An anguished scream echoed in the throne room, emanating from the lowly creature lying before the three kings begging for his pathetic life.
"Please miei signori, I didn't know!" The nomad vampire withered on the floor, convulsing in pain as his severed arm lay in front of him. Deep cracks were littered across his copper skin, covering his entire body.
"Ah my dear Arturo, you wound me with the lies that spill from your treacherous lips." Aro tutted with disappointment, pacing in front of the weak pest that was being held before him under the dark influence of Jane's gift. "We gave you shelter in our city, protection from those who wished harm upon you and how do you repay us? By attacking the locals we swore to protect."
"I'm sorry! Please, you must understand it's in a vampire's nature to be consumed by their thirst." His pleading fell upon deaf ears.
Aro tsked and faced him with a tight smile, eyes glinting with barely contained rage. "Had you been a newborn this little discrepancy could have been resolved; you're not though, are you?" The only response he got was a defeated whimper, sick joy filling his black heart at the other vampire's hopelessness. "You very nearly tarnished the reputation and secrecy that took our coven thousands of years to build. I'm afraid we cannot let this heinous misdeed go unpunished, my friend."
Caius sat stiffly on his throne, anger and hate rolling off him in deep heady waves. The black shadows lining the room were doing their best to not attract his attention, a lower guard had paid the price for that in the form of his head. All three kings were more temperamental than usual, they had rushed through the trials today; many of the poor souls who had entered had not had the pleasure of leaving again. It seemed any mercy the three possessed had run thin.
"Enough of this, Aro. Kill the pathetic worm and be done with it." Caius snapped venomously, smirking cruelly at Arturo when he wailed in fear. His patience for the trials had all but disappeared at this point and he didn't care if the pitiful beings brought in were guilty or not, all he wanted to do was seek out his angry mate and reason with her-even if it was against her wishes. Aro and Marcus were reluctant to take that course of action and he understood their reasons, she was human and new to this world but he would not live without her and he would not let her distance herself from them to the detriment of them all.
"Caius is right, fratello. You already know he is guilty, let us not play anymore games." Marcus's voice was strained, he had taken their mates rejection the hardest. It was reminiscent to him of losing Didyme all over again but unfortunately the feelings were a great deal stronger, he was no stranger to feeling hollow and empty but this time it was different. He could deal with his own pain but his mind twisted with agony when they had felt her pain-an upsetting perk of their bond.
It was destroying them all to know how angry and afraid she was, they knew it wasn't necessarily with them but it stung no less to know there was nothing they could do to help her. She'd made it clear she didn't want to speak with them and he had been the one to convince his irrational brothers to leave her be, she needed time to think and heal.
Anticipation thrummed in the air as they awaited Aro's decision. He hummed and brought his clasped hands to his lips, contemplating something for a moment. Sighing through his nose, his eerie eyes locked with the frightened and freshly crimson ones that belonged to Arturo.
"You are right, brothers." Dread washed over the nomads face. He was given no time to plead for his life as Aro smiled, tilting his head and nodding at someone behind the condemned soul. A hand gripped his dark curly hair and within seconds his world went dark, his last moments on Earth filled with the torturous tearing of limbs and scorching flames licking at his skin.
The three kings watched him burn in silence, a calm settling over them knowing this was the last trial of the day.
Aro turned and headed to his throne, stopping on the last step of the dias to face the obedient guards. "Leave us, dear ones. We have much to discuss." They didn't need to be told twice, all too eager to be away from Caius and the fury that stewed behind his snake-like eyes. The doors banged harshly as they closed, the three brothers still for a moment. Away from the prying eyes of their guards they allowed their true feelings to show.
"What are we going to do, αδερφια? I wish to comfort Elenora but I fear we risk driving her further away." Aro rubbed a large hand down his face wearily, if vampires could feel tired and ill then he would say that was what they were all experiencing. For the first time since his turn he wished he had the ability to sleep, if only to escape his unrelenting worry for his mate.
Caius rolled his eyes in annoyance at them both. "I've told you already that we should sit her down and explain to her that this is not negotiable, it will bring pain to us all if she rejects us." Marcus chuckled lowly, not flinching when Caius turned a hostile glare onto him. "What's so amusing, Marcus?"
"Do you not see the error in your plan? Elenora is human. I know we hold virtually no memory of what it was like to be mortal, but they are fragile creatures that are easily disturbed by things they don't understand." Both Aro and Caius considered Marcus's words. It had been thousands of years since the time of their own human lives; society and civilization had changed a lot, perhaps they should take more care to consider how overwhelming this was for her.
