I expected him to stand up, to trail after me and make his usual advances. Instead, he just laid on the bed with a half-grin digging into his cheek. I gave him a minute, but he still did not show any sign of moving.

"From the way you're staring me, I would think you wanted me to chase after you with this new piece of information." He practically read my mind, I huffed and looked the other way.

"It is in your character, and I am just relieved that you did not." I did my best to hide the half of me that was slightly disappointed. After the conversation I had with my baby sister, all I could think about is breaking down how I felt about the heir before me.

"Remember, you're the one who rejected me." He pointed out, his tone seeming more than indifferent.

"Please, you act as if you have never experienced rejection before." I crossed my arms over my chest, expecting an answer but only met with silence. "You have, right?"

"It's very easy for me to get the things that I want, people that I want."

"I doubt no one has ever told you no."

"I never said no one did. But I'm very stubborn, so I am willing to work past a rejection to get something I truly want." I matched his powerful gaze, almost predatory.

"Well you should be fine, I cannot be something you truly want. Just another girl, right?" My passive-aggressiveness slipped through the cracks of my tone, and he immediately caught on.

"Do you believe every rumor you read in the paper?" He scoffed.

"I believe in the behavior you have shown me." I retorted, he looked as if he was about to say something but remained tongue-tied. "I also believe in your lack of words."

"Would I have saved you," he shot up, thoroughly aggravated now. "If I didn't care about you in the least bit, I would have left you there with the rest of your family."

"How am I to know you did not have an ulterior motive?" I snapped back. "I may be idealistic, but do not take that for foolishness. For whatever reason, you want me to go against my parents. You may have had me on your side for a moment, but I will not continue to cross my family."

"Then your idealism is foolishness. I tell you the truth and they lie right to your face, you can continue to deny it all you want but it won't change the outcome of the future."

"What you think about my future is invalid, since you will not be anywhere near it." With this said, he finally stood up, and crossed over to me. Both of us were fuming, I could feel the raised temperature of his body heat mingling with mine. I attempted to push away, but he grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes, clouded with the smoke of a formidable fire in them.

"Is that truly what you believe, that decades from now I will never cross your thoughts again? Face it Amu, you crave this. You don't want anything less, you want someone who constantly challenges you and doesn't make it easy. You want passion, you want adventure, you want me." I could feel the air caught in my throat, my heart threatening to shatter through my ribs and escape. His grip on my chin lightening, his hand now traveling up to my cheek and the lids of his eyes traveling down. He did not seem as alert now, his dominance succumbing to a dull regret and a look of sympathy.

Meanwhile, tears were spilling over my eyes. I attempted to blink them away but with one that travelled down my cheek, two more followed. I knew he was right, Ikuto's stay here had left such an imprint on me that I was left to question everything about my beliefs. He had seen more sides of me than I allowed him too, simply because he had that effect on me. I could not say that when I am old and gray that he will never appear in my dreams, that I will not question my decisions if I do not end up with him. But I knew what I needed to say, what I want myself to believe.

"Do not confuse my want with need, I may want you but do not make it seem like I would not survive without you. I may have become more aware of who I meant to be because of you, and I thank you for that; but do not dare to tell me that you are the most passionate feeling I will feel. You know what I crave? I crave to be a ruler, to be the best queen this country has ever seen. That is my passion." I expected him to become angry with me, but a genuine smile grew on his face.

"You just answered your own question." He said in a hushed tone, his face coming rather close to mine.

"What?"

"You're not just another girl Amu. I've never met someone with such ambition as you. We may disagree on things such as your parents, but we both have a drive that sets us aside from others." Hearing him speak so affectionately towards me made me certain of my sanguine expression, I wanted to cover my face and duck away but I could not. Instead I was caught in his gaze, feeling completely unable to move.

"What is your drive Ikuto? What do you hope to accomplish?" I stared at him, and I saw the dull regret turn into a fierce one. His eyebrows furrowed, as if he was trying to make a choice about something. I felt my gut telling me something was wrong, that this raw moment was just a ruse for something bigger.

"I'm sorry Amu." I saw him reach into his pocket and pull out a drenched handkerchief, pressing it against my nostrils and my mouth. I tried not to breathe it in but it was too late, my vision blurring. The last thing I saw before fainting was the sight of his eyes, then a pitch black took over.

I woke up groaning, still feeling dazed and rather sluggish. I blinked away the haze, propping myself up on my elbows and looking at my surroundings. It seemed like a regular room, the walls painted a bleak green and minimal furniture. I was on a bed with a scratchy comforter, and there was a single and dim lamp to provide light. The room lacked windows, and there was a single door that was surprisingly ajar.

I could not waste any time, I stood up and tried to move forward but that is when I felt the tight cuff around my ankle that pulled me back. I looked down, seeing I was chained to the bed that was screwed into the floor.

"You have got to be kidding me." I muttered, I sat back down and placed my head in my hands. I recollected my memory, remembering Ikuto chloroforming me after our intimate moment; which I know now was just planned. I could understand that much, but my concern now was why? I know I should be afraid, I was unconscious for god knows how long and chained in a place I have never been in before. Yet, all I could feel was sheer anger.

