Finn was talking, but I was staring out the darkened windows.
That girl could not get out of my mind. Even though it was her sister that I was mated to, that Florence would not stop popping into my mind.
I had barely noticed her before she ran into Finn, but she looked so... hurt. Hurt couldn't even describe the amount of pain she seemed to be in, and I knew some part of me wanted to help her.
But why?
Her sister was my mate. Maybe my wolf was so protective of my mate that he's protective of her family as well.
I didn't know. I had no clue, but I still couldn't get that damn girl out of my mind!
Florence intrigued me. Maybe that was it. She was mute, and she was beautiful, in such an understated way. She was also very nervous. When she bumped into Finn, she practically jumped out of her own skin.
I groaned, thumping my head against the window. I felt like such a shit guy, thinking about my mates sister instead of my mate. My goddess, I was horrible.
"What's up, Dante?" Finn glanced up from his phone, raising an eyebrow at my head thumping.
"I feel like a shit mate and I've only had a mate for about forty minutes."
Finn laughed, turning off his phone and pocketing it.
"What did you do now?"
I groaned. That's the thing. I haven't done anything.
But my wandering mind has thought it. Specifically, those plump lips.
My goddess, what was wrong with me?
"I'm mated to Cassidy. But Florence won't leave my mind. I don't know. And I feel really weird about this situation. I have like, a gut feeling, that I'm missing something here. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."
Finn was silent for a moment, realizing I was serious.
"I mean, Florence is hot. I'll give you that. And so is Cassidy, but in a different way. Florence is like, innocent and shy. But the poor girl was in an accident. I have no clue what happened there, but I saw Florence get mad when her sister said that, too." He shrugged.
"It's up to you to dig. Cassidy seemed pretty upset talking about it, but so did Florence. Honestly man, I couldn't tell you what to do. Because if Florence really is mentally messed up, then she might not be a valid source. But if Cassidy is lying, then something more is happening. So I'm hoping Florence is lying."
I thought for a moment. He was completely right. And I knew I had to trust Cassidy on this. I wasn't going to start whatever we would end up being as untrusting.
But Florence...
I cursed my wolf. He always made me have second thoughts, always made me rethink my decisions, always disagreed. But unfortunately, he was right sometimes.
And you don't know if you want me to be right this time, either.
I groaned, thumping my head against the window. My damn wolf.
Finn laughed, taking out his phone again, and leaving me to my thoughts.
Which just so happened to be revolved around a certain brunette.
* * *
I gaped up at the castle that we finally arrived at. It was immense, regal, and every bit an architectural masterpiece. So much detail was put into everything that it was hard to figure out what to focus on.
A sharp pain in my foot made me snap my head to Batilda.
She glared at me. "We have new rules. You do not go anywhere near Dante, do you hear me? If you two are the only people in the room, leave. If you walk to close to him without realizing it, step back. Avoid him. Things will go much more smoothly that way." She was silent for a moment, her eyebrows raised in thought.
"Actually, scratch that. You are to avoid everyone. They will understand your anti-social behavior, since you're fucked up. Wander the castle. Go to the kitchen at least an hour and a half after the proper meal times. Stay in deserted rooms. This castle is big enough to have many of those. At eleven, I expect you in the room we will share, since I need to keep an eye on you. If you show up any later, then you will pay for every minute."
I gulped, looking down at my hands. But I nodded. I couldn't disobey her. She always won.
I could feel her grin. "Great. Now, dearie, I do believe it is time to get out of the car. I will exit first." She opened the door and stepped out. I heard her sigh, either in pleasure or tiredness, I didn't know.
I heard the door of another car slam, and I felt his energy in the air.
"I hope your ride wasn't too bad. The traffic in the kingdom gets pretty bad around sunset. Rush hour and all."
I took this as my cue to get out of the car, and I didn't dare look anywhere but below me. I made myself look interested in the crevices of the marble driveway.
Batilda laughed, her voice a lilt that was sweet as honey. "Oh, it was wonderful, your highness. The kingdom is truly picturesque." I could practically imagine her expression on of awe, and I knew she would be as close to the prince as she could get.
"I'm glad you enjoy it. Do you wish to go inside?" If there was one thing I got from Dante, it was that he was very proper. His grammar and speech made that obvious. And it made sense, since he was the crown-prince of the werewolf kingdom. Rulers had to be proper.
"I would love that." Her smile was audible, and my anger once again made an appearance. But I calmed myself. I would not interfere. No matter how much I wanted to, I would not interfere.
Subconsciously, I wondered how many times I would have to repeat that so I kept myself from messing Batilda's plan up.
I heard a door slam, making me finally look up. Finn had gotten out of the car, a grimace marking his features and a furrow in his brows.
Dante noticed his friend, and raised an eyebrow in questioning. Finn simply shrugged it off, walking over to me.
"Now it's time to meet the family. They're going to be a little crazy, because that's what they do, especially Sapphire and the boys. But I'll be here to keep those demon children away, because frankly I don't have the energy for them right now."
Dante laughed from ahead of us, already starting for the gigantic mahogany doors that had guards in either side of the door.
We all made our way towards the palace, Finn trying to spark a conversation when he obviously knew I wasn't going to respond, Batilda fluttering her eyelashes at Dante, and Dante trying to be polite back. I, however, was simply focused on the grand architecture of the place. Oh my goddess, this place was a dream. All a dark grey stone and marble with gold accents that reflected the falling sun, it was truly a sight to behold.
Finn smiled at my gaped reaction. "You should see the inside. It's even better."
I stared at him. Better? This was the most magnificent thing I've ever seen. Granted, I haven't seen much except for a basement cellar, but still. It got better?
