Of Darkness and Fire (Updated)

CHAPTER FIVE (PART TWO)

“Fine,” I huffed. “My full name is Genavieve Vianelli, Princess of Legardia. My parents, King Alexei and Queen Calliope, are the hosts for this ball. This is my home, my Palace.” He didn’t look shocked, his flat expression held, so I continued talking. “I’m wearing contacts. This is not my true eye color. My real eye color is violet.”

“Why hide that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Part of me felt out of place with it. No other human has this eye color, yet here I am, the mortal with the purple eyes. Sometimes I wish I just looked normal, or even just knew the truth about where I got such a unique gene.”

“You shouldn’t feel ashamed. Purple or green, you’re still beautiful.” I could feel my cheeks getting warmer. His words, his voice, him just in general did something to me and my body just reacts in instinct. “The truth about what?” He asked, referring back to what I said earlier.

“The truth about my past.” I turned my face to look out at the fountain. I took a deep breath before I continued, “I wasn’t born into the Vianelli bloodline. I was abandoned, left out in the Thresbon Forest, between Legardia and Alythea, as a baby. King Alexei and his scouts found me twenty six years ago and took me in as one of his own. I never met my birth parents. I don’t even know who they were, if they’re even still alive.”

He sat there in silence for a few moments, taking in everything I just told him. It was easier than I expected, telling the truth. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, being honest and having another person know the truth about me. I feel a lot freer than I did only hours before.

He set his hand on my leg, gently squeezing as a way of comforting me. “The past shouldn’t matter now. They clearly left you without a thought, you have a family that cares for you now, just focus on that.”

He’s right. I’ve been dwelling on the past for so long, that I’ve seem to have dug myself in a deep enough hole, I’m having a hard time climbing out of. Every time I pull myself up a few feet, I end up falling right back down on my ass, having to start all over again, only my start position ends up deeper and deeper each time.

“I know. It’s just hard. I just wish I knew where I came from. Honestly, my birth parents don’t even matter anymore. It was clear I meant nothing to them, I just wish I knew where my true home was.”

“Sometimes, the longer we dwell, the worse it gets. Wishing for something that you may never know, will only make matters worse. But I get it. I can’t imagine how hard it is.”

I appreciated the real conversation I was having with Wyatt. This was something I never truly expected, especially from a Vampire Prince, but I was over all the sappy s**t. It only made me feel worse the longer it went on, and tonight was supposed to be happy, joyous, exciting, a night to remember, and I wanted to make sure it was for me.

I looked behind me, back up towards the ballroom balcony. “I’m gonna head back up. Will you dance with me at least once before the night is over?”

My eyes fell back onto him and I could tell he didn’t want me to leave. His mouth was in a tight flat line, and his jaw muscles were tensing just slightly. The longer I looked at him, the memories started popping up in my head, and then I remembered last night.

“What did you mean that you won’t stop until I’m yours?”

His softness only lasted a few more moments, until his hard shell came back, covering up him entirely. His eyes went darker and his muscles tensed. “It doesn’t matter, not right now.”

His standoff-ish response only put me on high alert. “What are you hiding from me, Wyatt? Why won’t you tell me what you meant last night?”

“It’s not the time to discuss this, Gena. Go and have your dance with Romulus. I’m sure he’s missing you.”

I looked at him with narrowed eyes. The fact that he could have me feeling emotional and vulnerable one minute, and angry and irritated the next is unbelievable. It’s clear that he meant something behind his words, but the fact that I’ve been so honest with him all night, that he can’t tell me one f*****g truth about what he said to me last night. It’s so irritating I could feel my body tensing all over and the heat started to fill my insides.

“Fine.” I stood up, walking towards the opened entrance of the hedges and looked back at him. “I’ve been so honest with you tonight, Wyatt. And you can’t even do the same.” I turned on my heels, disappearing in the hedges and made my way back to someone who might actually care for me.

I walked back through the ballroom doors and made my way straight to the bar. After my conversation with Wyatt, I could use another drink, but maybe this time, something stronger. So instead of wine, I asked for whiskey.

The bartender handed me a cold, crystal glass of the amber liquid. I downed it so fast, I didn’t even bother sipping it to savor the flavors within the cup. I slammed the glass down with force, sliding it back to the bartender.

“Well, I can only assume your conversation with Wyatt didn’t go so well?”

