"When am I allowed to leave this goddamned room?"

Smiling as he stood in front of the door with his hands clasped behind his back, the bangs of his curly hair parted in the middle so that he could properly see, Holden wittily responded, "Whenever you learn to not poke the beast."

Staring up at the unlit chandelier hanging from the ceiling as she lay sprawled out on her bed, Lily mumbled, "She poked me first."

Holden chuckled in amusement. "That's sort of her job."

Lily scrunched her eyes at his words, turning her head to gaze out the window. It was midday, the sun shining bright and reflecting the whiteness of the mountains right into her eyes. She longed to go outside. "Shouldn't a ruler's job be taming people instead of riling them?"

"She does both. The problem is that you are not included in the group you refer to as 'people,'" the guard responded. "You are the lesser than."

The girl snapped her head over to him, her face partially covered by the swamp of blonde hair laying like a crown around her head. "Just because I'm physically inferior by nature does not make me lesser than anything or anyone."

Holden sighed at the girl's stubbornness, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. "The whole point is that you disrespected the Queen. Lesser than or not, that's never a proper thing to do." He returned his eyes to her, tilting his head like a gently reprimanding mother. "And no, not even if she did it first."

Huffing, the girl turned onto her side so that she was longer facing him, choosing instead to stare out the window and pout. "I still don't want to be locked in this room all day." She secretly thought to herself that at least she, Jasmine, and Peter would be escaping—or at least attempting to—later that night, so it was only the rest of the day she had to endure in boredom before some action would happen.

"We are both in the same boat, little dumbass," Holden said with a smirk, also growing tiresome of standing at her door all day.

A few moments of silence fell upon them until Lily could faintly hear the sound of heels clicking in the hallway, their echo reverberating off the walls. She sharply sat up, turning her attention towards the door as she listened closely and realized that the heels were quickly approaching her room. She perked up even more when there were three light knocks on the door.

Turning on his heel, Holden took the two handles of the doors and pulled them open, but Lily could not see who stood at the door from her side of the room. Feeling suddenly hesitant to move, she tucked her thick hair behind her ear and listened closely.

"Has the Duke of Scottsdale responded to the letter?" spoke that familiar silvery voice that somehow brought heat to the girl's ears at the mere sound of it.

"Yes, Your Majesty. He requests that you bring the court with you," Holden replied in a polished tone, their voices kept at nearly a whisper.

Lily slowly slipped her body down the mattress, her bare feet resting quietly on the floor. Flattening her white dress, she tilted her head and strained to listen.

The Queen's chuckle rang out softly, and even Lily could recognize it as somewhat cutting. "The Duke requests my court?" The girl took a gentle step forward, able to see part of the Queen's face over Holden's figure. "Tell the old bastard my court has not been needed since the early days of my reign, nor shall they be needed any time soon."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Holden respectfully said, giving a small bow which cleared the Queen's line of sight, allowing her eyes to flicker up and shoot right into Lily's. The girl froze in her spot.

Lily's light blue eyes held the Queen's stare, her entire body feeling stuck in the place she stood. She couldn't figure out the expression on the Queen's face; it was something between inquisitive and vacuous, one that caused flashbulbs memories of their moments from the night before to seize her mind. It all flared behind her eyelids—the look on the Queen's face when she pushed her onto the bed, being underneath her, their closeness, the heat she felt all over.

As these memories seemed to uncontrollably grip her, she watched as the Queen's indecipherable stare turned into a snaking smirk across her dark lips, her eyes flashing. She had picked up on the girl's feelings in that millisecond while Holden was bent forward, feeling somewhat accomplished that even though her persuasion was oddly useless on the girl, she still had some kind of emotional control over her without even trying.

As Holden straightened himself and interrupted the pathway of their stare, Lily's eyebrows threaded with the struggle in her brain of why the Queen had just smirked at her so. It angered her knowing that she was helplessly allowing the Queen to be complacent with herself. Pursing her lips, she padded against the floor as she made her way to the door.

