The next three days were hell, not just that but hell on steroids. From what I'd heard from Santiago and Afton, things were going pretty damn terrible outside of my room. Apparently, the kings were on an absolute rampage, which included several executions without a fair trial and many items of furniture being destroyed. Even the guard were wary of them, and Santiago even spotted Jane ducking away from Caius in the corridor once. I was desperate to leave this confinement and finally fix this mess I'd gotten everyone in to, but that wasn't an option.
To make matters worse, there was a consistent tugging at my heart, and not the good kind like whenever I was closer to one of the kings. No, these tugs felt like they were eating away at me, filled with their self-loathing and regret, which lead to frequent emotional outbursts from me to the point where my eyes were almost permanently red and blotchy.
During my time in my room, Afton was the one who usually brought my meals up from the kitchens, but I'd really lost my appetite. Santiago helped me plan what I would say and who I would talk to in the faint hope that this whole situation could blow over.
Finally the day came, and I was beyond nervous. The plan was to speak to Marcus first, considering he was the least likely to accidentally rip my head off in an angry frenzy. I was stood just down his corridor at the foot of the spiral staircase.
"Deep breaths, you've got this dude," Santiago assured me.
"Just remember; polite, sweet apology, and if that doesn't work out, seduce him," Afton added.
"Aw, the support I'm receiving here," I placed a hand over my heart sarcastically, "touched."
Afton simply winked and nudged me up the stairs. Like Aro's quarters, Marcus' were at the top step of a long spiralled staircase which was so dark I often tripped. Taking in a sharp breath, I knocked on the door lightly three times.
Nothing.
After debating with myself for a few moments, I held my breath and opened the door slowly to find Marcus sat quietly on his sofa. In his hand was some random book and he seemed pretty relaxed, yet he didn't react at all to my presence.
"Marcus?" I tried to get his attention.
Still nothing.
Cautiously, I edged over to his sofa to sit beside him with my left leg curled up underneath me. "Look, I just wanted to apologise for what happened before. I never intended to leave without telling you. In fact, I wasn't leaving you at all, I was just going out shopping with Chelsea and Corin. Anyway, I'm sorry if I worried you, I probably should've told you before leaving."
He didn't react at all, simply turning to the next page in his book. Damn, that was cold, even for Marcus. I placed a hand on his thigh hoping that maybe he'd react to my touch, but still no response.
"You're really going to stay silent?" I raised an eyebrow, "Nothing? Not even a little apology for locking me in my room for three days?"
I flipped over a few pages in his book so that, even if it pissed him off, at least I'd have his attention. But no, he simply flipped it back to the page he was on and continued reading. Then I tried to shove him as hard as possible but, of course, that didn't achieve anything, instead causing a painful tingle to spread through my muscles.
What was it Afton said? Oh yeah, seduce him.
There wasn't much space due to his arm extended out in front of him with his book, but I managed to sit myself so that I was straddled on his lap. Again, he simply didn't acknowledge at all that I was sat there. I even tried trailing kisses along his jaw and grinding my hips into his, but still nothing.
"You know what? Fine," I snapped, instantly standing up straight and dusting myself off, "I came in here to try and make amends hoping we'd come to an agreement but fine, be like that!"
My hands formed tight fists by my sides and I stormed out, but not before turning around to check if maybe he'd reacted to my outburst. Nope, nothing. I groaned angrily and slammed the door behind me, the sound reverberating off the walls.
Once I made it back to the bottom of the stairs, Santiago had his arms crossed over his chest while Afton was trying not to chuckle.
"How did it go?" Santiago asked almost tauntingly.
I sighed deeply through my nose. "He's giving me the silent treatment, and damn he's good at it."
"Did you try to seduce him?" Afton laughed.
"I did actually, but absolutely nothing. Not even a faint groan, just nothing," I seethed.
Santiago seemed amused by my failed attempt. "Well, that's Master Marcus crossed off our list, who's next?"
"Blondie," I answered simply and led the party back down the corridor and to Caius' quarters.
"Why do you call him blondie?" Afton questioned.
"He's blonde, and it's an easy nickname for him," I shrugged, "Didn't you say he broke a table the other day?"
"Yes, but the debris has now been taken away and the table's replaced, so you're Gucci," he gave me a thumbs up.
I drew my eyebrows together and facepalmed. "Please stop, sir Afton, I'm suffering as it is without you acting like a pre-teen girl."
While the other two stood at the other end of the corridor so they were out of sight, I hesitantly tapped my knuckles on the door like I had with Marcus.
Nothing, again.
I sighed and pushed the door open, hoping Caius wasn't going to kill me or anything. There he was, sat at his desk while sorting through paperwork. He didn't react at all to my appearance and continued to work as if nothing happened.
"Um, Caius?" I waved awkwardly.
He picked up a fountain pen and began signing a bunch of documents. I casually strolled over and sat down on the other side of his desk so that I was facing him, yet still no response.
"I apologise if you thought I ran away the other day. I was just out shopping with Chelsea and Corin, but in hindsight I probably should've warned you first. Sorry."
Instead of saying anything, he placed down the pen he was holding and picked up a red fountain pen from his pen pot, continuing through the documents on his desk.
"I was sort of expecting something along the lines of 'it was a simple misunderstanding, Eliana, I apologise too for locking you in your room after a simple shopping trip', but I guess that's okay," I mimicked his tone.
He sighed and at first I thought I was actually going to get some kind of reaction, but instead he simply shifted that pile of paper to the side and pulled another pile out from one of his drawers.
"Actually, it's not okay, why the hell aren't you saying anything?" I snapped.
