I turned over stretching my arms out. My arms however didn't reach the bed. They met something very cold. I opened my eyes and jumped. My arms had hit Alec's bare chest. Why is he here? I moved back, being too close to him for my liking.

He opened his eyes and turned over. "Oh you're awake."

I was staring at him shocked. I had pushed myself up onto my hands while on my side. My head spun for a minute because I moved too quickly.

"What..." was all I could manage.

He smiled. "You fell asleep on me. I didn't want to move incase I woke you up."

I frowned. "You weren't half naked when I fell asleep...were you?"

He laughed. "No, I got hot during the night, so I took my shirt off."

"Well put it back on," I said throwing a pillow at him. "If you managed to take your shirt off I probably wasn't on you and you could have left."

He smiled. "I didn't want to leave you."

"I'm having a shower," I mumbled. I got up, realising my hoodie was still on.

I grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe and walked into the bathroom.

I had a shower and got dressed then walked back into the room now feeling clean, expecting to see Alec, but he had gone. I walked over to the mirror and began to brush my hair staring into the distance. As I was thinking about nothing in particular, a thought came to my mind. Alec said I could leave my room today. I jumped away from the mirror and sprung to the door. I pulled on the handle but it was locked still. I frowned and walked back to the mirror, not really looking at myself but as if trying to look through myself. I didn't know how long I had been like this, but Doreen came in with my breakfast and awoke me from my trance.

"Can I leave my room yet?" I approached her.

"Master Alec told me to keep the door locked until further notice," she answered me.

I frowned. He lied to me. She left the room and I walked to the balcony. I leant over the side seeing if there was a way down. There was no use, I could jump, but I'd probably break my neck.

"You're not planning on jumping are you?"

I jumped (well not literally, the voice scared me.) I turned around to face Alec. He looked concerned.

"Don't do that," I said scowling at him. "And I wasn't going to jump."

His face relaxed. "What were you doing then?"

"Looking for a way down, I'm bored here. You said I could walk around today, but the door was locked." I growled at him.

"Come on," he said smiling, taking my hand in his.

I frowned but followed him out of the room. We walked out of the room and turned right.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked me.

"Anywhere," I said happy now, but trying not to show it.

He took me around what I would call a manor. It was huge. Everywhere we went was empty.

"Do you have guests often?" I asked. He was still holding my hand, I felt a bit uncomfortable but I had a feeling he wouldn't let it go even if I asked him nicely.

"No, we only have business guests nowadays. We'd probably be getting more soon because of the Placing."

Alec took me to various rooms, they weren't very interesting, mainly spare bedrooms and living rooms.

"Where's yours and Zane's bedroom?" Not that I really needed to know, but I was curious.

"Not far from yours."

"Oh," was all I could reply.

He then let go of my hand and went to open a large door.

"This...." He said pushing the door open, "is the library."

I walked through the doors. It was huge; I had never seen so many books in my life. It was like the library from 'Beauty and the Beast'.

I turned around in circles, looking up; my mouth agape. I walked to one of the shelves and trailed my hand over the books as I walked down the rows.

I forgot Alec was with me, he made me slightly jump when he spoke.

"You can read any book you want, you can stay here and read or take them out of the library; it doesn't matter."

I stopped walking and turned to face him. He was leaning against a wall by the doorway, his hands in his pockets.

"Do you read?" I asked him.

"Not really, I'm too busy," he replied.

"Oh. Does Zane read?"

He frowned, "No."

"Why do you have so many books if you don't read?"

"The servants are free to use it and guests like to as well," he replied.

"Is this the last room in the house?"

"Only the garden left. Come on."

I looked back at the books wanting to stay.

Alec must have guessed what I was thinking. "You can come back later." He held out his hand.

I walked towards him but didn't take his hand. He rolled his eyes and pushed himself up off the wall and walked out, me following him. We walked for a few meters to a large French door. He opened it. It was the same scene I had seen from the balcony. I looked up at the building trying to find it. There were too many to know which one was mine. I hadn't realised I had stopped walking, when I looked back down from the building, Alec was already far ahead of me. I ran to keep up with him.

"Hey, wait," I said frowning coming to a stop as I got close to him.

He stopped and turned around smiling.

"Where are we going?"

We were veering to the right around the house where my view from the balcony was restricted. Alec didn't answer me.

I decided to ask something else. "Why do you have to live in such a big house if there is usually only you?"

