13 years later the king had fallen ill to valley fever and with his dying breath his final words to Alexander were "It is now your duty to marry Espen Blackwood and rule the kingdom the way that you have been taught." Alex felt no remorse in his father's passing. He was cold toward Alex making what should have been a family feel more like a job. He was never allowed to leave the castle and heard nothing from his father other than to "Act as royalty should" and that he would someday marry a girl who went by the name of Espen Blackwood.
Alex is no longer an eight year old boy with golden hair and bright blue eyes. He was now a twenty-one year old man whose bright eyes had glossed over into a dark stormy grayish-blue, yet still held that same glimmer of wonder even after enduring thirteen long years of listening to his father's cruel words. His golden hair had turned into a dusted brown, changing just like his child like features into a sharp hardened version better fit for a king.
Alex didn't understand his father's perplex emotions towards him or why his father was always so adamant of Alexander never leaving the castle that was supposedly his home; although the prince felt it to be more of a cage than a home. He did know that with his father's passing mean the could finally leave that cage and see the outside world before he was to meet his handpicked bride and be forever tide into "holy matrimony." He was to Marry Matilda's daughter, a girl he had never even met before. With the existing thought of finally being able to leave his cage, Alex laced up his boots and threw on his over-coat heading for the door. Today Alex would finally explore his kingdom for the first time in thirteen years.