I spent the next day slowly moving my things into Syn's room. I thought that it would've been more awkward sharing a room with him, but it wasn't at all. The only issue we had seemed to run into was his extreme need to clean things up every five seconds. He'd have an entire heart attack whenever I left something somewhere it didn't go.

The only compromise he seemed to give me when it involved messing with his space was a plant that was now resting on the dresser in the room.

I walked into his large bathroom, admiring it before getting in to shower. He had a grey marble large walk-in shower, big enough to fit at least ten people, and a huge bathtub right next to it. I was so entranced as I looked around that I didn't notice Syn walk in. I jumped when I caught his eye through the mirror. He was leaning against the bathroom doorframe, just watching me.

"That's scary, you know? Announce yourself," I muttered. I was slightly irritated at him this morning. He offered me to stay in his room so that I wouldn't be alone, yet he left me completely alone all night.

"I'm sorry," he said as he walked toward me. I crossed my arms and turned away from him.

"For me, it's only been maybe fifteen minutes at most since I've seen you," he wrapped his strong arms around me and turned me to face him.

"How?"

"I was in Hell. I needed to speak to my father. Time works differently there. So I lost track of time."

I softened and nodded at him. "How is it down there?"
I had spent most of my life in Heaven, and I had been to Earth quite a few times but never Hell. My parents told me that it was off-limits and too dangerous.

"It's..." Syn looked up for a moment, then back down at me, "it's different. If you're into cities and nightlife, then Hell is the place for you."

"You prefer it there?" I asked.

"It's my home," he said softly. I nodded in understanding, giving him a small smile." I'll take you one day," he said.
His eyes seemed so sincere that I couldn't find it in my heart to tell him I was too scared to go. I just ended up replying with a small nod and hugging him.

After a few moments, I pulled away and stretched. "I need to shower so...shoo," I said as I moved him gently. He wasn't budging and remained looking at me. There was something in his eyes again that I couldn't explain. I wondered what he thought when he looked at me that way.

"Can I watch?" he asked.

My eyes widened, and my cheeks hurt as I tried to stop a smile from spreading. The thought of Syn watching me made me incredibly nervous, but it also intrigued me. My mind could never allow me to do it though. "Nope," I said as I crossed my arms.

He rolled his eyes and looked back at me. "Boring. Can I get a kiss?"

"No."

He tilted his head as he searched my eyes. "You say no to me a lot."

I pursed my lips and thought about it for a moment. "Do I?"

He nodded slowly and took a few steps away from me. "I wonder if you'll do the same with Sebastian." He turned to walk away from the restroom and left me flabbergasted. I regretted even mentioning that Sebastian was an ex of mine because he hadn't left it alone since.

"Wow, Syn," I said as I shook my head. I inhaled and took the hottest shower that I could handle. I knew Syn was already feeling someway about Sebastian, and I dreaded the lunch that was about to happen.

Thirty minutes later, I stepped out of the restroom with a towel around me and found Syn sitting on the edge of his bed on his phone.

He glanced up at me momentarily and returned to his phone. I had spent enough time with Syn to be able to tell when he was upset with me. But right now, he was being annoying. He knew I was single.

What else did he want from me?

I walked to Syn's closet where my clothes were now and searched for what to wear. I picked up white panties and a pink bra, but I paused when I remembered Syn's words about me being messy.

꧁꧂

Yesterday

Xavier reminded us early this morning that we still hadn't properly introduced James to anyone in the palace. He was living here, he had his own room and everything but we didn't realize that no one actually knew he was here until a shocked Jess stumbled upon him. Her reaction prompted us to get introductions out of the way before doing anything.

I held James's hand as we headed toward the dining room. Syn glanced back at us several times to make sure we were okay, and I gave him a small smile. We followed him and Xavier through the halls and when we finally reached the double doors, James stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" I frowned, looking down at him.

"Are they nice?" He asked, his worried eyes looking up at me.

I looked up at Syn for what to say and he crouched in front of James. "Remember I said I wouldn't let shit happen to you?"