As I still didn't get any response, I decided to move the pen pot to the middle of the desk, but he simply shifted it back without even looking up. Okay, so he was aware that I was there, he was just acting like a dick, fine. I did the same thing again but this time knocked it over. I thought that for sure he would get angry at that, but he managed to put them all back in and place the pot upright again in a matter of seconds. Damn it, where did this patience come from?
Angrily, I stood up and slammed my hands on the desk. "Am I really that hard to talk to?"
He placed the piece of paper he was writing on at the bottom of the stack and continued writing his perfect signature on the pile of documents.
"Fine, this is a waste of time in anyway, I hope you're very happy with yourself, albino bunny!" I narrowed my eyes at him and stormed out, slamming the door even harder than Marcus' behind me.
"Nice one," Afton said deadpan.
"Why are they being like this? If anything, I thought they would be the ones to apologise. I thought they prided themselves on being perfect gentlemen and all that bullshit," I groaned, banging my head against the stone wall.
Santiago shrugged. "No idea, dude, but they are noticing you though, even if it's for a split second."
"Really?" I asked sceptically.
"I glanced in the room when you spoke to both Masters Marcus and Caius. Marcus gazed into your eyes quickly before looking back down again at his book, and Caius flinched slightly and looked at you with adoration in his eyes," Afton explained.
"Then why don't they verbalise that supposed 'adoration' and help a girl out here?" I asked exasperatedly and began leading the way to Aro's quarters.
"They've always prided themselves on follow-through, so they probably planned this silent treatment a few days ago and decided to stick with it."
I halted just as we got to the bottom step of the staircase leading to Aro's quarters. "Aro's probably going to react in exactly the same way, isn't he?"
"I'll sneak in and see for you, but just do the same as you did before. I reckon this whole thing was probably Caius' idea, but Aro seemed the guiltiest about punishing you before, so you might have a better chance with him," Afton said.
"Pray for me," I sighed and started for the door.
Hesitantly, I knocked three times and patiently stood there for a few seconds. Taking the silence as permission to enter, I opened the door cautiously and stepped into his quarters. Apparently, Aro was sorting through his wardrobe and reorganising the endless supply of shirts, dress pants, Italian leather shoes, and suits he owned.
"Aro?" I pursed my lips and tilted my head to the side, "what are you doing?"
He didn't respond but instead picked up a pile of identical dark grey button up shirts and placed it down on his bed. I stood leaning against the doors to his wardrobe and crossed my arms over my chest.
"I'd really prefer not to repeat the same speech I've already told the other two, soooo…"
I reached over to him before he could back away and placed my hand on his. Rather than encasing my hand in his, he paused for a second and his eyes glazed over as usual while he skimmed through my thoughts. Once he snapped out of my head, it looked as if he flinched for a second but he quickly continued as if nothing had happened and pulled out an outfit from his wardrobe that looked like it was from the 1800s.
"That's it? You're really not going to say anything to that?" I raised an eyebrow, "You're just going to ignore the fact that it hurts me physically every time one of you get angry or ice me out like I'm nothing to you? You've now seen that I didn't mean to worry you and that this whole thing was a miscommunication, so why are you being like this? You didn't even give me a chance to explain everything before locking me away like some kind of household pet, so some form of apology would be nice, you psychopath!"
Still nothing, not a single reaction to my rant. He frowned at the 1800s outfit in his hand and placed it right at the back of his wardrobe before pulling out an even older, medieval-style outfit, this one looking like it was from the 1000s. While he was putting it back, I for some reason decided to hug him, wrapping my arms around his torso from behind with the side of my face pressed against his cool back. Of course, he seemed to completely ignore the gesture and continued working through all of his historical garments he'd worn over the centuries.
"Well, at least I tried to talk rather than immaturely staying silent, have fun sorting out your boring ass wardrobe alone, Aro," I spat his name with a huff and stormed out of his quarters while stamping my feet for effect, ensuring I slammed the door loudly behind me so he got the bloody message. Why the fuck were they all acting like utter twats?
Coming back down the spiral staircase, Santiago and Afton were standing exactly where I left them, slightly unimpressed.
I glanced at them blankly. "What? I tried, but the man's stubborn as fuck," I shrugged.
Santiago sighed. "This could be more difficult than we first thought."
"On the plus side, when you hugged Master Aro, he did seem contented for a split second, but it was too fast for the human eye to see," Afton informed me, "and he did watch on guiltily as you left him."
I groaned and laid down on the cold stone floor of the corridor on my back dramatically with my legs and arms spread like a starfish. "Why are they doing this to me? Can't they see I'm trying to be the better person here? Is it so hard just to suck it up and admit they're wrong?"
"They're your true mates, dude, they can't ignore you for that long before snapping," Santiago tried to be optimistic.
I rolled my eyes. "How long then, Tina?"
He looked down at me unimpressed. "Dude, do you want my help or not?"
I paused. "Yes," I sighed.
"Good," he smiled, "maybe a few days, but I'm just guessing. They already look like they're at breaking point."
"I just want this to be over," I whined like a baby and log rolled back down the corridor, closely followed by the other two as we reluctantly headed back to the guard's quarters.
Author's note: I know I know you all hate me right now because I'm only making things worse for them and their relationship, feel free to roast me in the comments aha. Don't worry though, I don't plan to drag this on for too much longer hehe.
Honestly, when I planned out this part of the plot, I didn't stop to think how serious this whole thing actually is and how asshole-y the kings are acting. I know this all seems a little out-of-character, but I wanted this whole reaction to be kinda out of previous experience and also I feel like the plot so far has been maybe a little too positive so I wanted to throw a spanner into the works and make hell for my characters ha.
We're nearing the end of this story though, which is really exciting actually because I can't wait to properly announce the sequel which will be coming soon-ish!
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love hearing your opinions, stay safe, and ily lots!