"You don't have to follow me," I say.

"I do."

"Fine, just don't talk." I walk through the doors to the kitchen with a yawn and Blake distances himself across the room.

I managed to walk through most of the palace unnoticed but the moment Blake caught sight of me alone then I wasn't alone anymore. It's too early for any of the slaves to be awake yet and I take advantage of that as I begin making breakfast. Christian doesn't make my meals anymore since I've been allowed to do it myself and I kind of miss it. The food I make will never compare to his. I make myself a coffee first and I rub my eyes as I sit at the counter.

The door to the outside opens and two male creatures walk through. Blake crosses the room immediately, positioning himself at the centre of the room as he stares at them.

"Why aren't you at your posts?" he says.

"Our humans will be waking up any moment," a creature says. "We always return at dawn."

"Did you not understand the order yesterday? The humans are not to be fed from today."

"All day?" the other creature demands. "We thought that only applied to the outing."

"No, it applies from now until tomorrow. There is a twenty-four-hour ban on feeding."

I didn't know about this and I'm just as confused as they are. Cain must want to give the humans a full day off, an entire day without fear or panic. I yawn again as I lower my head towards the coffee mug.

"Very well. There was a misunderstanding."

"Make sure the others have not misunderstood anything either," Blake says.

The creatures nod before moving back to the door.

"And another thing," Blake calls. The creatures turn around. "When you're in the presence of her then you bow your heads."

The creatures stare at me and I look back at them tiredly. I don't particularly care what they do, they could scowl and flip me off and I wouldn't take it personally.

One creature laughs. "You're serious?"

"Yes," Blake says. "You do not walk right by her as though she isn't there, you acknowledge her like you acknowledge the King."

The creatures bow their heads at me before exiting through the door. That looked painful for them, it makes me smile.

"I apologize," Blake says. "They will learn to respect you."

"Honestly, I didn't notice."

Blake backs away across the room. "I will not speak again."

"It's fine, you can talk," I say, taking another sip of my coffee. "I'm more awake now."

"Oh. What should I say?"

I laugh. "How long have you worked for Cain?"

"Worked for him? I don't understand."

"Been his head guard?" I say.

"Oh. I was promoted to head guard thirteen planets ago."

I widen my eyes. "A long time then."

"Yes."

"He must trust you a lot. I didn't think he'd let you near me after I got hurt but then he made you my bodyguard. How do you feel about it?"

"About being your bodyguard?"

I nod. Blake follows Cain's orders so effortlessly that it's sometimes easy to forget that he is his own person too. That he has his own thoughts and opinions. He followed me everywhere yesterday without complaint or any hint of distress. I wonder just how much control he has over his own existence.

"My purpose is to keep you safe. That is what I am doing."

"So you agree with Cain's decision to make me Queen?"

Blake doesn't answer. He swallows and raises his head higher. The answer is written across his expression.

"It's okay, I won't tell him anything. Tell me the truth."

"I think that it's a very bold risk for him to take," he says. "But after serving the King for so long, I've come to ignore his impulsive choices."

"I doubt he's done something this impulsive before."

"No, he hasn't. You have an effect on him that I nor any of our kind will ever understand. He is a prisoner to your soul and until he realizes that then there's not much I can do."

"Prisoner?" I mumble. I don't like that word, I don't like the thought of Cain being chained or trapped by me. But isn't that exactly what's he's been doing to me?

"Yes, he is becoming like you. Changing. It is because he is trapped."

"Let's get one thing clear," I say, eyeing him angrily over my mug. "The only prisoners in this world are the humans."

"I agree," he says.

"You agree?"

He nods his head and looks away. "Some of us hate what we are. Believe it or not, Marina and I used to be companions. We shared the same ideology that it was wrong to completely eradicate a species. She hated watching it so she became a planet hunter. When I refused to travel with her, we resented each other and hardly ever spoke again."

"Why didn't you go with her?"

"Cain hasn't told you about the previous King, has he?"

I shake my head, shifting closer to the counter. "No."

"Before Cain became the most powerful of our species, there was another that held the position. He never had a name, we just called him our leader. He didn't believe in waiting or breeding like Cain does, when he touched down on a planet he wanted to kill everything on it immediately. I saw peaceful planets turn into chaos, innocent lifeforms corrupted by greed and darkness. He was out of control. There was no such thing as laws. Our kind could do whatever they wanted with them. And they did. Cain, Marina and I were the only ones that didn't. Cain was good, he wanted to put a stop to our leader's cruelness. I told him that the only way to do that was to challenge the leader to a one-on-one battle.

"Cain knew that he'd lose but he tried anyway. Even though the leader would have locked him away until he starved to death. And then the blade appeared. It dropped right into Cain's hand from the sky. It was as though our creators were watching and waiting for the moment that Cain stepped up. We watched him kill the leader and Cain has been our King ever since."

"But something happened to him," I whisper. "Didn't it?"

Blake nods. "Over time, the King changed. He became less concerned about the species and more concerned about completed souls. He was obsessed with them. So obsessed with them that he overlooked what the rest of our kind was doing to the lifeforms. I didn't go with Marina because I have been through a lot with Cain. He listens to me. I was afraid that if I left then he'd corrupt himself completely." Blake grins at me. "But then he met you and he is finally becoming like the old Cain again."

"So him being a prisoner is a good thing?"

"I didn't say that," he says. "Becoming a human is an unnatural thing but if it makes him care for lifeforms again then I am not complaining."

I stare down at my fingers. "What makes you think he's becoming human?"

"He told me," he says. "Like you said, he trusts me."

