Going out into the halls alone in the middle of the night was a horrible idea, but I needed to eat. Well, Xavia needed to eat...Syn offered to go for me but he was half asleep and I didn't feel right making him go. Besides, I could use the exercise.

At night in the palace, there were a lot fewer guards and a lot less lights on. The dimmed lights in the halls made my imagination run wild with possible shadows in the darkness. It made me shiver, but I figured it was only because of what happened when Lilith was stalking me.

I smiled at a guard I passed and he bowed slightly which made me cringe internally again. That was still something I hated even though I'd been here for a while now. I suppose I should get used to it since I was supposed to be Queen of Jeradua eventually. The thought was nerve-wracking still.

I sighed and looked down at Syn's white socks I was wearing. I would've worn my own, but I couldn't find a matching pair and got annoyed when I wore different ones.

A gust of wind hitting me made me hug myself and frown. I didn't see any windows open and it was odd that something like that would happen out of nowhere. I looked around to see nothing so I just continued walking.

After a few moments, I began hearing footsteps behind me and I rolled my eyes. Not this shit again. I walked a couple of steps and still heard it and turned around. I crossed my arms when I saw Xyla behind me and she looked beyond pissed.

"What do you want?"

"I can't just talk to my sister?" She questioned mischievously as she circled me.

"You're following me in the middle of the night Xyla, it's creepy."

"Hmm."

I waited for her to say anything else, but when she didn't, I turned around to leave. She ran in front of me to stop me and laid her hands on my shoulders. "You think you're going to take everything from me and get away with it, Queen?"

I roughly removed her arms from me and glared at her. "I never tried to take anything from you. This is just how things happened."

She scoffed and gave me a dirty look. "So you just got pregnant and suddenly take everything that's mine?"

"Uh, yes," I replied in a frustrated tone.

"I'm going to make one thing clear," she said lowly as she took a step forward. "I will not have your baby ever touch that throne. It belongs to my future son."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned through gritted teeth as I balled my fists at my sides.

"How it sounds," she said.

"Hurt me all you want but as soon as you lay a finger on my child it's over for you, Xyla."

She nodded. "We'll see." She walked past me and nudged my shoulder with hers purposely and I rolled my eyes. "Have a great wedding today!" She yelled as she walked away.

I shook my head and continued walking to my room, trying to shake away the uneasiness her words caused. Xyla was becoming more and more of a pain, and I could handle it for the sake of "peace", but if she were to hurt someone I loved, I wouldn't hold myself back.

I opened the door to the room and closed it behind me. Asleep is what I should've been right now. I was supposed to meet Cleo early so she could help me get ready and looking at the time, I had about five hours before I was supposed to go with her.

"Come back to bed," Syn grumbled deeply. I smiled at the sound of his sexy voice and made my way back to the bed. He moved the sheets for me, allowing me to slip in and he pulled me to him. I closed my eyes and relaxed against him and he kissed my shoulder lazily.

"Are you ready for today?" He asked tiredly.

"I think so," I whispered. "Are you?"

"Hell, yeah."

I laughed and got ready to say something else, but stopped when I heard his soft snores. When I met Syn I had no clue that he would eventually mean more to me than anything in the world. I was happy that I'd be spending forever with him though. It'd be an interesting life for sure while he was in it.

A yawn escaped me and I relaxed more into the sheets and his arms. Sleep. I closed my eyes and within a few moments, I did just that.

꧁꧂

When I woke up, Syn was no longer in bed with me and I groaned. One of my favorite things to do these days was to bother him when he was sleepy, but it was rare considering he always woke up at the fucking crack of dawn.

I looked over at Syn's side of the bed and saw a small note. I read it with a smile and shook my head as my heart fluttered.

See you on the other side of the aisle Mrs. SinClaire.

More than love,
Mr. SinClaire

Ecstatic was an understatement for how I felt at the moment. My body was radiating excitement and I couldn't help but smile every time I thought about today. A knock at the door disturbed my silent cheering and I frowned. "Ugh, come in."

Cain opened the door and peeked his head in. "Umm, we're going to try that again because...no." I giggled as he closed the door and knocked once again.

"Come in!" I said in a cheery tone. He walked in with a grin and Cleo followed behind him. She screamed with a grin on her face and hopped onto the bed to hug me.

"You're fucking getting married!" she yelled.

"Yeah, I am," I said with a smile.