"I like to have space," he replied. I was going to smile but we had just walked into a beautiful garden. I don't really have much interest in gardens but this was lovely. There were high hedges bordering the garden we had just walked into. A water fountain was straight ahead with a stunning sculpture in the middle. Countless numbers of flowers were growing. There was a gravel walk bordered by the high hedges going past the fountain. I couldn't resist walking down the path and passing the fountain. I could hear Alec following behind me, the gravel crunching under his feet. The sun's rays were shining down through the pathway lighting it up, making it look like something from a fairytale.

"Do you spend much time out here?" I asked Alec still walking forward.

"I used to, but I've been very busy, with the Placing."

I thought it was a shame that the garden could never be appreciated. I could feel Alec watching me but I didn't want to find out for sure so I carried on walking. The path went on for a while until we arrived at the fountain again. We had gone in a circle. I didn't see the other path when we entered the row of hedges. I didn't mind that we had gone in a circle; it was a nice walk, full of beautiful flowers and shrubs. I sat on the fountain's edge watching the water splash as it landed onto of the water below it. I felt Alec slide onto the side next to me. Too close in fact. He was always too close to me, it bothered me quite a lot. I turned to face him to move back a little but when I saw his eyes, it made me gasp, they were incredibly beautiful, and I hated to admit it. I stared at him feeling lost in his gaze, I had never really looked in his eyes before, just glancing at them. He cupped his hand around the right side of my face. I didn't know what to do, I felt uncomfortable so I closed my eyes. His touch was nice, cooling my skin from the hot rays of the sun. The wind suddenly blew through my hair, tangling it and making me shiver. I opened my eyes. Alec's face was very close to mine. I turned my head to the left, facing the fountain, making him pull away from me. I saw him frown out of the corner of my eye, which made me smile a little. Alec turned his head in the opposite direction, looking at the hedges instead of the fountain.

I titled my head back, looking at the sky, breathing a sigh of relief as he moved away from me. I leant back wanting some support for my back. Unfortunately there wasn't something to lean against, in my relief of Alec moving away I had forgotten I was sitting by a fountain. I fell back trying to grab onto something, but nothing was close by, now I was annoyed Alec had moved away. I screamed as I hit the water. It was freezing cold. Water rushed up my nostrils as I submerged into the fountain. My whole body went under the water; I wasn't expecting the fountain to be this deep. Before I had a chance to begin to start to run out of oxygen I was pulled roughly out of the water by a blurred face that I could see above the surface. I gasped as air hit my face. It wasn't warm outside anymore, the wind was blowing against my wet skin making me even colder. I coughed trying to get the water out of my nostrils and throat, gasping heavily. Alec sat me back down on the fountain edge and had me facing him, holding my shoulders, he was frowning with concern.

"Are you ok?"

Unable to speak I just nodded.

"Come on; let's get you inside before you freeze," he mumbled. I followed him, trying to avoid the wind, which didn't work. Once we were inside, Alec told me to wait by the door while he went to get a towel. He was only gone for a few seconds, probably using his super speed. He wrapped the towel around me while my teeth chattered. I didn't know what to say to him, I felt embarrassed about what had just happened.

"You need to change into some dry clothes," he said steering me towards what I was guessing was the bedroom I was staying in. He took me up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. He opened a door, which happened to be my room. I walked over to the wardrobe.

"Don't worry I'll get you something to wear, just go and dry off in the bathroom and I'll pass you clothes through when you ask."

I just nodded and walked to the bathroom hanging my head in shame. What and idiot I thought to myself, why did I have to fall in the fountain. I took my clothes off and threw them in the bath to stop the floor getting wet. I towel dried myself and squeezed as much water as I could from my hair. I wrapped the towel around myself and then opened the door to get my clothes from Alec. He was waiting outside and handed them to me without even looking. I got dressed. I left the bathroom seeing Alec in the chaise longue. I walked to the mirror and brushed my hair. I couldn't look at Alec, every time I did guilt flooded through me, I could only guess that he wanted to kiss me by the fountain but I couldn't be sure. I felt so bad, I'd hurt his feelings, which I didn't mean to, I just couldn't help not feeling the same way. I walked over to the other chair in the room, the one opposite the bed, when I had finished brushing my hair and sat down, staring into the distance. It was quiet between the two of us. He got up after a while. I watched him. He looked sad, which made me feel bad myself. He left the room without saying anything. I heard the lock click in the door. I sighed and went to lie on the bed. I eventually fell asleep, a few tears rolling down my face as I cried silently.