"๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ
๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ
๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ฉ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด
๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง,
๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด
๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต"
- ๐๐ป๐ธ๐ฏ๐ช๐ท๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ป๐ท๐ธ๐ท
*Aro's POV*
Looking down at the sleeping angel in my arms, I have never been more at peace. While she may look like my beloved Genevieve, Elizabeth has already shown how different they truly are. Where Genevieve was more carefree and spontaneous, Elizabeth evidently prefers to plan everything but they both seem to care greatly for those closest to them. Even their personalities are mostly opposite. Elizabeth is much more reserved than Genevieve ever was.
Risking the slight chance of waking her, I lightly down her face and kissed her forehead before tucking the loose hair away from her face. As she began to stir, I smiled in complete bliss while she curled up on my chest. I knew that even if she woke up and decided to walk out of my life, at least I would die happy with this being our last moment together. Once she had settled, there was a soft knock on the door. Thankfully, it didn't wake her as I called for whoever it was to enter. I nodded as Heidi stuck her head in and smiled at us before quietly coming in with various shopping bags.
"Everything is her size and style thanks to Annabeth giving some input. Where should I put these?" She asked and I gestured to the closet before turning my attention back to my mate. "If that is all?" Quickly waving her off, my eyes refused to leave her face. Annoyingly, there was a louder knock on the door followed by the shouting of her friend.
"Liz, stop moping and come out of the room! You can't hide from your problems forever, you know." I didn't answer anything past a growl that her ears couldn't possibly hear until I was shocked into silence by Elizabeth nuzzling my chest and draping her leg over mine. I thought she had possibly woken up, but her eyes stayed closed and her breathing even. "That's it, I'm coming in!" As she threw open the door, I glared at her as her eyes widened in shock.
"What do you want?" She opened and shut her mouth a few times before shaking her head.
"I'll see myself out." I couldn't help the small smirk as she turned and fled the room, leaving the door wide open behind her. The next person who dares come into this room uninvited is going to be sent straight to Caius. And as if on cue, my annoying brother strolled in without a care that my mate was still asleep on my chest.
"Good to see she decided to stay. Now if she can get your ego in check." He laughed loudly as he spoke causing Elizabeth to stir a bit before settling.
"Would you keep your voice down! And for your information, she hasn't decided anything yet. She had a rough night and asked for me to stay with her." I held back a growl as I lowly chastised him which he returned with another chuckle.
"And yet she clings to you like a child while wearing your clothes. She may not have said it aloud, much less admitted it to herself, but it is obvious that she cares for you." He sarcastically replied as I rolled my eyes at him.
"Why are you here Caius?" It took everything inch of patience I had to not move my mate off of me to personally throw him out of the room.
"I just came to see what was taking you so long. You are normally never late to the trials, much less missing half the day." He said as he dropped himself onto my couch. Was it really that late in the day?
"If that was all, don't let the door hit you on the way out." I gave him a pointed look and he raised his hands in mock surrender but didn't make a move to leave.
"The rest of us would like the chance to meet her as well, brother. Try not to take up all of her time here." How I wish I could smack the smug look off of his arrogant face.
"Well, if everyone would leave us alone for more than five minutes so we can have an actual conversation, then it wouldn't be a problem. And in case you have forgotten in your age, she only got here yesterday. I will not rush things with her, nor will I let you try to pressure her into staying." By now, I was just ready for him to take the hint and leave, but that is always too much to ask of Caius. Not even Athenadora, try as she may, can rein him in.
"All I'm trying to say is that if you wait too long you could lose her all over again, and none of us want to deal with your mopey self for the next three millennia. It was bad enough the first time around." That finally did it and I launched one of the pillows at him without disturbing my mate in the process, and I growled a bit as he caught it effortlessly.
"Just get out. She will wake when she is ready, and if one more person comes into this room for anything less than an absolute emergency, I will personally see to it that they spend time in the dungeons." Normally threats of that magnitude were more of Caius' specialty, but I was getting irate that my time with my new mate was being continually interrupted.
"Fine, but that human receptionist is getting impatient and Felix is quite cross with you for offending his mate." He replied as he got up and went towards the door, much to my relief. He made sure I saw his mocking smirk before shutting the door behind him a little louder than necessary. How this exceptional woman can manage to sleep through everything that has happened so far is a mystery to me. Genevieve would wake at the smallest of sounds, but it seems that it would take a lot more to rouse my beautiful angel. I really need to stop comparing them, clearly Marcus was right that they are two vastly different people and I need to get that into my head before I scare her off. The distinct ring of the bell tower in the distance chimed noon and I knew that I would regretfully have to wake her so she could at least sleep tonight.
"Elizabeth, darling, it's time to get up." I tried to gently wake her, which resulted in her mumbling and her clutching tighter to me. With a small laugh, I let my hand gently run down her side as I kissed her temple. "Tesoro, it is noon. If you sleep too much later, you won't be able to sleep tonight."
"Don't care." She mumbled as she rolled on top of me, effectively straddling my waist. I sat frozen, stunned by the action, all the while she kept her eyes closed and pulled the covers back over us. Feeling her nuzzle back into my chest, she let out a breathy giggle as she pulled my arms to where she wanted them and in my shell-shocked state, I allowed her to do as she pleased. She guided one of my arms up to her back, but I was completely shocked as she left the other on her bare thigh.
"Eli, are you sure you're okay with where you put my hand?" By now I could tell she was waking up more, but her words surprised me.
