What Do You Want To Do Now?

Repeated sighs escaped her lips as she tossed and turned restlessly. Earlier, after freshening up, she had dinner and went upstairs to sleep as she was very tired from the day's activities.

Despite feeling fatigued, she couldn't close her eyes to sleep because each time she tried to, several images that happened in real life and her nightmares would flash through her eyes. It felt like she was reliving those hurtful memories.

And she couldn't stop thinking about everything she witnessed when she attended her funeral.

Just when she felt overwhelmed, she sat up and climbed out of bed. She slipped into her comfy footwear and walked out of the room, heading downstairs.

After descending the staircase, she went to the kitchen. She paused at the door and scrutinized the surroundings with the help of the light bulbs before walking in.

The kitchen was well decorated with cool colours: the floors, the walls and the furniture. It was spotless and well organised. Since it was late, she was the only one in the large kitchen because the few workers in the palace had all retired to their quarters.

She proceeded to take a bottle of water from the fridge and walked out. As she held the water bottle, she contemplated whether to go back to sleep or sit there. In the end, she chose the latter.

She sat in the sitting area and took a sip of the water, loving the soothing feeling it brought to her slightly sore throat. After drinking, the feeling of boredom crept into her. She looked around aimlessly and sighed.

She wondered why she hadn't gotten a new phone. Then she remembered she had no access to her money right then. She sighed and slumped back onto the sofa, closing her eyes.

"Aurora?" Logan's husky voice sounded as he stood at a little distance from her.

She was startled and she quickly sat up vigilantly. Only after knowing that it was him, did she calm down and sighed in relief.

"Logan? You're still awake?" She asked.

"I was working. And, I should be asking you; why are you still awake?" He asked while sitting on the same sofa.

He heard movements on the staircase while he was working in his home study. He knew the workers had left earlier. So, he guessed that it could either be Aurora or one of the workers who returned for whatever reason.

He went downstairs to see if it was her, and he met her sitting alone with her eyes closed. He wondered what was going through her mind.

She rested her back and replied, "I couldn't sleep."

"I would have been surprised if you could." He replied, with a smirk. He knew she had been having nightmares since she woke up. That was enough to make her unable to sleep.

Yet she attended the funeral for whatever reason she had. He could imagine what she witnessed: someone else was buried in her name and those pretentious duo put up an act in public. The exact reason why he didn't go when he was invited.

She raised an eyebrow. She expected him to ask her why she couldn't sleep even though she knew that he might have figured it out. That's what anyone else would ask, right?

"It's the truth," he said plainly.

Silence ensued, their minds reeling with thoughts about each other.

Aurora sighed and broke the silence, "You don't want to know what happened? Or do you already know?"

Logan shrugged and replied, “Know what? What do I need to know?"

"How I ended up like this?" She replied in a low voice.

Logan sat up, looking straight at her face. "I want to know everything that happened. But I won't force you to tell me or investigate it myself. I want you to tell me when you're ready."

"It's nothing much. I was just so stupid and gullible that I ignored the signs and let them play me. I didn't to protect myself from them because I trusted them too much. And they betrayed me." She explained, hiding the hurt in her voice.

He still noticed but chose to remain silent and allow her to continue talking.

"They wanted everything I had: my throne, my inheritance, and everything else. I was in their way, and they just had to take me out..." She narrated everything that happened, masking her true emotions.

"What do you want to do now?" Logan asked when she was done. He knew she had something in mind and he wanted to know what it was.

Aurora looked straight into his eyes, hurt and rage evident in her hazel eyes, and she slowly declared, "If they could do this to me, then I can do even worse. I'm not a saint. I won't let them have their way."

Logan smiled. He expected this.

"How do you intend to do that?" He asked.

"I haven't figured it out yet. But I'm not a useless heiress. I know some people who could help me at a price." She replied.

Logan frowned when he heard the last part of her words. "At what price?"

Aurora realized that he might have misunderstood her words.

"Lunarmoon has what they want and I can negotiate to get what I want. As long as it's not to the detriment of my people." She explained.

"And you think I can't help you?" He asked, maintaining a frown.

"No, no, Logan you've done enough for me already. It's enough that I owe you my life and still don't know how to repay you. And you let me stay here. I can't let you help me." She declined.

"You don't owe me anything. I did what I was supposed to do. I mean, what are acquaintances for?" He asked, smiling.

Aurora smiled and tried to refute.

"I want to help you however I can." He insisted.

"You've done enough, Logan." She still tried to refute him.

"Who says I don't want something in return?" He said, smiling ambiguously.

Aurora paused and asked, "What do you want?"

Logan stood up, walked towards her, and offered his right hand. She placed her small hand on his big hand and he helped her up.

"It's late. Go to bed. We'll conclude this in the morning." He said.