I was woken up to the sunlight shining through the white floor to ceiling curtains. As I was getting out of bed my eye caught a figure in the distance. There he was standing on the balcony outside ou-his room. It faced the cliff.

Lightly moving the curtain I took a moment to watch him. His arms were flexed against the railings as he sipped what I assumed to be his morning coffee. His grey t-shirt hugged his body and his jeans did his legs justice. My breathe felt a little heavier as I stood there and watched him. He'd kept his hair just a little long and curled like when he was young. I wonder if he was used to it or if it was still for me.

Caught in the moment my breathe caught in the back of my throat as his eyes turned and met mine. Letting go of the curtain I looked away and walked to the bathroom trying to ignore the heat rising to my face from embarrassment. Realizing I was only in my underwear and a T-shirt my cheeks burned even brighter. I prayed he didn't see the scar on my hip. The pendant didn't hide scars.

Turning the water to hot I stepped in and let it fall down my body. The memories of waking up and joining Dominic on the balcony seeped into my mind.

A smile graced my lips as I watched Dom leaning against the balcony railings. I let my eyes trace his body before letting out a small sigh and getting out of bed. Walking out behind him I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head against his back. He clasped his hand over mine and spun me in front of him chuckling as he did so.

"Finally awake hey?" He smirks and I roll me eyes.

"A Queen needs her sleep. You didn't tell me how long the days and nights would be" I teased back and he winks and kisses my forehead, than cheek, and then his breath fans my neck as he whispers in my ear.

"Oh I think I gave you plenty of warning" he teases again softly biting my neck and I shook my head as my cheeks warmed up and I shoved his chest lightly making sure he didn't get too far away from me.

"Miss Alina" an unfamiliar voice called out making me jump and reach for a towel outside the shower. Walking into my room a maid was standing their and had laid out a red long sleeved dress on my bed. "This is for you to wear at dinner tonight" the maid says and I rub my arm nervously as my heart sped up.

"Was this from Henley?" I ask and the maid offers me a smile and leaves the room without a response. This was the color I used to wear after the people named me the Blood Queen. It felt like a bad omen to wear it again. It used to be a symbol. Now it just haunted me.

"You're up earlier than I expected" I remark walking into the kitchen where a disheveled looking Henley in sweat pants was perched on the counter eating a tub of yogurt.

"This wedding will be the death of me. I've been running every morning so I can look good in my dress but at this rate I'd rather just sleep in and not have bags under my eyes at the wedding" she groans.

"Well I think you look great" I say grabbing a spoon and taking a bite of yogurt.

"Probably doesn't help Charlie keeps me up so late" she says stretching while shooting me a wink and I laugh and roll my eyes.

"What happened to the days of saving yourself for marriage" I tease and she scoffs.

"We are animals you know" she winks at me and jumps off the counter.

"That we are" Charlie says walking in and pulling Henley in for a kiss.

"How do you feel about taste testing cake today?" Henley says with a smirk of excitement.

"Ugh you know I could eat it all" I say and laugh as she drags me to the living room. "Oh we are doing it right now? I guess cake for breakfast is the best" I tease and Henley laughs excitedly as she sits down.

"I ran an extra couple miles just for this" Henley says in all seriousness and I can't help but laugh.

"We have the metabolism of a teenage boy you can never eat too much cake" I point out and Hailey winks at me and picks up a fork.

-

I felt like I needed to job for the rest of my life to work off the amount of cake I'd consumed.

"I take it back you CAN consume too much cake I feel so full. I don't think I can ever eat cake again" I say groaning as I lay back on the couch.

"Me either. I am really excited for the roast at dinner though" Henley says and I breakout in laughter. That girl could eat anything. Her stomach was a black hole.

Henley and I spent the day lounging around from a food coma. We spent the afternoon in her room watching movies. She promised tomorrow she would take me around the area but today was food coma and chick-flicks.

As I got ready for dinner I pulled on the dress and let my hair fall behind me. As I stood in front of the mirror I felt as though it was too foreign for me. I didn't recognize myself anymore. It had been so long since I'd seen my true self and now I was dressing in the past. It felt wrong.

"Wow I love that dress on you" Henley says walking in to my room. She had on a stunning navy blue dress.

"Same to you" I say smiling and stepping away from the mirror and towards the door.

"I should worn you the king can come off a bit... unstable" Henley says as we walked down the stairs towards the dining room.

"I think I can handle it" I laughed as I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I mean I did put up with your mood swings for how long?" I tease and she scoffs and rolls her eyes before we walk into the dining room where everyone sat.

There were only two seats available when we arrived. One beside Charlie and the empty chair beside the king who sat at the end of the table.

Henley sat down beside Charlie and I swallowed the lump in my throat and sat between her and Dominic.

"This is-"

"Alina. We've met" Dominic cuts Henley off while she's introducing me and I cleared my throat and took a sip of wine. The woman across from me was the same woman from the north end hallway. She was staring at me quite hard and I found it difficult to avoid looking back in her direction.