♡ Odette's POV ♡

I was starting to get bored out of my mind.

Not like the beach house wasn't nice or anything, but ever since Ivy appointed Seamus head of security, Seamus had driven out here and was suddenly taking his job rather seriously. Serious enough to not let anyone out of the house for instance.

"Please Seamus? Just for a little while?" I begged him as I lay on an expensive-looking leather couch, stretching my sea-blue painted toes out. I was dressed in some skinny jeans and an old grey pullover, my hair braided into another of Falene's intricate hair plaits.

She claimed even though I was dressed so casually, my hair could still be pretty enough for a royal ball. Falene was a strict believer in that a girl could do anything she set her mind to, as long as she had a good head of hair on her shoulders.

"Sorry, Miss Carlton, no can do." Seamus said, offering me a small smile. He was standing by the wall of the recreation room, watching over me while Zayn and Ivy consulted over some things, considering he was king and all now. He was wearing his black royal guard uniform, and it looked rather uncomfortable.

I had a feeling I must have been quite the boring thing to watch over for Seamus, since the only thing I had done in the hour he had been in the room was paint my nails and watch television. I didn't really have any other thing to do, and I was secretly thankful there wasn't a ball or party or anything extravagant to go to today or anytime soon.

Mother Nature had decided this morning would be a great time to give me my little monthly present, and I wasn't too happy about that. Thankfully, Falene had brought along some feminine necessities along with the bags of clothes for me as we moved to the beach house.

So here I was, hanging off a leather couch with the worst cramps I had had in a while and the head of security having to babysit me until my prince--er, king--came back.

"You can call me Odette, you know? Miss Carlton makes me sound old." I told Seamus, who seemed a bit taken aback, blue eyes wide.

"Are you sure? I don't think his Majesty would like it--" Seamus tried to make excuses.

"I don't care if Zayn doesn't like it, I don't like it. I think I overrule him on this topic." I assured my bodyguard, twisting and turning on the couch until I was upside-down, my blood rushing to my head and slowly starting to turn my face red. I was extremely bored, hopefully Seamus would take pity on me.

"Miss--Odette, what are you doing?" Seamus asked humorously, chuckling as he witnessed my perfectly made up face turn red as a tomato.

"Entertaining myself since you won't let me go outside." I huffed at him, the blood flowing to my head starting to get uncomfortable.

"Well doesn't that hurt you? You're going to have to turn right-side up eventually. Plus you're going to irritate your stitches." He told me, smiling as I stuck my tongue out at him.

I tended to be a bit more animated when I was on my period, why, I was never sure. But he was right, turning upside-down was starting to bother me a lot, and I tried to turn myself right-side up, only to lose my balance and fall off the couch. Seamus immediately raced over to me, gripping my hands to pull me up.

"Are you alright? Maybe that fall knocked some sense into you." Seamus joked, and I only rolled my eyes at him before joining in his laughter.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Seamus released my hand before sighing.

"You seem to be doing better after the whole coronation incident." Seamus mumbled, clearly not wanting to rip apart healing wounds. But it was too late, my whole demeanor shifting.

It was true, I was doing a little better, but not much. I tried my best to ignore the fact that Delia and Damian were dead, but it was so hard when all I had to do was wake up in an unfamiliar bed to remember why we were here.

I had already been through so much in life, but I had to stay strong. That's what mother would always tell me back then, I had to do it now.

"Yeah well, this isn't the first time I've lost someone close to me." I spoke honestly. Seamus raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I know, a girl as seemingly perfect as me going through tough times doesn't sound right, but I have."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Seamus assured me, "I completely understand." I thanked him for being so sweet, Seamus only getting bashful and telling me it wasn't a problem.

"So...can I go outside?" I jumped around like a child, Seamus laughing at my attempts to get him to crack, but he still said no. I exaggerated a sigh before getting a terrible cramp, my hand flying to my stomach.

"Ow...that one really hurt." I whined, and Seamus' face was priceless. He was totally oblivious to my womanly problems, and it was quite funny.

"If I can't go outside, can I at least get some ibuprofen for cramps?" I asked, and in a second Seamus started blushing like crazy. His face was completely red from embarrassment, hurrying to get me my pills as I laughed at him.

He returned a couple minutes later, bringing a bottle of water with him. He handed me the bottle of ibuprofen, watching as I took two pills and swallowed them with water.

"Better?" He asked as soon as I closed the cap of the bottle, and I only laughed.

"Pills don't work that fast, but I guess so." Seamus smiled at me, and I found it cute. I patted the spot next to me on the couch, inviting him to sit next to me as we watched bad daytime television. It's not like there was anything else to do.

We had gone through a couple episodes of cartoons when the door to the recreation room opened.

