"I'm fine." My eyes zero in on his hand, watching as his fist open and close over the soft material. "I just can't understand what you want me here for." Ryder's hand freezes and when the words leave my lips and I look up towards him. "I don't really have the right to ask you this, but do you trust me?" Trust him? Biting down hard on my lip, I have no idea how to answer. "Careful." Ryder slides closer to me onto the middle cushion of the lounge his hand coming up pulling my lip from between my teeth, his legs brushing against mine. A gasp leaves my mouth as his thumb hovers over my lip, sending tingles and small electric shocks down to my stomach. "As cute as it is, you're drawing blood." He's wearing a pair of dark basketball shorts and a white t-shirt with a black zip up hoodie on over the top. The formal attire again replaced by this more casual one, even his hair is more casual now looking as if he has run has hand through it a hundred times over to get rid of the slicked back style that he had before. Pulling the sleeve of his hoodie to cover his thumb he rubs away the blood from the cut I caused from the pressure of how hard I bit down. "You trust me?" he sounds afraid of what my answer will be and I know that he cares deeply about what I am about to say. "I trust you." My eyes concentrating on his lips as his are concentrating on mine. "I don't know why, but I do." A relieved smile crosses his face and he follows it with a laugh. "Then you need to trust me when I say that I can't tell you why you are here, but because of that reason you're safer here than anywhere else." "Will you tell me more than that at some point?" I joke but still hold some meaning behind it. He was nervous, I could hear it. Everyone has been telling me that I am safe here and with the amount of black dressed, large muscled guards positioned just outside my door and around the palace, it adds up that I'm safe from anything on the outside but whether I am safe from them is still in question. Ryder makes me feel safe though, it's weird but he does. I know that when he says I'm safe with him that he means it. Ryder's lips purse together and his hazel eyes scrunch up. It makes me laugh lightly which I'm guessing what he hoped to do. "Maybe." Giving him a small smile I turn back towards the television my shoulder instinctively sinks in the material beneath his hand, his fingertips brushing gently over the skin of my shoulder sending warm tingles through me. The same warm tingles and strange pleasurable feelings that I get every time that he touches me. Which he seems to do a lot. "Do you want me to leave, or I can I stay here and watch the TV with you?" Ryder questions softly, his fingers dancing in the slightest against my skin. "You're welcome to stay and watch television with me your Majesty." Dropping my arm from around my legs I make an immaculate sweep gesturing towards the television. Ryder tries to hold the laugh and he raises a hand pressing it over his mouth. "Ryder-nothing else Lottie, or I'll put you in a smaller room." Biting my tongue, I hold in the laugh. "You're an evil little thing, you'll fit in." My eyes concentrate back on the television watching as a new more modern movie starts to play. Taking a deep sigh Ryder rests himself further into the thickly cushioned lounge, his fingers moving further onto the bare skin of my shoulder his knuckles rubbing gently over my skin. "What country are you King of?" I ask quietly my voice hinting that I am on the verge of sleep. Ryder lets out a small laugh. "You don't even know what country you're in right now?" He lets out another laugh as he shakes his head at me. "Jordena." Jordena. I freeze when he tells me that. I don't know much about the country, but I do know that it is a country in between France and Spain and it is one of the only monarchy families, that doesn't belong to the Catholic Church. "I'm guessing with a reaction like that, you came a long way to be here." He whispers, dropping the conversation, knowing that it's making me uncomfortable. Carlett was in London, so how I ended up in Europe doesn't make sense to me. If I didn't somehow navigate myself to a different country, I wouldn't be here with Ryder which is the reason behind why I am so uncomfortable. (Shut up. I know but live with my mythical geography) Ryder's fingers continue to move over my shoulder for a while as if on instinct while the movie played through nearly to the end, his smooth skin gently lulling me to sleep. Twisting I move so my knees push lightly into his side my arms moving down to drop down onto his thigh causing him to freeze at the contact and watch carefully as my head rests on his arm, using it as a pillow on the back of the lounge. Once I settle, my breathe evening out as I begin to fall asleep, Ryder relaxes, his fingers continuing to tickle at the back of my neck and underneath my ear. Having him this close to me dismisses the pain that I feel in my ribs whenever there is distance between us. It took me more than three times to reassure him that I was fine and my ribs weren't hurting, but I can tell that he still does not believe me, his eyes concentrated on my torso as his fingers continue their pleasurable assault. Knowing that I should get up and move to the bed and make sure that Ryder is out of the room before I fall asleep, I allow his comforting touch to allow me to get to sleep, ignoring my previous thoughts. I haven't had a good sleep in a long time and Ryder is giving me that in more than one way it seems. "Lottie," Ryder whispers his warm breath hitting close to my ear. Too tired, I let out a small hum telling him to continue but I'm not sure whether he heard it or not because of how quiet the sound was. "Why were you living on the streets?" He sounds unsure of the question. I can feel the question in his touch and the way his body is pressed against mine. It frightens me as much as I enjoy it. He isn't unsure about the question though he's unsure of how I'm going to react to it, yet I think that he's asking it now because I'm on the verge of sleep and I might possibly give him an answer to a rather good question on his account without much of a second thought to what I am saying and because of it I might not remember it in the morning. He is wrong. "Maybe I'll tell you, when you tell me why I'm here." Opening my eyes I meet his loving hazel eyes. "Evil," He whispers his lips pulling up into a small smile, "Beautifully evil." Smiling at him, I close my eyes again letting his fingers lull me into sleep.