AS HANDSOME AS CAIUS IS, I DON'T WANT TO STAND HERE ALL DAY WAITING FOR HIM TO EXPLAIN WHY HE WISHES TO SPEAK TO ME AFTER RELEASING THE OTHER EMPLOYEES.
For what it's worth, I'm not someone who's interested in fighting her boss during every meeting. Confrontation isn't my style, nor is it my specialty. Caius could run me down with words if he wanted and I'd be speechless against him.
"Sir, I have things I need to do tonight, respectfully. If this is going to take more than a few minutes, I'm asking you to bring it up with me tomorrow," I said.
Yet again, he caught me by surprise.
"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for my foul attitude," Caius apologized. "You didn't deserve it. That's all. You can leave now."
His words were giving me whiplash. Yeah, I deserved better. An apology had been in order. But actually getting one from him? It feels unnatural, like I'm missing something so obvious. That genuine look in his eyes makes me want to cave, to push past it, but how do I know it's all real? Guilt only gets you so far...
"As long as it doesn't happen again, apology accepted," I breathed out with an awkward smile.
Then, turning tail, I left the room, not daring to look back at Caius.
---
"YOU LOOK DEVASTATED, MY LOVE," ATHENODORA SAID AS SHE WRAPPED AN ARM AROUND HER HUSBAND.
The king wasn't ready to spill the secret. Not today, maybe not tomorrow. But it was becoming irrationally obvious how upset he was about whatever was happening to him. Bags formed under his eyes, a rarity for a vampire of his age, and his hair is askew in a few places. The worst of it all, his eyes were glazed with stressed tears that wouldn't fall.
No caresses that acted as reassurance followed her remark, just silence. Caius could not bring himself to move from the couch where he was reading an ancient tale of twin flames, the original understanding of the mating bond between souls. Athenodora's presence made it worse for the elder vampire. He wanted River here. To watch her read, those small hands flipping the pages. Seeing the smile lines form as she giggled to the scene was playing out in her head.
It was agony for him to know she didn't trust him. Apologies aren't something Caius gives often, either, and only to those he loves deeply. Caius gripped the edge of his leather bound book in anguish as he waved a dismissive hand to his wife.
"I'm fine," the king lied as he turned another page. "They lost the chart again, that's all."
Placated by this answer as she often was, Athenodora left the topic of his disheveled nature alone, choosing to sprawl out across the bed. Her husband didn't turn his cheek as he normally would, near-dissociating into the storybook laid out in his lap.
Caius' odd behavior could be passed off as mood swings for the next few weeks. Too many times stress has built up in his years ruling the Volturi, sending him into near madness. Even Marcus, who became a shell of himself, could not compare to the melancholia and manic episodes of his brother. They happened frequently, causing disaster whenever it struck the man to leave the castle during these vulnerable times.
But this wasn't the run of the mill anxiety or depression. No, Caius was at a loss for what he was to do with the woman in his bed who expected something of him he could not give her. Love, patience, adoration; all these factors running on auto-pilot no more.
Yet she seems sated, happy with just having her husband in her sight. No words, just silence. It pained Caius to know that what they had was no more, that it had ended when he first ran into his mate in the corridor. Three thousand years of happiness coming to a close for a bond that felt like liquid starlight.
A knock on the door disturbed their quiet. Athenodora's near-white hair fell behind her in heaps as she opened up the door. On the other side was a distressed Sulpicia.
Caius' venom ran cold.
"Sulpicia, whatever is the matter?" Athenodora embraced her bond-sister and pulled her onto the couch. "Both you and my Caius look absolutely dreadful this evening. He won't tell me what's going on, but you better, dearest sister. I must be informed."
The blonde king didn't dare look at his sister-in-law. One glance and the ruse would be over. There's no hiding anguish with anger in this bedroom.
"Oh, it's just that Aro has been so distant these past few days. No affection from him at all, Thena!" Sulpicia laid her head in her hands. "You wouldn't believe what I found missing from his favorite room, Athenodora. I had to come to you after I realized it wasn't there."
Sulpicia and Athendora stared at each other for a long moment before Athenodora sighed. "Darling, I'm sure that Aro has simply been busy. I heard that there's a proper human in the castle now, one working as our husbands' secretary," she tried to soothe.
This only further incited the ancient queen. "It was Didyme's tiara, Thena! The tiara that my Aro gave her as a wedding gift, the one that belonged to their human mother. He would never allow it to go missing. What if he gave it to someone else? What if he's seeing another?" Sulpicia badgered.
Caius had to take in a deep breath of his own before he seethed, "Aro isn't an unfaithful man, sister."
Oh, how has it come to this? Caius thought as he placed his book down on the maple dresser.
Aro and Marcus would have to thank him later for keeping the secret of their shared mate just that; a tightly sealed secret for just the three of them. Knocking down this house of cards while emotions ran high could prove deadly. Sulpicia and Athenodora are powerful creatures, older than the majority of their kind and with wits to match the best of vampires.
Dangerous women the two of them married, and now they would pay the price for it.
"Do you know where Didyme's tiara has gone, Caius?" Sulpicia interrogated. "The security on the vaults is impeccable. No guard can get inside! Only you and your brothers have access to it."
She had a solid case for infidelity, or at least suspicious behavior. Caius must be smart about this. One wrong move and Sulpicia may very well tear him to shreds and throw his body parts into the little fire Athenodora started before Caius came into the room.
But Caius has always been quick with words.
"I'll ask Marcus if he's taken it, Sulpicia. He's been getting better recently and may have been given permission to take back the tiara from Aro. Didyme meant everything to the two of them, as you remember." A half-lie was better than a full one. Believable, even. "I doubt Aro has taken it. I can confirm that teaching our new secretary how to work this kind of job has taken time. Have patience."
Sulpicia seemed to sit on his words for a few minutes before she nodded. Athenodora grasped her hand tightly before bringing it up to her pale lips and kissing her sister's knuckles.
"Everything will be fine, darling. If anything else happens, bring it to our attention immediately. Volturi are a family."
Caius turned away from them once more, unwilling to face the two of them after lying straight to their faces. Aro took the tiara, likely having given it to their mate. Why couldn't the idiot have been more discreet with his affections towards River? Why did Caius now feel inclined to buy her something expensive as well?
This is such a mess.
---
Text conversation with Caius, Aro, and Marcus
Caius: The tiara has been noticed
Aro: ?
Marcus: Which one?
Caius: The one Aro gave River. Didyme's.
Marcus: O
Marcus: Are they onto him?
Caius: Yeah no shit they're onto him
Caius: Why did you make it so obvious? Aro, I love you, but you're stupid
Marcus: he isn't responding
Caius: answer you coward
Caius: I'll put glitter in your bed
Aro: did you lie to her? or do I have to...
Aro: You know
Marcus: Not every problem can be solved by killing someone
Aro: That is *not* what I was insinuating
Caius: I'm blocking you
---
Okay so this may or may not be the last update before I leave for camp tomorrow morning. But hey, I'm leaving you this drama and comedy because the Volturi are a whole soap opera.
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