"If you don't like it, then feel free to remove it." She said mockingly, but her rough morning voice made it sound more like a moaned rasp and I had to fight the urge to flip us over. If she was okay with it, then so be it. Who was I to refuse my Lady?
"Do you plan on getting up any time soon, mia cara?" I hesitantly asked and earned a huff of annoyance from her.
"No. Now hush before my brain wakes up fully and decides this was a dumb idea." I swear, she can be as sassy as Caius is and I dread the day they team up for something or any of their future arguments. Letting the conversation drop, I relaxed into the affection she was giving me and tightened my hold on her slightly. Feeling her smirk against my chest, I sighed as I realized just how much of a little minx she could be if she wanted to be. After a quick kiss to the top of her head, I decided to run my fingers through her hair while she pretended to be asleep on my chest. When my hand caught on a small knot, I tried to pull it free which only resulted in a soft moan and the smell of her growing arousal from the action. In an instant, my hands left her body causing her eyes to flutter open in confusion.
"What's wrong?" She asked as she leaned up to look at my stunned expression. "Did I do something wrong?" How could she possibly think that?
"No, Tesoro. You did nothing wrong. I just don't want you to feel like we are rushing anything." Her eyes softened as she smiled at me before she leaned up to kiss me. The spark I felt could have restarted my undead heart with as strong as it felt and my hands had a mind of their own as they moved back to their previous places on her body, pulling her closer to me. For just a moment, I forgot my sense of propriety as I sat us up, so she was straddling me while she deepened the kiss. As her hands found the buttons of my shirt, I moved to leave open-mouthed kisses down her neck. Thankfully before we forgot ourselves entirely, a loud pounding at the door pulled us back to reality. Letting my head stay nuzzled into her neck, her bell-like laughter rung through the room.
"Yes?" The doors were thrown open and, of course, her best friend stormed in.
"Liz, it is well past noon. Why in gods' name are you still-" Not even bothering to look at her, I smirked as her rant stopped mid-thought. Pulling a move out of Caius' book, I lightly nipped at Eli's neck making her suck in a breath. "Still standing right here, guys."
"Annabeth, I love you like a sister, but now is clearly not a good time." I had to hold in my own laugh as my beautiful mate breathily sassed her without even turning to look at her, which earned her an annoyed huff in return. "Unless you want to see a lot more of me than you bargained for, I'll see you at dinner." Cheeky thing,
"Not like I haven't seen it all before, Liz." In a daring move that quite honestly surprised me as much as it probably did her friend, she reached between us and quickly undid the four buttons holding the shirt closed on her small frame before sliding it off completely and threw it in the direction of her friend. To keep my eyes from wandering, I kept my head where it was but nipped at her neck a little harder but not enough to break to the skin and I laughed a little as she swatted at my shoulder in response. "What has gotten into you, Elizabeth?"
"Nothing, yet." This littleโฆ
"Okay, TMI. Fine, I'll take the hint, but we are having a long talk at dinner." Thankfully, she didn't wait for a response and slammed the door closed behind her muttering about finding her mate.
"Now that that is over, where were we?" I said between kissing my way back up her neck and capturing her mouth with mine. This time, she was the one to pull away with a small laugh giving me another gentle peck.
"We were about to get dressed for our day. We've stayed in bed much longer than I would normally and we've missed half the day." She smirked as she laughed and I playfully growled at her before flipping us, effectively pinning her underneath me.
"Tease." I kissed her one last time before I pulled my own shirt off to give her which she pushed away with a laugh at my confusion.
"In case you didn't notice, I'm not exactly shy about my body. I may like older fashion, but I am by no means a saint." This woman will be the death of me. "I know you haven't looked, but did you not realize that all I was wearing was the shirt?" I felt my eyes widen at the brazen question and I fought to keep my eyes on her face as my curiosity grew. "You can look, Aro. I see that fight in your eyes. It's okay." Slowly she moved my hand up her body until I stopped her.
"Darling, what changed your mind? You seemed so resistant to the idea I wasn't sure you would want this. Want me like this." Wherever the shy girl went from yesterday, I wasn't sure if she would return as quick as she left.
"After what happened last night and the care you showed, I knew that I could at least start to trust you. Plus, I had the chance to process everything while I slept, and I realized a few things. One of them being that I was more afraid of the what-ifs than I was anything else. My mind was jumping ahead of itself and going straight to what if this doesn't work out? or what if he changes his mind? and I realized that the jealousy I felt when Anna talked about what she felt about having a mate was my subconscious craving to know and feel what they had." She paused as she brought her hand up to my face. "But most importantly, I realized that even though we barely know each other, at least in this life it seems, that I would rather walk through the depths of hell itself than to walk away from whatever this is. So, this is me literally baring my all, heart, mind, and body, in the hopes that eventually you would eventually feel the same."
Words failed me in that moment, and all I could do was marvel at how indescribably perfect my angel of a mate was. I don't know what I ever did so right in my life that could have granted me even a chance with someone so wonderful. All I knew was that I would do absolutely anything in my power to ensure her happiness.
"Mia regina, cosa ho mai fatto per meritare una donna come te?" (My queen, what did I ever do to deserve a woman like you?) I whispered and smiled at the blush rising in her cheeks. Rather than verbally responding, she simply pulled me down to her and poured everything words couldn't say into a searing kiss.
In that moment, I knew that heaven wasn't a place at all. Heaven was laying right here in my embrace.
