Lizzie's POV

Lizzie was surprised when she stepped in, the first thing she noticed was the deep green walls reflective of the forest outside. It was of a similar design to Lizzie's with the bed against the wall and the two French doors leading onto a large balcony to reveal the magnificent view of the trees below.

It disappointed Lizzie on how minimal his room was with only the necessities, revealing nothing of his personality.

"No hobbies" Lizzie probes as she whirls around to face him.

"I was really into Lego as a kid" Aiden comments, his lips tilting into a small smile.

"However a few years ago, my Father instructed that I needed to grow up, all the Lego that used to be displayed on the shelf over there". He points to the shelf above his chest of drawers.

"Was taken down and hopefully placed in storage boxes" Sadness crept into his voice, giving Lizzie a glimpse of the boy he used to be. "It was childish anyway, I'm glad it was packed away".

Lizzie holds her sigh, "That's a shame. It would've been cool to see. I don't think I'd have the patience to sit and build something".

He chuckles, "Not many people seem to do, my sister certainly doesn't"

Lizzie smiles at the idea of an impatient Kat staring at the Lego.

"Anyway, the bathroom is just to the left" He sweeps his hands out in the direction. "She normally leaves spare makeup products, borrow whatever you'd like"

"Thanks" Lizzie says sheepishly.

Opening the door and walking in, Lizzie was not surprised to see the lavish interior inside. The warm chandelier light reflected off the creamy white marble benchtops. Despite it being an ensuite for Aiden, the bathroom had two sinks, for anyone who stayed the night she guessed.

The thought turned sour in her mind, but she gently reminded herself that Aiden wasn't hers, despite ending up in his bedroom.

What a mess, Lizzie thought as she stared at her tear-stained face in the mirror. Her heart was still pounding with a mixture of nerves and anger as she begins to slowly process her conversation with Henry. Despite her feelings of resentment with Henry, she couldn't deny the pain she was feeling.

How was their friendship ever going to overcome this?

What she couldn't understand, the one thought that kept circling her mind over and over was how did Aiden know that she was talking to the Henry Castill. Why was this feud so personal, at this point it wouldn't surprise her if they revealed they were two mafia gangs.

She subtly glances behind her to find Aiden on his bed looking at his phone, she was thankful for the illusion of privacy. Aiden's reaction was exactly the same as Henry's, she recalls his face, the fierceness in his expression as he demands that she doesn't talk to him. It almost felt like Aiden was concerned for her safety rather than acting out on his possessive instincts.

Lizzie sighs, the more time she spent in Norhaven the more questions she developed. She'd doubt that she'd get any answers from Aiden tonight.

Opening up one of the drawers, she finds exactly what she needs to fix her makeup, thanking her lucky stars that Kat and her had a similar complexion or else this would never work.

...

"Thanks for helping me" She expresses, walking out of the bathroom. She'd managed to fix most of her appearance that it looked almost the same as when she arrived at the party.

"Anytime Elizabeth. Look about before when you arrived" Aiden goes to hop off the bed

"Wait, don't get off. I just need to sit for a moment, these heels are driving me crazy". Ensuring not to sit too close to Aiden, Lizzie carefully peels off her heels and slides onto the edge of Aiden's bed ensuring there was enough distance between the two of them.

"Kat explained everything to me, it's okay" Lizzie reassures

"It's not okay" Aiden persists. "I never should've yelled at you" he runs a hand through his hair.

"It's my job to protect you Elizabeth and when you didn't pick up, I assumed something had happened" His voice cracks again, finally revealing his true emotions beneath his tough exterior.

"Aiden" Lizzie says slowly moving towards him until she's faced him on the bed, she reaches over squeezing his hand. Under the bedroom light, his face was still crinkled with worry, she never realised the full weight of the responsibility he harboured.

"You're mine to protect Elizabeth" His eyes pierce hers sending a shiver down her spine. Lizzie holds his stare before disappointing herself and looking away.

"But it's just Norhaven, it's a small town"

"Lizzie you could never imagine what has happened here over the centuries" His features darken as he twists away from her, releasing her hand"

"Then tell me" Lizzie begs, she leans over grabbing Aiden's shoulders and pulling him towards her.

He turns, shock colouring his face as he stares at her. Lizzie's eyes widen slightly but she doesn't stop.

"I'm tired of being left in the dark, tell me why it's so dangerous so I understand".

Aiden pauses, his eye flick back and forth staring at the sheets as if he was having an internal argument.

