AN: I am so sorry about the delay in posting this up, I have no excuse other than Christmas festivities are taking up all of my time! I will hopefully get the next chapter up in a day or two to make up for my lack of posting!
LUCKY ESCAPE
"Oh fuck," Felix exclaimed quietly as the library doors swung open, allowing Atia, Carmen and Sulpicia to walk through with Basileus following.
"So this is the library! I think this is the most beautiful room in the castle!" Atia gushed. They had walked every flagstone of the castle and it had taken all morning to complete with Atia wanting a full historic breakdown of her new home. The library was the last place to visit.
"Shame about some of the portraits," Carmen commented, looking at the painting of Caius and Athenodora.
Atia caught Carmen's comment. Basileus had only told her how kind and generous of spirit his daughters were. Atia had already banked a good few comments that pushed Sulpicia and Carmen over to 'mean girl status', and she certainly didn't approve. Most unbecoming, she thought. Atia had also noticed how taken with her that her new daughters appeared to be and decided to try and manipulate better behaviour from the pair. She was sure Basileus would agree with her once she explained her observations.
"Is this Athenodora?" Atia asked, walking over to Carmen who wore a look of disgust looking at the painting.
"Yes, she keeps to herself mostly." Sulpicia confirmed.
"Thankfully," Carmen added.
Again, Atia ignored Carmen's jibe. "Is she not lonely in her quarters, alone?" she asked with concern.
"Hopefully," Sulpicia replied, linking arms with Carmen, who giggled in response.
Atia tilted her head to the pair of them and wore a stern expression. Sulpicia noticed first, amusement quickly dissipating seeing disappointment written all over Atia's face.
"Do you mean that?" Atia asked them.
"Well, you know, she's not the nicest of people," Sulpicia attempted to defend her position.
Carmen scoffed. Understatement, she thought. "Athenodora is an evil piece of work. She and Caius are a good match," she stated confidently.
Hmm, Atia thought, Carmen will be the hard nut to crack. Challenge accepted, she told herself. "Interesting." Atia said, nodding sagely. "Do tell me more," she added as she took a seat near Athenodora's portrait.
The younger ladies mimicked her movements and joined her at the small side table, although Sulpicia already felt far less confident in her presence.
Having hung back to overhear the exchange between his mate and daughters, Basileus now strode over to his sons.
"What's happened?" he inquired, seeing half the small group avoiding his eye and the other half scowling.
"Nothing," Aro replied sarcastically.
Eleazar huffed, "Apparantly."
Basileus looked to each in turn. "So, why are you all so quiet?" No response.
Basileus rolled his eyes. He had spent the entire morning traipsing behind the ladies of Volterra and had been looking forward to more lively company. "Where's Magnus, I haven't missed him and Freyr, have I?" he asked, hoping the two of them could offer some light relief.
"No, no, they will be along shortly. I sent Demetri to find them." Aro replied just as the doors to the library opened again.
"Speak of the devil!" Basileus said to himself. "Magnus my friend, how are you?" he boomed as he crossed the room to great the new Masters of the Guards.
"I am well, my lord. Although I would like to speak with you ... in private." Magnus responded with an eye on Carlisle.
Aro caught Magnus' look and followed his eye line to Carlisle. "Sweating now, little brother?" he commented slyly.
"Fuck off, Aro!" Carlisle whispered angrily.
"I don't think I have ever seen a vampire sweat before!" Eleazar commented, taking in Carlisle's appearance.
"Fuck off, El!" Carlisle said a little louder as he wiped at his brow.
"I have" Aro replied to his elder brother. "Extreme exertion or enormous stress. And, he isn't exerting himself so ... " Aro was finding far too much humour in the whole situation in Carlisle's mind. Aro was honestly far more concerned about the extent of Felix's involvement.
"You are worse than Demetri!" Felix commented to Carlisle as his brother joined them.
"Have you told them, then?" Demetri asked in surprise.
Eleazar laughed as Aro shook his head. "And so the plot thickens," they agreed.
Felix jabbed his little brother hard in the ribs. "Demetri, you dick! You should worry about your own confessions, brother!"
Aro exhaled slowly as he fixed his two sons with a deadly glare.
Oh fuck, came their combined thoughts.
Across the room, Atia was still quizzing Sulpicia and Carmen, both of whom were now feeling ashamed of their hostility towards Athenodora thanks to Atia's innocuous questions around their behaviour.
"So, in three years you have hardly spent any time with the woman at all?" Atia asked, acting shocked.
