Belle mentally replayed the events that had happened after Kaiden fell to the floor.
~
Sebastian lifted Kaiden up from the floor, and despite having just been thrown around, carried him around with ease. With Kaiden's arm around his shoulder, Sebastian held him up while Belle tried to find a place for him to rest.
Since Kaiden's room was an utter mess, they needed to find another place to lay Kaiden down.
But while they were navigating the halls, her mind was still scrambling about the altercation, especially how Kai tried to avoid hurting her. That taunt of hers had been nothing but bluff, since she was trying to get him to take some time to think about it, possibly mellowing him out. But based on his expression, he had agreed with her. Then later, she realized it was true.
The last time she had been graced by Kai's presence, she had been shoved to the wall, but she hadn't been hit by him. And the time before that, he let her push him away, when he could have retaliated.
She still thought about it while they entered the other room, which Belle later discovered was Sebastian's. It seemed like a mirror image of Kaiden's room, if it had been left intact and untouched for years.
Belle followed Sebastian to the bed, where she assumed Kaiden was going to be placed on. As soon as Sebastian dumped Kaiden onto the bed and rolled him over so that he would face up, he turned around to face Belle.
Based on his expression, she knew it was going to be something about what had just happened in the other room. Her suspicions were confirmed when he gently grabbed her by the arm and took her out to the hallway. She let him bring her out, to avoid disturbing Kaiden.
"Do you know what happened to him?" Sebastian asked after letting her go and facing her. Somehow, even in the empty hallway, it felt like someone could easily overhear everything.
Belle fidgeted a little, not sure if she should be the one to tell him. But considering the tension between the brothers, Belle decided to tell him what she knew, since Kaiden probably wasn't planning to tell him. Besides, Sebastian should probably know some information so that he could possibly protect himself.
"As far as I know, he was cursed by a witch to have a dual personality. Based on past experiences, when he gets really mad, he'll change into Kai, who has superhuman abilities," Belle answered, summarizing what she knew. Sebastian didn't look too surprised, but he still looked puzzled.
But the confusion quickly left his face as it appeared that he figured something out.
"Figures. Of course that would happen," he muttered under his breath. Belle was slightly confused. Did he think that it was that predictable?
"What did you say?" Belle asked, watching Sebastian snap his head up.
"Did I say that out loud?" he asked, looking a little bashful even though Belle could see a hint of panic in his eyes, as if he didn't mean to have said that.
"Don't mind me, darling, I was mumbling nonsense," he said with a grin. And there was his nickname for her, taking her mind off her question and confusion.
"Didn't I tell you to not call me darling?" Belle felt like scowling, which made his grin bigger since he could see the temptation to do so. It wasn't the fact that he was calling her darling, although that was strange too, but the fact that he had ignored her request to stop calling her that.
"Yes you did, but I don't have to listen to you," he replied cheekily, still grinning at her. This time, Belle gave him a look of irritation, although she sort of felt like blushing at the same time. His smile was so similar to Kaiden's...
Actually, almost everything about him was similar to Kaiden. Their looks, grins, and flirtatious attitude. The big difference was that although Sebastian looked older, he acted more childish. Not to mention that his eyes weren't the same dazzling shade of emerald as Kaiden's.
"If it makes you feel better, I suppose you can call me by a nickname too," Sebastian sighed dramatically, a hint of mischief in his eyes. Belle narrowed her own eyes in suspicion.
"What is it?" she asked, cautious. Her suspicions were proven when the mischief reached the corners of his mouth.
"Charming," he replied, seeming so full of himself, but not in a way that was completely arrogant. It definitely could fit him.
"That's not happening Sebastian," Belle retorted. His eyes brightened and darkened at the same time, if that made any sense.
"Say my name again," he requested, making her frown. What a strange man. Obsessed with her saying his name.
Belle made a show of zipping her lips, which made him groan slightly.
"At least call me Seb," he whined teasingly. For some reason, she couldn't keep the smile off of her face.
"I suppose I could do that, since your name is a mouthful," she drawled, imitating him from earlier.
Before she could stop herself, she teasingly poked him in the stomach.
Sebastian let out a quiet hiss of pain, making Belle immediately pull her finger away. Her eyes widened as she remembered that Kai had punched him in the stomach.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I forgot what happened to you!" Belle frantically apologized. If she had hurt him, it would make her feel bad. But considering how he gave a hiss, it must've been slightly painful, or at least sore.
