**Two weeks later**

I haven't eaten in fourteen days; fifteen, counting the day I found out that the King killed my parents. Though, I assume the Queen to be equally involved, despite what she claims.

Two days into my lockdown, James sent Hannah with a plate of warm food and mug of hot chocolate. I could only tell it was warm because I felt its heat when I walked up to my bedroom door.

Although I did like Hannah, or at least I liked to think I did, I turned her away when she repeatedly and desperately tried to offer me food. Much to my surprise, it actually escalated to the point where Hannah was threatening to admit me to the hospital wing if I didn't take the food. In response, I kindly informed her that I could last twenty-one days without food; I read that somewhere in a magazine, and she hasn't bothered me since.

So, imagine my surprise when I woke up to the sound of my door being unlocked.

"I brought you food," a stern old lady said in a very unforgiving voice.

"I don't want it." I stated firmly, crossing my arms over my chest as I raised myself to lean against the headboard of my bed.

She easily ignored me, pushing in a cart with a large pile of food stacked on top of a silver plate and a variety of beverages on the side, one of them being peppermint hot chocolate.

"If that boy of yours and Conner didn't care about you so much, your own stubbornness would get you killed," she said disapprovingly, pushing the cart so it was directly next to my bed on the side I had been sleeping on.

I rolled my eyes.

"A person can go-"

She cut me off with a glare.

"...Twenty-one days without food? Hannah informed me. And I know that you know as an intelligent woman, because surely the woman who has been matched to his royal highness has to be intelligent, knows that that statement is a bunch of nonsense." She suddenly paused, taking on a softer, mother-like tone. "You don't need to punish yourself for the King's actions. That kind of destructive behavior won't make you feel any better; it doesn't hurt the King; it only hurts the people who care about you, as well as yourself."

I twisted my face in disdain and turned my head away so I didn't have to look at her.

"Why do you care?" I grumbled to the older lady.

"Because," she said softly. "You don't deserve to be punished for something you couldn't control. You deserve to move on and find happiness in spite of your parent's unfortunate passing.... Your parents wouldn't want you to make yourself miserable over their deaths," she said with sincerity.

I hesitantly turned towards the old woman with a singular tear slipping down my cheek.

"You sound like my mother," I whispered softly in a longing tone.

She gave me a kind smile, and reached to put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

Maybe if she had come a few days earlier, I would have taken this time to break down into her arms, crying my eyes out to comfort myself and draw away the pain. But the need to cry had long since passed, overcome with a lasting feeling of sadness that tinged almost every object I set my eyes on, including the stars because they reminded me that my parents' souls were bright lights that would never burn out.

So, instead of crying when the old lady comfortingly touched my shoulder, I gave her a grateful smile and nodded.

I would eat for the kind lady.

***

"This banana bread is incredible!" I gushed as I devoured my second piece.

The kind lady chuckled as she leaned against the wall across from me.

"Thank you. It is a family recipe that has been passed down for generations. Don't tell Hannah, but I'd like to think my recipe tastes better than hers," she winked jokingly.

I lightly laughed, and gave her a wide grin.

"Your secret is safe with me," I smiled, before reaching for the mug of peppermint hot chocolate. I sighed in pure bliss when the sweet liquid trickled down my throat, just as delicious as the first time.

She smiled delightfully at me for a few seconds, before her gaze shifted uncomfortably away from me. It looked as though she was thinking about something hard..., almost frustrating.

I took large sips of my hot drink, making glances in her direction every so often, trying to come up with something that she could possibly be thinking so hard about, but, not to my surprise, I came up with nothing.

After a long moment of silence, the lady quickly looked up to make eye contact with me, and gave me a very odd look.

"You shouldn't be so hard on the Prince," she started.

I fell just short of spitting out the liquid in my mouth to the floor.

"If you want to hate him or avoid him, that's fine," she said calmly. "But don't do it because of your feelings regarding parents. That isn't fair to him, or you," she said more firmly with the slightest hint of authority.

My mouth gaped open in shock.

I wasn't expecting that talk; especially, from her.

"No offense..." I said softly, drawing my voice out as my curiosity got the best of me. "But why do you care about my relationship with the prince?" I wondered curiously.

"Well," she smiled. "I doubt you are aware of this, considering you spent the last two weeks quite literally locked inside of this very room, but since you've last set foot outside of this room...rumors have started going around the ship that you and the Prince are in a relationship."

I raised my eyebrows suspiciously, while also maintaining the front of confusion.

"In a relationship...?" I drew suspiciously.

"Engaged...?" she drawled casually in a voice that was far too calm for my liking.

I spit out my drink onto the floor.

Fortunately, I missed the old woman, but I certainly wouldn't have complained if I hadn't.

"What?!" I yelled, after promptly leaving a puddle of saliva filled hot chocolate on the wooden floor.

The lady rolled her eyes and sighed in a frustrated manner, almost as if our upcoming conversation had exhausted her before even taking place.

"...Well, the staff does tend to gossip and spread rumors, so it really isn't that surprising. Once one of them got word that the Prince found his mate, you were doomed to be the subject of rumors and excitable gossip, I'm afraid." She paused to give me a curious glance. "But...are the rumors really such a bad thing?" My mouth widened in shock and protest as if I was about to speak, but she continued anyway. "I know you don't like the King or Queen at the moment; Ja-the Prince mentioned that, but is it really that terrible? Especially if it is bound to eventually happen by fate anyway?"

My mouth immediately dropped shut. I twisted up the corners of my mouth, trying to understand how this lady could find rumors among the ship staff about a false engagement to the Prince not bad, or terrible, or anything that remotely made sense for the situation at hand.

