I shot up, my eyes flying open to see Felix glaring at me from the open doorway. He was so silent, I hadn’t even heard him come upstairs. I blinked. “I didn’t think anyone was living in this room, so I thought I’d claim it.” Your fucking majesty, I added in my head.

“Well, it’s mine. And I don’t like people in it. You can claim the white room across the hall.” He leaned against the doorframe, his height making the small space seem even smaller.

I held my hands up. “Whatever.” I got to my feet, glowering at him as I tried to squeeze back out into the hall.

I stopped halfway through the doorway, tilting my chin to look up at him. “There was a doorway in the foyer. Behind the stairs, but it was locked. What’s in there?”

“Don’t go near that door ever again. Do you hear me?” Felix was tense, ready to pounce, which only made me more curious about what he was hiding behind the door.

“Is it dangerous?”

He gritted his teeth. “No. But it’s not for you. You will not try to open it again. Understood?”

“Fine,” I snapped, and turned to leave once more. I wasn’t sure if I was more angry or annoyed at this point, but neither emotion was something I wanted to share with his Highness. “You know what, no. No.”

Felix rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “No, what?”

“You can’t boss me around, and think I’ll go along with it. If we’re going to really be stuck with each other for the rest of our lives, you need to know you can’t tell me what to fucking do.” I narrowed my eyes, but my heart was pumping, racing with the thrill of standing up to him.

He raised his eyebrow and leaned forward, caging me in the doorway with an arm on either side. “Oh, darling. You see, I can do just that. Because this is my fucking house. You being trapped in here doesn’t make this any less my house. So you’ll listen to me with a smile on your pretty little face, and say nothing.”

I leaned into his body, invading his space like he invaded mine. “You can’t possibly be serious.” The air between us was thick, charged with the tension of two people who didn’t want to back down. Felix would be sorry he ever challenged me. I may have looked sweet on the outside, but on the inside, I had to claw my way back from Hell one too many times to put up with his bullshit.

Felix smirked, saying nothing. The smirk irritated me more than anything, annoying me even more with how good his chiseled face looked with the cruel expression. Our faces lingered inches apart, and it was impossible to differentiate one angry breath from the other.