Then she wondered what injuries he had. After all, getting thrown across the room should have left some sort of mark. And remembering how there was little dent in the wall from where he was thrown at...
"Are you hurting anywhere else?" Belle worried out loud, not sure what do to. It wasn't as if she could ask him to lift his shirt up to see if the wall did any damage to him.
Then, her thoughts were interrupted by him taking off his shirt. Belle's eyes widened before she quickly turned around, attempting to give him some decency. Before she had turned around, she only got a glimpse of his - no, she wasn't going to think about it.
"What are you doing?" Belle asked, confused out of her mind.
Or, more like mentally absorbing the image of his bare chest. Was there a bruise that was beginning to show? She was tempted to turn around to see but her body was frozen in place, facing away. Not to mention, her face was surely becoming redder by the second. Despite her wonderings about his possible injuries, it didn't change that fact that he still took off his shirt in front of her!
"Lifting my shirt like you asked me to." Belle could hear the smirk in his voice, even from turning around and facing the opposite direction.
"I said no such thing!" Belle exclaimed. Unless, she had accidentally spoken her thoughts? But even then, it was only to lift his shirt, not to take it off!
"Why are you being so shy? You've already seen me with my shirt off. Remember how you cleaned me up?" he teased her.
Belle narrowed her eyes. He was being awfully brave and arrogant to tease her in that beat up state of his. It was like he was asking to be yelled at by her.
"Just put your shirt back on!" she hissed. Behind her back, she heard a reluctant sigh and some rustling of a shirt getting put on.
"As you wish, darling. I have my shirt back on," Sebastian said. Belle made sure to glare at him when she turned back around to face him.
"Turn around," Belle ordered snappily. Now that she had already been embarrassed, she was planning to go ahead with her original plan of checking for bodily harm.
Sebastian put his hands up, as if surrendering. Then, he followed her orders and turned around.
Belle moved closer to him, hesitating before slowly lifting the back of his shirt up a little. This time felt more awkward, since last time, she had thought that he was unconscious.
"Why did you ask me to put on my shirt if you were going to lift it anyways?" Sebastian teased before Belle could examine the damage.
"Hush!" she struggled with finding something to retort back. Since her hand dropped slightly while he asked the question, she raised her hand again to lift his shirt up.
A little gasp escaped as she saw little slivers of wood protruding out of his back, blood trickling from each wound. The wood pieces must've came from slamming into the ground or wall. Although the pieces weren't big enough and he wasn't bleeding terribly, it still alarmed her.
After she realized that she had made him put the shirt back on, she winced. Not to mention, he had carried Kaiden all the way to the room before that.
"That bad?" he asked softly, clearly having heard the gasp she let out.
"No, it's just that I probably can't be the person to help you with this. There's splinters all over your back," she answered unsurely. "You should go find Mary and Lucy," she suggested, remembering how they helped her with the wounds from when the wolves clawed into her leg.
"Are you sure you can't do it?" he asked turning his head so he could try to see her better.
"Not unless you want me to make it worse but digging the wood deeper into your skin," she warned. "You really do you need to find better help for this."
Sebastian sighed, reaching behind his back to grab her hand, the one that was holding his shirt, and took it off his shirt. He turned his head sideways so that she could only see one half of his face.
"If you say so. See you later darling," he winked at her from the side and started walking away. Despite his wounds, his walk was filled with pride and arrogance.
After Sebastian strutted out of her sight, she quickly peeked back in the room, seeing that Kaiden was still lying there, unconscious. Temptation to go back in there and wait until he woke up was great, but it wasn't great enough to actually do.
That didn't mean that she wasn't going to go back into the room for another minute.
Quietly, she snuck back into the room and sat on a chair that was near the bed.
Belle watched Kaiden's chest move up and down with his breathing, before moving her gaze to his face, observing the details. His eyelashes seemed longer when his eyes were closed, making her feel almost jealous of them.
But even if she did feel jealous of his eyelashes, it was nothing compared to the envy she had over his gleaming emerald eyes. It was too bad his eyes were closed, so her view moved elsewhere.
