"Zeidan!" Luana yelled, as she grabbed the bed sheets and yanked them off the bed. She was turning despite how much she tried to avoid it. 

"This can't be possible."

"What can't be possible?" Lyne's voice reached her and coming out of the washroom with just a towel wrapped around her body, Zeidan couldn't help but think Lyne looked sexy in the white towel as he stared at her from behind the door. Her golden hair looked slick and wet. He had just made love with his woman and that was the only thing that filled his mind. But seeing Luana barge in was just like a spear thrown into a cherry cake. He rolled his eyes.

"I...I thought..." Luana stuttered as she looked at her. 

He sighed as he now saw the reasons behind his disinterest in Luana the first day they had met in his office, how he had kept postponing the day he'll make her the Queen which he was thankful he didn't do, and how he can never defend her the way he would do for Lyne if she was accused of something. 

"You thought of what?" It was Lyne. Was it just him or did she suddenly sound courageous?

"None of your business." Luana moved to cross around her to get to the washroom but she stretched her arms to block her from passing.

"Were you ever taught in simple etiquettes to respect people's privacy? Couples' privacy?"

He glanced at Lyne and his heart swelled with pride. Did she just refer to them as a couple?

Luana scoffed and she looked like she was lost for words.

"Right. Well, it doesn't apply to me. I'm his Queen, so..."

"Says who?" Lyne laughed softly and clicked her tongue, obviously enjoying this. "Oh, I forgot, she made the rules herself and thought that the whole population of Vampire city was going to agree with her in her dream. Lest you forget, Luana, I am the wife to the King and I have every right to talk about being the Queen and not the other way round."

Zeidan cleared his throat and decided to walk in on them but part of him yearned to watch this to the end. 

"Every right? What is this? A joke? Zeidan found me first."

"Like you were a what? A toy? When he saw you, he didn't see that click. What he saw was a struggle for perfectness.  He saw how you tried to look flawless and trust me that isn't the beauty of being a Queen. Might I suggest that you get a pen and a piece of paper because this girl right here is going to teach you what it's like to be Queen. Why?" She walked over to the bedside drawer and picked a jar of body oil which she squirted on her palm and began to rub on her shoulder.

"Because I am a freaking royalty and I know what it's like to have blue blood running in my veins." She placed her legs on a chaise across the room and began to rub the oil on one leg.

"I see when you practically lived your whole life like a slave. You expect me to take lectures from you."

"Nah ah. I didn't. But I'll go on anyway. Being a Queen doesn't require going about power thirsty and looking for whom to devour like the devil, it has to do with humanity coming first which I doubt you even know about. I mean, you recruited kids into the army, what else can you not do?"

"You bastard!"

"I'm not finished." She swung her legs off the chaise and rose to her feet, her movements at once gracious and measured. Zeidan swallowed from behind the washroom door where he stood watching them.

"Being a Queen, you don't have to announce it yourself. It speaks for itself. Let me guess, you've had someone at least tell you, you can never be made Queen. That I'm sure of." At her last sentence, Luana charged at her and grabbed her hair pushing her to the bed. Zeidan couldn't take this. Enough of her bullying.

"Luana, stop it!" He yelled as he got out of the washroom. His eyes slid over to the broken door and back to Lyne's body lying on the bed, laughing so hard. "What's so funny, Lyne? She was hurting you."

"You think so? She attacked me because she was hurting. Didn't you see that?"

Zeidan fought the urge to laugh with her, so he shook his head and turned towards Luana, his gaze hardening. 

"I am sorry if I led you on for a long time and made you believe, perhaps, you belong in my life. Well, you do belong in my life because you helped me realize a lot about myself and I am grateful for that but if I'm being honest right now, I don't want you regretting in the future so before you go too deep into this relationship, I'd suggest you go back."

Her eyes were glassy and red. It was obvious she was hurting and she looked like she couldn't believe her eyes. She ran close to him and placed both of her hands on his chest, smiling wryly and trying to search into his eyes with her teary ones.

"You're not serious about this, right?" She probed, her face hopeful and he wished he didn't have to shatter her heart but he does have to as he looked past her head and saw Lyne looking at him from where she lay. 

"Yes. I am serious."

"But I love you."

"I do love you too..."

"Then, let's do this together." Her voice was shaky and for the first time, she was allowing tears to roll down her eyes. "Please."

"I'm sorry but I love you as I would do a friend. I'm in love with Lyne."

Her face turned from being hopeful to disappointed to rage. Her lips were trembling and going into her head, he could see she was wondering how that was possible when she decided the plan to marry Lyne. 

"This wasn't the plan." She whispered. "We planned to marry her because..."

"Because of nothing!"

"Because she was fucking irrelevant. And we thought she was better to use as a bait through the negotiations."

He sucked in a sharp breath as he looked at Lyne's eyes. She straightened from the bed and at that point, he knew he had just broken her. He thought of what to say but words failed him. Lyne rose from the bed and opened the rack of clothes, she grabbed a blue dress, threw it over her head, and wore her shoes. He could only stand there to watch her. Watch this woman walk away from his life and lose a huge part of his life. Or he could mend things now and stop running from his problems. 

As she made to walk past him, he grabbed her arm.

"Yes, that was what we planned initially. However, meeting her was the best moment of my life. I haven't even known she was the rejected Princess Lyne before falling in love with her. I fell in love the moment I saw her in the forest and I didn't even know her name or where she is from. That should explain it I guess. But as for your information, Luana, she isn't a fucking rejected Princess."

He squeezed her arms gently and stared directly into Luana's brown eyes while Lyne looked up at him.

"She is a fucking Queen."