"Whoo! I'm going to set up." I didn't notice the suitcase she had pulled in until she got up and rolled it to the table. I decided it would be better for me not to ask questions and to just go with it.

Cain moved towards me and reached into his pocket, pulling my phone out and holding it out for me. "You left this at that therapist's place a couple of days ago."

"Thank you, I've been looking for it," I said as I turned it on. I looked back up at Cain and raised a brow. "How did you manage to get out of jail?"

"Well," he said as he sat down. "My charm and charisma were about ninety-nine percent of the reason."

"And the one percent?" I asked.

"Syn bailed me out," he said with a shrug.

I laughed and he smiled in return. "So does this mean no more robbing banks?"

"Of course not."

My eyes widened. "Cain that should be a warning for you to stop."

"Umm, no. What type of example would I be setting for my little sister and niece if I gave up on my dreams because of some cops?" He asked.

"A damn good example," I argued.

He laughed and pat my head as he stood up again. I swatted his hand away and cleared my throat. There was something I was meaning to ask him, but I didn't know how. Seeing as though my wedding was only a few hours away, I didn't really have much of a choice but to deal with it right now.

"Cain," I called. He stopped walking and turned around to face me. "Umm, since dad isn't here...I was wondering if you could walk me down the aisle? You don't have to, but I don't want to walk alone."

He nodded in thought and a few moments later he grinned down at me. "Of course I will."

"Thank you," I said.

"No. Thank you for asking me." He gave me one last smile and dramatically saluted as he left the room.

"He's a mess," Cleo muttered.

"Definitely," I agreed as I stood up from the bed. "I'm going to shower and I'll be right back." I picked up my phone and headed toward the bathroom.

"Wash everything, babe!" Cleo yelled. "You know how these wedding nights go."

"Stop," I groaned as I rushed to the restroom. I closed the bathroom door behind me and looked at the mirror. Let's do this. A ding from my phone brought my attention back to it and I frowned at the notification.

209 Missed Calls From: Unknown Caller

They're still calling me? It was beyond scary at this point, but I had no idea who it was. At first, I thought it might have been Sebastian, but according to the news, he was still missing and I didn't feel like he would go this far.

A text message from Xavier took my attention away from the mystery and I laughed softly.

Xavier: I hope you're doing better than Mr. SinClaire over here. He's kind of freaking out. View Image

I opened the image to see a picture of Syn with his head in his hands. He looked stressed and it was pretty funny to me considering Syn was truly never nervous. He usually didn't care enough to be stressed or nervous about anything.

Me: Would he like to cancel?

Xavier: 0.0...I'll ask

I removed my clothes to get ready to shower and my phone began ringing. I looked at the screen to see Syn's contact and I put it on speaker.

"He-"

"What do you mean cancel?!" He asked, his voice booming through my phone.

"Relax, it was a joke Syn."

"It wasn't funny."

"I'm sorry," I said in amusement.

"Mhmm, I better see your ass at the end of the aisle, Princess," he threatened in a deep voice.

"Well technically, I'm wearing clothes so you won't see my ass," I replied. The line remained silent for a few moments before loudly cutting off with a loud beep indicating he hung up on me. I laughed and shook my head, returning to my routine.

I took a long shower and when I was done, I put my robe on and walked back into the room. My eyes widened and I screamed as I saw Genesis next to Cleo. She turned to me and bounced in her spot and I rushed over to her.

"I've missed you!" She said cheerfully.

"I missed you too, I can't believe you're here!"

"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world."She hugged me one more time and pulled away with a determined nod. "Well let's do this shit then."

"Wait a damn minute," I said as I slowly pulled away from Genesis. She looked confused until she followed my eyes to her hand and a grin replaced her features. I looked up at her excitedly. "Lucifer proposed?!"

"He did!"

We all began screaming and cheering once again until the door opened. Jess walked in and waved at us, closing the door behind her. "Hey, guys."

Genesis gave her a small smile and walked over to hug her. "Hey, why haven't you been answering my calls?"

"I've just been busy," Jess answered sweetly.

I looked over at Cleo who preoccupied herself with arranging makeup and I raised my brow at her. She gave me a shrug and returned to her task, understandably not bothering to greet Jess.

"Hey, Jess," I said.

She walked over to me and hugged me with one arm and held what seemed like a dress in the other. "How have you been?"

"I been okay, you?"

"I'm great. Nate and I are finally back together officially."

"Yikes, damn," Cleo muttered.