"Language," Xavier interjected.

Syn rolled his eyes at him and focused on a nervous James. "Do you remember that?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"Then trust me, okay? You'll be fine." Syn stood up, heading into the room and I wasn't sure how much Syn's words impacted him until he walked into the room. He let go of my hand as he followed Syn and I crossed my arms, walking closely behind them. Syn stepped towards the table where everyone except for Xyla was seated and brought James forward. "This is James. He is a new member to the family and I will explain why later."

Xavier and I let out a small laugh at his introduction, but we completely stopped when his eyes snapped to us. I felt like a student being caught passing notes by their teacher and my cheeks became heated.

Gen stood up with Jess and went to Xavier. They introduced themselves and gave him a small hug and it didn't take long for him to warm up to them. Jess and Gen seemed to be the only people in the world who could instantly make anyone comfortable.

"You can leave him with us and guys can go pack. We will introduce him to Ethan," Gen said excitedly before looking down at James. "He's your age. I'm sure he'll be glad to finally have a friend here." Syn looked at James who gave him a smile and Syn nodded his head at his mother.

Gen clapped her hands together and she and Jess each took one of James' hands and led him out of the room.

"Where did you all go?" Julius said from the head of the table. He raised a brow and when no one answered, he raised a brow. "To get the child. Was it on that trip of yours with Xyla?"

Syn rolled his eyes at him and made his way towards me, putting his hand on the small of my back. "Answer me!" Julius yelled as we walked out of the room. I heard Felix's whispers, trying to console him as we left and once we were deeper into the hall, Syn groaned.

"I can't stand him."

"Is there a reason why?" I asked. He and Xavier gave each other a strange look and I looked between them in confusion. "What is it?"

"He's just annoying," Syn muttered.

Hmm.

We continued walking, Syn's touch always remaining on me somehow, and Xavier followed closely behind us. "I'm going to go to sleep," he said, making Syn and I turn to face him.

"It's only two'o clock," Syn replied. Xavier stared at him for a long moment and crossed his arms."What?"

"I'm waiting," Xavier said.

"For what?"

"Your point," he muttered and I let out a small giggle.

Syn's eyes landed on mine and he raised his brow. "You think he's funny?"

I opened my mouth to speak and I looked between the both of them. Xavier was grinning and waiting for my response while Syn was crossing his arms with his head tilted. There was only one right answer to this, but I had no idea what it was. I looked between the both of them one more time and turned to walk away.

I heard Xavier burst out into laughter from behind me and I shook my head.

After a few moments, I heard footsteps from behind me and felt arms wrap around my waist. A smile graced my lips as I felt the familiar hard body behind me.

"Let's go to your room and get your stuff," Syn said.

I frowned as I thought about going there. The last time I was there was when I was chased and found the note and my stomach churned as I thought about being in there.

I looked around the castle halls to see if anyone might be lurking in the shadows, but relaxed a bit when I saw nothing.

Syn noticed me tense and he let go of me. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing." I didn't notice how safe Syn's touch made me feel until he let go of me. I felt vulnerable now as I stood in my spot and wrapped my arms around myself to give myself some peace of mind.

"Stop lying to me." Syn said as he looked down at my arms.

I sighed and shook my head. I hated how transparent I was. "It makes me nervous to think about going back there," I muttered.

"You won't be alone. I'm not leaving your side," he said. I gave him a small smile and nodded at him. His words brought me the comfort I'd need to face whatever potential threat was to come.

We walked hand in hand to my room and thankfully I hadn't unpacked yet, so we just picked up the bags and began the long walk to his room.

For some odd reason, his room was furthest away than anyone else's and I took notice of it today more than all the other times I'd been there. When we got there my legs were threatening to collapse and I kicked off my shoes before throwing myself onto his bed.

Syn brought my bags into the room as I rested and I watched him with a smile on my face. He saw me staring at him and shook his head at me as he threw one of my bags onto the bed before disappearing into his closet.