"I suppose not, no." Sulpicia acceded.
"Yet you have an unspoken agreement to ensure Marcus is brought out of himself regularly - you visit him, yes?" Atia pushed, to show them the inequality of their good doings.
"Yes, that's right." Sulpicia agreed, though she couldn't look Atia in the eye.
"Seeing Marcus is easier; it just sorts of fits into our week." Carmen tried to explain, though even she thought it sounded more like an excuse.
"You have to pass Athenodora's suite to get to Marcus, yes?" Atia questioned, as though she was unsure of the layout of the North tower.
"Yes." Carmen replied nervously.
Atia tilted her head at the younger woman again and allowed her expression to convey confusion in Carmen's agreement. She gave Carmen just enough time to begin to question her own actions before she continued.
"Basileus has mentioned to me that relations with Caius are to be prioritised. Or do I have that wrong?" Atia pushed. She knew she wasn't wrong, of course.
"No, no, you are right. I guess I didn't see Athenodora as part of that, really." Sulpicia replied, feeling like a chastised little girl and wondering how Atia had achieved that with just some simple questions.
"Oh, I would have thought a happy wife would make Caius easier to deal with. It would surely lighten Aro's load."
Guilt. That's what Sulpicia felt in droves. "I guess you are right."
Atia smiled warmly. "I have yet to meet Caius ... or his mate. Can I count on your support when they return?" she asked them, sounding like she genuinely needed their accompaniment.
"Of course, my lady." Carmen readily agreed, suddenly wanting to make things right with Athenodora and realising that, essentially, Athenodora had never done her a scrap of harm.
"Certainly." Sulpicia said quietly, feeling low.
"Wonderful ladies, wonderful." Atia gushed as she gestured for them all to join the men.
Basileus slapped a hand on Magnus' shoulder, delighted to see the new master. "What can I help you with, my friend?"
Magnus looked around the room furtively.
Basileus immediately understood this needed to be a private conversation and had the two of them move to the very back of the large library.
"As you know, Aro has appointed Freyr and I as Masters of the Guard and things are going well in the guard hall. We are throwing parties every week or so and to date none of those parties had gotten out of hand," Magnus began, feeling very uncomfortable having to have this conversation with the creator of vampire kind.
"To date ... " Basileus repeated. "Meaning last night's party did get out of hand?"
Magnus nodded sadly. "It did, my lord."
Basileus released his breath in a long drawn out fashion. He knew this would be about Felix and Carlisle. "And, how do you usually deal with the guards when things get out of hand?" Basileus asked.
"Well, last year when I began in this role, I may have had to slap a few of them around a little to stamp my authority. I threw one or two into the newborn cells for the night. That was enough. I tend to follow Aro's lead for discipline rather than Caius' brand," he said with a small smile. "But hey, I'm a big guy. Usually the threat of punishment from me is enough."
Basileus laughed at the hulking great man. "I can see that Magnus; I tend to have the same effect myself."
Magnus nodded knowingly. Size wise, there was less than half a foot between Magnus and Basileus and the creator was the only member of the coven Magnus had to look up to.
Becoming more serious, knowing he had to get to the cause of the master's distress, Basileus pushed on. "What changed last night?"
Magnus sighed, wondering if he should just let it go, "This is where things could get a little awkward, my lord."
Basileus shook his head. "We both know you are talking about Carlisle. Be straight with me, my friend." Basileus told him warmly, putting Magnus at ease.
"Yes, Carlisle did cause quite a storm," he replied whilst rubbing a hand around the back of his neck, feeling stressed to be having such a conversation with the creator. "Aro has given me free reign over the guards, including his children. I can't say I am entirely comfortable punishing Felix or Demetri, and even less so the twins, but when called for I do my job ... and it is my job. But Carlisle ... he isn't a child, and he isn't a guard. I tried to contain him, but he made it quite clear that I had no jurisdiction over him. He even went so far as to say that whilst he was around, I had no jurisdiction over Felix either."
"Oh, he did?" Basileus commented, eyes turning black and face thunderous.
Magnus quickly interjected. "I don't blame your son, my lord. I wasn't prepared ... that is my failing. I would prefer to be prepared next time he comes to the hall. It's a pleasant place to be now and I don't want that to change. I didn't want to disturb you all last night with it being Atia's introduction to the coven, so I let it go, but ... " Magnus trailed off, having nothing more to say and not wishing to actually divulge Felix and Carlisle's behaviour.