Holden turned as Lily neared him, allowing the two women's stare to meet again. "As you can see, little dumbass is just as bright and lively as ever," the guard spoke as he noticed the lines of anger between the girl's eyebrows.

"Let me out of this fucking room," Lily immediately barked in disregard to Holden's sarcastic comment. She cared not if she was "poking the beast." She would not cower away to someone who pretended to be completely formidable when she could see for herself an unsteady look in the vampire's eyes.

The Queen, growing tired of having to be angry every time she was around the girl, decided to let go of her ego and deflect the girl's disrespect. So she only raised her eyebrows in amusement, her lips pouting forward slightly. "You know not to interrupt adults when they are speaking, little girl."

Lily's confidence momentarily faltered, her pale cheeks forming red splotches of embarrassment. Her blonde eyebrows only threaded further. "I am going to go clinically insane if I stay in this room any longer."

"Oh, clinically?" the Queen immediately repeated, glancing to Holden with a forged look of concern. "Did you hear that? That must mean she's serious."

The girl wanted to smack the vampire across her smug face, but she balled her fists to keep from doing so. She sustained her fearless facade, although the extra height that the vampire's heels added was a bit intimidating. Additionally, with the vampire's hair pinned back exposing her structured face and sharp features, and her skintight black turtleneck showcasing her sleek upper body, Lily felt all the more intimidated standing there only five feet and three inches with her white dress and platinum hair.

"I believe she has asked to be set free approximately three hundred times in the past hour, Miss," Holden added, his curls bouncing as he nodded his head. "She is quite the cumbersome thing."

"Look, I just want to walk around or something," Lily spoke in a much softer tone, deciding that maybe being aggressive was counterproductive with someone who was also aggressive. "And possibly, if Your Highness allows it, eat something before I starve to death." Her blue eyes softened, a pleading tone underlying the way she bitterly addressed the Queen.

The Queen paused, watching the girl intently as if trying to detect some form of dishonesty. When she found none and a sparkle crossing the girl's eyes caused something in her chest to pull downwards, she let out a calm sigh and said, "I suppose caged dogs do need exercise, as well." Stepping aside, she cleared the doorway and looked at the girl expectantly.

Ignoring her insult, Lily stepped past the tall vampire, feeling chills run down her spine when she felt her cold breath fan softly onto her neck. Stepping out into the hall, she took a deep breath and relished in the freeing feeling it gave her to at least be outside of her room.

"Holden, you're off-duty for a while. Go take a nap or something," the Queen said, giving the guard a quick smile before turning and beginning to walk to the staircase.

"Will do, Your Majesty," Holden politely returned, watching the small girl follow the tall Queen down the hall, not even noticing that she was still barefoot. Raising his eyebrows to himself, he shook his head and wondered if Lily was the one with the talent of persuasion.

The dress that Lily had pulled from the wardrobe to put on that day was similar to the one she wore the day before, except this one had a diamond shape cut out of it in the back, leaving a majority of her lower back exposed. Every time she took a step, her long hair bounced along with her, its ends brushing the empty space in the fabric of her dress and tickling her skin.

As they walked down the staircase her hair swayed even more, her body involuntarily twisting in response to the uncomfortable sensation. She scowled in aggravation and transported her hair to over her shoulders, but it kept sliding off and tickling her again every time.

The Queen, hearing the girl huff randomly, sensed annoyance radiating from her aura. When they reached the very bottom floor of the castle and were standing in the large entrance hall, she sharply turned around, not able to withstand what she was picking up on any longer. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Lily froze, her arm reaching behind her back to scratch the skin that her hair was tickling. "W-What?" she asked confusedly, finding the Queen's eyes too hauntingly iridescent to make eye contact with.

The Queen glanced down to the girl's arm reaching behind her arm, and, thinking she was hiding something, she quickly placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder and spun her body around. Contrary to her suspicion, the girl's hand was only caught in the middle of scratching the stretch of her back that was exposed. "Why are you itching?" Her upper lip curled in disgust and she quickly took her hand away from the girl and stepped back, thinking she had mites or something.

