I wake up the next day lightheaded. "I want to sleep more," I groan into the pillow when he tries to pull me out of the bed.

"We have a lot of work today, Neffie." He speaks above me while I cover my ears with another pillow and try to hide deeper into the sheets, but he is hellbent on not letting me sleep in more.

"Arles, please." I groan and try to pull the sheets back from him. He lets out a little triumphant laugh when he successfully pulls the sheets off me, leaving me bare against the cold morning wind. A cold shiver runs down my spine before my patience decides that's it's enough.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yell at him as I sit up. I resemble a ticking bomb now, and I am just seconds away from exploding. Meanwhile, he is standing at the edge of the bed and looking at me sternly. As I glare at him, he cocks an eyebrow at me as if questioning my sanity. For some reason, it triggers me and suddenly, I am super pissed at him.

"Leave. Me. Alone." I speak, giving equal and major emphasis on each word. I am not in the mood to play anymore. I truly want to be left alone. I don't know why I am feeling this but something in me tells me that if he doesn't comply with my demands sooner than all the objects in his bedroom might soon resemble the state of ashes.

The expression on his face is that of stubbornness. "No," He utters lowly with his deep voice as if testing my nerves. Unintentionally, my canines are out, and I flash them to him. His eyes darken instantly before he growls, "Get up,"

It was a command and I am not good at following commands. In the next moment, the bed is on fire while I am sitting on it and giving him a death glare.

"No," I growl meanwhile. I am not going anywhere from here. I won't go anywhere without my whim. He looks at me for some moments longer before sighing and leaving. This takes me by surprise because I was waiting for him to put up a fight or do something that I won't like but he leaves without uttering a word.

As the fire evaporates, the contents of the bed have turned into ashes while I sit among them and contemplate what just happened between us. All the traces of sleep have evaporated from my eyes and now, I am wide awake.

He has changed...

It must have been quite long as I sat on the bed and pondered over my thoughts. The bed is destroyed, and I hate myself now for setting it on fire in the first place. With a huff, I crawl out of the bed with ashes decorating my skin.

"Whoa," I stumble on my steps on my way to the bathroom. I feel slightly dizzy and it seems to be affecting my balance. As far as I remember I didn't drink much last night to have a hangover in the morning. In fact, last night I didn't drink at all.

I bathe and dress for the day. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I feel sick in the stomach when I am doing my hair in front of the mirror. I rush to the bathroom and throw up the water that I drank some moments ago. When there's nothing left in my stomach to throw up, I am back in the bedroom, but I can't lay in the bed because I burned it.

Suddenly, something clicks in my head, and in the next moment I find myself heading to the adjacent room to our bedroom. My eyes are met with Luna's silver ones as soon as I enter the room. Our painting is till on the wall and the room is as it was when I used to live here.

As soon as I step inside the bedroom and see the small bed, Arles' words suddenly ring in my ears.

'That's room for our pups,'

I shake my head as the possibility of me being pregnant revolves around my head. It can't be. I haven't gone into heat yet and; it won't be an appropriate time to have a pup because I just became a queen and I have so many responsibilities and so much work to do.

I hardly have to time for myself and to have a pup now would mean biting more than I could chew. It can't be a pup. I must be feeling low just because I have been working tirelessly for the past couple of days but again, Arles and I have been having a lot of sex, but I haven't had a single heat but then... UGH!

I clutch my head as my mind starts to race and in the next moment, I am overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. Maybe, I am thinking too much?

I am lost in my thoughts as I sink in the small bed and curl up into fetal position before closing my eyes. I didn't realize I was dead tired even after last night's good sleep as soon my eyes flicker shut and I slip into a deep sleep.

When I wake up, it's afternoon. I throw up once again but since there was nothing in my stomach, nothing came out. I still feel dizzy as I head towards the kitchen to put food into my empty stomach. After having something to eat, I come back to the small bedroom again and rest more.

Soon, boredom starts to eat me up, so I go out to have a stroll around the place. I am constantly haunted by the reminder by that small nagging voice in my head that I have a lot of work to do but here I am, strolling around. I am such a bad queen. I fight back the urge to break down here, in the middle of the corridors but I gulp my tears back and continue to walk.

I want to talk to someone and the only person that comes to my mind is Archander. I don't know where he might be right now, but I decide to go looking for him in his wing first. His wing is located next to Haestus' and when I reach near his wing, I am stopped by a high-pitched laugh.

The fact that the laugh happens to be of a female has me halting on my steps. I hold my breath as I listen to it. Its echoes dance throughout the corridor and it seems to be coming from Haestus' wing. Soon, I am on my feet and heading towards Haestus' wing.

As the corridor takes a sharp turn towards Haestus' wing, the laughter stops. When I take the sharp turn, I find Haestus shutting the door to his wing behind his back while the look on his face seems like he has almost been caught doing something wrong.

"Your highness!" He croaks with surprise.

"What are you doing here Haestus?" I ask him while I cock an eyebrow at him and walk towards him.

"I...uh, I was leaving for work," He speaks as he clears his throat and stands tall in front of me.

"Oh, and where have you been all these days? Arles missed you," I tell him and at the mention of Arles, something close to fear flickers in his eyes before he composes himself again.

"I was sick, your highness." He answers me with a straight face this time, so I ask, "What were you sick of? Did it turn your voice into a woman because I swear, I heard someone here?" I voice my doubts while he takes a deep breath. His eyes darken and his Adam's apple bobs up and down before he speaks, "I was just sick, so I took some days off to rest. I don't know what you're talking about,"

This has my eyebrows shooting up to unite with my hairline. "Oh," I utter as I tilt my head at aside to have a better look at him. My lips curl up into a sly smile as I the idea strikes my mind and my mouth starts speaking on its own, "You've bought someone, didn't you?"

At this the muscle on his jaw ticks as he looks down at me heatedly before answering, "No,"

"Very well," I blurt out in a rush as I feel nausea coming back. The pastries that I ate before are threatening to travel up my esophagus and see the daylight, so I excuse myself from him and soon, I am on my feet, heading back to our wing.

I throw up in the garden once before reaching to the wing. I lay down as soon as I am back in the small bedroom.

What's happening with me?

I feel so terrible in my own body that I can't help but cry. I don't realize when I have gone back to sleep. When I wake up, he is on the bed beside me. He has to fold his limbs in a silly manner to be able to accommodate his large figure on the small bed.

"What are you doing here?" I ask stiffly.

"Well, you burned down our bed and I wanted to lay somewhere so..." His silver eyes run over my face before he asks, "What happened to you?" He's looking at me with concerned eyes as he puts his hand on my forehead to check my temperature as he adds, "You seem sick,"

"I haven't felt good all day, Arles." I tell him with hesitation and in the next moment his eyes fog. He is mindlinking someone and as far as I can guess, he is calling a Healer. My heart starts to race when the chances of me being truly pregnant starts to dawn upon me.

"I am scared," Is the next thing that I utter before I bury my face in his chest and break down into tears.