News travels fast within small communities such as Volterra, both the good and the bad. The first whispers that drift to her ears are from one of the latest secretaries, an incompetent girl as Felicity would have called her. More concerned with gossip and painting her nails that she failed to even notice Roxanne listening in on her conversation as she lets slip that in a few days time the 'kings old favourite' would be getting married in just over a week. The first rumours she chose to ignore, not wishing to believe that it was true or that her involvement in any part of Felicity's life could have backfired so badly. Her icy glare of warning did little to silence the woman or motivate her to return to work, it just didn't hold the same fear factor as Felicity's once had.
The whispers were proven true however. Only hours after she had first overheard the woman, she heard the tell tale roars of Caius' and Aro's rage, her gift forcing her to feel the sorrow that Marcus felt as a few of the lower guards ran for the throne room. They exited not long after, a body bag in tow that Roxanne knew would hold the corpse of the secretary, the red head thought her name might have been Valentina but she wasn't sure.
No one dared to mention anything about Felicity's wedding after that, Caius making it clear that those who did would meet the same fate, whether they be human or vampire. But Roxanne couldn't shake it from her mind, there had to be something she could do to make amends for the damage she'd done. But how?
That was how she found herself outside the small house that Felicity had begun to rent for herself. She'd managed to convince Demetri to track the blonde down, though the vampire had made sure to remind her several times that it was partially her fault that everything had gone so badly wrong between the three kings and their mate, that it was her interference that had led her to now be engaged to the worthless mortal, Julian Travelli. But she didn't need reminding, the guilt would stick with her until she was able to fix this and even then the shame would linger whenever she looked back on that terrible day.
She took a deep breath, steadying her hand before tapping upon the front door and listening as the sound of heels clicked closer, watching with worry spiking within her heart. What was she meant to say? She hadn't really even planned this and now, as the door was pulled open and Felicity was revealed, she couldn't quite find the words to explain her presence.
"Miss Valerious. What brings you here?"
Her voice was cold, eyes set like glaciers upon a mask of pure marble. There was no reading of the emotions that she was feeling, a barrier within the blonde's mind stopping the empath from getting even the smallest of glimpses. But she did seem tired, the bags forming under her eyes once more seeming evidence enough of her trouble sleeping.
"I wanted to speak to you"
"There is nothing that I wish to discuss with you. Leave"
Roxanne managed to catch the door before it was slammed shut, forcing her way inside the house and ducking quickly as a vase hurtled towards her head. Felicity looked livid, telekinesis readying to throw the next item as she rushed to get her words out.
"I'm not leaving until you speak to me! I just want to know what the hell you think you're playing at, marrying a guy when you know damn straight it's not him you love"
For a split moment Felicity's mask seemed to drop, revealing shock and sadness at the other woman's words before regaining her composure and spitting back her own reply with as much venom as she could muster. What right did Roxanne have to come to her home and question her choices, it was partly her doing that had lead to this in the first place.
"And who is to say that I don't love Julian? This is my life and it is my right to choose who I spend it with!"
The red head's words had touched a nerve in Felicity's mind as she struggled to keep her rage focused upon the subject. There was only a weak to go before the wedding, the dress hung up in her bedroom as testimony to the fact. In all honesty, the dress was hideous, Julian and his mother had chosen it without her consent and she'd really just been too tired to try and argue the point. With its dome shaped skirt and too tight fastenings, Felicity had felt she was drowning in an uncomfortable white hell when she tried it on.
But, once again, she had been too tired to care. She barely slept anymore, dreams of the three kings haunting her as their misery seemed to reflect upon her own being. The few nights a week that she spent with Julian were the worst, the dreams waking her up with choked sobs as her heart screamed for the three that she had shunned, for the three that had tried to manipulate her. Julian was no comfort in those moments, already unhappy by the fact she wished to sleep in separate beds, he simply snapped at her and stormed back to his own room, leaving her to deal with the ache she felt.
"I don't need to use my empathy to know you don't love him. Hell, I don't think you even LIKE him. It's your eyes, it's always been your eyes that give it away. It was like they'd turned to stone when you mentioned his name, but they always used to sparkle whenever you were with Aro, Marcus and Caius. What you have with Julian isn't love, but if you'd just stop being such a stubborn ass bitch for five minutes and really think about it, you'd realise you were always in love with the three kings to begin with.
With or without my power, those feelings were always there. I was just hired to give them a push in the right direction by three men who wanted nothing more than to call you their 'mate'. Sure, they went about it in the wrong manner, but they never meant to hurt you or have any of this happen. Caius is even angrier now that you're not there, he's destroyed his quarters countless times in fits of rage or grief. Aro rules the coven like a tyrannical puppet master, we never know who will be brought up for judgement next or whether we're actually safe at all. And Marcus... We rarely see him now but when we do it's like looking at a shell of the man he was before, a rotting and festering carcass of misery just waiting for someone to make the pain stop"
Felicity sighed as she finally dropped all pretence, her own grief showing at the mention of the three kings as she made her way over too an armchair, slumping down and groaning, head held in her hands. Being told about the changed within the three took a toll on her heart as she gave a shuddered sob. God, she missed them all so much. She missed the way that Caius would tease her about silly little things and make her blush with the crude whispers that he would speak into her ear, missed the way that Aro would hold her close to him as he feigned hurt at her rejection of his simple requests to dance or play chess, his mischievous smile when she scolded him for reading her thoughts.
And oh how she missed the love and devotion within Marcus' eyes as they simply sat together and shared their thoughts and enjoyed each others company, his questions about her day helping her to relax and forget about the stress that came with working for the coven.
Roxanne frowned as she stepped closer, crouching down to place a friendly hand against Felicity's own as the other girl looked at her in shock once more. Through her gift, she could feel the veil finally leaving Felicity's mind for good, but there was still doubt that kept it in place. There was only one thing that would finally convince the blonde now of the truth, the reality of the love her three kings felt and the friendship that could still remain between both women.
"I know that what I did was wrong and, if I could, I'd take it all back and everything could be like it once was. But I can't, and only you can really make the decision on your future. Whether it's with the coven or with Julian, it's your decision. All I'll say is this: You were born a seer Felicity, use that gift now to make that choice. If you choose to come home to the coven, you have my number and I'll be here to take you back. If you choose Julian... Then this is the last time you'll hear from me and you can live your life in peace"
Roxanne stood carefully, making her way towards the front door and looking back once more towards the woman that now seemed broken by the events of the past number of months, by a wedding that she truly didn't want. Roxanne could only hope that she would see sense at last and return to the three kings, where her broken heart could finally be put back together.
Ok, so I hope you all enjoyed this update. The next chapter will be much longer I promise and hopefully will be up within the next week or two.
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed and also followed/favourited during the last couple of chapters, your support is greatly appreciated and I really hope I don't let any of you down with any of the future chapters.
Happy reading guys :) x