My eyes opened in the dark room, and I yawned as I looked over to the clock beside the bed to read a red flashing 10:23. I removed myself gently from Queen so as to not wake her up and walked to the light switch.

As my eyes adjusted to the room I took in the sight of our clothes lying all over the floor-a trail leading from the restroom as we got dressed just to take it all off again. I looked at the messy bed that Queen was laying on, feathers from the pillows all over the black sheets and my comforter was halfway across the room. Everything was a mess.

All because of her.

She single-handedly whether intentionally or unintentionally, broke every single one of my rules that brought me a semblance of control in my fucked up life...

Yet, for some reason, I was okay. Of course, I still had the urge to clean up every mess we made, but there was no anger behind it. With each item of clothing, I picked up, a memory of how it ended up on the floor passed through my mind.

After I finished picking up our clothes and putting them away I walked to the restroom and winced at the bright light. I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes as I walked in. I halted in my steps when I saw purple marks all over my neck. I had been so caught up and infatuated with her that I didn't notice she was marking me just as I had her.

This was the first time in my existence that I had ever received these types of bruises from someone. Sure, I got bruises from fights or from inflicted pain, but never from passion. I was mesmerized by it, but also hesitant. Queen was crossing a bunch of boundaries I had set up for myself. Granted she knew nothing about them, but nonetheless, she was doing so.

I tore my eyes away from the mirror and took the hottest shower possible. I didn't know how I let Queen get so close to me, but I needed to decide once and for all what I would do with her.

Thirty minutes later, I was out of the shower and completely dressed as I sat down at the edge of the bed watching a cartoon on the TV. I occasionally glanced over at Queen to make sure she was still sleeping and adjusted the volume.

My eyes landed on the gift Sebastian had given her that was now on the table and I leaned forward to pick it up. I contemplated getting rid of it. I mean, if diamonds were what she wanted I would get them for her, but I just decided to put them back into the bag.

I searched around the room for the gift bag and found it at the side of the bed near my leg. I swiftly picked up the bag in one motion and heard the rustling of another item in the bag.

My curiosity piqued and I pulled out the small item. I eyed the small black jewelry box and clenched my jaw. Surely it couldn't be what I was thinking.

I opened the box and exposed to me was a large diamond ring, and I ran a hand through my hair. My chest caved in as I thought about why Sebastian would've given it to her if he hadn't asked her to marry him.

She had to have known. And if she did...

My Princess was an amazing liar.

I was woken out of my sleep by the slamming of drawers in the room and my head shot up to look for the source. I saw Syn rushing around the room with a stack of clothes in one hand and a broom in the other.

"What are you doing?" I groaned in a tired voice.

"Cleaning," he said simply. I couldn't figure out his tone in my groggy state, but it was eerily different than usual. "since you like to leave shit everywhere."

I furrowed my brows at his words and sat up as I glanced at the clock beside the bed.

Why is he cleaning at 5 a.m.?

I looked around the room and saw a multitude of cleaning supplies lying on the table. The smell of bleach and cleaning chemicals filled my nostrils and I cringed. There was no speck of dirt in the room and I wondered how long he had been up cleaning.

I looked over at Syn who was now preoccupied with wiping the glass balcony doors that were already shining with cleanliness.

I stood up from the bed slowly and wrapped the sheet around myself as I took steps toward him.

"Syn," I called out , but he didn't answer. If anything his already vigorous wipes became more frantic. I took a few more steps toward him and laid a hand on his back, but he recoiled from my touch.

"Don't fucking touch me!" He hissed. I was taken aback by his harshness and stepped away from him. Satisfied with our distance, he returned to his cleaning and completely ignored me. I thought whatever issues we had earlier had been addressed, but I guess they weren't. I mean after our hours of love-making he sure didn't seem like he was holding any grudges.

I took a step toward him again, but ultimately decided against it and walked to the bathroom to clean myself up. I took a quick shower and dried myself and when I exited the bathroom Syn was busy cleaning another part of the room.

I quickly rushed to the closet to avoid him and slipped into one of his t-shirts. When I walked back out, not to my surprise, he was still cleaning. I sighed as I sat down on the bed and just watched him. "How long have you been up?"

He glanced at me and rolled his eyes as he commenced his chore. "I didn't sleep."

"Can we talk?" I knew he heard me because he momentarily stopped moving, but he ignored me once again. I called him a few more times, but he still gave me the silent treatment. I didn't know why he was upset with me but it was beginning to piss me off. Seeing as I needed to get his attention, I did it in the only way I knew how right now.