Basileus could feel his temper ready to flare but managed to bring himself under control. "What would you have done with Felix if Carlisle hadn't been there?" he inquired.
"I would have tanned his hide and dragged him home to Aro, who no doubt would have repeated the job."
Basileus nodded. Yes, I have no doubt that he would, he thought with a smile to himself.
"I want you to treat Carlisle as you would Felix from now on." Basileus decreed.
Magnus wasn't so sure about that. "My lord ... ?" he asked, warily.
"I am sure, Magnus. You need to have those guards under complete control and I won't have my son being the one to undermine you. You deal with him severely. Felix and Demetri, too, for that matter. They hold high positions in this coven and they must be held to a higher standard. Right now, we need to focus on something else, though. We cannot have you losing the guards respect because those two idiots think they are above the rules."
Magnus nodded. "I am concerned about that, I must say."
Basileus considered his options for a moment. He wanted to knock his son into next week for being so damn insolent and potentially destructive. But, that won't help Magnus, he thought. "Here's what we shall do. Our conversation never happened. We talked about daily running, you gave me a full break down of the situation with Antonio and all that went on there. Carlisle and Felix will think they have had a lucky escape and they will come to the guard hall again tonight. Wait for them to act up, and then whip them both and drag them back to my tower, kicking and screaming if you must. Pair of damn ingrates! They won't get away with such insubordination, Magnus."
Magnus looked relieved to have the creator on side. "If you are sure, my lord. I will announce another party whilst we talk."
Basileus threw an arm around the man. "Wonderful. I will fill Aro in on the details later," he said as they made their way back over to his family.
"Just read their minds, Aro." Eleazar prompted, not wanting to wait any longer to find out the bother his brother and nephew had caused.
"Hey, he can't just read my mind, he's not above me!" Carlisle returned angrily.
"Erm, yeah, he is." Eleazar replied, with just as much attitude as his little brother, growing more and more frustrated with the angry young man.
"Is he fuck!" Carlisle huffed.
"I really am. Hierarchy, remember?" Aro sang out as he reached with his hand theatrically.
Carlisle jumped out of his seat and moved away from his brother. "Don't touch me! You aren't reading my mind."
Aro scoffed. "Calm yourself down. I can't read your mind if Atia's here, can I?!"
Carlisle looked relieved. "Basileus' gift won't work either." Carlisle whispered to Felix happily.
"For the love of the gods, will you pull it together. You are throwing us both into the fire!" Felix growled to him quietly.
"Magnus, will you join us?" Aro called out as his father and the new master approached, making space for him on the sofa where he sat.
"Certainly, Aro." Magus agreed, Demetri, Felix and Carlisle all shooting worried, pleading looks to him.
"So, last night?" Eleazar prompted.
"What about it?" Magnus asked with a broad grin.
"Well, these two are acting rather shiftily and we were wondering if you could shed any light on that." Aro pushed.
"Me? What would I know? I'm just a guard." Magnus replied with a smirk to Carlisle as he used the same mocking tone the younger vampire had used against him the night before.
Eleazar appeared confused, as did Aro. "Like hell are you just a guard! You are a master of this coven and they were at the guard hall last night - with you. So, what do you know?" he asked again.
"What can I tell you, Aro? There were no surprises last night. Carlisle looked after Felix, I had nothing to do with either of them," Magnus looked pointedly to Aro as he spoke.
Aro could tell something was going on. "Oh! Understood," he replied, letting Magus know he knew there was more to this but listening ears would have to be removed before he could speak freely.
The boys and Carlisle looked less convinced. "I have also given Basileus a full run through of the events with Antonio, you know, just in case Caius were to ask him anything I wanted to ensure he knew how things were from my side." Magnus commented.
Carlisle and Felix released a nervously held breath hearing that Magnus hadn't been grassing them up to Basileus.
Demetri, however, didn't relax - he knew his deeds would be revealed soon and he was just waiting for someone to blurt out his crimes.
"Aha, also, understood." Aro replied. So Basileus knows, and you will both tell me later. Got it, he thought.
"Shall we have a drink?" Aro asked, eyeing up the small barrel Basileus had brought in with him.
"God, yes!" Carlisle replied. He needed something to settle his nerves and quickly jumped up to join Aro in retrieving the goblets.
Felix hung his head. He was hung over to hell from the night before and doing his absolute best to keep it hidden from all in attendance.