Then, she noticed the keychain around his neck. The same one she had seen resting on his bare chest the night Sebastian arrived. Struggling to focus on the keychain, rather than the image of his muscular frame, she forced herself to observe the details of the keychain.
The key on the chain was a thin, silver one. She noticed that there were patterns of swirls over it. The silver color reminded her of the lock on the door in the secret hall, the one where Kaiden had found her sneaking around it.
The clues finally fit the puzzle.
The key he kept around his neck, something he kept close to himself at all time, was the key to open a secret room in a secret hall, one that was also determined to keep to himself.
But what was in that room? If only she could take the key...
Suddenly, she felt guilty.
Kaiden's earlier words came back into mind. She had no business to dig around in his secrets when she herself knew about keeping things to herself. Also, she would be angry as well if she knew there was someone sneaking into some personal, private area of hers, trying to find her secrets out.
Then, she felt like apologizing to him, despite the fact that he couldn't hear her, but she couldn't think of how to say it. Being curious was a part of her that she couldn't change. So she decided to keep quiet do the rest of the time being.
After a few more seconds, she got up and headed back to her room.
~
Belle had just finished replaying yesterday's memories, and was thinking about it, wondering even more about the history between the two brothers.
She didn't get very far wondering because she heard a knock on the door, which jolted her out of her quiet, thinking zone. Then, the creaky sound of the door opening dispersed into the air.
"Charlotte? Belle?" a voice called.
Belle looked up from the spot she had been staring blankly at for the few minutes, seeing Valencia standing by the door. Her red gown, that flowed to the ground, caught Belle's eye first, since it was very bright today.
"Hello Valencia, is there something wrong?" Belle asked, concern laced into her words. Usually, the only time where one would go into another room was when there was a date or if it was the weekend, when everyone had a free day.
"Does something need to be wrong so that I can talk to my friend?" Valencia grinned at her, relieving Belle of any anxiety. "I was just done with my chores and was trying to find someone to keep company," she explained.
"Ah, then you can come right in. I'm not doing anything currently except staring blankly at the wall," Belle replied leaning her back against the sofa again.
Valencia glided over and dropped onto the sofa next to her, leaning back as well. She let out a sigh of relief and exhaustion.
"There are so many tapestries to clean. Have you ever noticed how many there are?" Valencia complained. She arched her back, stretching to prove a point.
"Have you ever seen how many books there are in the library?" Belle replied with a complaint of her own.
As much as she loved to read, alphabetizing every single book in the library was a pain. After a month of organizing, she had finally gotten to the W's. There were so many T's that it took a few days. But, after a few more letters, she'd be done with alphabetizing and would be free to read books that interested her.
"Oh, that's right. You got the library," Valencia shivered, most likely thinking about how many books there were in the library. Then she looked over to the side and saw a book on Belle's bed.
"How can you stand looking at books after doing your chore for more than a month?" she asked, amazed. She even made a point to gesture to the book on the bed, which Belle turned to look at, reminded of it.
"Books are fun to read. Not the greatest to organize, but fantastic to read," Belle replied, tempted to get up and finish the book on her bed.
It was a pirate romance novel that made her blush in a few places, but it had a good plot. Although, its plot is nowhere as good as the novel about an epic dragon war, where there were dragons on both sides of the war. It was a great fantasy novel with adventures.
"Belle?" Valencia's voice brought Belle's attention back on her. Her mind must've wandered off again. She got so distracted so easily, it must be quite annoying to others sometimes.
Belle was about to apologize bashfully for blanking out on her when a noise interrupted her.
The slight creak of the door sounded, signaling that someone was opening it. Both Belle's and Valencia's attention went in that direction, seeing Charlotte walking further into the room.
Charlotte's head tilted in surprise when she saw who was keeping Belle company.
"Hi Valencia," Charlotte exclaimed, before pausing. "That works fine," she said quieter, probably to herself.
"Works fine for what?" Belle asked, having heard her remark.
"His Grace requested our presence," Charlotte announced. Immediately, Belle's thoughts went to Kaiden and his well-being.
"He wants to see us?" Valencia asked in surprise. "All of us? Or just the three of us?"
"All of us," Charlotte answered back. "Come on. Mary said he wants us in a few minutes." She stepped back towards the door to prove her point of their need to get going.
