The sky was growing darker, just like his head which kept going on about Lyne's outburst that afternoon. She had this strange aura around her that kind of scared him as well. It was frightening but intriguing.

As Zeidan sat on the bed in his chamber, he laid on his back remembering everything she had said and putting it back together. What did she mean when she said she saw their daughter in trouble? None of her dreams has ever gone by without coming to pass and he is sure this one will too. Lyne is not a kid and he is sure she knows exactly what she is talking about.

"Wow! So deep in thought, you didn't know when I came in." He heard Luana call just as she showed up above him.

He sat up on the edge of the bed with Luana sitting beside him. She looked and smelled fresh like she had just taken a shower and she was wearing a flimsy white tennis skirt and cropped white jacket that left her tummy bare and gave out the upper part of her cleavage. She let down her brown wavy hair curving her round face. She looked quite good but he had a lot on his mind to be admiring someone's sense of fashion. 

"Hey. I'm sorry. I was just..."

"It's okay." She cut him off, smiling broadly.

They both stared at each other and soon, he was frowning. He knew Luana was either cooking up some mischief or she had done something wrong or she was just trying to convince him to drop the charges against her.

"Look, Luana..."

He was stopped by her crushing red lips that sucked in his upper lips and bit at them softly. He was furious.

"Hey!" Zeidan pushed her away, feeling disgusted already.

"Are you this desperate?"

Her smiling face turned sour.

"Me? Desperate? Zeidan what is wrong with you?" Luana grabbed his face but he stood up immediately.

"Luana, in case you have forgotten, we are not in any way tied or committed to each other and I don't owe you anything." He could see the shock on her face and almost regretted his last words. "I mean, I am grateful for your commitment and faithfulness and loyalty to the Vampire city but, Luana, your father has done even better and he has never expected any favor from me or any other King. He was always so focused."

He could see her lips visibly shaking and he could tell she didn't expect this. But he was already happily married to the love of his life and no Jupiter or Luana can ever change that.

"How can you even say this?" Luana said softly, her face bearing all the pain.

"I'm sorry. When I first proposed to marry you, I didn't talk about attachment or commitment and if you were looking forward to that, maybe you should have led with that. Well, even if you had done that, I would never have forgiven myself because then I wouldn't have met Lyne..."

"I'm the reason why you married the girl!" She roared, tears lining her eyes.

"She wasn't supposed to be after your heart. Or be the Queen or whatever. She was supposed to still be in South Jungle, picking shrubs and manure or washing sheets for her brothers like the fuckin servant that she is..."

Before he could stop himself, Zeidan smacked Luana's face, stopping her from talking. He was glad he did. At least, it would stop her from badmouthing Lyne.

"Let me make this clear to you, Luana." He called her name with so much distaste. "I will not sit down and watch you maltreat my wife in that manner. We may have our differences now but I can assure you that we are nowhere near the rock." He threatened as he moved closer to her. 

Luana turned her head slowly to try and look into his eyes but she couldn't. Her eyes fell back to the ground. Zeidan was boiling inside already and he wished he could just end her but that would be cruel. She doesn't deserve to die. She was probably just feeling pushed.

"You should go back home." He blurted out and Luana shot him a deadly look, showing she wasn't ready to.

"I will not go back to that prison!" She yelled.

"Well, you are acting like this place is a prison too!" He yelled back. "And if you continue like this, Luana, no one will ever accept you. You want the whole world to center around you when you know it's not even possible. We all have our own life to live. Our own choices to make and as soon as our happiness is lying in the hands of someone, we are nothing but prisoners. I don't want you to feel used. I'll compensate you, I promise. But for now, you need to stay off the mansion."

He could hear her shaky breath but he turned to go back to the bed. 

"I did everything for you." He could feel the pain in her voice and she was right.

"I stood back when no one was here. Stood up for what was right. Found the littlest stuff that would bring back justice. Loved you with all my heart and didn't even mind if you had a little girl to warm your bed. I just wanted you to be happy."

"Luana," he turned. "I know I should..."

"I stayed up late, trying to figure out the kinda enemies we have in the city. Turns out, the King of the city doesn't even want me."

That was when he remembered. The Werecat she had told him about was arrested. 

"Hey. The Werecat."

"Yes."

"You need to take me to see him, now." He asked her but she was already turning.

"Take care of it yourself." She walked to the door but not so fast. Zeidan raised his chin.

"As your King, I command you to take me to the dungeon."

It worked and she turned looking up at him, her eyes swollen from crying.

"I'll take you to see him tomorrow." She said gently and he nodded.

"Fair enough."

The door creaked open and shut behind her as he heaved a sigh of relief and sat on the bed with only one person on his mind.

"Lyne."

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Chloe and Lyne finally walked out of the temple, the sky dark and the moon out already. She would have been worried if Zeidan was who she thought he was that he should be out looking for her right now. But just as she had expected, he never cared.

Chloe had warned Maya to stay off Lyne and she will forget any of that ever happened. She will let go of the fact that she had killed her sister. Weird. She had spent all her life looking for her sister and the moment she found out, she just looked cool about it. 

"You should never come out here alone, Lyne. What if something bad had happened to you?" Chloe climbed her brown colored horse with a black mane. She had heard her call the horse Shelby.

"Oh shoot! My bad!" She sighed and unmounted.

"What's that?" Lyne inquired but finally understood when Chloe went to her white horse, untied it, and gestured for her to come over.

"Wouldn't want you to be hurt and then give us a disabled baby." She laughed but she didn't.

"Don't worry. Not like your King cares anyway." She walked up to the horse and mounted it with her Aunt's help.

"What do you mean?" 

Chloe asked and as she looked at her, tears began to well up again. 

"He doesn't want us to have the baby yet."