Prince Zod got some of his guards to deliver a message to his father. It was regarding his new bride. He needed everywhere to be ready for the ceremony. "Tell him that I will be home soon."
"But your highness, don't you think it's a little sudden to get married now?" One of his guards asked.
Prince Zoe stood up with anger in his eyes and asked the guard, "Who are you to advice me?"
The guard quickly bowed his head in apology. "My apologies, your highness. It's just..."
"And you are still talking." The guard lay down flat because he knew what the prince was capable of doing, just a word from him and his head will he cut off.
"I will do exactly as you have said." He stood up, bowed his head before leaving.
The Prince sat down on his bed when Chloe walked into the room. "I can't believe you are serious about this."
"I am a man of my words." He answered her.
Chloe sat down next to the Prince. She had a lot of questions to ask him. She wanted to be sure he was only doing this based on her request and not because he had a strings of affection for Xenia. The Prince noticed her silence so he asked, "What's wrong?" he turned to give her his full attention.
"Do you love Xenia?" She asked. The question made the Prince burst into laughter.
"Isn't it too early for such questions?" he asked her.
"I know it is but I can't help but be curious about the whole thing. Do you love her?"
Prince Zod pulled her close and kissed her. "You should bring me some food, I am starving."
Chloe knew he was trying to avoid the question and this only stirred up the doubts in her heart. She got up, bowed her head and was about to leave but the prince called her. She turned to await the Prince's demand. "And tell Xenia to come and see me. I need to change my robe." she gave him a fake smiled, bowed her head and left.
Prince Zod sat down to think about the question Chloe asked. If she finds out he loves Xenia, she might stop coming to see and then he would need to look for someone else to satisfy him in bed. He just needs to hide the truth from her until he leaves with his new bride. He's a master of pretense so this shouldn't be a problem, he thought.
Mrs. Golan was in Xenia's room watching her pack the things she'd be needing for her new home. "You don't have to do this."
Xenia stopped what she was doing, sat on the bed and looked at her, "then what am I supposed to do?" she asked.
"I don't mind being banished as long as..."
"What makes you think your banishment would change anything?" she asked. "The queen will still hand me over to the prince because she can't do anything about it, so tell me how your banishment would be of any help to me?"
Mrs. Golan thought about it and she knew Xenia was right. Her banishment won't change anything not even her death would stop the queen from agreeing to this. "What about Lucas?" The mention of Lucas's name, Xenia couldn't help but cry. "You love him, how can you bear to be married to someone you don't love when your heart aches for another? Is this how much you love Lucas?"
Xenia wiped her tears. "How am I sure Lucas loves me? How am I sure he thinks about me?" She paused. She couldn't count how many times she was worried about the Prince and Lucas, wondering how they were doing and if they were worried about her as well but she felt it was stupid if the person you are thinking about doesn't even think a little bit about you. "I think about Lucas everyday. There's not a day that goes by that my mind doesn't think about him but tell me Mrs. Golan, does he think about me? Have I ever crossed his mind even just for a second? Does he..." the tears rolled down her cheeks and Mrs. Golan had no choice but to stop with the questions and console her. "I love him...but does he love me back?"
"You haven't told him how you feel so he probably has no idea."
"And now, I won't get the chance to tell him how I feel because I'll..."
"Shh!" Mrs Golan wiped her tears.
The door flashed open as Chloe came in with folded arms. She was surprised to see that Xenia was still crying. "It will do you a lot of good if you just accept Prince Zod instead of staying here shedding crocodile tears."
"Can you say what you have to say and get out?" Mrs Golan said.
Chloe rolled her eyes at her before turning her focus on Xenia. "Anyways, the prince would like some change of clothes after your done crying you can see him."
Mrs Golan was about to talk to Chloe but Xenia held her. She turned to Chloe and said, "I will be with him shortly."
Chloe hissed and left the room.
"I can't believe you are still going to attend to that monster."
"It's my duty. It's not like I have any choice." She went to the mirror, wiped her tears, added some makeup to hide her puffy eyes.
"I wish I had a son."
Xenia turned to look at Mrs Golan and a smile crossed her lips. "You'd hand me over to him?"
"Without a second thought."
Xenia smiled. "I have to attend to the prince now. Please I beseech that you be lenient with the queen, she has a lot going on and this is a lot for her to handle."
Mrs Golan nodded. She stood up and walked up to Xenia. She dressed her hair and wiped some excess powder off her face. "In case he tries anything funny, don't hesitate to let me know immediately."
Xenia hugged her and thanked her before leaving to meet the Prince.