That night she laid under the silk sheets, mulling over Marcus' words in the dark. The only light was coming from the window near the desk, but the moon was only a sickle and the sky was clouded. She wondered how she could possibly share a drink with Demetri without him looking like he was being tortured, unless it was blood, which would make her look like she was being tortured. Let alone have a discussion on whatever unspecified topic.
She turned to lie on her other side, a loud sigh escaping her lips. She missed her family. Her father would have known what Marcus meant, he might have even answered her questions with more elaborate answers. She still had three weeks to go, and sure, Demetri was kind enough to her, but it just wasn't the same. She missed the gentle touch of her mother, the hours spent on fashion and make-overs with Alice and Rose, the deep conversations with Jasper, playing music with Edward, even the taunting from Emmett, though she supposed Alec made up for that.
Sometimes she hated the way she was always surrounded by at least someone, that was just the way things went with ten family members, but now she missed the busy rustle of it. Everything was quiet in Volterra, the thick walls of the castle blocking out all the sounds of the city and the vampires living in it made no sounds at all. It was boring, because, for all the vampires living in the place, no one dared to bother her.
A wave of homesickness crashed over her and she closed her eyes tightly to prevent the tears from escaping her eyes. She'd promised, after all, that she wouldn't cry. But as soon as the first sob left her mouth and a deep pit of longing for home settled in her stomach, she knew it was over. The second sob left her mouth a second later and when she opened her eyes, she felt the tears swimming in them.
She tried to muffle her sobs in the pillow she was clenching to her chest, but she knew it was all futile when she heard the doors to the room opening. She felt the mattress dunk in, telling her that somebody, probably Demetri had taken a seat on the edge of the bed. She didn't dare to turn around, not with her watery eyes, ugly sobs and runny nose.
She was certain it was Demetri when she felt his electrifying touch, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, tracing the warm skin of her neck, his hand landing on her bare shoulder. His thumb drew soothing circles on it, but that sweet gesture only reminded her more of home and she let out another sob, clinging to the pillow even tighter, as if her life depended on it.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, his voice barely audible.
"It's... it's not your fault," she said, a small hiccup escaping her lips. She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but she ended up only creating more space for new ones.
She heard him sigh and shift his weight. "Ah, but in a way, it is."
"You don't even know what's wrong," she countered.
"You're homesick."
It was quiet for a moment, aside from Cecilia's sobs. She couldn't help but wonder how awkward all of it must seem for him. He probably hadn't been in the presence of a crying teenage girl for ages, let alone be left to the task of doing something about it. It would have made her awkward as well, if the roles were reversed.
"Should I... ," Demetri began uncertainly, letting out a completely human sigh. "Can I hold you?" he asked. She couldn't see his face, but from the sound of his voice, she knew he was at the most vulnerable he'd ever been around her.
She didn't think his offer through, instead, turning around so she could look up to him. He'd swung his legs on the bed, leaned with his back to the headboard. She noticed the way his eyes shone in the little light that was offered to them, the perfection of his face. He looked beautiful, like an angel sent down from heaven or a hero of war from ancient times, half mortal, half immortal. Her breath hitched and with careful eyes, she watched his hands move to her face, his cold thumb setting her skin on fire as he brushed away the tears.
With a shaky sigh, she laid her head on his chest, her hand next to it. She didn't want to admit it, but the way his arms curled around her, one holding her shoulders and the other her waist, made her feel safe and less lonely. Like his arms formed a small home around her, a little place for the two of them where no sadness could reach her. He drew the silky sheets, which had slipped away, over her body again, but it was nothing in comparison to his caress, which seemed to warm her up from the inside out.
His fingers ran up and down the middle of her spine and she tried her best to ignore the way his coldness seeped through the silk of her nightgown or how his touch left sparkles or how she shivered. She felt the weight of his head resting on top of hers, her heart fluttering and her stomach somersaulting, and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking, what he was feeling. He didn't have a heart that could hammer against his chest, but did his body react to hers like the way hers did to his? Probably not, she guessed.
