I'm sorry that I have been absent for so long I just got released from the hospital after I caught the flu. I'm really sorry I couldn't update or at least send out a little letter explaining what was going on. I'm back home now but still not feeling a 100% so I don't know if I will be updating for a little while, but I will try to at least get out a small chapter. Thank you for the continued support!


"You're very quiet for somebody that wanted to have a pleasant talk." Cleo and Magnus had left Cleo's room a couple of minutes ago and had been walking in a somewhat comfortable silence. Magnus didn't know how to start his apology to Cleo. He hadn't truly meant what he said to her, he didn't think he could ever lay a hand on her. He didn't want to admit it but he felt as if he had found a friend in Cleo, someone that didn't necessarily understand him yet but was trying to. He wanted her to understand that his apology was sincere, that what he said was not the way that he felt. Her thinking that he had feelings for his sister made him sick and he couldn't figure out why. He had long since accepted his feelings for his sister but the thought of what Cleo would be feeling when it was confirmed was too much to bear the thought of.

"I was just thinking."

"About what exactly, I thought you already knew what you wanted to say to me?"

"I'm not thinking about the apology for you, that is for a later time. I'm thinking about this dinner tonight."

"What is the obsession with this dinner? Your sister was talking about it too when she saw me in the hall." Magnus quickly looked over to Cleo with shock on his face. He had no idea that Cleo and Lucia had any sort of relationship, and definitely not the type where they talked in the halls casually.

"I had no idea that you and Lucia had met formally."

"Did you think that I was joking when I said that I would ask your sister for advice on what to wear to night? We met a couple of days after she came out of her coma in the hall in front of the library." Magnus and Cleo were still walking down the hall to the dining area.

"What have the two of you been talking about?" asked Magnus as he shifted uncomfortably with this new found information. He didn't like that his sister could have possibly told her about his indiscretions in the past. Suddenly the feel of her arm wrapped around his was too much to handle and he shook himself free.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine just a little warm I thought you might be too."

"Magnus you don't have to lie to me, if you don't wish to be around me-"

"No Cleo that's not it at all. I didn't think that you would have a problem with me not touching you." Magnus let out a little chuckle attempting to soothe the situation, but when he saw the somber look on Cleo's face he quickly shut his mouth.

"It's not that I have a problem with you not touching me, it's that I want you to be honest with me when I ask you a question."

"I'm not lying to you Cleo, I promise."

"When will I be receiving my apology, Magnus?"

"I told you that's not for now but for later. I promise it will be a true, and sincere, apology. Right now my question still stands about what you and Lucia could have been talking about." Cleo gave Magnus a look and continued to walk down the hall with Magnus in tow.

"I don't think that's any of your business. I actually have a question about what you and Lucia could have been talking about. I think that she has some sort of personal vendetta against me."

"I thought that you said you two were friends." Magnus questioned.

"I never said that, I said that I had met her after she came out of her coma."

"So you two are acquainted but not friends?"

"Exactly, and my question still stands, what do you and Lucia talk about behind closed doors? Do you tow ever talk about me?"

Magnus snuck a glance at Cleo and saw that she looked somewhat angry at the prospect that we could be talking about her. I didn't know whether or not to tell Cleo the truth or lie and give the same answer Cleo did. It really wasn't any of her business what they had been talking about but maybe it would make her less inquisitive all the time if he just told her.

"No, Cleo, I don't think that you ever came up in any of our conversations together." Instead he decided to lie.

"One more question. Why are your moods so erratic?"

"Erratic?"

"Yes, not 20 hours ago you were ignoring me and calling 'princess' when you did say a word to me. Now you call me by my name, apologize to me when you say rude things, and make an effort to be an adequate human being. I don't know if you thought that would make me more willing to work with you, but it's actually just making me suspicious."

That's actually exactly what he thought. He thought that she might not want to work with him if he kept with his usual demeanor and treatment of her. That and he honestly felt a little alone when he came back from the mountains. Lucia and he hadn't talked since he left to go to the mountains to oversee the road. Things had been, to put it simply, awkward between the two of them. Cleo had been his entertainment for that time especially when they went on their wedding tour of Mytica. Though he had ignored her most of the time he still heard every word she said. Some of what she said would be snide comments against him, others would be about her family, and most of it was what she had learned about the lands that they were passing through. She had kept him company without even knowing it. On the trip she at least had the Cassian boy to keep her company, while he sat there alone. He had never had a problem with being alone but recently he had found that the whole in his heart was growing even larger.

"I will be completely honest with you Cleo I find that you are currently my only friend here. I want you to understand that there is a mutual respect between us and that I don't wish you harm as of right now.

"Did you call me a friend?"

"Maybe not a friend, but a friendly acquaintance."

"I thought that your sister and you were very close?"

"We were but our engagement didn't sit very well with her and she wasn't very happy that we went through with the wedding."

"I didn't know that she had a say in matters like that"

"She doesn't, that's why were married right now."
Magnus watched out of the corner of his eye as Cleo thought over their conversation. It was the truth, when Lucia told him to break off the engagement he had to intention of doing that for fear of his father and to spite her. If she didn't have feelings for him he couldn't wrap his head around why she wouldn't want Cleo and him to get married.

"I thought that you said that you two didn't have those sorts of feelings for each other."

"We don't."

"Then why was she upset that we were married."

"I do not know, perhaps you should ask your new friend."

"Are you jealous that I have stolen your sister from you" said Cleo with a smirk on her face.

"No I am not jealous that you are friends with my sister. I am not petty like the rest of you." Magnus continued walking down the hall thinking that this had been the longest walk he had ever taken.

"That's right I almost forgot, the amazing Prince Magnus is always better than everyone else."

"I'm starting to think asking you to walk with me was a mistake."

"Very funny, it's alright though because we're here now. I hope your sister is less, agitated now."