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A New Mess
"Dance with me?"
I was surprised to find Franco standing against the wall to my left, hands in his pockets, eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at me. We hadn't spoken all day as he was off doing– Goddess only knew what. So, why does he look angry with me?
"I'm eating," I told him pointedly, taking a bite of my lemon cake for emphasis.
"Then finish."
"You're awfully crabby."
He gave me a hard stare. "Just do it, Giuliana," he growled out.
Giuliana? Definitely mad, then. But, what could I possibly have done?
"Fine," I muttered, but I took my time finishing my treat, struggling to hide my smirk at his growing agitation.
The moment the last bite left my fingertips, he pushed off from the wall and grabbed my free hand, dragging me out onto the crowded dance floor. As we took our positions to dance, I couldn't help but note the stark difference between dancing with him at this ball and at the one the year before. Last year, we had spent the entire day stealing secret glances and hidden kisses, drunk on the thrill of nearly being caught. By the time we had lined up to dance at the ball at the end of the night, it had been all we could do to keep even a few inches between us. But this year, he was holding me at a careful distance.
And glowering.
"Still haven't found your missing mate?" I guessed.
He grunted as we began moving to the music. "Yes, but I don't want to talk about me, I want to talk about you."
"Oh?"
"Yes," he turned the full force of his deep green eyes on me, but they didn't flutter my tummy the way they used to. "Have you spoken more than a few sentences to anyone who doesn't live in this castle today?"
"Maybe," I thought for a moment, "I'm not sure, but I fail to see why it matters to you, anyway."
"It matters," he stressed, "because you are supposed to be meeting new people today, it's the Spring Ball."
I scoffed, "That has never mattered before."
"It was different before," he insisted, grip tightening on my waist for the briefest of moments before he loosened his hold once more, "I know we only just made our promise a few months ago, but you know that it had been unspoken between us for much longer." He paused. "Things have changed now, though. I know I have a mate somewhere close, I just have to find her. And you," he waited for me to look back up into his eyes from where I had been glaring holes into his suit jacket, "you need to start taking finding yours seriously."
I withdrew from him slightly. My feelings for him were nothing like they had been before, but his words still stung. After all, had I not at least attempted to resist the pull of my own mate for him? His immediate infatuation had Angelo's words from all those months ago floating unbidden back into my mind, 'do you think he will put as much effort into fighting off his own mate?' His answer to his own question had turned out to be quite accurate, 'I wouldn't count on it.'
"What I do, or do not do, in regards to my mate is none of your business, Francesco," I snapped.
His expression turned hard, but I was past caring. The moment the music ended, I pulled myself from his grasp, not bothering to keep my tone polite as I snapped "I'll see you at training in the morning." He was faster than I expected, however, as his arm snaked out to catch hold of my wrist and force me to face him once more, "What has been going on with you, Giules?" His tone was gentler than it had been all night, "You've been acting strange for months, and I know I'm not the only one who has noticed."
My mouth opened and closed like a fish, but I was rescued from having to respond by a feminine voice behind me, "There's my favorite niece."
Franco released my wrist and strode off without another word, disappearing into the crowd. I spun to face the very welcome intruder, "Aunt Sienna, you finally made it!"
I threw my arms around her, looking beautiful as ever in a midnight dress, but when I withdrew she was still staring in the direction Franco had stormed off in, unfooled, "Did you and Lover Boy have an argument?"
"I've told you not to call him that," I groaned.
She arched a brow, leveling violet eyes on me, waiting. "Fine," I told her, "yes, we did have a bit of a disagreement, but I don't want to talk about it."
"Good," she chirped, grabbing my hands and pulling me behind her. "I want to dance."
I laughed and let her tug me behind her to a new spot, before she turned back to me, holding a hand out dramatically, "Would you like to be the man, or shall I?"
"Signora Flori would be scandalized," I said, but put my hand in hers and allowed her to pull me to her body for a dance. She was over a decade my senior, but didn't look it, and definitely didn't act it.
"All the better," she grinned. "How is the old hag doing anyway?"
"You know as well as I do that she will outlive us all," I replied with another laugh, "she'll stand strong as long as the castle does."
She joined in on my laughter, tossing her head back, her glossy black hair falling behind her shoulders. She had worn it that way for as long as I could remember, unstyled and ruler-straight down her back, regardless of the function she was attending. I had never asked, but I knew it was her own way of rebelling against her royal upbringing, to forgo all of the extravagance that was expected of her. It was also why she only rarely visited the castle, preferring to galavant across the kingdom on adventures instead, making these occasions when I got to see her so very special.
"So," she said a moment later, leaning in, "Tell me more about these attacks I keep reading about in the papers. I have asked my brother for the details countless times, but he maintains that if I want to be privy to confidential information, I would have to move back to the castle and take up a government position." Her nose scrunched in disgust at the thought of such a thing. "And now that I am here to see him, he has conveniently been called to an emergency meeting just as I arrived."
That was definitely news to me.
I turned my head, scanning the crowd until my eyes landed on my mother, near the stairs across the ballroom. She was standing in a pale blue dress, chatting politely with Lucia Borgese, one hand resting on her belly. My father was nowhere to be found. There was a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was very wrong. Why else would my father be pulled away in the middle of a ball?
Sienna followed my gaze, studying my mother and pursing her lips slightly, "She's starting to show, isn't she?" My stomach sank more, but she continued on, oblivious to the effect her words were having on me. "She always was very pretty pregnant."
She turned back and studied my face as I withheld my grimace. "So, the attacks?" She prompted, graciously allowing the topic to switch back away from my mother and her impending second child.
"I don't know," I teased her sweetly, "my father seems to think it's pretty confidential information."
She pinched my side through the mauve material of my dress. "Don't you start with that."
The song ended and she tugged me across the room, stopping briefly to say her hellos to my mother and Lady Borgese before dragging me up the steps to the landing, where we could speak in semi-privacy. She placed a hand on her hip, waiting.
I told her everything– well, everything excluding Angelo, his relation with me, or his role in our progress against the Blood Fangs. She whistled lowly, taking it all in. "And you still want to inherit this mess?"
I rolled my eyes, "I want to fix this mess, and inherit the crown."
She shrugged, turning her eyes away from me to look down at the crowd below us. "There will always be a new mess," she muttered, then gave a dark chuckle, "I don't want to dance anymore, I want to drink." She turned back to me, grabbing my hands in hers, "Is that hole I showed you in the outer wall still there?"
I nodded and her cheeks split in a grin. As she pulled me toward the exit, I allowed myself to look back over the crowd one last time, my eyes finding Franco standing near the far wall, eyes narrowed as he watched us.
I smirked, shooting him a wink as I was pulled from view.
~*~*~
Alright y'all, it's all heating up from here, buckle your seat belts!
What do you think of Aunt Sienna?
Where do you think her father was called off to?
Next update will be Wednesday, July 29th!
Xx Ren