"And over here we have only the most valuable room in the entire house." Triton explained, motioning to a closed door.
I raised my eyebrow, wondering what could be more valuable than the throne room they had already showed me.
"I don't think she's ready for this." Tristan told his brother.
Triton nodded, taking a step away from the door. "Yeah. Nobody really is ready for its greatness." He rolled his eyes. "Well, let's just find another place to show her."
I shook my head, raising my hand to point to the door. They couldn't leave me hanging like this.
Tristan smirked. "Well, what are you gonna do for us to show you?"
Triton nodded, stepping next to his brother.
I bit my lip. The curious part of me wanted to see what exactly this room was, but the other part of me knew I shouldn't even bother being near these two. I wasn't even supposed to interact with any of them.
I heard a laugh down the hallway. "Oh, stop it you two. Leave the poor girl alone before I ground you." The woman walked towards us.
She had striking green eyes, just like the boys, and she had the same bright blonde hair as them. Although she was older, her age seemed to make her all the more beautiful.
It was obvious that she was Queen Emerald.
Tristan grumbled. "Mom, we were just about to show her, I swear."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Triton looked down. "I mean, maybe we would've tried to get her to go get us some food, but we totally were." His brother nodded in agreement.
The queen turned her attention to me. "I'm sorry about my sons." She rolled her eyes. "They obviously just wanted to have a girl around, because usually it's just Sapphire and I. I'm Emerald, and you are?"
I was thankful that Tristan answered for me. "That's Florence. She can't talk."
The Luna didn't seem to falter at this. "Nice to meet you, Florence. I think I've already met your sister, Cassidy." She gave me a bright grin.
"You two don't look anything alike." Tristan commented. Triton, of course, nodded.
"Yea, for siblings." He added.
"Boys, that's not nice. I have to go help your father with some things, so don't be too awful to our guest. It was nice to meet you, Florence. I'll see you three at dinner." She flashed her gorgeous grin and walked off, making her purple gown swirl behind her.
"Do you want to see the room?" Triton asked. Both boys were staring at me, with their pairs of identical eyes. It was kind of creepy.
But I nodded, and Tristan raised his hand to the knob and opened the door.
I rolled my eyes at the sight. A huge television was stuck to the right wall, with obvious game consoles below it, and a large couch facing it.
They had brought me to the game room.
"Have you ever played World Warfare?" Triton asked, walking into the room and plopping down on the couch. It didn't surprise me that these teenage boys, who couldn't be older than fifteen, would consider this the most important room of the house.
Shaking my head, I walked over to the chair next to the couch and followed their lead, sitting myself down.
Tristan grinned, handing me a controller. "Well, we're going to teach you."
My stomach dropped.
* * *
I was absolute horrendous at video games. I think I had always been, but playing with the boys earlier had obviously proven that. Even when they gave me all the advantages, I was still trying to figure out which button was which by the time they had killed me.
I quickly gave the remote back to them and instead watched them get into the game, turning it into an intense battle between the two brothers instead of a friendly competition. They reminded me of my two brothers, Hayden and Harrison. They had always turned everything into a competition.
I hadn't realized that I had dozed off in the chair until one of the boys woke me. I was so disoriented that I couldn't even figure out which one it was.
"My mom just called us all down to dinner. Let's go to the dining room." He explained, putting the devices back and turning off the television.
I blinked hard, still getting over my nap. Dinner, already?
I glanced at the clock below the television. It read six thirty. Batilda had told me an hour and a half after everyone else.
"Let's go, slowpoke. Our mother does not appreciate any minute with us on the loose." Tristan said from the doorway.
I shook my head, waving them out. 'I'll be there soon. I need to use the bathroom.' I mouthed, and they both cocked their heads.
"I'd like to consider myself a good lip reader, but I'm not that good. Here, use this," Triton handed me a sleek black device out of his pocket. A phone.
My goddess, I haven't seen one of these in years. They looked so different, and so much lighter. I practically gaped at the thing.
But I snapped out of it. Triton had put me on some sort of typing thing, so I wrote what I had tried to say down.
He raised his eyebrow. "You know where the dining room is?"
I nodded. They led me down a hallway and pointed out the bathroom, and then they left.
I went into the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. Even after my nap, I had dark circles under my eyes. Tired couldn't even describe the amount of fatigue I looked to have been. And maybe some of it truly was the kind of energy I could get back from sleep. But I knew most of it wasn't.
I sighed, waiting a few minutes in the room. It was gorgeous, as was everything else in the house, and the marble carried on to everything in here.
When I finally felt the coast was clear, I walked out. I was relieved to find that not a single person was in sight.
The dinner was pungent from here though, which meant I should find somewhere else to go, further away from the food. Tempting myself would only be more dangerous.
So I wandered away from the food smell, up two flights of stairs, and down a few corridors. Eventually, I was as lost as could be. This place was huge, and I hadn't been smart enough to try and figure out a system to avoid this.
But I knew I still had a while before Batilda had allowed me to go downstairs, so I continued wandering.
Finally, I came across a set of double white doors. They didn't look like they led somewhere private like all the other rooms, and they were one of the few to have two doors instead of just one.
I placed my hand on the cold handle and turned, opening the heavy door.
My jaw dropped at the insides.
Shelves upon shelves lined the room, and they continued up to the open second floor, with a simple walkway around it so you could get to all the books.
