9. I love the players.

"What if you are spying on me?" Archie smirked and closely observed her body language.

Niya prepared herself by giving pep talk in her mind and smiled confidently.

"Hmmm, King Everette, I am the Queen and this is my palace. I have all the rights to go anywhere without asking anyone's permission." She smiled confidently, the royalty was sparkling inside her dark brown eyes.

"Your Majesty, my apologies! May I know what was so important that you came all the way to my room? You could call me instead. Is there something important you wanted to discuss? Something private?" Archie chuckled sarcastically in a dark tone and took a step closer to her. She could even feel his warm breath and his dark scent.

''Well, I was here to discuss the date of coronation, I thought that vampires did not sleep so I thought you will be available at this time too." She sighed, patting herself mentally for finding the best excuse she could come up with.

"This is not Earth, sweetheart, where Edward is a vegan, shiny, and does not sleep." He smirked and leaned closer to her. "Here in this world, Edward drinks human blood and does not think twice before slaughtering a human for the sake of his hunger. And trust me, right now, this Edward is hungry and angry. A deadly combination." He whispered in her ears and chuckled.

Although Niya knew that he could not kill her but his deep husky voice was sending chills deep down in her spine. She was afraid of his dark personality. He could not kill her but he could definitely torture her.

"You're threatening Your Queen! You can be beheaded for this." She gulped and tried to cover her internal chaos. He was amused by her confidence. He chuckled at her wild attack of words.

"Hah! My bad! So? Let’s discuss for what you came here at this time of the day." Archie sat on the chair that was placed near his bed.

''Oh, yes! Well, umm, I have decided on the coronation date. 7th of January, it is my mom’s birthday." She declared while smiling.

"Oh? So you are telling me the date and not asking me, right?" Archie was still smiling with affection. He wanted to control himself but every time he stared at her face, the innocence in it kills the demon inside him. He never knew about this ‘sweet and caring’ side before meeting her.

''No!... No, we can change it if you have some problem with the date, I just want to make my mother's birthday special" She smiled with a tinge of sadness on her face.

"Oh, it’s perfectly fine with me but there is a problem." Archie scrunched his eyebrows while staring at the shiny golden floor.

''Problem? What kind of problem?" She asked while raising her eyebrows in sync. Archie sighed while staring at her.

"Ah… there’s a kind of training, a sort of ritual. It is a tradition that a royal has to go through the whole training process before the coronation. You know like horse riding, sword fighting skills, and many more activities. It is necessary for their own protection." He stared directly into her eyes. There was no concern on Niya's face. She smiled.

"Ok, let’s start this training as soon as possible because I am in no mood to change the date." She smirked proudly.

"But how can you learn all of this in just 4 days?" Archie sounded like someone asked him to donate both of his kidneys. He couldn’t believe she was suggesting such a thing.

"Trust me, Eve! I am a very good student." She smiled. ''Tomorrow morning 8:00 a.m.'' She said and left the room immediately. Archie was left to stare at her back while she left, closing the door behind her.

"Is she crazy? Stupid kitten." Archie sighed, whispering to himself and rolling his eyes.

***

The next morning, Niya was already waiting in the training ground when Archie arrived. She was pampering her white horse and Archie was smitten by her beauty.

"So? Is the Queen ready for a ride?" Archie smirked while walking towards her. She smiled back at him. "I was born to be ready, King Everette." She smirked and shrugged a bit.

"So? Do you know how to ride a horse?" Archie asked politely.

''Let's see." And she gracefully climbed on the horse, just like a true royal.

"So what do you think? Let’s have some fun. How about... racing to the endpoint of the ground?" She smirked, challenging him.

"Ah-ha, why not?" Archie rode the other horse and they were all set to start a race.

At the count of three, the race began. Niya's hair was slicked back gracefully with the wind like a Warrior Queen. She was at the back foot for the first minute but as soon as they were close to the boundary, she crossed Archie gracefully like a professional rider and winked at him. Niya was the declared winner of the race. It was the first time in Archie's life that somebody defeated him in horse riding as he was an expert in it from his childhood.

''So? In what other game would you like to lose next Eve?" Niya shrugged playfully. Now Archie was sure that she was an expert in every field and his opinion about her was wrong. He took her to the shooting room.

"Shooting?'' Niya jumped like a child in excitement. By her excitement, Archie already guessed she must be good at it. Niya wore protective glasses and earphones to avoid the noise and filled the Glock with bullets. In no time, she began shooting and watch as all the bullets were hitting the target, never missing the center. She smiled victoriously.

''How are you expert in all of these activities if you lived a life of a normal girl in your world?" Archie asked out of curiosity.

"Because I was raised like a crown princess by my Father." She proudly said with so many emotions running in her mind. She remembered the old days when her father used to force her to join summer camps of different activities like self-defense, sword fighting, shooting, horse riding, and many more. She was more interested in racing bikes and cars instead of these activities but she now understood why her father forced her to learn all of these activities.

''I joined so many summer camps where I learned these activities." She gulped her grief down her throat, trying to avoid the tears in her eyes.

''So, why didn’t you tell me in the first place that you didn’t need any training." Archie chuckled at his stupidity of underestimating her.

"Because I love the game." She teased him and smiled.

"I have a meeting with the council of ministers. I have to leave now." She smiled and left immediately. And just like last night, Archie was left to stare at her back, completely amazed by the Queen.

"Interesting, very interesting. So you love the game Niyanica? Don’t worry, I love players who love the game. His is going to be so much fun." Archie whispered to himself and chuckled.

***

At the Royal Court, all the Lords were discussing the titles and other formalities necessary after the coronation of the Queen.

"Your Grace, you have to decide the titles and of course, your maids of honor." Archie's mother said.

"Yes, Mrs. Everette and I would need your recommendation in regards to the maids of honor." Niya smiled. "About tittles, I am discussing it with Lord William, our Prime Minister." She smiled but Mrs. Everette was not so happy about William as she wanted that place for her son Archie.

"George! Please announce the date via media conference as soon as possible." She said to her assistant who was standing to her right. He bowed and left for the preparation of the conference. The rest of the meeting passed quickly, preparing formalities and other details.

Once it was finished, a tired Niya ordered that her dinner will be taken up to her room. She turned on the TV and saw George announcing her coronation date. She was feeling proud of herself for the first time in her life. Journalists were covering the public's point of view about the coronation.

*‘We are excited to see our Queen in her crown’, ‘I hope she would not disappoint us and will become a brilliant ruler’, ‘I hope she would do some good for minorities too’, ‘We are so much excited to see her as we heard she is very beautiful’*… All these people were expecting her to be a good queen and she was determined to do her best for them, for her dad.