Taken aback by how suddenly the Queen had spun her around, Lily's brain took a moment to register before she mumbled, "M-My hair keeps tickling me." She cautiously turned her head to give the vampire an abashed look.

The Queen, her eyes flickering between the girl's innocent blue eyes and the expanse of her back, which looked fair and smooth, couldn't help the small smile that grew on her lips.

Lily watched in near amazement as the Queen gave an actual smile, one that was not bitter, caustic, sarcastic, or angry. It was authentic and unfeigned, a dimple forming in her left cheek. It made Lily's heart flutter to see that dimple, that one single indention in her cheek that said so much more about the Queen than it should've. It showed that she was multi-faceted and perhaps not as infernal and somber as she seemed to be.

"Here," the Queen spoke softly, reaching down to her wrist that was decorated with a few golden bracelets. She took one that was a plain golden curve, bending it wider so she could slip it off her wrist. She then went to reach for the girl's hair but found that she was turned towards her, those curious blue eyes watching her. "Turn around."

Hesitantly, Lily turned her head back around and felt the Queen's hands gently take hold of her hair, piling it together and then putting the bracelet around it, pushing it closed tightly so that it would hold her enveloped hair.

She let go, admiring the way the gold clasp complimented the girl's light hair that was now neat. "There." With her word, Lily turned around to look at her, a few stray strands of her platinum hair loose around her face. The Queen felt something flutter inside her, an aching throb in her chest that both exhilarated her and scared her. She swallowed hard, the tendons in her neck tensing as she quickly averted her eyes and stuffed that feeling down the drain. "Come," she quipped, walking towards the dining hall.

Pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, Lily followed the Queen down the large hall and wondered why she had such a pained expression flash across her face.

Having assumed that she was being taken to the dining hall, Lily was thrown off when the Queen took a right turn instead of a left, walking through two swinging doors to reveal a luxurious kitchen where a singular vampire servant, dressed in black clothes and a white apron, was mopping the floors. The female servant with a short black ponytail immediately froze, bowing her head and greeting her leader with, "Good afternoon, Your Majesty."

"Good afternoon," the Queen answered back, walking towards a stool that sat in front of the very large counter that was wiped clean, its marble surface shining. "I need a sandwich for my pet, please."

The servant immediately nodded and turned away to prepare the sandwich, while Lily was about to take a seat on the stool next to the Queen until she heard what she had no rudely referred to her as. "I am not your pet."

The Queen glanced at her with an amused look. "Aren't you?" She paused, chuckling at the indignant look on the girl's face. "I keep you in your kennel, groom you, take you for a walk, feed you. Sounds like a pet to me."

Lily brusquely sat down on the next stool over, keeping one between her and the Queen to show she was too angry to sit near her. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared forwards, her lips pursed and brows arched in irritation. "I am not your pet," she repeated much quieter, wanting to get the last word but too aggravated to argue further.

The Queen only laughed, enjoying the way the girl's cheeks burned shyly.

The servant finished preparing the sandwich rather quickly, bringing it out on a glass plate and setting it in front of the girl along with a glass of ice water and a bowl of freshly chopped fruit.

"Thank you," the girl said, smiling kindly at the servant who eyed the Queen cautiously before giving the girl a head nod in return, quickly scurrying back to her mop bucket to continue her task.

As soon as the Queen glanced over to her, the girl was already stuffing her mouth with the sandwich. She found herself smiling again, amused at the way the girl stuffed seven blueberries into her mouth all at once. "You're eating like a vampire who hasn't fed in a month."

"I wonder why," the girl responded with a glare, her voice muffled by the food in her mouth. "You've been starving me." She returned her attention to her food, grabbing the ice water and chugging it down.

"You have refused to eat like a stubborn child, actually," the Queen responded in her posh accent, arching her perfect eyebrows and rolling her eyes under her thick lashes. "Might as well have given you dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and a juice box."