Belle felt torn between staying on the sofa, lazying around and getting up to go to some group meeting. Even if Kaiden was there, it probably wasn't going to be as eventful with everyone there.
But, she hadn't seen him since the day before... she should at least check up on him.
As soon as Belle got up on her feet, Valencia stood up and was smoothing out the creases in her dress. They both headed towards Charlotte, letting her lead the way.
When they got out to the hallway, Belle asked, "Did you already tell Lenore and Elise?"
"Yes, they already left, along with Elizabeth," Charlotte replied, sounding like she had a bad taste in her mouth. It was probably because she mentioned Elizabeth.
Belle almost felt bad for Elizabeth because only her cousin seemed to be able to tolerate her, although only barely. But Elizabeth made it so hard. She looked down on all of them and was so materialistic.
As soon as they got to the room, Belle felt a sense of déjà vu. A couple of pairs of eyes landed on them. At the same time, her eyes landed on Kaiden, who sat his chair, regally like last time.
Meanwhile, Kaiden's eyes seemed to land on everything and everyone except for her. His gaze seemed to skip over her when it was raised to see who was at the door.
Belle was astonished. It was as if he was trying to avoid looking at her. Like he didn't want to see her.
She was so unnerved that she forgot to curtsy. Or, at least, until Charlotte surreptitiously tugged the side of her dress and quietly ordered her to curtsy.
As if to complete the déjà vu experience, Belle clumsily curtsied again, feeling the heat rush to her face. Her clumsiness was going to get her in trouble one day. She could just feel it.
The three of them quickly walked over to stand by the other three. After they lined up in an orderly fashion, Kaiden started speaking.
"I suppose I could have announced this over dinner, but I wanted to tell this to you now while you aren't busy eating," he started before saying his announcement. "Within the month, there will be a masquerade ball that you will attend."
From the corner if her eye, Belle could see Lenore's face lighten up. Along with facial expressions, she could feel the excitement of the news to the others. Even in Elizabeth, who was trying to appear like she was being calm and flippant about it.
"I think it will be a magnificent experience. Along with wearing masks, you are allowed to wear a dress of a different color, to make me guess who everyone is," he said with his signature grin.
Charlotte seemed to redden at the sight of it. But for some reason, Belle saw a hidden threat within Kaiden's smile.
Ignoring her suspicious thoughts, Belle turned her thoughts to the idea of a masquerade ball. It would be fun... if she could dance. She was lucky if she could curtsy right, let alone dance. Shuddering at the thought of the scenarios at what could happen, she started looking for flaws in the plan.
"If you really wanted to guess, couldn't you just look at our hair?" Belle asked, finding a pitiful excuse, making Kaiden finally look at her with a strange expression on his face.
"Do you really want to wear a wig?" he asked with his eyebrows raised, making her feel embarrassed. That would be a terrible idea.
"No," Belle answered, wincing at the thought of having to wear a wig. Or more precisely, dancing with a wig.
"Then there shouldn't be any other issues," he said, not unkindly. Then he continued speaking. "As for the dresses, you can filter through each other's closets."
Sparks of interest appeared in Elise's eyes, as if she was glad to get a chance to finally wear a color other than yellow. Belle couldn't help but feel similar. Wearing the same color everyday could get a little tiring.
"Are you our only dance partner?" Elizabeth asked, hinting to him and everyone else that there should be other people. She was probably thinking of Sebastian.
"More details will come out later," Kaiden replied dismissively. Suddenly, Belle wondered why Elizabeth was included in the meeting. After all, she was out of the game.
"If you have any more questions, you can ask me later. You may go back to whatever you were doing," he used the same tone to dismiss them, still sitting in his chair. Belle wondered why he was acting a little distant.
As a group, the girls curtsied and obeyed his orders. One by one, they left the room, with Valencia at the back.
As soon as Valencia closed the door behind them, the chitter started.
"A masquerade ball? That sounds so exciting," Lenore exclaimed in awe, sounding quite interested in the idea. She had more enthusiasm than usual, which was good to see.
"It does sound fun," Valencia mused, while leading the group away.
"I can't wait to dance," Elise stated, reminding Belle of her shortcomings.
Despite her dancing lessons as a child, she could not dance for her life. If she could avoid it, she would. And it wasn't as if she couldn't ask her friends, if she did, she would probably be laughed at. Particularly, Elizabeth.
