The Birth Of The Beta

3. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

When the carriage pulled into the courtyard, Pepin was momentarily shocked by the atmosphere that was a contrast to anything he had felt before. There was a maid sweeping the stone floor, and another scrubbing the steps with water and a brush. Both of them were talking and chatting, yet taking pride in their work. Cornelius had purposefully pulled the horses to the side they hadn’t started on yet. Was that what they called courtesy? Kindness even? Pepin watched as the maid closest to the bucket threatened to splash water at the one sweeping, she gave a joyful squeal before running out of range. A bulky man that had spheres of bicep muscles, greeted Cornelius with a smile, and cheered Aoife, congratulating her. In all his life, he had never visited a place where joy was percolating from the stones to be breathed in by the people, only to then be exhaled into everyday life.

Wanting to make a better impression, Pepin jumped from the cart and rushed to the side where Aoife was sitting, extending his hand to help her down. She glanced at his offering, and raised her eyebrows, before vaulting from the seat without his help. She wanted him to know that she wouldn’t tolerate his disrespect, and it would take more than last minute chivalry to make her forget about his earlier impoliteness. Cornelius was a good man and deserved to be spoken to with manners as a bare minimum. Reaching back up to the cart, she grabbed the scroll containing her new job details. She was unable to read it, but Cornelius had gone through it with her. Cornelius playfully nudged her as she walked towards the villa, followed by Pepin.

“What are you going to do first to celebrate?” Cornelius asked her.

Eat my own body weight in peaches and olives,” Aoife quickly responded, making Cornelius laugh.

“Winnifred, could you please bring me a tray of sliced peaches and olives,” Cornelius asked the youthful girl who had been sweeping the floor.

“Of course, Cornelius, and congratulations Aoife, we are all really happy for you!” Winnifred replied, while heading to the kitchen, only momentarily pausing to receive the hug Aoife was wrapping her in.

Pepin had no idea why people continued to congratulate his mate, but whatever she had done, he felt an immense amount of pride about her achievement. He overtook her to open the door, hoping that she would see the contrition in this act of gallantry. Although she was still frowning at him, she did nod in thanks. He would take that as a little win for now, a step in the direction he wanted to go.

“Why do people keep congratulating you?” Pepin asked her, wanting to know as much about her as possible. Despite wanting to hear Aoife’s voice, it was Cornelius that answered the question.

“She won’t give you the full story, so let me boast on her behalf. Fifteen years ago, Aoife decided she wanted to become a gladiatrix. She would be the first female fighter from this Ludus, and this city. She was fifteen at the time, so we trained her and prepared her to be physically fit and strong. Three years later, just after her eighteenth birthday, she participated in her first arena games. She has been the main attraction ever since. Although it was difficult to win the crowd over for the first year, she tenaciously made them love her. This morning, she officially had her last ever match and retired from the games. She will train the next set of gladiators here at Heaton House. More importantly, she has become the symbol of the power of the free wolf, helping me to prevent the Bill of Slavery being passed in the senate,” Cornelius’ face was smiling so broadly, that Pepin was sure it would split at the sides with pride.

“Well, that does deserve congratulations,” Pepin smiled, and Aoife unexpectedly blushed.

Reaching another set of doors, just off the atrium, Pepin once again held it open for Aoife. This time she froze, looking at him. He had just opened the door to Cornelius’ office even though he was the guest there.

“What are you doing?” Aoife asked, staring at him whilst trying to decipher his strange behaviour.

“Oh sorry…I just wanted to hold the door open for you, make amends for my poor first impression,” Pepin replied sheepishly, not knowing whether to keep the door open, or drop it and let it close.

Before having to make a final decision, both Cornelius and Aoife walked through the door, with the former giving him a reassuring pat on his shoulder.

The office was very neat and tidy except for the table that looked like a mosaic of parchment and scraps of information, scattered and overloaded like the reader’s mind. Cornelius sat in his seat, and behind him were columns of scrolls. Hanging off each scroll was a red clay disc. The image on there was of a bird with its wings spread wide, heading towards the sky with a broken chain at its feet that the bird had severed. Pepin knew that this was the symbol of freedom, and therefore assumed these were the gladiator’s emancipation papers. In an equally divided gap between each column in the office, were the busts of men’s faces, each had a kind expression very much like Cornelius’, except for the likeness closest to his that seemed to have an expression of scorn. Cornelius looked in the direction Pepin was staring at.

“These are the Heatons that have come before me, and will come after me. The one you are staring at is my son, Magnus. He is away studying for his education at the moment. I am hoping he will learn to become a better man,” Cornelius sadly smiled.

Pepin felt as if he had encroached on something painfully private, and having no words of comfort, he decided to simply give a hopeful smile.

The joyful young girl that they called Winnifred stumbled through the door carrying an enormous tray of different fruits. The tray was so wide and piled so high that Pepin could only see her legs and a few wispy pieces of hair that poked out over the material of her yellow headband. Immediately, Pepin rushed to help her lift the tray and placed it on the table. When he turned back around he was greeted with the first genuine smile from Aoife. He finally did something she approved of. The paradoxical nub of the joke, was that it was unintentional and wasn’t to her benefit in the slightest. Winnifred looked enraptured by the help he had given her, her cheeks were rosy with the attention he had paid her. She noticed his bruised face, but could tell he was fetching. Beneath his tunic he had shapely legs, and his biceps were defined with the outlines of his muscles even though his arm was relaxed.

“Thank-you!” Winnifred exclaimed.

“You’re welcome, that tray looked so big that if I hadn’t seen your lovely headband I wouldn’t have known you were there,” Pepin joked like he would with a child. In return, Winnifred’s face flushed, and she ran from the room covering her cheeks. She was already enamoured with him by the time she made it back to the kitchen.

The conversation flowed as Aoife described what her vision for the future of Heaton House training would look like. The tray of food was almost demolished by the end of the discourse, and Pepin was even more besotted with Aoife after getting a glimpse into her gifted mind. He was trying to understand why the Moon Goddess had blessed him with a mate who looked as if she was the love-child of a deity, but was also amazingly generous and compassionate, like in the ancient stories of the first wolves. He tried to follow the conversation, but he had been distracted by her scent the entire time. The sweet vanilla and pumpkin scent was mouth-watering like someone had placed his new favourite dessert in front of him, but taunted him by not letting him taste it. She reminded him of autumn, the season he and Clovis enjoyed the most. It suited her as she was as vibrant as the red leaves that elevated the typical trees. She reminded him of a place and time he always wanted to be in.

Pepin's thoughts were cut short when a maid arrived and announced the arrival of the human Pepin supposedly owed money to.

“Aoife, show Pepin to his room and explain what he needs to know for tomorrow. Don’t worry about this man’s arrival, he isn’t worthy to spend time in your presence after what he did. I know he lied about the money, I never doubted that,” Cornelius assured him, and Pepin believed him.

He followed Aoife to see the first place he could ever really call home as an adult. He was elated to finally be alone with her, but nervous that he would say something to undo all the amending he had done since he left the cart. He couldn’t deny that he would do anything to make her always think well of him, even if she couldn’t feel the mate bond. As if she was pulling him by a string, he copied her path and noticed that his steps were almost as light as the feeling in his heart.