I turned around towards the voice, seeing Rom standing there, looking handsome as ever. “I thought you wanted another dance, Alpha?” I asked cooly, ignoring his question.

He held his hand out. I immediately grabbed it as he pulled us back onto the dance floor. The second time around, his grip tightened around my waist, and he seemed to be pulling me even closer to him, but I didn’t mind, so instead of retreating, I went with it and pulled myself closer as I wrapped my arms around his neck even tighter, until I was able to get a clear, clean smell of his woodsy scent.

Wyatt was the last person that I wanted to talk about, but I was pretty curious about the story between them, or even their kind, so I just had to ask. “So, what’s the story between you guys? It was obvious you both can barely tolerate each other.”

“Werewolves and Vampires aren’t known to mix. We never had. It was much worse many, many moons ago, than it is now, but even now, our races can barely stand one another. There’s some bad blood between me and Wyatt. I’m not willing to explain exactly what that is, but let’s just say we had a falling out.”

Bad blood. Of course, I’m extra snoopy and would like to know the full on story between the two, but I was in no place to force it out of Rom’s mouth. We barely know each other, why would he spill his guts out to me about something so personal?

And then I realize. I spilled my guts out about something so personal, so secretive about my past life to someone I barely know. I’ve only met Wyatt not even a handful of times and here I was, only less than an hour ago, spilling my guts to some guy I seemed to have grown quite deep attraction to. How could I be so stupid? For all I know, he could use that information against me, against my family somehow for his advantage as a leader against the mortals. Maybe it was all a mirage, the vulnerability, the sweetness, just to get me to open up to him and use it against me.

But then there’s a voice in my head, and this time it’s my own, not his. And that voice is telling me that he is trustworthy, that he is someone I could side with, be friends with.

It’s the oddest feeling whenever I’m near him. The feeling of being pulled towards him, as if he was a Siren and I was the sailor being lured to someone so alluring, so mesmerizing that I lost all train of thought and control of myself. It was as if my body reacts to him, to his voice, his actions, everything about it, in a way that I don’t understand, as if my body knows something I don’t.

“Princess?” Rom whispers in my ear. The sudden thoughts left my mind, as I was brought back to reality. “What’s on your mind? You okay?”

“Oh…yeah. Sorry, I think I may have just had too much to drink tonight,” I lied. “I think I’m going to go sit down for a bit.”

“Do you want some company?” He asked, tightening his grip around my waist gently. “I don’t mind sitting with you.”

It’d be nice to have some company. Not just someone to converse with, but so I didn’t look alone, and as if I wasn’t truly mingling with the guests of our Ball, but I needed some space. I needed a break from men, from responsibility, from my duties, from everything. I needed some time to breath and gather my thoughts.

“No, that’s okay. I think I’d like to be alone for a bit. Find you later?” I gave him a fake smile, trying to play off that I truly was okay. He nodded, giving me one last bow before letting go of my waist and disappearing into the crowd.

I walked over to the bar and ordered a glass of water. I then made my way over to an empty table and sat down. I may have enjoyed people watching more than actually conversing with others.

It was always so entertaining watching the bachelors and bachelorettes try to swoon their way into someone’s interests. Plus, I really did enjoy watching my siblings try to swoon others, or others try to swoon them. It’s rather delightful to watch to say the least.

As I sat here in peace, I swear I could feel eyes on me. It felt like someone was watching me. I looked around the room, noticing everyone I glanced at were preoccupied in other conversations. There was no one looking my way, but I could still feel their stare. I don’t know why, but I started to feel uneasy, and a little nervous. This tingling feeling I was feeling wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and I knew something was wrong.

I looked around for my parents or my siblings, but the crowd was just too large at the moment, I couldn’t scope individuals out. Plus, I was pretty buzzed and my vision wasn’t fully there.

I was starting to feel a tightening in my chest. The air suddenly got so thick, I feel like I could barely breath. Maybe I’m overreacting to this weird, uncomfortable feeling of someone watching me.

Instead of just sitting here, I decided to go back out to the balcony for a breather. Maybe the fresh air will help.

Just as I crossed the threshold, a hand with a cloth covered my face. I fought for only moments, not really sure who grabbed me or what was going on but just as I was being pulled away I screamed for Wyatt in my head practically begging for help since I couldn’t scream. I don’t know why he came to my thoughts almost immediately when something went bad, but just as I was about to try again, my vision went black.