Finishing the water, Lily smacked the glass down onto the counter and looked at the vampire incredulously. "You had me in a dungeon for four days." She avoided admitting that she had refused to eat when twice given the chance.

"Well, you shouldn't have been found in the woods getting fucked by that weird girl," the brunette retorted, averting her gaze as she found herself a little bothered at her own words.

"Weird?" Lily asked as she finished the sandwich. "How is Jasmine weird?"

Rolling her eyes and stifling an insult to the girl's name, she snipped, "I simply don't like her."

"Yea, probably because she's human and you're a ruthless piece of shit vampire," Lily casually mumbled as she brought the bowl to her mouth and tilted her head back, letting the remaining blueberries and chunks of pineapples fall into her mouth.

The Queen was about to scold her for insulting her until her eyes flickered to the girl's neck as she threw her head back, tracing every bluish green vein and watching the way her muscles contracted as she swallowed. Quickly looking away before she would start to feel urges, the Queen tapped her fingernails on the counter and replied, "No, it's something I sense about her. I can tell when something is off about someone."

Setting the bowl down, Lily chewed the fruit that caused her cheeks to puff out and stared at the Queen, her eyes trailing to her slender fingers that tapped against the surface of the counter. She thought about the previous day when Jasmine had acted angrily towards her. Lily had told herself it was only because the plan that she told them about was, admittedly, risky, but it still hurt her to see Jasmine act anything other than loving towards her, especially after everything they'd been through.

Thinking ahead to the plan they would execute later that night, she let her eyes trail up to the Queen who also seemed to be in deep thought, staring at her fingers as they tapped one by one across the surface. She wondered, with more perturbation than she wanted to, if she would end up having to use that pistol on the Queen later that night.

Suddenly, the Queen's eyes snapped to hers, an alarmed look crossing them. Lily's cheeks immediately burned and her lips fell open, utterly terrified that the Queen sensed what she was thinking. She looked away and quickly tried to think of something to say to divert the situation. "W-Well, I-I don't like William either." She lined the rim of the glass bowl with her finger, trying to make herself and her aura appear tranquil.

The Queen kept her eyes on the girl for a moment, listening to the way her heart beat rapidly; she could even hear her ribcage being gently rattled by the thudding of her heart, a sensation that Lily herself could not even feel. She couldn't figure out what it was that caused the girl to be alarmed so, but she decided that maybe it had something to do with speaking about the Jasmine girl and then rested her case. "I don't blame you," she said in a calm tone. "William is quite a ravenous vampire."

Lily glanced to the Queen, seeing that she was back to tapping her fingernails and was no longer interested in whatever she had sensed from the girl.

"He is not as skilled at controlling his thirst, which is why our grandfather gave me the crown instead." Twirling one of the gold rings on her finger, she remembered the day that she was crowned the Queen of Vampires and the way she could basically hear William's blood boiling with rage. For a while he was bitter towards her, but his grudge faded over the years and they became friends.

Lily imagined the Queen before she was crowned, and at the mention of a grandfather, she suddenly realized that the Queen had a life separate from the throne. "Your parents weren't the ones who crowned you?"

The Queen stiffened slightly, remembering her mother's golden blonde hair and the way her smile was so radiant it could light up the entire world. Glancing over to Lily, she suddenly found a sort of resemblance in her, in the way she tilted her head to listen with care which caused the loose strands of hair around her face to fall to the side.

"They were killed when I was a child," she spoke sharply. "By an army of humans who had found out about our race." She stared at her twisted reflection in her golden ring. "Fortunately, we killed that army, therefore ensuring the secrecy of our existence."

Lily's eyes softened as she noticed the far away look on the Queen's face. She looked so beautiful while unaware and distracted by her own mind. It was strange to see her not completely alert.

"But not everyone survived," she mumbled grimly, remembering seeing soldiers clad in all-silver armor and carrying silver swords. She remembered seeing her father's head sliced clean off his body, her mother's heart stabbed through right after. She remembered a soldier finding her small child self hiding in a closet. When she had tried to run away, he