Chapter 1 - The Sinister Rogue Prince

The 28th year of King Rupert Gerard Pendragon

Gareth was all agog to the surroundings that greeted him upon entry to the world renowned RED night club of the southern duchy of Frontera. From the large column pillars that resembled giant lava lamps, up to the different colored lights that ran amok in the air, every corner of the room screamed of decadence. Everybody danced, drink, and made out like there was no tomorrow.

Frontera was indeed Pendragon's sin city. But to him, it was an understatement. It was not wild, it was barbaric. It was not sexy, it was arousing. The place was erupting with booze, sex, and everything in between!

He was definitely in the right place. Finally, a haven for him!

"Enjoying so far Your Royal Highness?" Jericho teased, one of his best buds from his early uni days. Jericho was a native of Frontera. He thought to call him up since he's in the area.

"Nah! It's so-so. Nothing that I've never seen before," he teasingly answered.

"Stop shitting my pie hole, your Highness, I bet my whole life you ain't seen nothing like this in all Pendragon," Jericho boasted.

They both took a seat to the nearest bar and ordered two glasses of whisky.

"Wait till you see the angels, bro! Our natives, they are what we call, 'the living Kama Sutra."

He took a swig over his glass of whiskey.

"Let me the judge of that," he said before he walked into the crowd.

This haven was creeping with his kind of people. Everybody jived wildly in to the music. People were dancing and boozing-off like there's no tomorrow.

In just a span of minutes, he had already gathered a harem of his own. Women of different attributes swarmed over his already crowded couch.

Each one of those women was competing for his attention and like a horde of furious vixens, these ladies had already marked their territory. They all wanted him, that's a fact. And right now, pandemonium was about to erupt.

These types of women were territorial. They're no different from the beasts of the jungle. Each of them wanted him. Each of them wanted to catch his attention and they will spare nothing to have their way!

But he was different. Yes, women fought over him. Women vye for his attention. Women wanted to be with him. They may be vicious vixens, but he's a lion, a royalty of the jungle in his own right. He was the master of the wilderness. He owned the whole jungle!

Choosing was never his favorite thing to do. Why take one vixen when he can have the whole horde? He can fuck the brains out of every woman here and still give them a hell of a night.

That was how he lived his jet setting life, he spent his own money, he fucked wherever and whenever he wanted. He was a notorious playboy that painted the whole kingdom of Pendragon red. He was a walking mockery to the Royal Family. He was Prince Gareth Emmanuel Pendragon, the fourth heir to the throne of Pendragon.

"Your Highness, wanna play with us tonight? We'll make you so happy that you'll gonna crave for more."

"So very tempting," he flashed his melting smile that earned him the spot of Pendragon's most eligible bachelor.

"Why play with her? She's an old lady. A cougar. Try someone fresh, my princey," from a woman who's purring like a cat from under the embrace of his right arm.

His c0ck stirred in ar0usal because of the continuous provocation and teasing from the local ladies.

He gave the woman to his right a big smooch and another one to the foxy lady. Soon after his kissing palooza, several lewd proposals followed.

"Where are you staying tonight?"

"Wanna go to my place?"

"Let's have fun at your hotel, Mr. Prince."

He was starting to get dizzy with all the whining.

"Hey ladies, you'll have enough for me tonight."

So many willing puss!es to fvck, so little time.

The girl on his left, Margo, caressed his inner thigh.

"Tell me Your Royal Highness, what looks sexy in your eye? Me spitting or me swallowing?"

He gave a deep sigh. Damn it! Jericho was right! These women were professionally trained bed hustlers. Indeed, this will be one hell of a night.

"Hey b!tch! What are you doing talking so dirtily to my prince?" said some girl from the crowd. She immediately dragged the woman away from him. Next thing he knew, the woman directly sat on his arousal.

"Do you prefer entering me from my behind? Or something more adventurous like..." she paused momentarily before continuing, "Oh! How about fvcking me raw and hard!"

But the some other woman refused to back down, "Where do you want to slide your c0ck Your Royal Highness? In between my cvnt, at the backdoor, or would you rather travel in between my pouty little lips?" she whispered while biting his earlobe.

He closed his eyes at the thought. He knew very well why those women were hounding him. It was not just about his good looks. It was all about the title. Everybody wanted to be the princess in the castle. It was an all out war for the crown. Sooner than he thought, it turned to a lipstick jungle where every b!tch fought for the number one spot. Whoever wins get to wear the princess tiara. But little did they know that he was a rogue prince. The Royal Family detested him. His King of a father saw him as nothing but a disgrace to the crown.