"...I don't understand," I finally confessed even though I really didn't want to. "I'm not engaged to the Prince, neither will I ever be, so how can rumors about a false engagement be useful or at the very least, not terrible?"

She rubbed her chin calmly for a moment, and raised an eyebrow at me slightly.

"...Well, I suppose I can understand where you're coming from; since, technically, you aren't engaged to the Prince yet," she spilled out slowly as she continued to carefully choose her words. "However, it is very rare for two genetically matched people to not end up together; so honestly, if I were you, I wouldn't bother myself with the gossip. Besides, it gives the people something to be excited about!" She exclaimed cheerfully, before giving me a knowing look. "You aren't the only person to resent the King."

"Oh," I slipped, an expression of shock taking over my face.

"Yes, dear. Not too many people are content with the decisions the King and Queen have been making over the past few centuries, though it has been the King more than the Queen...." She quickly picked up where she left off. "It is no secret that their son isn't in line with their beliefs, anyone who has ever met the lad would know that, so it should be no surprise to you that the people are eager for new leaders to take reign." She gave me a not-so-discreet wink and smirked. "You have more support on this ship, young lady, than you could possibly imagine, and it would be an awful shame if you died of starvation of all things," she joked, but I could tell there was a serious undertone to her words.

"Perhaps a great war? Aliens v.s. Humans, the fight to win it all. ...Would that be considered an honorable death," I joked in a very calm and casual voice.

The lady who-used-to-be kind walked across the room in one easy stride and lightly smacked me on the arm in scolding.

"That is not funny. Don't you dare joke about dying, young lady," she said in a far too serious and mother-like tone.

"You're no fun!" I grumbled as I plopped down onto my bed; a new wave of exhaustion filling my body.

The lady shook her head disapprovingly, as if I was some untamed child, and sighed.

"You may rest for a few more hours, but around one, Conner will be showing up to take you to a very important meeting."

"A meeting?" I said bored in a tired voice. "I thought those were a military thing?"

"They are." She said in a very serious voice.

I raised my head up from the mattress, raising an eyebrow questioningly at her.

"I'm not in the military," I said slowly in a very firm and suspicious tone.

Why on earth would someone want me at a military meeting? 

Surely this isn't future-Queen training; since, technically I still haven't known the Prince for more than two days.

She smirked, obviously amused by my statement.

"I'm aware."

"So why do I have to go to a military meeting?" I pried in a hard voice, annoyed by the idea that Conner wants me to go to a meeting that I have no business being at.

"I don't know," she said in a frustrated voice. "I am just the translator, okay? Conner just asked me to give you the message when I came to deliver the food; speaking of which...." She looked up, giving me a guilty look before she sighed in exasperation. "I'm afraid that I've overstayed my welcome. I was supposed to return to the kitchen an hour ago," she said with an amused smirk.

"I'm sorry," I said, giving her a sheepish smile; even though, deep down, much like my time with Conner, I knew I couldn't regret it.

"You're fine, dear," she said with a genuine and kind smile. "But I better get going."

I smiled kindly back at her.

"Of course."

***

Before she left, I made sure to ask the kind lady her name, which was apparently Mrs. Hox, though she told me I could call her Mary. I also chose to kindly thank her; since, without her, I was certain that I would be in the same depressing and starving state I was in before she arrived.

After Mary left, I made sure to clean up the food dish she left for me in case I got hungry in my bathroom sink. She took the cart along with the beverages and the rest of the food with her, so it didn't take very long to gently rinse off the empty silver platter. 

Once I was satisfied with the clean plate, I left it to dry on the edge of the marble sink, and I poured myself a nice cold glass of water from the tap, like I had done for the past two weeks.

I wasn't stupid enough to deprive myself of water.

I spent the remainder of my morning laying down in my bed, staring at the stars, trying to convince myself to disassociate the stars from my parents' souls, which was somewhat successful and more than I could have asked for.

***

Eventually after a few more hours of nonstop stargazing, one o'clock rolled around.

Conner quietly knocked on my door, unlike the pounding he had performed in the earlier days of my lockdown.

When I walked out of my door in a dark purple dress I had slipped on half-an-hour beforehand, a familiar figure was leaning silently against the wall next to my door frame.

And based off of the blank and distant expression printed on Conner's face, staring as if he didn't actually see me, but instead, he was staring off into some far and distant universe; I immediately knew that something was gravely wrong.

AN: Ah... there is so much stuff coming up in the next chapter, and I'm willing to bet you will have never seen it coming! Sorry if this chapter is more bland, it was kinda hard to top the last chapter, but if you look in between the lines you actually learn quite a bit about the world.

I mainly glimpsed over things but you learned the people don't like the King or Queen. The whole concept of genetically matched mates was mentioned...interesting....

So essentially in conclusion, this chapter was necessary built-in fluff leading up to the epic next chapter, which I am super excited to write! But hopefully you guys enjoyed the fluff, I do try to make it as interesting and funny as possible.

Also, for clarification, Elena could survive fifteen days without food because she was drinking water from the tap in her bathroom. It wasn't terribly important to the story which is why I didn't explicitly mention it, but in case you were wondering, that's how.

Lastly, I know I've said this many times before, but thank you so much for taking the time to read my book. I truly hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Feel free to leave what you think will happen next, I enjoy seeing your theories...also, feel free to suggest what you want to happen next...there might be a way for me to subtly add it in the future if it wasn't already planned ;)

Thank you so much for continuing with me for eight chapters, it truly means the world to me. As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to enjoy the story as it unfolds.

Stay tuned for more updates in the near future :)

-Elly6431