After ten minutes of radio silence on his part, I sat up and called out for him. When he didn't answer, I walked into the closet. "Syn?"

He glanced at me and then returned to doing his task. "What?

I leaned against the doorframe and took in the scene in front of me. Syn was carrying a large stack of his clothes in his arms and rearranging the items in his large closet. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that he was making space for me and I walked toward him and gave him a tight hug.

"Queen please," he said as he stepped away from my grasp. "I need to focus."

I rolled my eyes and let go of him as he returned to moving things. "Syn I can live out of my suitcase while I'm here."

Syn stopped moving his stuff and his hand lowered back to the stack of clothes in his arms. He squinted his eyes at me and shook his head. "What do you mean 'while you are here'?"

"While I'm here...in Jeradua." I clarified slowly.

"You plan on leaving?"

I shrugged and looked away from his gaze. For some reason, I couldn't help but feel as though I had hurt him, and looking at him right now made me feel things I didn't want to. I had never planned on staying here. It was always just working then back home for me...

that was before him though...

"I don't know," I replied as honestly as I could.

He looked at me for a long moment and nodded swiftly as though he had made up his mind. "You're staying."

"Am I?" I teased.

"Yes," he said as he returned to rearranging his clothes. I smiled, and when he was finally done, he walked past me and headed to my suitcase on his bed.

"I can unpack, Syn," I said as he began unzipping my bag.

He glanced up at me and shook his head. "I need things a certain way and you seem messy."

My mouth dropped open at his words and I scoffed. He hadn't even known me long enough to know whether or not I was messy. To be completely honest I considered myself a very neat person.

"You don't even know me well enough to say that," I said as I pouted and crossed my arms.

He stopped going through my clothes and looked up at me. I saw the amusement glinting in his eyes and he cocked his brow at me in challenge."You think I don't?"

"You don't." I raised my head up at him and he nodded slowly. He pointed to the suitcase closest to me and I looked at it.

"Open the suitcase. If I know you as well as I think, then nothing in there is folded."

Well...he was right, but I refused to let him prove that. I looked for a way to counter it and looked at the suitcase in front of him and pointed at it. "You could've told that from the suitcase you just opened. It doesn't mean you know me, you're just observant."

"Fair enough." He shrugged.

I clapped my hands together and grinned. "I win."

"I'm not done." My smile dropped and I waited for him to continue. "When we first met, you were wearing mismatched socks."

I thought back to the day we met and shook my head. "No, I wasn't."

"You were. One was white with a cherry and the other was white with a banana."

My eyes bulged out of my head when I realized he was right. That day I was rummaging through my clothes and chose the closest colors I could find. "But that doesn't mean I'm messy...I just...I'm not messy." I said finally as I crossed my arms and stood up straight.

"It does. It tells me that you probably had to look for socks, meaning that your place was a mess," he said nonchalantly. "And as I am looking in your bag right now, there are no matching socks."

"Maybe I like wearing different socks, Syn." I countered as I flipped my hair over my shoulder.

"Okay, I'll give you another one."

Another one? My frown deepened at his words, but I listened intently.

"You don't wear matching undergarments."

I pointed my finger and shook my head at him. "You don't know that..." I trailed off as I thought about our encounter the other morning and my cheeks flamed. I tried to think back to what I was wearing that morning, but I only remembered black underwear.

"Lace black panties and a red bra," he quipped as if he were reading my thoughts.

"Maybe they went together in a set. They can be different colors."

"Nope. They had different tags," he said as he went back to unpacking my bag and folding the unfolded clothes.

I stared at him in awe and shook my head. How was he so observant? He had such a good memory and I barely remembered what I had for breakfast the other day.

"Want to know one more way I can tell?" He asked as he glanced back up at me.

I really didn't, but I was curious what else there could be. I nodded and he pointed behind me. I followed his finger and saw my shoes thrown across the entrance of his room floor and my jacket lying on his table.

I sighed as I went over to clean it up. "I'm not messy, I'm just lazy."