He was enjoying himself with all the attention he was getting when everything died down.The music was suddenly put to a halt and the neon lights that were gleaming all over the place were replaced by the fluorescents.

The crowd went dead silent.

"Get out of my way!" came a thundering voice of a woman.

What the! He suddenly stood from his seat, not caring if the woman on his lap slid to the floor.

Was his imagination playing tricks on him?

"I said get out of the way! Where the heck is Prince Gareth?" there it went again, the voice just kept drawing even nearer and nearer.

His women hurled around him, protecting him from the upcoming tyranny. That is, if they can defend him from the coming onslaught.

The surrounding people slowly parted away from him, and from within the crowd came a group of individuals wearing the uniform that bore the insignia of the Imperial Army.

There, in the middle, stood a woman who exuded beauty, arrogance, authority and danger.

"What are you doing slacking off around here? Aren't you tired of all your jet setting and dissipated escapades with these lowly women?"

Even from the dark, he could see the fire emanating from the eye of the woman who just arrived.

Everyone's jaw literally dropped at the sudden tirade of this woman. Her eyes went after his.

"Who the heck are you? You b!tch," one brave woman said as she walked towards her.

She looked at the insolent woman from head to know, then she dirtily spat on the ground.

"Move away! A woman of your status does not even deserve to touch my spit. You're not the person I am looking for," she just literally sashayed her way passed the anger-stricken woman.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Why? Not fancy of seeing me here, big brother..." her words were cut when a small amount of water splashed at her from behind.

He watched as she creased her forehead and turned one hundred eighty degrees towards the insolent woman who dared to challenge her. He saw blood emanating from her amber eyes.

This means war. He said to himself as he prepared himself from the wrath of his sister.

"Who are you calling lowly woman?!" the woman shouted.

Obviously, she did not know that she's now the target of his beast of a sister.

"That's for belittling us. You deserve that, you b!tch!"

"Yeah! How dare you insult us," shouted by one of the woman from the crowd.

The women were now coming together, like a herd of hyenas in the jungle who just saw their prey. They were estimating his sister. Their trying to provoke Halaena. They were setting a trap for her. But, truly, they must have not known what his sister was capable of. Halaena was a lioness, trained by the king of the jungle himself. Everything happened in an instant, Halaena immediately twisted the arm of the woman into a lock until she pinned her on the ground. Her military convoy responded at her sudden action. They handcuffed the impudent woman, rendering her immobile while laying on the floor.

"I do not care who you are, or who you're relatives are. What you did to me is unpardonable and is worth a life sentence to Tartarus."

He cannot help but to smile. No matter how many years passed, she was still as hot-headed as ever. But he must admit it, her martial arts technique has greatly improved.

It's still the same old Halaena.

"What are you smiling at?" she looked at him irritatingly.

"Take her away quickly, confine her in Frontera's Detaining Station where she will be charge of attempted physical assault towards a member of the royal family."

Everybody had gone quiet, shocked by what his sister said.

She shouted at crowd, "Leave this place immediately, no one is allowed to enter at this place without my permission. This is a decree from Princess Helaena Pendragon, the tenth heir to the throne and Pendragon's second princess."

Everyone immediately exited the room, afraid of the wrath of the princess that might beckon them.

"Percival!" she called out her Chevalier.

"Yes, My Lady." Uttered by the knight who had sworn allegiance to the crown to protect Halaena at all cost.

"Guard all the entrance and exit. Make sure that no one goes in. Me and my big brother will have a long talk."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Then the group dispersed and were now out of sight. Only Percival remained.

And that ended his helluva night with the Fronteran chicks. He was left with his Ice Queen of a sister. He did not know what trouble she might brought him, but one thing was for sure, Halaena was not there for a tea party. There're some royal shits going on. She will not go out of her way just to chastise his crude and jetsetting ways. But as far as he was concerned, everything about the royal family irked him. He did not want to hear any of their bull craps.

He sat on the settee. He wanted this to be over now.

"What brings you here?" he started.

"You even dare to ask that to me?" she was really infuriated. And for what reasons? That, he had yet to know.

He gave a sigh, "Would you fetch your Lady a seat, Percy?"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Her chevalier fetched a seat for Halaena.

