Our first stop was not the throne room.
"I hate when you do that," I told him, grabbing the bedpost to steady myself, even if his speed was a thrill, like closing your eyes on a rollercoaster and waiting, just waiting, as it jerked away from its station and chugged slowly up the tracks. With your eyes closed, there was always a spike or two of fear that out of all the rides, this would be the one to fall backward. But it never did. And you'd know as soon as it froze—everyone waiting with bated breath at the top. Then, a clear click...and down you fall.
Alec deadpanned, "whoops."
Even if I would rather eat dirt than be in that room, the familiarity of the walls around us settled my nerves. I still imagined Hamlet skulls adorning the fireplace, even if I'd never seen them before. Perhaps it was only the multiple copies of Shakespeare's plays claiming one of his bookshelves. All but a few, with numerous copies collected over the last few centuries. I'd never asked him about them, but more often than not, these would be the books he finished reading when he saw I was awake some mornings. I would hear the soft clump and, occasionally, just barely open my eyes to see him sliding it back in place on the shelf before returning to me. Like the neat freak that he was.
My hair was stuck to my skin, the top half of it anyways. If Alec had left the hood up rather than needlessly pushing it off, it might have saved my head from some of the downpour. He was more soaked than I was, making me realize that his cloak had provided me with greater protection than I would have imagined.
He was deliberately ignoring me, speeding around and across the room and in the span of me leaning against the edge of the bed, Alec reappeared at his bedside table. His fingers were frozen on one of the buttons of a crisp, new maroon button-up, staring down at something. I couldn't see what it was until he picked up the object that had captured his attention, twisting it between his fingers before turning around. My mother's ring hung from the chain in his hands.
Leaving the necklace for him had been a last-minute decision. I never stopped to process the fact that he would have to see it. Run his fingers over the grooves and paths carved into it over time. He would have to imagine why on earth I would do such a thing. My rosary was replaceable, still around my neck. My mother's ring that hung on the chain dangling in Alec's possession was anything but. I had meant it to promise I was coming back to him, but now the only message it seemed to hold was one of an attempted goodbye. He set it down with his crest but didn't acknowledge me.
I hadn't thought this part through either. I knew I would have to face him, but not once did I stop to consider what it might be like, feel like, to verbally rationalize why I'd attempted to run away from him. Particularly now that we were no longer strangers. More than strangers. I could see this and thousands of other ruinous suggestions running through his head, thoughts he would never voice. Not after this.
Regret and guilt stormed my stomach, one battling the other before they teamed up and flooded my body.
I walked away.
He didn't follow me, only called with a reluctant tone, "where do you think you're going?"
The bitterness in his voice made me shiver, but I still managed to whip a snippy comment at him, "to my room. You know, the one that isn't your room."
"I was unaware there was much of a difference these days." Cheeky bastard. Even in anger, his personality shined through. He leaned against the mattress.
It seemed that Volterra was the key to our imbalance. Within less than a day we were back to fighting. Any progress we made was sent back to one, the transition was instantaneous, smooth. So much so that our friends hadn't even picked up on a change in our dynamic. It was as if everything that had happened when we were gone had been erased, but for a few shared glances under suspicious eyes.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" He crossed his arms. "I don't need a babysitter. Besides, I know you'd rather be anywhere but with me–"
"Saffiya." His dominance made me freeze; all rebellion snapped away with his husky tone. "Come here."
He held out his hand. I relented easier than I would have liked and the instant my hand touched his, he pulled me between his knees, moving his fingers to my hips. His thumb absentmindedly slipped under my shirt, trailing in a circle, innocently on my skin. How was it, that a touch so subtle, could be so exhilarating.
Alec tilted his head up but avoided meeting my eyes. His hand brushed the mess of curls from my face, holding them away and cupping the back of my head.
"Alec, I didn't even touch the wall." His lips drew into a thin line, giving the impression that he was not eager to address it further.
I started to step back. Without moving an inch, Alec's eyes darted to mine, capturing me almost instantly.
Air zipped through my lips as I inhaled sharply with the connection. The simple look in his eyes made me forget my breaths, but whether that was him or the blowback from my currently erratic emotions I did not know. But, he did.
His eyes devoured me with a fury familiar, but still quite unknown and the recognition of this emotion forced itself down my throat, intent on drowning me with its arrival. It bubbled around him like radiation threatening me to keep my distance, pulsing inside an invisible force field. I could almost see the sins hidden behind the first layer of muddy red in his eyes. He couldn't hide it, certainly not from me. I was fluent in his anger. At least, I thought I was. Slowly, then all at once; it vanished into thin air.
