•Bella's POV•

"Where will you be sleeping?" Arthur asks me as we approach an empty hallway.

I turn to look at him a bit confused at his question, "Um, my room." I tell him still shaken up from my earlier conversation.

He shakes his head, "Do you want me to be honest with you?" He asks tilting his head to the side.

I shrug my shoulders. "Sure."

"I don't think someone of your ranking belongs in the servants quarters." He tells me while leading me around another corridor.

A sigh escapes my lips. I don't think he hears it though, so I just allow for him to lead me to a bedroom. Somehow we end up in front of the second largest room in the castle. Which also happens to be the nearest room to Arthur's.

"This is the only available room that I know of, all the others have party guests." Arthur explains to me as we open the door.

My eyes bulge our of their sockets as they land on the figure lying comfortably on the bed. Lying with her blonde hair sprawled all over the newly done bed and smiling sheepishly at the door is that random chick Arthur hit with a rock. Which honestly serves her right, I haven't even met her and I don't like her. I just have a gut feeling.

"Arthur!" A surprised scream comes from her.

Arthur gives her a sheepish smile and I can't help but notice it's not the same type of smile he gives me. I shouldn't look into it, but after spending so much time with him. You learn a few things, and that smile isn't the same kind he gives me.

"Lucy, I didn't know this was yours." He tells her.

She rolls her eyes dramatically, "Well babe, Kay gave it to me. He said yours was right next door, so now we can be closer together and get to know each other." Damn is she naturally this annoying or did it build over time.

Wait, wait, wait. Hold up one second. Babe???

"Oh I didn't realize." As if finally noticing that I'm still here Arthur turns to make introductions, "Lucy this is- uh."

"Veronica." I give her the most fake smile I can muster. She just eyes me like I'm trash. She makes it really hard to use willpower and not slap her.

"Veronica, I'm Lucy. Otherwise known as Future Mrs. Pendragon." As she says this I notice a dramatic change in the room. It isn't the way that Lucy looks hopeful in Arthur's direction, any type of love or affection you should see in her eyes is impossible to trace. It also isn't the way that my face drops at her words and my mind falters, even though I'm unaffected by it. And it definitely isn't the way Arthur's face also drops at her statement.

The significant change is the warm fingers that enclose themselves around my wrist behind my back, out of sight from the girl in front of us. I'm not sure, however whose support its for.

"Lucy, please don't say that." Arthur says after a long agonizing silence.

She tilts her head to the side and bites her lip, talk about trying to hard. "Why? It's true isn't it."

The hand squeezes mine as he speaks. "Please just don't say that." Cue another awkward silence.

The girls eyes flash with rage as she examines the both of us. As if she knows the small secret behind my back, the hand that is tightly being held by the man next to me. "Kay warned me about her." Talk about bipolar.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Arthur says his annoyance evident.

"He said there was this servant girl. One that he attempted to get rid of, guess that's her." Her eyes rake my body, "I honestly thought she was going to at least be a little pretty, and could fight. Guess I was wrong."

"Little bitch." I breath out. The only thing keeping me from attacking her is the thumb gently caressing the back of my hand. Although even that didn't stop my murderous glare.

"I think we'll be going now." Arthur says trying to break conflict. The blonde haired bitch doesn't even bat an eyelash.

With that Arthur squeezes my hand and keeps his grip firmly on my hand as he drags me out of the room. I don't even pay attention to where he takes me. Instead, my mind is solely focused on the different ways I could kill her, so far I've come up with 22 effective ways to chop off her head.

"Bella?" It's only then that I realize that we are in Arthur's room. Me sitting on the bed and him towering in front of me.

I blink. "Why are you marrying her of all the women in this world?" I ask still ready to kill someone.

"I don't want to. It was all Kay's idea and I'm completely against it." He tells me a pained expression on his face.

"Then why is she here?" The disgust is so evident I don't even attempt at hiding it.

Arthur shakes his head, "I don't know, but don't let her bother you." He tells me as he moves to take a seat right next to me.

"She's not bothering me." I say emphasizing the word 'bother.'

A small laugh, one that I really miss for some weird reason, escapes Arthur's lips. "Sure she's not." He says in between each intake of air.

I let out an aggravated sigh and cross my arms, my eyes also try to boar holes into the ceiling. "Hm."

"You should stop being so uptight, laugh a little." He says keeping the mood somewhat lighthearted.

I shake my head slowly, "I'm not uptight."

"You aren't huh?" I can somehow hear a challenge in his tone. Fuck my will to want to win.

"Nope." I say popping the p.

Arthur's eyebrow raises the signal to his challenge. "You sure about that?"

"Absolutely." I'm going to regret this later.

The body next to me shifts so that he's sitting cross legged right next to me. His knee lightly brushing my thigh. I look at him skeptically as he stares at me. Then his hands tackle my waist and his fingers glide against my sides causing me to squirm under his touch.

Without thinking my lips begin to turn upwards. This encourages the auburn haired king to continue tickling my sides. Soon a laugh begins to form in my throat, one I don't even try to hold back.

"No...no...st-stop it...Arthur." I gasp between words unable to hold back my laughter. With all my laughter I can't help but fall back against the soft mattress. Small trickles of tears form at my eyes from the pure enjoyment I'm experiencing.

Hoping that with me falling back Arthur would stop tickling me I attempt at sitting up. However I'm stopped halfway when he moves himself to hover his body over mine. My eyes are immediately greeted with his vibrant Amethyst ones.

That's when the tickling stops. As we both stare back at each other, wondering what the hell is going on.

"Why'd you stop?" I idiotically ask attempting to break whatever the hell type of trance we're both in.

"Didn't you ask me to stop?" He says in the same hushed tone I used.

I nod my head slowly. Then his hand appears and gently presses against the side of my face trickling slowly until his hand is on my cheek. "Yeah I did." I say.

The hand stays put on my cheek, warmth causing goosebumps along my arms. "Don't listen to what Lucy said, your beautiful." He says his voice still low as he treads on thin ice.

I can't seem to form a coherent thought or response as his thumb begins to trace the outline of my lip.

"You're way beyond anything she could ever be." He tells me softly. At this rate I can't help but slowly part my lips, daring him to move forward. He takes my offer and soon he's inching towards my awaiting lips. The crazy part is that my head lifts from the mattress wanting to meet his lips.

•End Chapter 18•