In came Zayn and Ivy, Zayn dressed similar to me in a t-shirt and jeans, Ivy dressed a little more properly with a black dress that stopped at her knees. It took barely a second of Zayn seeing Seamus sitting next to me for him to scrunch his eyebrows together, confusion soon turning to anger.

"Mr. Deeney, you are head of security, correct?" He spoke coldly, and I shot him a glare, mentally telling him not to do something he would regret.

"Yes, your Majesty." Seamus answered easily, almost like he wasn't addressing his king but a personal friend of his. A very dangerous personal friend.

"Then why are you sitting so casually on a couch with my Chosen One?" Zayn spat at Seamus, who quickly got up from the couch, bowing in apology.

"I'm sorry, your Majesty, I will make sure it never happens again." Seamus said, and I thought I heard Zayn mumble something about making Seamus regret it if he ever tried again.

Zayn looked over at me, and it was the first time I noticed the bags starting to form under his eyes. He was tired, that was why he was lashing out at Seamus. He did have to wake up rather early this morning, I knew because I felt him slowly moving out of bed so he wouldn't wake me up, only pressing a kiss to my forehead before leaving.

Zayn held his hand out to me, dark eyes melting my anger at him away.

"Why don't we go to our room and relax for a bit?" My king offered, and I nodded before taking his hand, letting Zayn guide me out of the room. I turned my head and mouthed an 'I'm sorry' to Seamus, but he only smiled.

Our room wasn't the same size it had been at the Manor, and considering we now shared a room instead of having our own personal bedrooms, Zayn was careful not to smoke or break anything or do anything that would possibly keep me out of our room. He liked when I was there next to him, and I almost had a hunch he was going to ask the servants to move some of my things to his room when we got back to the Manor once the whole revolution thing blew over.

Zayn immediately collapsed face down on the bed, an exaggerated groan being heard as he did so.

"I'm so tired." I closed our bedroom door, deciding Zayn would prefer to be in privacy.

"I'm sure, but you didn't need to lash out at Seamus for it." I gently spoke, walking over to the bed and sitting on its edge.

Zayn turned over in the bed so he was facing me, tired eyes surprisingly not angry. Zayn sighed before reaching his arms out to me, almost like a toddler would. I gave him a disapproving glance, and he sighed, dropping his arms and rubbing his eyes.

"Fine, I'll apologize to him later." I smiled in victory and Zayn only rolled his eyes humorously.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you win but will you come here?" Zayn reached out for me again, this time taking my hand to pull me on the bed with him. I shifted myself so I was facing him, watching as Zayn adorably played with my fingers before a small smile graced his features.

"I got you something a while back." He said, a loving look settling in his eyes.

"What is it?" I asked excitedly, unable to hide my joy. I loved presents, especially surprise ones.

"Just something small for putting up with all of this." He said, leaning in closer before our lips were barely inches apart. I saw him reach in his pocket just before I felt his lips on mine, the sensation as heavenly as I remembered.

All too soon he pulled back, but he replaced one surprise with another, and a small black box rested in his hand.

What could it be?

Just something small for putting up with all of this...

Zayn handed me the small box, velvet tickling my skin as I opened it. Zayn was watching me intensely, I'm sure he was nervous that I wouldn't like it.

A small gleam of light reflected towards me, and I couldn't stop the happy smile from forming on my lips.

Inside was a ring, a silver one that gleamed in the light of the room. I pulled it out of the box to give it a closer look, a sigh of relief coming from Zayn.

It was a nautical themed ring, the band meant to look like two ropes. In the middle was an anchor with a heart on it, and I suddenly wondered why he would pick this ring out of all possible others.

Maybe because we were at a beach house?

My thoughts were disrupted when Zayn leaned in close to me again, stealing my breath away. A light kiss was pressed to my cheek before he explained.

"I got this ring a long time ago, I just never knew when I should give it to you. And then with Delia and the coronation and everything...I figured now was the right time." He spoke softly, taking the ring from the palm of my hand and tracing over it with his fingertips.

"Normally people would be scared out of their mind and be racing to get their things together and leave, but you're different. You stayed." He mumbled, taking my left hand and stretching my small fingers out. "You're the one person who helped me get through that day, kind of like an anchor to keep me who I am."

Zayn slid the ring on my pointer finger of my left hand as he spoke, smiling softly at me. He yawned not long after, and I took my chance to press a kiss of my own to his cheek, letting him get his desired rest while I admired the silver jewelry, falling asleep next to him soon after.

A/N: another update I am on fire! Odette's ring she gets is based off a real ring I got for my birthday and I figured it would be perfect for her to get a matchy one from Zayn ^_^ I'm also so proud of myself for finally planning out the rest of the book so more updates should be coming very soon! -M