No One's POV
Anastasia wandered down the halls of Volterra towards the gardens taking a break from school, Alec following along behind her, something that had become an even more normal occurrence after the permanent return of Sulpicia and Athenodora only a few weeks ago.
Jane, returning from a shopping trip in Volterra city, at first does not notice her Queen, greeting her brother instead.
"Hello Alec." Jane chimes.
"Hello sister." Alec says.
"Hello Jane." Anastasia says, greeting the older twin.
"Oh, my Queen. My apologies." Jane quickly says, averting her eyes and bowing lightly.
"It's fine. There is no need to apologize." Anastasia waves off. "Come back from a shopping trip?"
"Yes, my Queen." Jane answers.
"Find anything cute?" Anastasia asks, genuinely interested; she loved shopping, she just didn't get to do so anymore, at least not outside the walls of the Volterra castle.
The Kings still hadn't allowed her out of the castle and honestly she was going crazy, feeling like she was suffocating, the walls of Volterra closing in around her. But despite her arguing and, she hated to admit it, but temper tantrums, they had yet to give in.
Jane hesitates, staring at her Queen for a brief moment before setting her bag down and picking out a shirt to hold it up for her Queen to see.
"Oh, that's really very cute. It will look nice on you, Jane." Anastasia compliments with a smile, a small sigh afterwards. She really missed shopping.
"Thank you, my Queen." Jane says, placing it back in the bag. "I also got a few other things… If you'd want to see them?"
"Sure." Anastasia smiles, happy that she seemed to be getting somewhere with the blonde twin. She didn't think Jane liked her all too much.
Alec groans lightly, following after his sister and Queen. Jane could go on for hours about clothes. Her closet was like exploding. Honestly, he had no clue why girls needed that much stuff.
"You can go do something else if you'd like, Alec. Jane is also a part of my Guard, so I'm told. And either way, I am perfectly safe within the castle." Anastasia offers, gently patting Alec's arm.
"It's alright, my Queen." Alec answers, still following along.
Alec honestly wasn't sure what drew him so much to his Queen.
At first, when he first saw her, he honestly dismissed her as nothing more than the Masters' new mate, the Queen he would now have to protect.
Then, she had come into the training room with Felix and he had really focused on her. She was beautiful. But not in the way that he knew would get him probably dismembered and burned faster than he could blink, his status on the Guard or not. There was this pull to her, a charismatic vibe, and warmth that surrounded her that prompted him to go over to her and introduce himself.
Soon enough he found himself following her around, wanting to spend time with her, and figure whatever made him drawn to her. Jane didn't like it much, but he didn't care what she wanted. He was his own person too.
He had finally figured it out, a secret he would keep, knowing the new Queen probably wouldn't like it. She reminded him of a mother. A nice one, a loving one. One he thought, maybe, just maybe it would have been nice to have.
"Alright, Alec. Well, if you want to leave you can. But you can stay too." Anastasia smiles one last time at Alec before turning attention back to Jane.
"Thank you." Alec says faintly.
Jane laid out her things on her bed, shopping bags now strewn messily around her room.
"You have really nice taste, Jane." Anastasia compliments after Jane has shown her everything she has bought. "I like this shirt a lot."
"Thank you, my Queen." Jane says, looking actually happy for once.
"Next time you're out, would you mind picking me up a few things? Just a couple new shirts. I'm honestly getting tired of my wardrobe. I'm a little bigger in size. I could give you my sizes though, or if you can remember them off the top of your head. I'm horrible at remembering stuff like that." Anastasia asks. "The Kings don't want me out anymore… I miss shopping… Anyways, the Kings will reimburse you, of course. So you don't need to worry about that."
"I wouldn't mind, my Queen." Jane answers automatically, a little amused as well. The Guard also had a lot of money, not just the Kings, after all, centuries was a long time to exist. "And I can remember."
"Great! Well I'll leave you to whatever you were going to do. It was nice to talk to you, Jane."
"My Queen." Jane says lightly.
Anastasia walks out, heading towards the gardens once more, Alec following after her.
Later that night when Volterra was quiet, Anastasia sleeping with her mates lying beside her, and Alec was lounging in his room mindlessly playing video games when Jane bursts in.
"Well hello to you, sister." Alec deadpans, pausing his game.
"Alec, what the hell was I thinking!?" Jane hisses, throwing her hands up in the air before tugging on a stray strand of her blonde hair.
"Umm… Well, you'll have to be a little more specific sister. You do a lot of stupid things. Like remember that time wh-" Alec starts when Jane cuts him off with a hiss. "Geeshe. Someone's pissy."
"Shut up, Alec! You're not helping! I'm going to fail. And the Masters are going to kill me! This is how I die. Oh god! Why did I agree to this!? You have to help me." Jane says, pacing in front of his bed.
"Jane, seriously. I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Use your small words." Alec snarks.
Jane glares at her brother.
"I'm talking about what the Queen asked me to do! I'm going to fail. Then she'll get mad and I'm going to get in trouble. You know her better than I do. Help. Me." Jane demands, actually looking worried.
"You're serious? That's what you're worried about?" Alec bursts out laughing.
"This isn't funny, Alec! She trusted me to do this! And I'm going to fail!" Jane hisses.
"You're not going to fail, Jane. Sure, maybe she did ask you to do this. But I doubt she's going to get mad if you get her something she doesn't like. You'll just have to take it back." Alec rolls his eyes.
"Alec." Jane whines.
"Okay, okay fine. Ugh, you're so annoying. Aren't I supposed to be the annoying one?" Alec sighs, wondering exactly what he was getting himself into.
Jane grins triumphantly.
"Thank you. You know her better than I do, Alec." Jane says quietly.
"That isn't my fault Jane, and you know it." Alec reminds.
"I know."
"Well maybe this is your chance." Alec offers.
"If I don't fail." Jane adds.
"Don't be so melodramatic, Jane."
Edited 2/10/19