She supposed she could ask Lenore, the natural dancer, but then she would pale in comparison and further embarrass herself. And she didn't know if that was any better.
There was no way she could win with it.
Belle fidgeted in discomfort, still thinking of dancing. There probably was no way out of it, but she didn't want to ask her friends for help. Or at least, not now. Perhaps if she got desperate enough, she'd ask.
"Can I look through your closet Lenore? I do like violet and I hope you don't mind if I start looking," Charlotte asked, excitedly, sparking more enthusiasm out of everyone else.
Everyone else except for Belle.
"Can I look through your closet Valencia?" Elise asked, inspired by Charlotte's question.
"Of course, let's go up," Valencia replied, starting to lead the way back to their room. Luckily, since Lenore and Valencia shared the same room, they'd all end up going to the same place.
Belle was about to trudge along but decided to avoid throwing herself into the idea of the ball.
She quietly slinked away from the group without them noticing. Tip toeing to the other side of the stairs, she held her breath until she couldn't hear them chattering anymore.
Maybe she could go to the library later to read about how to dance. After all, there were a few books about dancing. And she would know because she had organized most of the books.
She was in the process of turning her head away from the stairs when a harsh voice surprised her from the side.
"You think you can sneak away and steal him away?" Elizabeth demanded, making Belle jump since she had appeared out of nowhere.
All Belle could sputter out, before filling regaining her wits, was, "What are you talking about?" What was Elizabeth ranting about? And what about stealing people away?
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes into a glare and leaned closer.
"I saw you and Sebastian yesterday," she accused, making Belle confused.
At first, she was tempted to say 'and?' but she tried to quickly replay her memories to see if there was anything that could have alarmed Elizabeth. Although there was nothing remotely scandalous that happened between except for... when he took his shirt off.
Oh. She must've seen that part. Or the part where she lifted up his short to check for wounds. Despite the innocent intentions, it must've looked terrible to outside eyes.
"Do you think it's okay to steal him from me?" Elizabeth grew angrier and more bitter. "What did you do to seduce him? Flutter your little doe eyes? Promise him to give him the time of his life?"
Belle became very alarmed as the angry girl stepped closer to her. But she was still in shock over the fact that she was accusing her of seducing him. Torn between telling her what she thought and staying in shock, she ended up staying frozen.
"And now you have the audacity to go sneak away to the duke? Is one not enough for you?" Elizabeth was now furious. "Do you think you can steal them away from me?"
As a special, dramatic effect, Elizabeth shoved her, taking her by surprise so that she stumbled a little bit.
Belle was finally annoyed enough, after getting cornered and pushed, and decided to give Elizabeth a piece of her mind.
"First of all, I'm not seducing either of them. Second, they aren't even yours to steal from," Belle hardened her voice, while regaining her balance. Her second comment seemed to anger Elizabeth even more.
"You just don't want to admit that you're a harlot," Elizabeth hissed.
Belle gasped at her comment. Anger bubbled up within her. But mostly, shock that she would called by that name. She had done no such business with either of them. Now she was really going to give her a piece of her mind. But before she could, she was interrupted.
"If anyone was a harlot, it would be you, since you clearly are the one laying claims on us," an angry, new voice said from a distance.
Both of the girls turned their head to see Sebastian with a stony expression on his face. From the corner of her eye, Belle saw Elizabeth pale, probably from realizing that he had heard the conversation and had the nerve to insult her.
"S-Sebastian," Elizabeth stuttered, her eyes wide open and looking like she speechless. There really was nothing she could say to redeem herself, because what she had last said had no justifications.
They both watched Sebastian stride closer to them. While Elizabeth paled even more, Belle felt a little safer now that someone was there now. Especially Sebastian, so that Elizabeth would keep herself in check.
"I'd like to say that I've been listening the whole time," Sebastian said, a threat underlying his words. Elizabeth looked like she was going to faint.
"I'd also like to say that this disgusting hatred you have towards Belle is completely undeserving. Because she hasn't seduced me in any way. In fact, if anyone was trying to flirt with anyone, it would be me," Sebastian admitted.
Elizabeth's eyes widened at the news, as if it was completely shocking that he had been the one flirting. She still looked speechless and had no idea what to say. It was reasonable for her not to be able to find anything to say because she just obliterated her chance to snag Sebastian.
