhaps?

  He needed a strong queen at his side. A queen worthy of him.

  And the princess was worthy and her blood smelled tempting.

  If it beloo him, and it would, great power would belong to him.

  He got ready for breakfast. Queen Agathe wao talk about her pns at breakfast. About eg their houses. He was vinced of this.

  He had big pns. Once he was king, he wao expand his territory. His parents were too cowardly to wage a war. He wasn't. His eye was on the nd of the taurs, who were causing them problems anyroblems his parents hadn't tackled before... They also hoped for support from the witches and wizards.

  A great empire of vampires. That was his pn.

  On the way to the dining room, his sister came to meet him. Annemarie smiled happily. She wore a fiery red dress and bck jewelry.

  "Do you want to impress someone?", he asked her.

  "I'm not the only one!" She poio his moss green suit with bck embroidery. "Who do you want to impress? Your princess?"

  "And who do you want to impress? I ask first! One of the prihe princess will be my wife! She should see what she gets."

  "She barely paid attention to you."

  "That doesn't matter. And you? Are you looking for a husband? Both princes are already taken... I'm afraid you've dressed up in vain." ‘Dressed up’ was an uatement. She reminded him of a poisonous snake.

  "Well... Maybe I dressed up to observe your disappoi appropriately. I don't think Queen Agathe will leave her daughter to you. No. She seems like she has other pns. And so far, she has always refused. Why would she suddenly ge her mind?"

  "We'll see."

  "Oh. No. I'll see. And I will enjoy every moment of it!" Annemarie wi him aered the spacious dining room.

  Marlon was boiling with rage.

  Babette

  The prince had escaped her. With a silly excuse, he had rushed away from her. And in a nightgown. What was his point? Was he making fun of her? Did he want to upset her?

  No... He wouldn’t succeed.

  He could not escape his fate. He would marry her. Babette had already pheir life together, down to the st detail. The queen's daughter-in-w.

  She liked that.

  The house of her dreams. Influence. Wealth. Admirance.

  Didn't that sound wonderful?

  The Queen was talking to Princess Cleo and a few minutes ago the vampires had arrived in the dining room. Now only Julia aer were missing. Torsten, the illegitimate son, talked to Lea, who hardly seemed to listen to him. Prince Fritz and his fiancée were missing. Babette did not uand why Prince Fritz had chosen an ordinary girl. But she couldn't care less.

  If Prince Fritz had chosen an ordinary mortal, it only meant that she was not a petitor. Babette was on her way to being a close fidant of the queen... And maybe soon a sultant?

  There was only one problem: Princess Julia.

  She was the only one who did not yet have a perma pce, as she was still attending the academy. The princess was not allowed to snatch her pder any circumstances. So Babette had to quickly earn her pce! Luckily, she already had the Queen's attention.

  And then she had to make sure, that the princess no longer had any influen Peter. The two of them were much too close to each other and Babette was sure that she supported his crazy ideas and enced him in them... But ohey had moved into their new house, perhaps the princess's influence would e to an end on its own.

  The princess would not stand in her way.

  Even if she should be one of the most powerful witches now. Well... Not yet. Now, she was weak. It would take years before she was really powerful. Enough time for Babette to secure an advantageous pce.