Queen

I danced with Cleo to the music in the kitchen and distracted my mind from thinking about Syn. Last night was a low point for me but I couldn't think of anything other than him cheating.

"Girl!" Cleo yelled through the music as she continued thrashing her head back and forth. "You got a notification."

I laughed at her movements and picked up my phone from the table. I hummed to the music as I looked at the message from Cain.

BigBro: Milk makes you fat. I love you.

I groaned as I set my phone back down and turned to Cleo. "He's not bringing it. He says it makes us fat."

"That asshole," Cleo groaned.

"That's YOUR best friend," I said with a laugh.

"Nope, that's YOUR brother," she argued back. "Do you have work today?"

"I do," I groaned. "But thankfully it's only for a few hours today."

"No," she whined. "I'm going to be so bored."

"You can hang out with..." I looked for who was still in the palace and shrugged. "Bezy...or Syn."

"And I'll pass," she said cheerfully. "I think I'll go visit Dimitri."

"Okay," I said. "Tell him I'll see him a bit later."

"Will do," she sang.

I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and hurried to a wall nearby before Syn could come. When I was done, he walked into the kitchen tiredly and my eyes widened. He smiled as our eyes connected and I rushed into the portal. When I stepped into my office, I turned to face it and anxiously looked at it.

"Please close, bitch!" I begged. "Please, please, plea—ohhhh I love you," I cheered as the portal disappeared and there was no sign of Syn anywhere.

I set my purse down onto the chair and sat down as I looked at my calendar for today. Strangely enough, it was all cleared and I stood up from my desk in confusion. I walked to the receptionist area where Mia was sitting with her head in her arms and I raised a brow.

I walked towards her and knocked on her marble work area and she sat up. "You good?"

"I'm okay," she said. "What's up?"

"Why is my day cleared?" I asked.

"Someone booked a meeting with you for the entire day, so I had to move all your other meetings around."

"Who?" I asked.

"I don't know, whoever it is was super important. They had one of those golden designs when they emailed me."

"Weird," I said. Only Kings and Queens had that for the most part. "What did they say?"

"They just said it's urgent that they speak to you and told me to clear your whole day."

"Did they same what time they were coming?" I asked.

"Nope."

"That's fucking rude," I said in annoyance. "I have shit to do."

"I know right? They're inconsiderate but it looks like we'll just have to wait around."

I nodded and looked at Mia's puffy eyes as if she'd been crying and I pulled up a chair next to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she whispered.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly. "You can talk to me, Mia."

She sighed and nodded before wiping her eyes and I prepared myself to listen to her. "Cain beat up my boyfriend today."

"What the hell? Is Jackson okay?" I asked worriedly.

"He's fine but I'm worried about Cain," she whispered. "How fucked up is that?"

"It's a little fucked up," I admitted to her with a smile. "But why are you worried about him?"

"I was pissed when I found out what he did and I called him and yelled at him. I even told him I hated him," she cried.

I passed her a few tissues and she wiped her eyes. "What did he say?"

I hung up on him before he could say anything," she said. "He was quiet while I was yelling and he's never like that so-...I think I really hurt him."

"I'm sure he's okay," I assured her. "He may be a little sad but you know how Cain is, he bounces back."

"Yeah," she whispered. "You're right. I'll apologize when I see him."

"Mia," I started. "You know you need to make a decision, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I love you, but I feel like you're leading my brother on, in a way," I admitted. "You know he's crazy about you and I can tell you feel something for him, but you deny it."

"I've told him multiple times," she said lowly.

"I know, but you haven't shown him," I said. "If you want to be with Cain then great, but if you don't, you need to stop giving him hope."

She nodded at my words and I sighed as guilt began to eat me up. "I'm only saying this because I watched for years as he's tried to win you over. He deserves to move on if you're set on another man, and you deserve to love someone freely if it's not him."

"And if it is him?" She whispered. "What do I do then?"

"You tell him before it's too late," I said with a smile.

"What if he breaks my heart?" She whispered. I sat up and sighed as she turned to me. "Who's to say that I give in after all this time, and he just hurts me and leaves."

"I'm going to talk about Syn, okay?" I asked. She nodded and I smiled. She was a lot better and I no longer needed permission to bring him up but I always asked.

"When I met Syn, he was what everyone warned me to stay away from. He was an asshole, he was scary, he was a bunch of things but I couldn't stay away from him. Anyways, for me, the safe option was Sebastian, as I think the safe option for you is Jackson.

Unlike you though, I said fuck it and gave in to Syn. Thank fuck I did because you see the situation we're in now. In life, you can't make decisions because you're afraid of the outcome. Sometimes, as crazy as I sound, getting hurt is worth it. Even if Syn ended up breaking my heart, I wouldn't have regretted it."

She smiled at my words and I looked at her intently. "Can you honestly say that if you married Jackson you wouldn't regret it?"

She shook her head and I raised my brow as her answer was right in front of her. "Then don't marry him."

"Maybe you're right," she said.

"There's no maybe, girl. I'm always right." She laughed and I shook my head at my own words. "Point is, follow your heart. Even if the road seems dangerous. You're immortal anyway."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're absolutely welcome," I said as I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you girl."