"This conversation had little to do with you being messy."  I crossed my arms and looked at him in confusion."I wanted to show you that I know you."

꧁꧂

I smiled at the memory as I searched through the previously neat drawer until I found matching undergarments. I slipped on the white underwear and bra set, and I heard Syn walk into the closet. His steps faltered as his eyes raked over my body, but he tore his eyes away from mine to look at the now admittedly messy drawer I had rummaged through.

I winced as he walked toward it, shaking his head. "I told you, you're messy," he muttered.

He began refolding and arranging the clothes back into the drawer, and I ignored his words.

I moved past him, walked to where my clothes were, and stared at them for a long time. I had no idea what I wanted to wear. I moved rows of clothes until my eyes landed on a ruche lavender mini-dress. I shrugged and decided I would go with that.

The strings on the dress were extremely thin and would make my bra visible, so I decided to remove them. I could feel Syn's eyes on me, and I smiled to myself but acted as though I didn't notice him looking.

I slipped the dress over my body, and it clung to my curves. I ran my hands down the fabric, looking at myself in the mirror, content with what I was wearing. I tied the strings at the sides of my dress into cute bows and turned back to Syn.

When he noticed me looking at him, he tore his eyes away from mine and shook his head.

"Is that what you're wearing?" he muttered.

I picked up a pair of heels from the floor and slipped one on. "You don't like it?"

"Not at all, but I'm sure Sebastian will."

I scoffed and walked toward him. I felt myself getting irritated, and I could no longer contain it. "I'll be sure to ask him." His jaw clenched as I moved to walk past him, but before I could go, he grabbed my arm roughly, bringing me close to him.

"Listen to me carefully, Queen. If you value his life at all, you will stay away from him," he threatened. My heartbeat quickened, and my breathing slowed. I wasn't scared of what he would do, though, I was more afraid of what I would do if his lips remained this close to mine.

My eyes dropped to his lips for a moment, and I looked back into his eyes. He was glaring at me, giving me a look that would've terrified me a few days ago, but it didn't faze me now. The only thing it did was mesmerize me.

"Syn," I said softly as I looked at him intently. I wanted the next words I said to him to be engraved into his memory. "You have nothing to be worried about with Sebastian."

He looked at me for a moment and let go of me. "You look pretty," he muttered as he left the closet.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. This man was going to be the death of me with all his mood swings. You would think someone with no emotions would be more stable.
I walked out of the closet to the room and saw him speaking to someone at the door.

"Mia. Go away," I heard Syn say in a low voice.

"I miss you, Syn," At those words, I decided to step further into the room, and my eyes met Mia's blue ones. Her calm eyes became filled with anger as she saw me.

"You're cheating on me with this bitch?!" she spat.

"Excuse you?" I interrupted as I walked toward her. "Who's the bitch, and who's cheating?" I asked in a stunned voice as I looked between Mia and Syn.

"No one is cheating," Syn muttered.

"Yes, you are cheating on me, Syn," Mia said as tears began falling down her face. "We've been together for years, and you're leaving me for this...human?" she spat in disgust.

She had to be telling the truth. No girl would make a fool out of themselves this way unless they were being honest. Mia seemed like she was telling the truth, but Syn had never lied to me before. He was one of the most honest people I had ever met.

But you don't really know him.

But I didn't know her either. They were both practically strangers, and I was in the middle of having to choose who to trust.

"Mia, we are not together. We have never been together, and we will never be. I've told you this on multiple occasions," Syn said sternly. His hands were in fists, and I could tell he was seconds away from blowing up completely.

"You're only saying that because she's in front of you," she said as a sob came out of her body. She wiped her tears and looked at me with tear-stained cheeks. "I was just in here a few nights ago with him. Ask him," she said assuredly as she nodded her head.

I felt weak as I turned to face Syn. I prepared to ask him the question, but I decided against it and looked back at Mia. "He and I aren't together, anyway. He can do whatever he wants."

With that said, I made my way back into the restroom to fix my hair and makeup. And hopefully, tune out whatever argument the happy couple was having.