"You're up, that's good." I heard and snapped my head up, seeing that man Nagihiko I met before. "I would have Ikuto talk to you instead, but I think you couldn't care less about his familiarity right now."

"Where am I and who are you?" I tried to challenge him by getting in his face but the chain held me back.

"Am I that forgettable? I introduced myself to you before." He pouted, I felt my blood boil.

"You know what I meant." I snapped and he chuckled. He grabbed the single wooden chair in the room and sat on it, a good inch away from the radius I could travel in.

"I got your note back Amu, I am simply complying to your wish to help us." He smirked.

"I was right, you are a part of The Phoenixes." I breathed out.

"You're clever, no wonder he recommended you to us." Nagihiko left the pronoun to be vague, but I already knew better.

"So is Ikuto, is he not?" I questioned, he did not respond. "Of course he is, why else would he be so intrigued with me?"

"Don't sell yourself short, he watched you whenever he could during the two days that you were passed out." He told me and my eyes widened.

"Two days? Where the hell am I, I demand that you tell me!" I exclaimed, and now his amused expression fell.

"You're not really in a place to make demands, are you princess?" He stated my title scornfully, but I expected no less from someone in the rebel group.

"So you locked me here to serve no purpose?" I shook my leg, the rattling of the chain filled the room.

"If you served no purpose, then you'd be dead by now." He gave me a meek smile, and I felt myself swallow down a lump in my throat. "I didn't expect you to wake up so late, so I've lost most of the time I planned with you. I'll have to return you soon since your guards are going rampant trying to find you.

"Let's start with this, your parents have been manipulating you since were a child, I wouldn't be surprised if they orchestrated your first steps."

"I do not need another Ikuto telling me how evil my parents are. I regret handing back that note, and I will take no part in betraying them." I crossed my arms over my chest and he scoffed.

"What a blind follower, your parents should start their own religion." He reached towards the nightstand and opened a drawer, pulling out a folder. "The great thing about keeping every record online is that it is so easily hacked."

"What is that?" I raised a brow.

"Well look who's suddenly intrigued. Your country is in a massive debt Amu, and it is spiraling more and more by the week."

"There is no way, Dragran is rich with jewels."

"Healthy skepticism, I like it. Your country predicted your mines would grow empty by the 2000's, and would you look at what year it is?" He skimmed through the folder, glancing once over it to track my reactions.

"Mines do not just grow empty." I knew he felt my lack of confidence in that statement, and he was feeding on that.

"They do when you strip them dry to fund one of the largest and most chaotic wars that have ever taken place in the late 1800's. Have you ever wondered how Dragran has gained so much land?" I could not find any words, one side of my mind felt like defending my parents to my death, and the other side was telling me that I was finally get the answers I have been searching for.

"Through military force, through conquest. So perhaps you should stop reading that textbook of yours and pick up a reliable source." He spat.

"You are telling me that my parents kept a war from me, that seems a little absurd." I felt my anger rise again, I could not believe I was kidnapped to be fed lies.

"That's why you're not allowed out of the castle, to make sure you never learn of these things. Your parents already slipped up with the age rule." He brought up and I opened my mouth to protest, but no words came to my defense. "Well I suppose this meeting was only to stir up some thoughts in that brainwashed head of yours. For now I need you to keep up the act of a loyal daughter."

"You trust me enough to go back, and if I report you?" I threatened.

"Then you will never figure out the truth and what is best for this country, only what your parents want you to believe. I know you wouldn't risk giving that up." This confident man pushed the chair against the wall, the slamming noise alerting someone who I assume has been standing in the hall this entire time. "You will earn my trust with your behavior in the castle, and with that you will get more information."

"That is it? You really went through all of this to tell me some fairy-tales with zero evidence?" I pulled on the chain again, the tightness of the cuff aggravating my skin.

"Wake up sooner next time. Farewell Amu." He approached the person who was previously in the hall and whispered something in their ear. It was a male, with broad shoulders and narrow eyes.

"Also Amu, you're going to tell everyone that Ikuto found you and saved you from some abandoned house." Hearing his name made me flinch, I peered my eyes at the leader of the group and he winked at me. As soon as he left, the man just stood there with his arms crossed and eyes locked on me. The first couple of minutes were uncomfortable, but I grew used to his beady eyes.

I could not turn back anymore, I was involved with this group now and as equally guilty to treason as them. It hurt to know I would be stabbing my parents in the back, but I had to know the truth. How could they hide a war from me? And if that was true, how much more history did they alter to meet their agenda?

I heard footsteps and raised my head, expecting the long-haired boss but instead I saw the man who brought this upon me. Now he was dressed in the same black gear that Nagihiko wore, but with an expression far different than his.

"Amu." He breathed out, as if he had not seen me in years. I wanted to be free of my restraint, I wanted to scream at him for going behind my back for so long. Even with these murderous thoughts, my heart raced at the sight of him and I felt a certain relief cause my shoulders to slack.

"Ikuto." I stared at him from across the room, and we both took each other in for while. Our eyes never let the others as we tried to figure out what we wanted to say.