Jess turned to her and scowled. "Did you say something?"

Cleo smiled sweetly and turned to her. "Yup, I said, 'yikes, damn'."

Jess opened her mouth to argue back but Genesis coughed loudly to interrupt the situation. "You all can argue later but today..." she came over and hugged my head to her chest, making me bend down uncomfortably. "...is my sweet daughter-in-law's wedding."

Cleo smiled and Jess nodded and we continued getting ready. The process admittedly was strenuous and five hours later, I was tired. If I closed my eyes, I could pass out and miss the entire wedding.

"Okay, last touch," Cleo said as she set a black veil over my head. I was almost shaking with nerves as I stood up and walked to the mirror.

"Woah," I said as I saw my reflection.

"You better not cry and mess up your makeup," Genesis said. I turned back to the three wearing their bridesmaids' dresses and I fanned myself to stop from crying.

"I can't wait until this baby is out because this is not it," I said with a laugh. "You guys look amazing."

"YOU look amazing," Cleo retorted. I had to admit that I looked pretty decent. The black dress I chose after Cleo's alteration fit perfectly and my favorite part of it was the black lace train.

Gen's phone rang and she picked it up. "Already?...okay...alright...oh shit. Give us like five minutes and we'll be there."

"Well?" Cleo asked.

Gen grimaced and looked back at me. "I guess we lost track of time. Everyone is ready to start and Syn is kind of freaking out at the aisle because he doesn't know if you'll show."

"Oh, then let's go?" I asked. I seemed collected but my heart was thundering in my chest.

"Yes, but a warning. Don't be overwhelmed by the decorations. Caspian told me Julius went a bit overboard," Cleo said.

"Also, there's a lot of powerful people from the realms," Jess said quickly.

My mouth dropped and Genesis took my hand. "Hey, no need to be scared. Just go and all that matters is Syn and you, okay?"

The room door opened once again and my brother walked in. "Ready?" He asked.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I said in a shaky voice.

"You better not sound like that when you're saying your vows," Cain teased as he walked toward me.

My heart stopped and I looked around in fear. "We're doing vows?"

"Umm, yeah," Cleo said slowly.

"Shit," I said. "Someone told me we weren't."

"Oh, damn," Jess muttered.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Just speak from the heart, I'm sure Syn won't care," Genesis assured me.

I was feeling jittery and more nervous than ever now. If I fucked up it wouldn't be in front of just Syn, it would be in front of all our friends and family. Not to mention the most influential people in Jeradua that I would soon be Queen to. This wasn't just a wedding, it was an introduction as well.

"You'll be okay," Cain said as he took my hand. I nodded and we all walked out of the room. It was a silent but long walk and as we got closer, my heart somehow beat faster. A mile a minute was a minimization.

We arrived at the large double doors of the palace and I heard the Wedding March song from the other side. Cleo, Jess, and Gen were all holding their flowers and I waved at James who was standing a few feet away and holding the rings with Ethan. They smiled up at me in return and I felt a bit calmer.

Lucifer, Xavier, and Caspian were all wearing suits and I looked around for Syn. "He's already at the end of the aisle," Lucifer answered as if he knew what I was looking for. "You look beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you," I said.

"Bridesmaids partner up with your groomsmen," Julius said as he held a notepad in his hands. He looked dorky but he seemed like he was in his element.

Jess looked for who to choose and Cleo waited calmly to most likely tell her off if she were to choose Xavier or Cas.
"You're taking too long," Julius said. "I'll choose. Lucifer and Genesis, you're first. Cleo and Caspian next. Then Xavier and Jess. Line up!" They all did as he commanded quickly and Julius came to my side. "They'll be walking in first and you'll go with Cain when I give the signal."

"Okay," I answered nervously. He walked away and Cain and I moved to the side as the large doors opened.

"Go!" Julius ordered and Genesis gave me a thumbs up before walking in with Lucifer on her arm.

A few moments later Julius pointed to Cleo and Caspian. "Go!"

They did as he said and as before, with the same fifty-second interval, he pointed to Jess and Xavier. "Go!"

As soon as they left Julius turned to me. "You two get ready."

Cain turned to me and smiled. "Relax." I nodded and he raised my veil above my face. He took a bouquet of black and red roses from the servants nearby and laid it in my hands. There was no more fast heartbeat anymore, it was gone. I couldn't even pay attention long enough to listen to it. Cain locked his arm with mine and my eyes connected with Julius's.

"Go!"