Eleazar knew his nephew well. He'd spotted his hangover when they met up that morning ... so had Aro, for that matter. "So, are the guards all hung over today?" he asked with a hand on each of Felix's shoulders, giving him a squeeze.
Please don't ask me El ... just don't, Felix thought pleadingly.
"Some more than others, El." Magnus replied, looking straight at Felix. If he could blush his face would have been blood red by now. "Though I have been asked if they can continue last night's festivities tonight."
"I'm surprised there's enough bloodwine left to keep them going!" Aro said as he passed them with full goblets for the ladies of Volterra.
"I limit drinks to the guards – I can make it stretch that way. Besides, I have a few barrels of wine to go with the blood. There should be enough for them to have a good time at least." Magnus revealed.
"So you have agreed to it?" Basileus asked, offering goblets to Magnus and Eleazar.
"I know how to manage my guards." Magnus replied confidently.
"Give them bread and circuses," Eleazar noted with a smile.
Magnus nodded happily. "Exactly!"
Gutted to have missed out on the night before, Demetri plucked up the courage to ask if he could attend. "Magnus, may I come tonight? Please?"
Magnus took a gulp from his cup and turned to face him. "Has it been a week already, Demetri?" Magnus asked the boy. He knew it hadn't.
"What's this?" Aro inquired, boring holes into the top of Demetri's head as his son cast his eyes to the floor.
"I was waiting to see if he would tell you himself. I take it he hasn't?" Magnus prompted, giving Demetri a final chance to confess his crimes.
"Told me what?" Aro asked Demetri forcefully.
"We are all ears, Demetri." Eleazar added, giving the lad a shake as he sat next to him.
"Come on son, the floor is yours." Aro dared him dangerously.
Demetri didn't speak, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor and hoping it would open up and swallow him. You didn't grass on Felix, you bastard, Magnus, he thought.
"He has told me already, Aro. I will talk with you later, my love." Sulpicia sang out from her table with Carmen.
"Lying for them again, my queen?" Aro sang out in mild annoyance.
"I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about, my love." Sulpicia replied with the same tone.
Aro extended both arms wide. "That would be the 'mother buffer' at work, my friends," he told his brothers, with a tinkling laugh following. Eleazar joined him, even Carlisle raised a smile.
Eleazar nudged Demetri as he took a seat next to the boy, "Luckily for you," he told him sternly.
Magnus leaned forward to catch Demetri's eye. "I suggest you talk to your father first, but you are welcome in my hall from tomorrow ... not today," he told the boy kindly.
Aro scoffed. "Not today, NOT tomorrow, not for a while," he told his son, who shrank back in his seat, and leaned into Eleazar.
Felix saw his chance. "But we can go, right?" he asked his father.
Aro was about to put Felix straight. I know you have fucked up monumentally, boy. I may not know what you have done ... yet ... but I will find out soon.
Before Aro could answer, Basileus coughed, drawing his son's attention and nodding to him.
Aro furrowed his brown. Why are you letting them go back out, he wondered. "You can, apparently," Aro agreed, thought he wasn't sure why he was agreeing.
"I don't need your permission to go anywhere." Carlisle replied, shooting daggers to Aro.
Basileus tapped his youngest on the shoulder. "You need ours," he told Carlisle as he turned around to face him.
"Ours?!" Aro said quietly to Eleazar, both thinking that it hadn't taken long for Atia to get her feet under the table.
"I'm going." Carlisle said, sounding very resolute.
Basileus stood back to his full height, intimidating his young son.
"I'm going!" Carlisle insisted, sounding a little more teenage than resolute the second time.
The hairs on the back of Basileus' neck stood on end with the anger he felt towards his bucking boy. I could happily slap you down right now son, he thought. "You say you don't need my permission and yet you are still seeking my approval." Basileus told him dangerously. "You won't get it speaking to me like that."
Carlisle heard the warning. A brief look around the room and he realised that everyone was watching him, waiting to see if he dared go up against Basileus. I'm not that stupid, he thought, knowing full well that Basileus would think nothing of punishing him for his disrespect there and then if he didn't concede.
Swallowing his pride, Carlisle addressed his father quietly. "May I go to the guard hall?" he asked.
Basileus raised his eyebrows.
"Please." Carlisle added quickly.
"Certainly." Basileus replied, hoping his plan would work and he'd have Carlisle back in line soon.
Carlisle chanced another look around the room. He couldn't take the knowing stares he received back. "Come on," he called to Felix, who happily scurried from the room with him.