Her shoulders hiccuped, but her eyes had dried up and no sob left her mouth. She felt the way he squeezed her shoulder, gently, as if she was as fragile as china, which she supposed she was in his embrace. If he wanted to, he could turn all her bones into mush with one sharp squash.
She closed her eyes and tried to even out her breathing.
"Muse," she heard Demetri say in archaic Greek. It took her a sweet moment, but then she realised it was the first word of Hymn to Aphrodite. "tell me the things done by golden Aphrodite, the one from Cyprus, who arouses sweet desire for gods and who subdues the races of mortal humans, and birds as well, who fly in the sky, as well as all beasts —all those that grow on both dry land and the sea."
She loved the rumble in his chest as he spoke, the melodic sound of his voice in a language mastered by few. She could spend hours like that, curled up to his side, secured by his embrace, listening to him reciting ancient literature. She wished time could stop at this very moment, right before she drifted off peacefully.
➻
The next morning she woke up alone. As she turned on her back, her hands folded across her stomach and her eyes plastered to the ceiling, she couldn't help but wonder if last night had been a dream. It sure seemed like something straight out of a fairytale, something that simply didn't happen to girls like her. She could still feel Demetri's fingers trailing up and down her spine, the way he grasped her shoulder in comfort. If it had all been a dream, she was marvelled at the way her mind had conjured up all of those details.
The doors to her room were thrown open, a petite blonde girl standing in the opening, a sly smile covering her face. "Get ready," she said.
Cecilia frowned, pushing herself on her elbows, trying not to look caught. "What exactly do I need to get ready for?"
"I'm taking you to the modiste," Jane replied.
"A modiste?"
"Yes, a tailor, a seamstress, a needlewoman, capiche?" she said, drawing out the words as if she was stupid. "Are you going to keep asking questions or will you get ready?"
Cecilia swallowed the lump in her throat, not daring to ask another question, like why she needed to visit a seamstress and why out of all the vampires, Jane was taking her. She simply nodded and pushed the sheets from her body, rushing to the bathroom while ignoring Jane's hawk-like gaze following her.
"Who's the seamstress?" Cecilia called out from the bathroom. The only reason she even dared to say something was because she was out of Jane's line of sight, which meant that the small vampire couldn't use her gift on her.
"Her name's Aurelia and she's quite talented with fabrics," Jane replied, not sounding quite as mean as she normally did. "It's a useless gift if you ask me, though I suppose it serves certain purposes as well. She makes all of our clothing."
"So she's with the Volturi then?" Cecilia asked, turning on the tap.
"Absolutely not," Jane replied. She didn't sound really snappy, but it was not particularly friendly either. "It's no gift that would serve the Guard or the Volturi as a whole, but she's pledged her alliances to us. She lives near the edge of the city."
Cecilia hummed, splashing some water in her face before she started on her hair. She nudged the bathroom door open, seeing that Jane was still standing in the door opening of the room. Though she knew it didn't matter for a vampire whether they were seated or standing, it looked simply unnatural to her, the way the petite vampire stood perfectly still, not a single muscle in her body twisting in protest.
"Sometimes I forget how pathetically slow humans can be."
Cecilia bit her tongue as she walked to the closet and grabbed a dress with a floral pattern on it, changing into it quickly. It was a sharp contrast with Jane's all-black clothing, but then again, she contrasted with everybody in the castle, aside from Gianna perhaps.
"I wrote a letter to Aurelia stating we would be there on the tenth chime and I would hate for us to be late."
Cecilia took a look at the clock on the desk, 9:30. "Well, I'm ready to leave."
"It was about time."
A/N: hi guys! Thank you so so so much for the reads and the comments and the incredible amount of votes, I love it (: I hope you all like and continue to like the story <3