"I have to, it's not a choice."
"He is right. You cannot love a demon or live with him. This is a price you cannot pay." Hunter said, standing up from his throne.
"She has to, Hunter. She made a deal with him. If she does not go with him, our kingdom will crumble because he can reverse the help he had given us." Anna said, stepping forward and trying to reason with him.
Hunter looked conflicted as he raised his eyes from Anna to look between Quinn and Vincent. He sighed, "Alright, you can go with him, Quinn."
Hunter turned to Vincent, "Make sure you treat her very well."
"I will, you have my word." Vincent said as Anna rushed to Quinn and hugged her.
"I will miss you, our Princess. Make sure to visit us." Anna said against her shoulder before releasing her.
Alexander hugged her from the side where he was standing beside her. "We will all miss you terribly."
He released her, and she smiled at them, "I will miss you all too."
Hunter walked to her and placed his hands on her shoulder, "I want you always to remember us and be safe, Princess."
He hugged her and let go of her shortly. They had never been as close as he was with Lance or as she was with her mother.
"I will never forget, father. I will go to my room and pack, then he will take me with him from there." Quinn said as she and Vincent turned around and started for the door.
"Is there a portal there to his home?" Alexander asked in curiosity, and everyone waited in anticipation for the reply.
"It is not a portal, but it is where I first appeared in the palace, and that is where I can disappear from in the palace." Vincent clarified, turning his head slightly to the side, and they all looked amazed yet frightened except for Quinn.
Vincent faced the door and continued walking to her room. She caught up with him and walked beside him. Upon entering her room, he turned to her. "You don't need to pack, you are going to be my Queen, and I have everything you need in my palace."
"Alright, but I still want to take my favorite books with me." She said as she walked to her pile of books on a wooden desk.
"You know how to read?" He asked with one raised eyebrow in surprise.
She looked at him, not understanding why he was surprised, "Demons do not read?"
He let out a laugh, shaking his head as he watched her packing a few books inside a bag. "Of course we do, but I am surprised a human woman does."
"And that is because humans of old do not allow women to learn how to read, right?" She asked as she walked to where he was.
"Yes, but I did not know that you have changed your ways." He held out his hand to her after she reached him.
She glanced at his smiling face then placed her hand in his. He intertwined their fingers, and she felt herself being lifted. She felt like she was floating for a millisecond and in a few seconds, they were standing outside her kingdom on the borders overlooking the palace.
He released her hand and faced her, "Let's go."
She nodded, giving one last look at her kingdom, her home. She was going to leave her family, and she might never come back. Living in a demon kingdom might not be as bad as their people made it out to be, but there was a possibility that it might be.
Vincent turned around and started walking in the direction of west. She turned around and walked quickly to catch up with him. As they continued walking, she pondered over some things she wanted to know about him. After a few moments of walking, she turned to him, "Why can't you teleport us to your kingdom or take us in a carriage?"
"I can only teleport back to outside your kingdom using the remaining power from the magic blue stone, and I teleported from my home without realizing that the power of the stone will run out so fast. I am sorry, Princess Quinn, I know you are not used to traveling on foot." He explained, glancing at her as he said the last part.
"It is fine. I can manage traveling a few miles and please call me Quinn."
His lips lifted slightly in a smile, "Alright, Quinn. That is a good quality of a queen, you should be able to adjust to different circumstances. The demon kingdom is not like your own. People in the palace will judge you and have their eyes on you at all times, looking for the slightest mistake. You have to be very careful of what you say, who you say it to and what you do."
"So they will be waiting for me to make a mistake? That is the point of watching and listening to me, isn't it?"
"Yes, and you have to watch out for my stepmother. She is very scheming and vile, she also wants me to marry a woman of her choosing who I'm sure is her spy. She wants the throne, but she only has a daughter and she got married to a vampire prince."
"People will go that far to claim the throne?"
"Yes, my stepmother has done so many things to stop me from being King, but she failed all those times. My mother is from a strong bloodline of demons and vampires. She inherited many powers and could detect whenever my stepmother is skimming against her or me."
"How impressive and extraordinary. What about your father? Does he know about your stepmother's evil intentions?"
"He did to some extent, but he has passed away."
"I am sorry about that." She glanced at him as they were walking. His face was indifferent, but she felt sad for him. She couldn't imagine losing her father, even as distant as they were.
"Quinn, you need to know that inside the palace, you can't trust anyone except for mother and me, not even your assigned maids. We have many enemies inside and outside of the palace, and they can use any information against us. Do not let anyone know how we met, even mother. If anyone asks, say that I met you when I came to your kingdom, which is true, but not the whole truth."
"No one can be trusted. Alright, I understand that, but will your people accept that you will take a human as your wife?"