This was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen. Books had always been my refuge. When all I had to entertain myself was that damned television with its single channel, I chose books instead. When all the other girls would engage in conversation I could never truly be a part of, I chose books instead. When one of the girls went upstairs and never returned, I chose books instead of feeling the paralyzingly fear of knowing each girl gone was one closer to me.
But that was all in vain. I was still here. Batilda still controlled me. Maybe I should've let myself feel that fear.
Stepping more into the room, I continued to stare in awe at all the beautiful shelves. The colors of the spines of the books gave the room a bright feel, and the windows that looked out into the yard, where all the trees had already lost most of their leaves. It seemed fall was almost over. Winter would be starting soon.
For a second, I was yet again brought back to my memory from earlier. I had rarely had such vivid memories of my family in the past few years. Maybe I chose not to torture myself like that, or maybe I had legitimately forgotten so much about them that I didn't remember. Whatever it was, a strange feeling battled the emptiness inside me.
I shook it off, walking further into the room. If one thing had kept me sane these past few years, it was reading. I had finished all of Batilda's books a long time ago, so I stuck to rereading them. When I had reread all of them, I rereread. I must've read my favorite book eight times.
But now, I could live a thousand years and never finish a single wall of this room. There were so many more choices now. I found my way to the left wall, searching all the books.
Batilda's rules would be easy to follow now. I could come here, pick a few books, and find other places to hide from the castle's inhabitants. The books would keep me focused so I wouldn't be counting down the time until I was able to go to the kitchen.
My fingers ran across the leather bindings of the books, tracing over some of the engraved titles. These books were in amazing quality, unlike Batilda's garage sale books that had missing pages and tattered edges.
My eyes scanned the titles. There were so many choices. Finally, my eyes landed on one, and I took it off the shelf, and settled myself into one of the many couches in the wide room. Soon, I became so completely enraptured in the book, that I didn't notice when Batilda came into the room.
But I did when the door slammed.
I jumped, the book flying out of my hands. I had already gotten halfway, and it was pretty thick. My page would be lost.
Her menacing glare made me realize that my page was of lesser importance than whatever had upset her. Which, I'm assuming, is me.
"You little bitch. You are doing something, and it is messing with my plans." She growled, her eyes narrowing into slits. For a second, I thought the black in them reappeared, but I blinked and it was gone.
I shook my head. I wasn't doing anything. The boys had given me a tour, and I had gone here. I had even listened to her rule about the meal times. What could I have possibly done?
She continued walking towards me, her steps like a famished lion approaching its prey.
I gulped.
"I don't believe you. You thought you could get smart on me, wait for your chance to fuck everything up. I will not allow it." And with a raise of her hand, the table in front of me came flying, and I barely managed to duck down in time.
"What are you doing, bitch?" She hissed. She was a good distance away from me, and she had stopped walking. I stayed ducked down, covering my head with my hands.
Shaking my head, I closed my eyes. She hadn't gotten this mad at me in what felt like forever. I had almost forgotten the paralyzing fear she instilled.
"I said, what are you doing?" Her voice was raising, and I was sure someone would hear us. Especially since these people were royal wolves. They had the best abilities in the world of werewolves.
I shook my head. Maybe if I just stayed like this, all small and completely defenseless, she would get what she wanted. Batilda lived off of the feeling of being above others, and maybe I could calm her down.
"Maybe you just need some more specification. Fine. First off, the prince was not that happy when you decided to go with the boys instead of us. He didn't show it except for when you walked away. He was as courteous as could be, but then he asked me if I felt as if our bond was off. He said that he had a feeling that something was strange between us. You are doing something to make him feel this. And you will pay."
I couldn't protect myself now as another table came flying at me, and one of the legs slammed into my side, right on my ribcage. I bit my tongue and curled up, hoping this would protect me for whatever came next.
"What are you doing!" Books flew out of their shelves and onto me, hardcover spines falling all over my body. A few hit my head, and some hit my tender ribcage. Those hurt like hell.
"You will tell me, dearie."
I shook my head. I had nothing to tell! She knew I didn't have it in me anymore to do anything against her, so why would she think I could be cunning enough to figure out how to sabotage her plans?
I lay there, covered by books and trying not to break into tears, as Batilda stood panting, anger radiating off of her in waves. But slowly, they subsided, until she was tired.
"Whatever you're planning, don't. I will not fail. You have failed every time against me. Do not believe you will win." And with that, she walked out of the room, closing the door lightly behind her.
And I lay stuck under piles of classics, with two tables and many many books to figure out where to put back. It took me two hours to get everything back into its place, and another hour to find my room.
Batilda was already asleep, on the large king sized bed, and she had generously given me the carpet to sleep on. I laid on the soft shag, staring at the glowing crescent out the window.
At this point, I had no doubt that the moon goddess wasn't real. I had never done anything to deserve this life. If she were real, she would've given me some mercy. But she didn't.
She never had.
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heyo so I took my science final today and I want to die rip I totally failed that shit but my math final was literally so easy I was so mad I spent so much time studying.
but hey tomorrow or today whenever your reading this I have English Spanish and my AP history class so wish me luck! my English and Spanish finals should be easy af Bc I've never gotten below an A for either but um ap history not so much... 😁
but GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAS FINALS I HOPE YOU DO STUPENDOUSLY LOVE YOU and I hope you enjoyed this!
~S