Thunder echoes throughout the large vast room jolting me from my sleep. I’m back in the bed, even though I fell asleep on the couch, using Ryder’s arm as my pillow. I have no clue how I ended up in the mass of softness the warm sheets pulled up and tight around my neck giving no hint to the temperature outside. Rain has been hammering down on the immaculate castle since before I arrived, only letting up for an hour every now and then. Despite the thick curtains being drawn over the long windows, behind them I know that the sky is still dark, small, tiny dots of cool blue light flecking the darkness, hinting that it is early in the morning. Letting a shaky breath out, I drop my head back down to the pillow attempting to get back to sleep. My thoughts race over the warm feeling of Ryder’s hands moving softly and ever so slightly against my bare skin. The touch that sent tingles and waves of small electric shocks, through my body, along my spine moving to rest at the bottom of my stomach, forcing me and pulling me in closer to him. Why was he touching me like that though? Why was I letting him touch me like that? We meet yesterday and already he has been touching me the way someone would touch their lover and not once have I rejected the smooth touch, accepting it as natural. It shouldn’t be though, I’m scared of the effect that he has on me and what my body is telling me to allow him to do. Those thoughts that I had of him running his hands gently over the side of my bare body as his lips gently moved with mine as his strong muscled body hovers over the top of mine, shocks me but the feeling is enjoyable and I yearn for the real thing. It was a dream, that the thunder just woke me up from where I was happy to be. Never before have I had thoughts like this and it twists deep in my stomach. The liking I have towards it makes me curious as well because it’s something that I’ve pushed back deep in my mind not wanting to have anything to do with it before now, it’s also something that will be difficult to achieve with a King. Groaning I try to push it all away rolling over to my side, my eyes concentrating on the door that leads out of the room and towards wherever Ryder is asleep in one of the many rooms that I passed on my own mini self-tour of the top two levels of the west wing of the castle. I wonder if I get up the two male body guards at the door will let me out. Even if I do get out, I don’t know where Ryder’s room is and he’ll probably be angry if I were to show up in his bedroom at this time of the morning. He also may begin to think that I want something else from him, I like the idea but I’m not ready to give it to him. I maybe never will be able give it to him even if offered. “Miss,” a new voice says after a light knock at the door and it opens a crack showing me a new face from the bright light of the other room. “Is everything all right, can we get you anything?” The voice at the door of the new guard is one of the softness I have heard, his soft brown hair that is cut close to his head curls slightly around the top of the tiny points at the top of his ears. His features are softer than that of what I would expect of the large muscled males. “I’m okay, thank you.” I whisper pulling my eyes away from his feet, where they always seem to rest other than on Ellie’s hands and Ryder’s eyes, and move them to the ceiling. Nodding he takes a step back away from the door. “If you do need anything, I’m Cyrus, and Theo and I are here.” Cyrus’ presence in the room disappears with him out the door. It calmed me. Not the way that Ryder’s presence does. It’s all beginning to rest on my chest, weighing down on me in one of the most uncomfortable ways. I know I should leave but if I do, I leave Ryder and already I know that will weigh me down much more than what I am now. Shivers shake through my body again at memories of Ryder’s skin against mine. His touch ghosts back over my skin and I can feel it lifting at the heavy weight pulling it off and allowing me to relax long enough to fall back into the softness of the bed and to sleep. *** Shuffling feet, faintly hit at my ears and I blink a couple of time before I force my eyes open to see Ellie hovering around the room, a duster in her hand as she moves it over the dark wooded furniture in the corners of the room. The thick grey curtains have all been pulled back exposing the vast windows. Bright yellow light floods the room bathing the bed in warmth, warming my skin through the thick sheets of the bed. It’s the first time I’ve seen the sun since being in the castle and I savour the sight knowing with Europe’s weather, this is not a regular occurrence throughout the cold winters. “Morning miss,” Ellie smiles over her shoulder when she hears the rustle of the sheets when I push them down. Sitting up carefully I try to minimise the sharp pain of my torso. “Ellie, please call me Lottie. I’m not all that comfortable with being called miss.” My voice is quiet as I watch her body tense. Sighing she drops her head down her hands locking in front of her clenching tightly at the duster she still has. “It’s not professional, for me to call you by your birth name, but if it is what you wish then I will do so.” Nodding towards her with a small smile, her knee’s bend slightly as she drops down in a curtsy, a small smile of her own gracing her already beautiful and feminie features. “If you wish mi-Lottie, his Majesty hasn’t eaten yet, and I do believe that he asked for your presence, tea will be served soon and you’re welcome to join him.” Tea with Ryder? As much as I enjoy and am comforted by his presence, my unease is growing by the second as he grows so close to me and me to him. My thoughts from last night and the dream still plague me, along with some of the memories from the foster homes I ended up in.