I walked over to the table and picked up an empty glass and eyed it for a moment. A second later I threw it against the marble floor in the room and his eyes snapped to me. "You missed a spot," I said as I pointed to the mess I had made.

He glared at me, his eyes flashing red as his jaw clenched. I needed to get a reaction out of him, and I'd do it this way if I needed to. His being angry at me was much better than him just flat-out ignoring my existence.

I looked around the spotless room for another item that I could use to make a mess and my eyes landed on the flower pot I had bought a few days ago to liven up the room. I walked over to it, picked it up, and took a deep breath as I shattered it on the floor. The floor in front of me was now covered in dirt and glass-all traces of Syn's cleaning on the floor were now erased.

I looked up to find Syn a few feet away from me and staring down at the mess I made.

"You should really learn to clean better. You're missing a lot," I teased as I stepped towards the bed. Before I could move my feet to walk Syn grabbed me and pushed me against the wall.

"Are you fucking stupid?! You almost stepped on glass."

I looked back to where I was standing and he was right. If I took another step in the direction that I wanted to, an entire piece of jagged glass would be in my foot. "Thank you." I said softly, crossing my arms.

"Just-....stay away from me," he whispered, moving away from me and grabbing the broom to clean up the mess I had created. Guilt begs to eat at me and I sighed, crouching down to his level to help him clean.

"Queen, go away." I ignored his order and carefully picked up the large shards of glass. Within a few seconds, I winced sharply as a piece of glass pierced my fingers. "Why don't you ever listen to me?" He snapped as he grabbed my finger and gently sucked the tiny amount of blood coming out. He then bit the tip of his finger and rubbed his blood over my wound, making it disappear.

"I'm sorry," I said softly, laying my hand on my head and not knowing what to do. He glanced up at me but remained quiet as he continued picking up the glass. I stood up from the floor and walked over to the bed, sighing as I realized he wouldn't tell me what was wrong.

My eyes drifted to a familiar object on the table in the room and I walked toward it. I picked up the open jewelry box containing the engagement ring from Felix. Felix took it with him though, so why was it here?

"Where did you get this?" I asked as I held the box up.

He scoffed and shook his head at me. "Don't act surprised. Your boyfriend left it in the box with your diamonds."

He thought that this was from Sebastian?

"Syn. I need to tell you something." I said quietly.

"I bet you do."

"The ring isn't from Sebastian. It's from Felix. He tried to propose to me yesterday after you left to go see your father." I admitted.

His movements stopped as he looked up at me. "I left at almost eleven, Queen. He came to you that late?" I closed my eyes and nodded with a grimace and I realized how bad this sounded. To him, it probably looked like I was having some sort of relationship with his brother.

He scoffed and shook his head at me in disappointment. "You just continue keeping things from me."

"You would have tried to kill him if you knew."

"And if I did, that'd be my prerogative," he said as he stood up.

"I said no and I slapped him if that makes you feel better?" I ranted desperately. I didn't want to get into another argument with him.

"Why did you slap him?"

"He was just...pushy and drunk. He was moving to kiss me and I slapped him." I shivered as I recalled last night.

"What did he offer you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Felix doesn't do things out of kindness. He would've manipulated you into saying yes. So what did he say?"

I thought back to our conversation and remembered his promises. "He said that he and I needed to protect each other's hearts in case you and Xyla fell in love. When that didn't work he began bringing up Eden's money problems and my family."

Syn took a deep breath before he looked at me again. "Swear to me that you don't have feelings for Felix or Sebastian."

"I swear."

"Okay." He walked towards me. "I've said this before, but I'll say it again if it didn't sink in for whatever reason...I don't want Xyla, at all. I want you." He cupped my cheeks. "As for Eden's financial issues, I'll take care of it."

"No, Syn-"

"You can't stop me." He kissed the top of my forehead. "If anything I'll say that I'm helping the kingdom I'm about to rule."

I sighed. "Okay."

"You can't be upset at me if I decide to kill Felix, though." I glared at him and he shook his head, silencing me. "Whether I kill him or not is up to me, Queen. Our issues run deeper than you'll ever know."

At his words, I decided to step back. Whatever I said wouldn't change his mind, and I wouldn't get involved in his family feud. It was none of my business.

A yawn that I didn't know I was holding in escaped my mouth and I rubbed my eyes. "Tired, are we?" He asked as he rubbed my back. I nodded in response and he grabbed my hand, leading me into the bed. As soon as I laid down on the bed a wave of tiredness washed over me. I felt Syn pull the blanket over me and a moment later, like always, he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his body.

"Goodnight, Princess."