Finn chuckled at this, and the guards finally opened the doors for us, mumbling a 'good evening, your royal highness,' before shutting it behind Finn and me.
But holy hell.
Finn was one hundred percent correct.
The inside was magnificent. The marble continued, this time changing from the slightly beige black marble on the walls of the exterior to a white and black marble on the floor of the palace. The walls had so much crown molding and detailing it every bit resembled a royal home. The paint above the molding was a light blue with barely noticeable silver accents.
And this was just the entrance hall.
"FINNEGAN!" I practically jumped ten feet in the air at the scream.
"Tristan, Finn is back!" The blonde boy said from down the hall, smirking at Finn. I glanced at him, and he was rubbing his temples. I almost smiled.
A pair of feet came bounding down the marble hallways, and a part of me was worried about the boy slipping. But quickly, a blonde teen boy identical to the other showed up, standing beside his twin.
"Hey, Finn! We thought you forgot about us. Sapphire was especially worried about that, even though she won't admit to it."
As if on cue, a gorgeous dark brown haired girl came to join the two boys, her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, like I'd miss an asshole like Finn." She rolled her blue eyes, but glanced at Finn. The small smile on her face made it obvious she was excited to see him.
Finn rolled his eyes in return. "Yeah, yeah. But I'm not the most exciting person here right now." He gestured to Cassidy and me, taking the attention away from himself. Three pairs of eyes looked now at us, and I wanted to disappear.
Sapphire, whom I had seen on the television many times, smiled at us. "Are one of you my brothers mate? Oh goddess, I hope so. He gets lonely without Finny." Her eyes sparkled with humor at the nickname I guess was for Finn, and both Dante and Finn groaned.
"Not that name!" and, "I do not!" blurred together into one sentence, making it hard to decipher who said what.
Sapphire laughed at their responses, but Cassidy chose now to make a response.
"We're mates. I'm Cassidy." She must've given her a smile, because Sapphire smiled back. She glanced at her brother for a second before turning her attention to me.
"You're definitely not mates with Finnegan over here, because I wouldn't wish a curse like that upon anyone." She rolled her eyes but kept her focus on me.
I noticed Finn out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't figure out his reaction to this. His shoulders slumped, and he opened his mouth just the slightest, seeming like he wanted to say something. But then he thought better of it and returned back to his normal façade.
I'd have to figure out exactly what just happened sometime.
Cassidy stepped in again. "Oh, no. She's um–mute, from an accident she got into a while back. It hurts for her to talk about. She had hit her head in the accident, and lost some brain function. It's tragic, so we don't talk about it." Again, she finished in a whisper to make it all seem real.
Sapphire lost her smile. "I'm sorry. That's awful."
Cassidy nodded, looking at the ground.
Oh, I want to commit so much violence right now.
But instead I stared at the ground, remembering the memory I thought of earlier. It calmed me, and reminded me how much I had loved Christmas time. My birthday was right after it, I think. Memories of my birthday were so hazy, I only remember the excitement from Christmas immediately leading to my birthday.
But I think I remembered that the first time I shifted, it was right before the new year. Batilda had taken me three days after my first shift.
I glanced back at the doors. There were stained glass windows on either sides, letting in streams of blue and white and gold colored light that fit in with the place perfectly.
I didn't notice the boys until they were right in front of my face.
"Hi!" The slightly shorter one greeted, a bright grin on his face.
"I'm Triton, and he's Tristan. But I'm obviously the better looking twin. We don't usually get new visitors in here, because they like to keep us on lockdown."
The shorter one, Tristan, nodded. "Yeah. Our parents get really angry with us sometimes 'cause we manage to sneak people in, and apparently that's a bad idea. But it's boring, and all the staff chooses to do their job instead of starting trouble with us." He rolled his eyes.
Sapphire huffed from behind me. "Yes, because they'd lose their jobs if they chose to waste time entertaining you, something much less important. We need the guards, cooks, and maids, and you need to find something more productive to spend your time on instead of starting trouble. My goddess, do not make me turn into mom."
The boys snickered, obviously liking the reaction they got out of her.
Tristan and Triton refocused the attention on me. "See, we would listen to her, but she's almost as bad a buzzkill as Dante is. He's as bad as dad." Tristan whispered.
I raised an eyebrow in response.
Triton must have seen this as my cue to keep talking. "So you are the lucky person who gets to entertain us today. While they do whatever, we're gonna show you the real cool spots in the castle. Let's go." They started walking to the hallway to the left, but I stayed still. Batilda had said not to even get near anyone. And for the life of me I couldn't disobey her.
I turned around and noticed they all were staring at me. It made me feel really uncomfortable.
"Florence, why don't you go with the boys. I'd like to get the tour Dante promised me." She smiled up at him. He snapped out of his state and nodded.
"Yes, I did promise that. But you're certainly welcome to join us, Florence." He held my gaze, and my heart squeezed with every second.
He will never be yours.
So I broke the stare and I turned down the hallway to the left, following to wherever the boys had gone to.
I didn't realize my heart had been beating so fast until I caught up with them at the end of the hallway, finally having a chance to breathe.
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hey! I managed to get this out within a week!!!
Okay so here's the dilemma: I have finals next Wednesday and Thursday but not that Friday because I don't have any finals for the periods they have on Friday. So I most likely won't be getting much time to write with all the studying and stuff I already have. But I get on break on the 23rd, and I don't have school again until I think January 16th or something. So I will most definitely be getting some writing done then.
but I really hope to get some writing done between now and my break!
live love all my readers and please leave a vote and comment!
Skye (the s and k look so ugly together in italics ew)