My eyes finally broke from his to chase it, my gaze flitting about his face to try and identify the spite in any other detail, marking, or crevice. I blinked and returned to his ruby stare, vibrant but hard. I swallowed.
Perhaps I was projecting. Anger would be deserved, but he truly showed no trace of it anymore. Even when he held back, I thought I could see the hidden feeling dancing behind his irises. But there was nothing there. No malice nor discontent. Just eyes that bore into my chest and with an unintentional swipe of his fingertips over my waist, the butterflies erupted in an obnoxiously inconvenient moment of revelry. They cherished and savoured these instances, especially when they had been surviving off of memories and giving my headaches like the little assholes they were.
"The Masters are expecting us."
Alec pushed my hips back as I'd previously attempted to do, standing to his full stature. Soft fingers left my side to brush across my cheek (my stomach fluttered) and with this, his eyes drank mine in once more before they freed me.
He began to lead the way to the door, his fingers nimbly darting across the buttons of his shirt. As he reached for his vest, I couldn't hold my tongue any longer.
"I know how to find Razin."
Alec finished pulling on his vest at the pace of molasses, turning to see I hadn't moved an inch. My stomach rolled, and I was wary to meet his eyes again. He gave no outward indication of his reaction to my crossing the boundaries he'd been very clear in setting. There was no personal indication of how he felt about my statement that crossed his facade, only a single word.
Definitively, "no."
I should have left it there. "What do you mean, no?" I demanded, closing the space he'd put between us.
"Do not start, Saffiya," he sighed as if I were a fly, bothering him for the sake of doing so.
Scoffing, I pushed, "don't be a prick. You won't even humour my idea, will you?"
He lifted a heavier overcoat onto his shoulders, though it hardly showed its weight in his hand. The fabric was laced with exquisite gold trimming and he hardly acknowledged me as he did so. I'd never seen him in a formal outfit so extravagant, until he buttoned the collar. It struck me that this was what he and the others had been adorned with on the night we met.
Before I could let my mind run wild with the possible similarities between that night and this one, it processed that Alec was now staring me down with narrowed eyes. Right. Argument. "Razin's whereabouts are none of your concern."
I growled inwardly, "I have a right to know what's going on with this–"
"No, you don't–"
"– and you keep leaving me out –"
"Enough."
"No," I stood my ground. "Aren't we supposed to support each other? Isn't that how this," I waved my hand between us, "thing is supposed to work?" We had not addressed anything related to an 'us' for what felt like ages. I stood breathing heavily as he took me in, scanning my posture and weighing my current determination against potential recklessness.
He modulated the argument, picking up my sentence with a classic, "not if it gets you killed." The statement made him pause and take in my appearance, still half-drenched in rainwater. He disappeared, returning to hand me a towel. "You'll get hypothermia." From wet hair? Nice try.
"It's always the same story with you." I shoved the towel back at him and it flopped to the ground. He clenched his jaw, but chose his battles. "One day, I'm going to be able to throw it back. What will you do then?"
A double-tap beep came from inside his pocket. His phone. My heart skyrocketed as I remembered the one I ditched. He looked at me and sighed, thinking the increased speed of my heart was my expectation for the strange young man we'd met in the airplane hangar to finally call. From the look on his face, it was not.
But he was still musing my statement, intentionally winding me up, "you will be a newborn. Even more of a reason to keep you out of trouble." Not a chance in hell.
I grumbled as he answered the phone. "You can't control me, especially if I'm a newborn," I was adamant because if there was one thing I knew about newborn life, it was that no one in the castle was eager to handle me if that day ever came. The fact raised my ego, which wavered when Alec muted his conversation to address my statement.
His eyes ardently explored my figure, gradually and with more care, searching for detail in an almost sensuous manner. The loose urgency in his observation sent a thunderous wave through my chest. A maddening flash of night targeted me, finding a match with my eyes. I swallowed, rattled by the incensed flames of intrinsic yearning that crept through and numbed my skin.
"Yes." Alec smirked, his gaze lingering on my body for a second more. "I can." My eyes widened. I knew his intention was suggestive, but I was naive as to its full purpose and this seemed to please him even more. He turned from me and readdressed the person waiting, deciding to speak in Italian.
"Ugh," I complained, trying to shake off the residual effects of the perplexing incident. I was about done with his bullshit. "That's just rude." He hung up just as the last syllable left my lip and I shut myself up, waiting for his next move.