"You also forget that the women of this time hold a lot more power and will than they did in the past, they are unafraid to speak their mind and our mate is no different." That was undoubtedly true, through her fear she had shown herself to be a spirited little thing.
"Do you think if we went to her and demanded that she accept our affections and stay here with us, under constant supervision might I add, that she would just agree? It will only make her despise us more. It pains me brothers but you must think before you act on this, or we will all pay the price."
Marcus's words and scolding hurt both of their pride. They were ancient and wise beings capable of many extraordinary things, though they had enough self awareness to admit they weren't very wise about this particular subject.
"Forgive me, I risk losing us our one chance at true happiness with my flawed reasoning." Caius conceded, a taught frown stretching his perfect lips downward.
"It is difficult and new for all four of us, Caius. We must learn to improve our behavior if we wish to win her favour." Aro had just finished speaking when the doors were suddenly pushed open, a black cloaked guard tentatively entering the room.
Aro tilted his head in confusion and anger at the interruption. "Santiago, what is the meaning of this?" He flinched at his Master's angry growl, lowering his face to look at the ground in submission. He made a bet with Afton on who should be the one to tell the masters the news; regrettably he had lost.
"I apologize, my kings. Lady Elenora has informed me that she wishes to speak with you, she's waiting for you in the gardens." They all perked up at that, and Caius breathed a sigh of relief. He had truly believed they had ruined their chances with her. Fate had given them another and he wouldn't mess up this time, he'd show her why they deserved to call her theirs.
"Thank you for informing us. Let your Queen know we will be with her shortly." Santiago nodded to Marcus and hastily exited the room, grateful that his head remained attached and he got to live another day.
"You see Caius? You must have more faith." Aro chided the snowy haired king in a sing-song voice, the sour man rolling his eyes at his brother's relentless optimism-though his lips twithced at Aro's unflinching good mood.
"Come brothers, we mustn't keep il nostro bel fiore waiting."
Nora walked slowly behind Jane, reluctant to get too close to her. She wouldn't put it past the deceptively sweet little girl to trip her or something and make her look like an idiot. Don't get her wrong, she was curious to know more about both of the twins but she had no clue how to speak to either of them. Alec was a lot more friendly, he didn't speak but occasionally he'd smile at her when he caught her staring.
"Does something trouble you, my Queen?" Nora jumped as the quiet corridor was filled with Jane's bell-like voice; surprisingly she detected no malice coming from the girl, a strange change to how she had acted the day before.
She stuttered, struggling to form words not sure how to react to the fact that Jane had actually spoken to her. Her shock was abandoned when she realized something. "I'm sorry but, what do you mean 'Queen'?"
The young girl muttered something to herself before answering. "Well, You are the Masters' mate. They are the kings therefore that makes you the Queen." She spoke purposefully slowly, talking to Nora like she was the child instead of her.
Scowling at the back of her head Nora huffed and rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to know that? She didn't think being the...mate to the three men would mean she'd have to rule as well.
"Look, they didn't specify that, alright? I'm basically still clueless here, why do you think I wanted to talk to them?" It wasn't the only thing she wanted to talk to them about but she didn't want the two children to know all of her business, they had become silent now anyway. To distract herself from the annoying conversation she played with the skirt of her dress. Earlier, after she'd left the comforting bath she'd decided she might as well look the part. Well, it was that and she also didn't want to have to wear her dirty clothes anymore.
She'd come across a large wardrobe, filled to the brim with dresses, blouses, heels and a number of other clothing items that looked so expensive she didn't want to touch them in fear that the destructive oils on her fingers would ruin them. Begrudgingly she had decided to wear a pretty black sundress with thin straps that fell to the knee, she could see through the windows that the sun was shining brightly. She paired it with some white peep-toe heels that weren't too tall and were actually quite comfortable, styling her hair into a messy plait that left hair framing her face.
She had to admit they had taste when it came to clothes and by the looks of it a shitload of money. She was brought back to the present as light shined through a door at the end of the hallway, her eyes lit up with excitement. This would be the first time since coming here that she'd see the outside, she had sort of grown used to the dark and dreary halls and rooms.
She closed her eyes as they made it into a lush garden to control the burn from the drastic change of lighting. Every inch of the vast space was covered with a beautiful range of fragrant flowers. Blissfully absorbing the sun she could have cried with relief, it felt so good to breathe fresh air.
Turning to look and see where Jane and Alec had gone she froze, unable to comprehend quite what she was seeing.
"Vampires fucking sparkle?!"