"I love you too," she whispered.

The elevator door dinged open and I shot Mia an agitated look that she laughed at as I stood up to welcome our arrogant guest.

"Hi, welco—...Xyla," I said in disgust as she walked into the office. She grinned at me as she strode in and I rolled my eyes. "What the fuck do you want?"

"I can't say hi to my poor sister that almost died?" She pouted as she reached out to touch me. I smacked her hands away and she laughed.

Her eyes moved behind me and her confidence faltered. My eyes followed her vision to Mia who was sinking into her seat and I looked back to Xyla.

"Leave her alone, why are you here?"

"Hmm," she said as she turned away from Mia and looked at me. "I need to talk to you privately."

"We can talk here," I said.

"Fine. Are you participating in the Queenz competition this year?" She asked. She always managed to ask me this question annually and I always said no. I didn't know why she thought this time would be any different.

The Queenz competition was an annual competition between the Queens of all realms. To win you needed, beauty, brains, talent, personality, and public support.

It wasn't a surprise that Gen always won when she was Queen but I was shocked when Xyla won for the last three years. She must've somehow snuffed out the competition because she has exactly...none of those.

"I tell you no every year," I said dryly.

"I'm just making sure," she said. "I understand how intimidating it may seem for a girl like you to compete against me though." She laughed and I nodded in boredom.

Her words didn't faze me as they did all those years ago because I knew one day I'd have everything she treasured. Especially her dear realms.

Right," I said slowly.

"Anywho," she said as she clapped her hands together. "That's all. Have a blessed day."

She turned around to leave and I resisted the urge to pull out her hair extensions and stuff them down her throat.

"Actually!" Mia spoke as she stood up from her seat. "Queen is participating."

Xyla quickly turned back around and glared at Mia. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Queen will be participating and she'll end your winning streak," Mia said confidently as she walked next to me.

"I will?" I asked in confusion.

"Do it for me," she whispered into my ear. I nodded slowly as she pulled away and then turned to Xyla.

"What she said," I said as I raised my chin like she was garbage.

"No, no, you said you weren't!" Xyla snapped.

"I changed my mind," I shrugged.

"You fucking bitch," she growled as she walked towards me.

Mia stood in front of me to stop Xyla from being able to lay a hand on me. Although I could protect myself, the gesture was sweet.

"I'll beat your ass if you touch her," Mia warned.

"What she said," I backed Mia up as I stood on my tippy toes and looked over her shoulder.

"Queen is competing."

"Tuhh," I added.

"And she's going to win."

"And I am," I commented.

"You're going to be miserable when they take your trophies and give them to her," Mia said with a wince.

"Hehehehehe," I laughed in a small gremlin noise from behind her. There was nothing I could say but I wanted to add some sort of noise to make sure Mia knew I had her back.

"She's not winning shit," Xyla said. "Beauty is a qualification. You said yourself in the past that she was ugly Mia."

"I-" I said as I looked up at Mia.

She shot me an apologetic look and shook her head. "It was when I didn't like you and I was jealous."

"Aw okay girl, I said some shit too it's okay," I said.

"What did you say?" She asked lowly.

"That's not important," I dismissed.

"This fake love doesn't change the fact that you're unattractive," Xyla said.

"Oh gurllllll," I dragged as I stepped from behind Mia. "Call me what you want but don't lie to yourself. I think you're intimidated."

"Why would I be intimidated?"

"I mean, I'm always number one in Supernatural Daily's Top 100 beautiful women. What were you? Like twenty-something?"

Mia snickered from beside me and I contained my laugh as I looked at Xyla's angry features. "If you weren't intimidated, you wouldn't come here every year and ask if I'm competing. You know for a fact that if I did, I'd win," I added with a nonchalant shrug.

"Queen," she said as she stepped toward me. "I'll kill you before you take what's mine again."

"Do it," I said as stepped toward me with my arms crossed. She looked at me momentarily before flipping on her heels and slapping me in the face with her platinum hair as she walked away.

"Bitch," I said as I lunged at her but Mia wrapped her arms around me and held me back.

"She's not worth it girl," Mia said. "Relax." She pet my head and I squinted my eyes as I watched Xyla leave the office.

"I'm going to win this shit and laugh in her face, Mia. I swear."

"That's the spirit," she laughed as she let me go.

I took deep breaths as I walked into my office completely blinded by rage. I sunk into my chair and picked up my phone to see five missed calls from an unknown number. I called it back but a voicemail to a hospital came on the phone and I frowned. What's going on?

My answer was revived when Mia burst through the doors with tears streaming down her face. "Cain got into a car accident."

What?!

꧁꧂

Author's Note
Pain💔

Now let's talk about Xyla before we get to the depressing shiz...I know y'all love her for some reason🙄 but she's garbage. I hope Queen wins this bullshit.

Cain, those were ur last moments...wtf was that text?
Anyways, I guess Queen's "before it's too late" is really hitting Mia right now.
How will everyone react? Do you think Cain made it?
Lmk your thoughts ✨