Blood King | Book Three of Blood Trilogy

Chapter 1

Zayden 

The windows in my father's car have been rolled down and the setting sun was pouring in from the west side. I turned to Aidan with a grin and he was chuckling himself. 

"It feels so good to be free from the castle. It's been a while since we've ventured into the city." Alexia stated from behind me. I rotated in my seat so I was facing both Hazel and my little sister. Their faces were filled with large smiles. 

"Not a peep about this to our parents, alright? Who knows what father will say about this." I glanced into my sister's eyes about the last part as a warning to not say a thing to any adult. 

"Besides, we do have an adult supervising us, and it's Uncle Aidan." I smirked, sending a side glance over to Aidan, who was driving. He shook his head with a small smile, and that was all he did to my statement. 

I turned back in my seat to face forward and stared out the windshield. The edge of the city was coming into view and I could feel the energy flowing off the buildings into my bones. I have been looking forward to this moment for months. 

"I say, we hit the galleria first." Hazel spoke up, sitting up in her seats so her head was poking between the driver and passenger seats. I sent a soft chuckle. 

We travelled deeper into the city down Main Street until Aidan made a right turn the parking lot of the galleria. The three story shopping mall was calling out to everyone, especially the ladies. We got out of the dark gray Mercedes GLS, then Aidan tossed the key to the man standing at the valet booth. 

Hazel was close to bursting with all the excitement and it was evident that she wanted to check out every store, so Aidan nodded the two girls off onto their own shopping paradise. 

The two of us, on the other hand, only checked out stores that appealed to us. I wasn't planning on going crazy in this palace of a mall. 

"I think we should give the ladies a fair amount of time. Do you think two hours will be good enough?" Aidan asked from beside me. We were walking into a clothing store and I turned to him for a brief moment with an eyebrow in the air then let out a slow chuckle. 

"I think it's only possible for me to stay in here for two hours, then we can book it to another place. I wanna see what humans do for fun." I stated then ran my fingers through a clothing rack. 

"You just want to know what the ladies do for fun and wherever there are a lot of them, you want to be there." Aidan noted while rolling his eyes. I glared at him from across the rack. As he said that, a woman was walking behind him and gave me a dirty look. A low growl escaped from my chest, but Aidan only raised his hands in surrender and walked away to the other side of the store. 

Whatever, might as well enjoy life in this city for a day before father gives me another day of training. I thought to myself then goosebumps rose along my skin. Training has been an absolute pain, especially for the past couple of months since father has been pushing my limits. He trains me day and night, and if he's busy, then Uncle Caleb or Uncle Aidan will do it. 

I sighed then put the shirt that I was looking at back onto the rack. I lost interest in the store that I was currently in, but Aidan seemed to be finding something towards the back of the store, so I let him be and strolled out the store into another one. 

"Welcome in, is there anything I can help you find?" A young woman asked me. She was smiling politely but her eyes were hungry and looked up and down the length of my body before meeting with my eyes again. I cleared my throat, with a small smile, then held up a hand in her direction as I walked past her in attempt to wave her off. 

When she was behind me, however, I could still feel her eyes on me. I swallowed past an uncomfortable lump that had grown in my throat. My hands subconsciously smoothed down my black dress shirt, then readjusted the belt that was holding my pants in place against my waist. 

After I browsed through half of the store, I found my sister and Hazel in the same store, but in the women's section. The saleswoman was still watching and following me around unfortunately, but I was fortunate enough to find Alexia and Hazel. So I hustled over to them. 

They were scared with my sudden appearance. They were both quizzical, in fact. I glanced down at their bags lying on the floor beside their feet and picked all of them up. There were about three total. 

"Just go with the flow." I whispered to the both of them and when I sent a wink to Hazel, she stepped back a tiny step with her eyebrows furrowed. 

"What the--" She had been cut off since I placed a kiss on her cheek. She stood frozen in place. 

"Zayden, did someone drug you?" Alexia asked but I chuckled then shook my head. 

"I'll be bringing your bags to the car, sweetie. Just call me if you need anything else!" I exclaimed loud enough for the saleswoman to hear while I was walking away from the two ladies. The saleswoman, however, was standing still with her jaw to the floor. 

I saw her out of my peripheral vision and it was satisfying to see that the man she had been following was already "with" someone else. I was laughing on the inside. Hazel saved me from a potential creepy stalker.  

When I stepped foot out the store, Aidan was standing there waiting for me with an eyebrow high up in the sky. I rolled my eyes and held up my hands that have been occupied with three large bags. 

"Let's get out of here." I mumbled grumpily when he was close to laughing. "No laughing." I shot back at him and that just made him start laughing. 

After Alexia and Hazel got out of that store, they demanded what happened, so I told the three of them and they all laughed their heads off. I even chuckled at my ridiculous reaction to my personal stalker. 

"Let's go somewhere else, guys." Alexia stated then lead our group right out the galleria door and into the parking lot where we waiting for our car to pull up. 

The rest of the day flew by like a breeze and although I wish it could last longer, it couldn't. The four of us have been missing too long and somebody would've noticed by now. No telling in who would report the four of us missing from the castle grounds, but it was safe to say that we would all get in trouble. 

I was right. When I pulled the car up onto the cobblestone driveway, the family was standing there and they were not looking happy, except for grandma and Cameron. 

We got out of the car and grabbed our bags from the trunk. The three of us kids were ready to accept our fates and be locked in our rooms for eternity. 

"Before anything gets said, it was all my fault." My little sister spoke up to the parents. Grandma walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her side. Nana was rubbing Alexia's arm up and down in a comforting way. I smiled at that gesture warmly. Nana would stand by her grandchildren's sides, no matter what. 

"Alexia Sinclair, what were you thinking? Why did none of you tell anyone?" Mother asked. I sighed then shook my head slowly. 

"We told Aidan and he agreed, only if he went along as well. It's not that big of a deal. We're all grown ups now. Father, isn't that what all that training has been for? For proper protection against threats?" I asked while raising a hand and gesturing it in father's direction. 

"You are going to be king soon. So start acting mature, act like a proper king." Was all father said. Nobody said anything else. Jill had her arm open to Hazel and her daughter just fell into her mother's embrace. I sighed with my head bowed. 

So that's what all that training has been for. Father and mother think I'm ready to become king. 

A/N: 

Welcome back, lovely bookworms!! You are back for Blood King! And you're in for a fun adventure, where we will all have fun together! 

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this novel. It's just something slow to start this book off but it gets exciting later on, and if you stay tuned to following updates on this novel, then you can go on a journey with the Sinclair family. 

Have fun and enjoy! 

~Jade xoxo