"C'mon, Halaena. Have a seat. I'll hear you out."

She sat opposite him. Her irritation was very much obvious.

"Still priding yourself, too much, I see. But let me warn you sissy, you should be careful with the words you used in front of me," he said as he stared directly on her amber eyes with his own pair of amber eyes. Those were the eyes of true-blue Pendragon Royals.

"And why should I?" she retaliated.

He chuckled, very amused to his feisty little sister, "I am the Fourth heir to the Throne, technically, my status is a leap above you. That's how the royal etiquette taught us, right? Not to be oppressive towards the people who belong in a status level above yours."

"What do you know about the royal etiquette? You, who wreak havoc to the whole kingdom with your immoral actions? You ought to be kidding me, brother?" Truly, Halaena's sarcasm was legendary. Among his siblings, it was always her that took the title of a princess up to the next level, the prim and composed Helaena. She was always the rowdy and loyal one, a real palace dog.

"So back to my first question, what brings Her Royal Highness to me?"

She took a deep breath, "The King decreed for your immediate return to Camelot for his birthday."

"So after all this years, after the neglect, he now came looking to his son that gone astray?" he mocked.

Was this even true? The high and mighty King Rupert Pendragon, the father whom ignored him since his birth finally took notice of him? The world must have gone insane!

"You know very well that it's not true. Every penny that you use ever since your self-exile from Camelot came from the Imperial Household."

He gave her a piercing look. Everybody from within the palace thought the same as her when the truth was the opposite. Ever since leaving the capital city, he did not even touch the money given to him by the Imperial Household. The money that he used for his jet setting career was the fruit of his labor. He inherited hectares of land area from his maternal grandfather on Lyonesse to which he used as a plantation of fruits and crops. He also owned various farms that supply meat, poultry and fish to different corporation within the eastern Pendragon. He has been doing that for the past five years and he was god damn successful! He was a self-made business man in his own right. And how dare the palace for insinuating that they had been feeding him for the last five years!

But he did not dare to speak that to Halaena for the sake of his farm. He very well knows the power of a scorned palace. He would not even dare to jeopardize his prized possession.

"Every member of the royal family is expected to be at the Arondight Palace for His Majesty's birthday next month." She was referring to the main palace in Camelot wherein the Imperial Household took residence.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then suffer the consequences."

"Like what sissy?" he taunted.

"Like this," like a speeding feline, Halaena stood up and swiftly drew something from within her military vest. He did not have time to retaliate or even have time to defend himself. It happened in a flash. Suddenly a pistol was now pointed in between his eyes.

"Father said to take you there whether by hook or by crook."

Steffanie hated hospitals the most. There was something in the smell of the infirmary that nauseated her. It was a good thing that she was with her big brother, Michael Angelo. He's the only person she can trust. With him by her side, she's at ease.

"You can do it princess. You're brave enough to do this."

She squeezed his hand more, drawing strength from the warmth of her brother's hand.

"Just do what the doctors ask and be a good girl. I'll buy you a lollipop after."

She gave a chuckle, "Big Brother? Do I look like a three year old girl to you?"

He gave her an assuring smile, "You'll always be my little princess, Steff. Always remember that."

He was still the same big brother that she adored and she was very happy to have him by her side.

Her Ophthalmologist then came out of her office.

"You may proceed inside Miss, Steff. My assistant is inside to prepare you."

She gave a heavy sigh before entering the hospital room.

She was about to close the door when she heard her brother speak, "How is she doc?"

"The same as always Mr. Sutherland, at this rate, she'll go completely blind when she reaches the age of thirty."

She was not shocked of what she heard. Deep inside, she already knew that. She was legally blind after all. She was born with an eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Because of this, her vision, as she grew up, started to deteriorate. It started with the sudden disappearance of her peripheral vision and just recently, she became night blind.

"Do your best Doc. Money is never an issue."

"Her disease is currently incurable despite the recent feats in Medical Technology here in Camelot. But if you like, I can refer you to my mentor, she is now at her own hospital in Asphodel. Maybe she can help the Miss."

They say that eaves dropper hear what they do not want to hear. It served her right. She walked away from the door as she didn't want to hear anything more. She just quietly sat on the surgical bed and waited for the doctor. She really felt bad right now, not for herself but for the turmoil she had caused her brother. All she could do now was respond to her treatments as earnestly as she could and hope for the best results.