"Time to go."
I frowned, "go?"
Alec conquered the two steps separating us, tilting his head to watch as my nerves crept up my spine. There was no warmth in his eyes, but still he played me like a fiddle.
"Mine," his breath cascaded over my face and I bit my lip, anything else but the sound of his voice was completely removed from my brain.
"What?" My lungs refused to take in more than limited breaths of air and my heart took advantage. I couldn't hear the bastard, but I knew. Knew from the smirk growing on Alec's face that it had just sped up like the little traitor it was. And that curve of his lips only made it worse.
That's when I felt fingers undoing his cloak from my neck. I smacked his hand away, which only amused him.
"You have like 8 other ones."
He removed it anyway, stealing the cape and swinging it around his own shoulders. I scowled at him, confused as to why he'd want to wear a wet cloak. Though, to be fair, it seemed to hardly hold the water anymore. Likely purposeful in its design for the guard.
Alec indicated his head again toward the clothing he'd offered me earlier, "change quickly," he said. "I am debriefing the masters on the mission."
Wait, "you're letting me come?"
He had faded back into a greyer tone, but I didn't let it bring down the excitement growing in me. "So long as you're dressed for court."
"Why can't I just wear this?"
He took in my clothing this time, tilted his head, and nodded. He flashed away and back, handing me a dry pair of shoes. "Meet me by the door." He disappeared and I was stuck still for a second before glancing at the bedside table. I left my mother's ring, grabbing the golden necklace instead and racing towards the main door of the twins' quarters.
Alec was waiting for me with a dark fabric hanging over his arm, pulling it over my shoulders when I came to a stop in front of him. His hand hadn't left my body and as his hand slid down to my thigh, my eyes flashed open. He was entirely unfazed by my reaction as he lifted me up.
Only to set me down milliseconds later outside the ballroom, the formal throne room.
Alec set me down, lightly pushing me to Jane who had her eyebrows raised. She knew what her brother wanted, however, and she stepped forward to secure the heavy object around my shoulders. I would have to be cognisant of the moment I was dry enough to remove it, or I'd go from unlikely hypothermia to guaranteed heatstroke.
"It suits you," she lilted as I realised Alec had borrowed one of her cloaks to replace his. She continued to try and make my hair look manageable but gave up. It would dry wild no matter how she prepared it. Alec glanced at the doors suspiciously.
"What is the delay?"
Felix and Demetri mimicked each other in their attempt to avoid answering Alec's questions and receiving the brunt of his moodiness.
Alec's voice hardened, "for her?"
"For you, dear brother."
Instantly, Alec backed down. His shoulders fell and his head lifted as a solemn expression resigned to a fate I was unprepared for. In my confusion, I blurted out, "why?"
Jane expectantly raised an eyebrow to her brother, apparently too exasperated with my obliviousness to explain on his behalf.
He wouldn't look at me, choosing instead to pull his gloves up until his fingers outlined the seam at the end, stretching the leather. "You are my mate. Your mistakes are my mistakes. Your punishments are mine."
"Do not look so surprised," Jane snapped before I could even process what he'd said. "The only way anyone can get through to you is with Alec – whether you're speaking to each other or not. Maybe it will make you think twice about these stunts."
"I didn't–"
"We know," both twins said, the mixed approaches of understanding and harshness making me flinch. Jane huffed but claimed my hand despite her frustration, which made me think something heavier was hanging over her head.
"They wish to see you." She advised her brother once again. His eyes flickered to her hand with mine but she shook her head. "Alone." I tried to catch Felix's attention but not once did he or Demetri lend me a smile or wink to break the tension.
There was no weakness in Alec's armour as he confirmed and approached the grand doors by himself. The perfect soldier. The crown prince. The pride and joy of his masters; brought to his knees for a human and her sins. Surely, there was nothing the Kings would do to Alec that could harm such a treasured possession.
He opened only one of the double doors, leaving the barest crevice for me to catch a glimpse inside the room. It was empty, aside from the three occupied thrones waiting like ghostly gargoyles for their demands to be met.
"Alec?"
The vampires tensed at the interruption – from the guards around me to the three leaders waiting in the ballroom. Waiting for Alec's response to my fear.
Alec turned and I was cut by the hatred that coated his daggered glare.
"Know your place."
~•~•~•~
A massive appreciation to everyone who has been reviewing and reading and favouriting.
Writing is hard, but worth it. Mostly. I got in a fight with my editing software, because it's RUDE, so forgive any silly mistakes for the time being :)
Still writing,
Ro