"Also, I highly doubt my brother belongs to you either," Sebastian finished off with a verbal jab. Elizabeth's eyes looked furious again.
Then, he walked the rest of the way to Belle and grabbed her hand to take her away. Belle was glad to finally get away without Elizabeth stopping her. But as Sebastian dragged her away, she couldn't help but look back.
As she did look back, she saw Elizabeth looking back at her with a dark expression on her face. It looked like it was filled with vindictiveness.
That was proved when Belle saw her mouth, "You will regret this." The promise in her eyes were unsettling.
Immediately, Belle turned around to see where Sebastian was taking her. Now she felt unsettled. When Kai had threatened her, it had also unnerved her, but she now knew that he didn't want to hurt her.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was a ticking bomb who may have just detonated by her. Belle had no idea the extent of what she could do.
As soon as they got a safe distance away from Elizabeth, they slowed down. Belle, realizing she was still holding his hand, released her hand and kept walking. Sebastian noticed the action and shrugged it off.
"Sorry for that," Belle said awkwardly to break the silence. In response, Sebastian widened his eyes.
"That was in no way your fault. I doused fuel to her fire and she took it out on you," he said. "After all, I've been avoiding her for days yet I always show up with you."
Belle stopped, and Sebastian followed her action. She tilted her head in curiosity.
"Why do you always show up around me? I don't think I've heard I single story about you from the other girls," she asked, looking at him.
Sebastian opened his mouth to respond but he was interrupted.
"Why do you stay around here?" Kaiden's melodic voice sounded from across the hall, but with a little bit of a harsh tone.
Belle spun around to see him, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked beautifully angry with his dark attire.
His eyes, though, were on Sebastian. But when they flickered over to Belle, they seemed to harden. There was just a mixture of emotions in his eyes, but she couldn't tell what all of them were.
"I told you that I was staying," Sebastian replied cooly, staring Kaiden down.
Suddenly, Belle felt uncomfortable being in the same space as them. At least the day before, it had been physical and more easier to deal with. Now, the tensions were just high and uncomfortably restrained.
Slowly, she inched away, just like she had done earlier. But this time, Kaiden's watchful gaze caught her.
"Annabelle," he called, making her freeze in place.
"Yes?" Belle hesitantly replied, feeling a little nervous since she was just caught trying to sneak away.
"You don't need to clean the West Wing anymore," Kaiden said, staring straight at her, mesmerizing her with his eyes.
Belle understood the hidden message: stay away from the secret hallway. She was wondering when he would address that problem. Not that she would have gone snooping again to respect his secrets. At least, not for a while.
"You can just pick up the wreck in my room instead," he finished, giving an order. It almost seemed like a dismissal.
Belle mentally frowned. Kaiden was acting quite strangely, and not in a good way. Just yesterday, she had saved him from pummeling his brother and helped him get rested, but now he was acting as if she was another servant. For some reason, it wounded and aggravated her.
"Of course, Your Grace," she responded stiffly, emphasizing his title.
For a brief second, it looked like Kaiden flinched, but as Belle thought about it, he probably didn't. It wasn't as if he would care what she said. Even earlier, he had avoided looking at her.
A little bit angry, Belle turned on her heels and walked away, determined to let off steam somewhere else. Even her curiosity about what their conversation was going to be wasn't strong enough to keep her there.
Luckily, Charlotte, who was probably back to doing her chores, wasn't in their room when she got there. That way, Belle could vent alone.
She angrily thought about his attitude and mood swings. Just yesterday, he had changed from getting angry at her, to caring for her. Now he was back to being angry, and this time she didn't even know what she did wrong!
Kaiden was an aggravating enigma.
The more she thought about the more conflicted she felt. Although she was mostly angry, she increasingly grew more puzzled. Maybe if she spent more time alone, the anger would dissipate so that she could think more clearly.
Unfortunately, that day, she wouldn't be left alone for long. It probably wasn't even half an hour that she had some quality alone time.
Because a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
************************************************************************************************************
A/N
It's been a year since I started writing this, and now it's over a hundred pages! :D
I also split this into two chapters because it was super long.
Any changes in guesses for Agatha? Or are they still the same?
Vote and comment!
:D