He takes my hand again and helps me down from the vanity, a hand supporting my hip as he does. He walks me out of the room and as he leads me down the first hallway, I look around noticing that my guards aren't anywhere to be seen. "They're around." He says as he helps me down the stairs to the fourth floor. "You just can't see them." He explains to me that the top floor is solely where the royal family resides which Reynolds already told me. He didn't tell me why I was up there if that were the case and neither does Ryder he just explains that on this floor there's the sitting room, a home theatre, a gym and some other rooms, including a few hospital rooms. The last level of the upper west wing -the third floor- he explains is more bedrooms, these ones smaller but still fairly large and its where all my guards, his guards the doctor a nurse other guards and all their 'partners', which consists of around fifty other people. I was shocked to hear that so many people lived here and I had only met about ten of them, not even that. The second level of the castle causes my jaw to drop. The awning that looks over the thick wrought iron banister down through the void to the first floor is a white marble cracked with a deep contrasting black. The same flooring is on the set of stairs that curves around a mahogany panelled wall and then opens up into to a wide circular set that continues onto the bottom floor. I notice that on either side of the set of stairs are two double doors the stretch the length of the high walls. Ryder tells me that it's a ballroom. He also tells me that I'll like it and he seemed so sure of himself when he said it, he isn't going to show me yet though. Ryder's eyes run up and down my body as if I'm crazy when we get to the stairs and the sound of my shoes scuffing against the marble seems to be one of the most interesting things I've ever experienced. "You want me to get you a pair of high heels?" He asks a smile on his face. "My mum does the same thing." He continues his eyes moving over me in awe. It's the first time I've heard him talk about his family. I never really thought about putting it in the pile of stuff I just have to trust him with. The tone of his voice when he talked about his mother sounded as if he loved her a lot. He doesn't say anything more after that, continuing to help me down the stairs knowing that my stomach is hurting even though I'm trying to hide it. He even waits patiently as I slide across the floor of the foyer laughing along with him as I try to get him to join me. He just shakes his head and grabs my hand pointing out to me that on the west side of the castle is a formal dining room other sitting rooms for guests and an indoor pool that opens out into a garden, he leads me down a wide hall, like all the other ones in the castle. He tells me that mostly everything on this side has to do with political side of things and it was mainly an assortment of offices and sitting rooms but there was one thing he wanted to show me. Two tall and thick heavily wooded doors loom before us all the way up to the top of the high ceiling. Ryder's hand is wrapped around mine and he doesn't let go to open the both of the doors. The room we enter now is more like an extra wide hallway, the walls panelled and painted over with a dark grey, making the gold framed pictures placed in the middle of the plastered vining stand out all that more. "Where are we?" I ask in awe my eyes moving over the many frames. My eyes move up the three stories to that white roof, bearing strong white lights down onto us. "The hall of Kings and Queens," He says with a smile pulling his hand away from mine and pointing down to the end of the hall, "All the way down to Queen Jordena." The oil coloured picture takes up most of the wall at the end of the hall, a light situated at the top showing the extravagant detail. Ryder follows close behind me as I slowly make my way closer to it, his hand locking behind his back much like all the men I see in the pictures on both sides of me in my peripheral vision. I also notice with the posture his muscles become more pronounced as they strain against the white material of his tee shirt. Queen Jordena stands with her back straight and her shoulders back looking more regal than I've ever seen a Royal before. She exudes confidence and I can tell why as Ryder explains to me that she bought a large distraught community together to found the country and lead into what Ryder rules today. Her dark brown silky, curly hair is pulled up to sit on top of her head, framed by a diamond tiara that curves and twists into a pattern of vines which end with a number of scattered amethyst stones. The colour of the stone matches the thickly woven dress that hugs her chest and waist and gently flows out into a long train past her hips. A twisted cord of gold is looped around her middle and the long sleeves of the dress, dropping down to the reach the ground at her wrists, the material trimmed there with more gold like the belt and neckline. She's truly beautiful her hazel eyes a shade lighter than Ryder's, the only thing the same about her and the current King behind me. The tall man standing next to her though holds a striking resemblance to his descendent. They both look exactly the same except for the blue eyes of the man in the picture. "You look a lot like him." I say raising my hand up to run it over the textured colours of the canvas. He smiles down at me and laughs a little. "I was named after him. Over a millennium of our family being in reign, I'm the only one that looks like him." My eyes run over the dark suit that the other Ryder is wearing. It's a black military one. A purple pin stripe the same colour of Jordena's dress runs down the side of his pants and runs across his chest as a white fringed sash, medals I don't recognise pinned next to it. "Jordena was the queen and she ruled it over Ryder." I turn to see that Ryder's watching me carefully. "Yes, we don't discriminate against sex. Ryder married her after she became Queen and settled the country." His eyes rest comfortably on mine as he explains his ancestor's power with pride. My eyes move low down his body as I think about the next question I try to push past my lips. "If you have a daughter first, then she'll be the heir to your throne?"