Syn

My jaw clenched as I skimmed over the contract Queen sent over and I ran a hand through my hair in irritation. We hadn't spoken in a week and our first contact is through some contract she sends? What the fuck.

After her lie in the interview, I expected to hear from her about getting back together. But I didn't think it would be like this at all. Or at least, I didn't hope it would be this way.

The contract was three pages long, but my focus remained strictly on the rules portion. I read them each over and other and my head began to spin wildly. How the hell was I supposed to abide by these when they were things I wanted to do every time I saw her.

I slumped into the chair and loosened my tie before grabbing the package of cigarettes nearby. I absentmindedly took one out as I stared at the wall in the room and I by memorized muscle movement, lit the cigarette and placed it between my lips.

I could almost see the list of rules in my mind as I looked at the blank space, and my chest caved in once again.

1. As we are entering into a business arrangement, there will be rules that both parties must abide by for the sake of symbiosis within the palace and Underworld.

A. Living Arrangements
1. I (Queen SinClaire), will be moving into the left upstairs wing of the palace. You may stay in the room you've moved into and do with my old bedroom as you see fit.
a. You are not to come into my room without proper notification via Email or third party. Emergencies are the only exception to this rule.

B. Public Relations
1. As the purpose of this is to maintain our public image as a couple, this will be the ONLY physical contact permitted. All dates shall be done in a public light; we are to never be alone.
a. Types of physical contact allowed in public: brief hand-holding, hugging, kisses on the cheek, pecks on the lips, and other light PDA.
Not Allowed: Groping, french kissing, and any other immensely intimate gestures of affection.
2. No romantically seeing other women whether it be in public or private. We have an image to uphold, public embarrassment will not be endured.

C. Sexual Relations
1. We are not to engage in any sort of sexual relations. We are to "be strangers" within the palace. Meaning: no touching, kissing, sex, speaking (unless...refer to part A, dependent clause a.).

*Refusal to abide by aforementioned rules will result in immediate termination of contract and exposition of the break up to the public.*

There's no fucking way I'm doing this.

I took a long drag of the cigarette and closed my eyes as I thought about this. I didn't have many options are I thought about my situation. If I didn't sign, then...failure to sign will keep me from returning to the palace. Me signing this would be the only circumstance in which she'd come home. But if I did sign it, I'd lose her as well.

The decision now solely relied on how I wanted to be separated from her. Did I want to be apart from her WITHIN my home? Or did I want her to stay where she was?

As I thought about what decision to make, I recalled the moments from this past week where I would be nonstop thinking about her. Moments where I just wanted to see her...not even talk at all, but just to lay my eyes on her and know that she was okay.

I couldn't do that if she stayed gone, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to survive another week of agonizing questions, let alone any longer than that.

I wasn't truly satisfied with any of the options, but I didn't have an alternative. She hadn't given me any. I'd offer them, but I figured it wasn't my place after everything I had done.

Finally making my decision, I sighed and sat back up. I glided my fingers along the touchpad to turn the computer on and when the contract flashed back at me once again, I shook my head. I'd never seen Queen more serious about anything.

I typed up a response to her contract instead of signing it and sat back in mild curiosity as to what she would say. My goal wasn't to win this competition. I couldn't care less if we lost and we didn't get the opportunity to take Jeradua and Eden.

It all seemed too insignificant to the one thing that truly mattered. I could live without more power, or subjects...what I couldn't live without was...

Queen

I watched the cartoon in boredom as Saint fell asleep beside me. I wasn't a big fan of shows like this one, but my nervousness kept me latched onto this channel. I sent Syn the email almost an hour ago, but it felt like I had done it minutes ago.

He's probably asleep, relax.

I hesitantly took my logical advice and sighed as I laid on the bed comfortably. I closed my eyes but was kept up with the many different scenarios that could take place after Syn emailed me back.

The possibilities were endless, but the few that were in my mind kept going in loops. Maybe he'd never respond since he's mad at me. That would not only break my heart, but we'd lose. Another possibility was that he'd sign it and have no qualms about it. Although I wanted him to be in agreeance with my terms, it would hurt if he had absolutely NO issues with them.

I let myself relax into the bed, but like some alarm that always rang when I was comfortable...my phone vibrated. My eyes shot open in the dark room only illuminated by the light from the television and I slowly got up, being careful not to wake Saint.

I picked up my phone and squinted at the bright light, but let my eyes widen as I saw an email from Syn. I could see his email and the subject, but nothing else unless I clicked on it.

▁▁

𝟏𝟐:𝟎𝟑 𝐚.𝐦.

𝐒.𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞@𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐖𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦
𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦: 𝐒𝐲𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞
𝐓𝐨: 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞
𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭: 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 & 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬...

▁▁

My nervousness seemed to heighten not only at the mysterious email but the three dots that followed the subject. What did that mean?...Just Open it.

I nodded rapidly and opened his email before I could back out. His email quickly loaded and as my eyes skimmed over the words, my brows furrowed.

▁▁

𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭.

𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭. 𝐀𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐧.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐭, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭. 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 (𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞).

       𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.

𝐏.𝐒. 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞, 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.

▁▁

"Damn, you're smooth," I whispered as I shut my phone off and laid back. I stared at the ceiling to think of a reply and came up with nothing. I knew I'd see him at some point, but I didn't expect it to be anytime soon. I was nowhere near ready.

His words in the email did nothing to make me feel like he'd make this process easy for me. I should've known that he'd resist it, but I thought he'd still be upset at me. Instead, he was apologizing. Did he know that I wasn't cheating? If so, how?

Perhaps someone told him...but I had no idea. Regardless of how he found out, his determination was clear to sense in his message. If I were to go through with this, I was sure he'd actively pursue me. I hoped he'd give me space if I asked him, but I wasn't sure if anything when it came to Syn.

The only question now, was if I was willing to take the gamble on us. If I went to dinner, he could woo me into letting down my guard...but if I didn't go, I wouldn't be able to see him, we'd lose the competition, AND I'd have to tell the world the truth.

With all the odds stacked against me, it was pretty fucking obvious which choice I decided to make.

꧁꧂

Author's Note

I'm pretty sure we all know what she decided👀...
Lmk your thoughts ✨