He sighs, "I can't tell you everything yet, but I'll give you a little bit of context especially surrounding Jack"

"And why he hates me"

"He doesn't hate you, he's just not sure where your loyalties are so he doesn't trust you"

Lizzie falls silent at his answer. To be honest she still wasn't sure where her loyalties fell.

"Jack had a sister, Amelia, she was a year younger than us but she was part of our group" He pauses swallowing, "We used to do everything together, the five of us were inseparable".

"This was a few years ago now, I had just been given some more responsibility to take care of the pa.." He pauses slightly looking at Lizzie worriedly.

"To take care of your people" Lizzie finishes, Kat was telling me before.

"Yes, take care of my people, that includes you too" He adds firmly. "Anyway, my Father had recently discovered a diary entry from my great great grandfather entailing some items he had buried at the edge of our land"

He pauses taking a breath before continuing, "He had attached the coordinates aswell, but when we went to investigate we realised that we'd be encroaching on Everdale land to retrieve it. Wanting to prove my worth as a leader, I organised a small group of people, Jack and Donovan included to assist me in retrieving it. We went at midnight and managed to dig up the box without anyone noticing"

"Was there anything in it?"

"Some old memorabilia but" He looks away. "It wasn't worth it not for with what happened afterwards. About a week later I get an audio message from your friend Henry" He spits out his name in disgust.

"He said" Aiden pauses "Actually here listen to it yourself, you'd never believe me otherwise"

The recording starts and Lizzie braces herself

"Did you actually think that you could take something from our land without us noticing" He snarls

Lizzie's heart stops dead at the sound of her friends voice, it had dropped a tone and was filled with utter cruelty, Lizzie had never heard before. How well did she even know her friend.

"Well" He pauses in the audio laughing cruelly

"We thought we could take something too, don't expect it back anytime soon, well not at alive at least" He chuckles before the line drops dead. A shiver crawls down her spine.

"That couldn't have been Henry" Lizzie expresses in shock.

Aiden dismisses her comment, "By the time I received the message, it had been too late to do anything. Amelia had gone down to the lake by herself that day for a picnic, it's this beautiful one a few kilometres north it's close to the border between the two cities.

"Jack had raced down to bring her back to the house for safety but when he arrived he was met with broken plates, ripped clothes and a blood splattered picnic blanket".

"No no no" Lizzie gasps bringing her hands to her lips as the colour slowly drains from her face. "She's not dead is she?"

"We don't know, as the future leader my Father's instructed me to not enter Everdale under any circumstances. There is no one to replace me if something happens.

This all couldn't be true, Lizzie's head was spinning, at this point she couldn't decipher whether Henry had been feeding her lies or truth over this past week. It infuriated her that he kept in the dark with everything, Lizzie thought she was his friend, how could she be so blind sighted.

Lizzie chokes, her stomach lurching at the thought of what Henry asked her to do.

"Elizabeth are you okay" Aiden asks squeezing her shoulders

"He asked me to go to your Father's study and look around" Lizzie whispers

Aiden stills, his jaw clenching

Lizzie grabs his hand desperately flicking her eyes up to his, "I wasn't going to do it"

He meets her gaze his eyes reflecting conflicting emotions.

Lizzie's heart pounds against her chest, "I don't want to be involved, that's why I was arguing with Henry"

"I believe you" He whispers he brings my hand up kissing the back of my knuckles.

Lizzie can't help but breathe a sigh of relief, she didn't realise how much of his opinion meant to her.

"I'm just looking for Lizzie, have you seen her?"

Lizzie immediately jumps back from Aiden as Kat's voice filters in from down the hallway.

"She went to go talk to her friend" She stops as she enters the room and spots Lizzie

"Oh Lizzie" She says surprise on spotting "Are you okay?" She asks, eying her brother suspiciously, he gives an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

"Omg Kat, Lizzie is fine, stop looking at me like I've done something wrong" Aiden responds casually, any guilt or anger from earlier had dissipated already. The moment between them already lost.

"I don't know but this isn't the first time you've lured a girl up to your room in the first ten minutes of the party"

He throws her a glare but Kat only laughs, "Lizzie, come on you're missing the party" Kat shakes her hands impatiently

Lizzie lets an easy smile slip on her face as she hops of the bed, carefully avoiding eye contact with Aiden. This was a party, she needed to have and not let the information from earlier affect her or the kiss to the back of her hands.

But without realising her eyes meet his as she walks over to Kat, Aiden's glare still rests on his face but his eyes silently ask if she's okay?

She gives a small subtle nod of her head before she follows Kat out.