The Mating Game

"I-" Addie hesitated, thanks to reform school she had had a very sheltered youth and was not used to male attention other than that from her brothers and she especially had no experience dealing with drunk males.

"That would be me." A voice growled from behind her, as she felt protective arms wrap around her waist in a sign of possession and she forced herself to resist the urge to snap them like twigs - or attempt to anyway.

The male's caramel eyes widened, seemingly sobering up a little "S-Sorry, we were just talkin', no harm done eh."

Jet snarled aggressively and squeezed Addie tighter, and the male scuttled away. His vice-like grip loosened slightly but didn't disappear as he dragged her away.

***

Upstairs the room was silent, Addie sat on one of the two double beds placed on opposite ends of the room, while Jet had decided to take a shower as soon as they got in. The water cut off, and after a few more minutes the bathroom door opened to reveal Jet drying his golden brown hair with a towel.

Her heart pounded like a drum in her chest, he was still angry, she could sense it. Jet stopped drying his hair turning to face her, and sure enough the rage was evident in his burning eyes.

She lowered her head, waiting for him to start his tirade, but it never happened, he simply growled "I'm going out for a bit, don't get into any trouble while I'm gone." And then stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Later that night as Addie tossed and turned her mind travelled to a far off place deep in her subconscious, to a memory she wished she could forget.

Peering into the dark shadow-cast room a much younger Addie sat on the edge of the bed that had been given to her to sleep in for the duration of her stay at the palace. The thing is she couldn't sleep, she needed warmth, and she needed comfort...  

She needed Eddy.

Slipping off the edge of the bed she pulled on her dressing gown, slightly too big for her seven year old self, and tugged her small silk slippers onto her feet before opening the hidden door in the wall that led to the servant's quarters. The passages were an extensive network of labyrinths, running along each and every wall in the palace and she was sure that if Eddy hadn't have left a trail of well-lit lamps as well as various other markers she would never have found her way through them.

Coming to the end of a long stretch of the passageway Addie finally found the worn down steps leading straight into the kitchen and carefully crept down them; Eddy had told her that they had been known to crack and crumble away under the pressure of even the smallest of footsteps on occasion so she made sure to watch where she was going.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Addie opened the door to the kitchen, only to find Eddy and his mother gone, instead finding her own mother, beaming like a Cheshire cat. Hearing the door in the wall open she turned to face her.

"What are you doing here?!" she growled.

Addie could have asked her the same thing - she should have - but instead she asked "Where's Eddy and Mama Rosie?"

Her mother's smirk returned. "They're dead" she announced her smirk turning into a full blown grin. "Dead and gone and they aren't ever coming back!"

Addie stopped dead in her tracks the world seeming to slow down the passing of a second feeling like an eternity as she processed what she was hearing.

"LIAR!" she screamed snapping out of her daze to fly at her mother in rage "YOU'RE LYING! THEY AREN'T DEAD! MAMA ROSIE AND EDDY AREN'T DEAD! I WAS TALKING TO THEM THIS MORNING... I WAS... I was... I..." she trailed off her body slumping in defeat. She barely noticed when her mother harshly tore her away from the kitchen and carried her upstairs, all the time yelling in Addie's ear and berating her for disrespecting her.

Thud. Her body smacked the ground as her mother threw her into the room and she stalked forward her eyes burning with hatred.

Slap. Her hand collided with Addie's face; her cheek stinging from the force and her eyes welling up until the world became blurred.

Slam. Her mother stormed out of the room and pulled the bedroom door shut with such force that it reverberates on its hinges.

Click. Another door hidden in the extravagant palace wall made itself known and the sound of light footsteps surpass the ringing in Addie's ears.