I take a deep breath before I finish my coffee. "I can see that. I better start making breakfast."

I carry the large breakfast tray through the palace around thirty minutes later. Blake accompanies me to Jackson's room before leaving indefinitely. Jackson is still sleeping in his bed. I leave his breakfast on the table and I call his name several times until he wakes up.

"Is it morning?" he says excitedly.

"Yeah," I say. "I'll meet you downstairs in a couple of hours. Make sure you eat something."

"Okay."

"Love you," I whisper, kissing the side of his cheek.

"Love you too."

I leave the room, carrying the tray up to my bedroom. I don't expect Cain to be awake yet so it's no surprise that he's still laying in the exact same position that he was in when I left. I'm still in my pyjamas and bathrobe and the thought of getting dressed is daunting. I leave our breakfasts for later and I crawl back into bed, resting my face into his chest. He stretches his arms into the air and then cradles his hand against the back of my head.

"What time is it?" he says.

"Seven."

He groans. "I was liking that dream."

"Really? What was it?"

He yawns as he speaks. "You were at this cabin at this really nice lake. There were horses and you rode them for miles."

"You dreamed of that?" I mumble. "That was my grandfather's ranch. I haven't been there since I was a child."

"It was a memory?" he says. "Huh. Dreams are strange."

"You're stranger."

He pauses his soft drumming against my hair and I turn on my side to look at him. He leans in and kisses me, his hands tug at the straps of my bathrobe, pulling them undone. He plays with the fabric of my shorts first before moving his hand down my bare leg. The kiss gets stronger and I move to sit astride him, my hands clawing at his hairy chest. I pull away suddenly and that catches him by surprise. He leans back with a look of frustration, not because of me but because of our predicament.

"How long are we really going to resist each other for?" I say. "It's been weeks. You said you could keep track of it, right?"

"Didn't we have this conversation last night?" he says. "I can't promise that I won't put you in the same situation."

"You also said that if I became Queen then none of your kind would dare touch me again."

"And you're going to be around thousands of them today," he says gently while caressing my jaw. "Today isn't the right time."

I groan. "Tomorrow then."

"And if your soul becomes purer to the point that even I can't resist it? What then?"

I smile. "You're resisting me right now."

"With an unbearable amount of difficulty," he says.

I lean away from him. "Really?"

"Don't be nervous. It's not hunger, it's just a longing for my soul to feel yours again. I like it, it'll make the wait worthwhile."

"The wait to kill me, Cain?" I remove myself from his waist.

"No, I didn't mean it like that." He covers his face and sighs deeply. "I'm not very good with words. Not to kill you, just to have that connection feel new again."

"You said you wouldn't talk about me like I'm food again," I say. "You said we were equal."

"We are." He blinks at me and then reaches over to take my hand. He rubs our fingers together. "But our souls will always want to be together. Fully together. That's why you wanted me to feed from you. Don't be upset with me, I don't know how to put it right."

"I'm not upset with you, I'm just confused."

"Did I confuse you?" he whispers, adjusting himself to sit in front of me. "I do not think about killing you every time I touch you. It isn't like that. If you could feel my soul inside of you all the time then maybe you'd understand."

I'm doing it again. I'm forgetting that he's not human. Why should I even be hurt that he'd still think about feeding from me? What right do I have to question that? I'm not just confused about what he said, I'm confused about everything. The Cain that Blake described seemed selfish and ignorant of the pain he was causing. That Cain only cared about the purest souls, the souls that would make him stronger. Maybe in a way he's always been good but, in another way, he isn't at all. He could have introduced laws to the humans' conditions long before he ever met me and he never did. And yet I have feelings for him. And yet I would sacrifice the good parts of myself to make him happy.

"What happens when you get hungry again?" I say. "What if. . . it isn't years?"

"Then we'll deal with that when it happens. But I'd never feed from you without your consent."

"Okay."

"Okay?" His eyes follow my direction as I leave the bed. "That's it?"

"Yep. That's it. I made us breakfast."

I shake my head as I sit at the table, trying to forget that ever happened. He begins walking over but then stops abruptly.

"Hold on one moment," he says, before unleashing his wings that fold around the ceiling as though they're trying to break out. He pulls them back into his shoulders. "Just checking."

I smile as he puts a shirt on and then takes a seat opposite me. He ducks his head down to the burnt food until he's eye-level with it.

"What is that?" he mumbles.

"Shut up and eat it," I laugh.

"I know that I'm unkillable but is this edible?" He looks up and grins at me, a strip of black bacon falling through his fingers. "Sorry, it looks delicious, thank you."

"Hm."

"Are you excited about today? It was your idea."

"Yeah, I'm excited. I'm more excited for the humans. Did you make sure there were water stalls and food stalls?"

He rolls his eyes. "Yes, and toilets and wheelchairs and plenty of seats. All the rides have been cleaned thoroughly and sanitized. I followed your instructions very carefully, don't worry."

"Good," I say. I chew into a piece of crumpet and I drop it from my mouth with a cringe. Cain laughs at me. "I miss Christian's cooking."

"I'm sure he'd love to cook for you again if you asked."

"No, he did that for weeks. I think he's enjoying the break from climbing all of those stairs."

"True." He yawns again, trying to discreetly conceal it with the back of his hand.

"Go back to sleep if you want, I need to shower anyway."

"I can't tell if you're joking," he says, twisting his head with a smile. "I will gladly go back to sleep."

"You've got an hour," I say as I push my chair back and head for the bathroom. "Don't make me throw cold water over you."

"Again, I can't tell if you're joking."

I grin at him as I back myself into the bathroom. "One hour."