Mim and I are just about finished cleaning the library when we hear muffled footsteps on the carpeted floor and look up. There’s a man, in a suit, with caramel blond hair and light blue eyes and a sweet smile standing several yards inside of the room. I feel vulnerable for not having detected him sooner. After all, I am a predator. I’m supposed to hear things sneaking up on me--prey, larger animals, people. He has been able to get this far without detection because of Mim, I tell myself, but I shouldn’t have let her stories distract me so much that I didn’t even realize we weren’t alone until a loll in our laughter allowed me to pay attention to my ears a
That evening, in our room, we sit on our beds and talk, as if we haven’t been chatting all day. It took forever to finish all of the cleaning we had assigned to us, but it was fun working with Mim. We had a quick dinner in the servants’ dining hall, which is a small room near the kitchen, and then we came up here. Each of us took a quick shower to wash off the dust and grime, and now I am wearing a T-shirt and shorts, sitting on a mattress almost as soft as the one from my old home, and Mim sits across from me, wearing a nice pair of satin pajamas in a shade of pink that makes her hair look slightly pink as well somehow.
SebastianThe perimeters of our lands are closely guarded. My father has shifts of shifters who patrol this area all day long and all night long. Yet, most every night, Dez and I come out and run along the border, not because we don’t trust my father’s
Aria“I don’t know who used this toilet last,” Mim is saying as we both scrub down one of the first floor bathrooms, “but it had to be a guy!”“Why is that?” I ask. I feel a little bad that she’s having to clean this particular toilet. We’ve been taking turns since there are four bathrooms that we have to clean today with the rooms that are assigned to us for this particular day of the week, but my toilet was relatively clean. Hers… was not. We could smell it the moment we walked into the confined space. She looked at me and that always cheerful expression faded away as she exclaimed how unfair it was that she got a poopy toilet, and mine probably hadn’t even been used.“Are you kidding?” Mim asks, making a fake gag
AriaI grasp the letter from my parents in my hands tightly and breathe it in, wishing I could smell my mother’s perfume, my father’s aftershave, on the paper. It only smells like a regular sheet of paper, nothing else, not even a trace of the gross smelling apartment I left them behind in. I feel bad that I can’t even pick up a fine trace of them, not even with my super smelling abilities. But at least I have something they touched, something they held in their hands, and their thoughts.I go to rip the letter open but realize the envelope has already been slit open at the top, from a letter opener. I feel violated as I pull the piece of paper from it’s container. Who had opened my mail? Why would they do that?It doesn’t take me long to realize it had to be someone from Kurts&r
Aria“Okay! This is a game my grandma told me she used to play when she was a little girl,” Mim explains as she sits across from me on the bed, both of us cross legged and laughing already. She has a pair of oranges in her hand and gives one to me as she explains with the other one.“How do you play?” I ask, interrupting before she even gets a chance to tell me, even though I know that’s what she was about to do.Giggling, Mim says, “You have to peel as much of the orange as you can without breaking the peel. Then, you stand on the bed and say, ‘Show me my mate!’ and toss the orange peel over your shoulder. However it falls on the ground, it will reveal the first letter of your soulmate’s first name.”
SebastianI am dreaming about Aria again. I know it is a dream because nothing like this would happen in real life, at least… it never has before. I am walking down the hallway near my office, and I hear a beautiful singing voice coming from one of the rooms nearby. I can’t help but follow the sound of the haunting melody, sung in a high soprano voice. The tune winds its way around my soul as it leads me closer to the source, much like a siren luring sailors to crash against rocky shores.I open the door and see Aria dusting a grand piano. She is alone in a room that doesn’t exist inside of our home. We do have a grand piano, but it’s in the parlor, not a side office. This room is nearly empty, other than the piano. And the girl.I walk into the room and notice her ski
SebastianI knock on the door of my father’s office and wait for him to call me in. Instead, his right-hand man, Grip, opens the door. I’ve never liked the guy. He’s far too brash and seems to think he’s a tough guy when he’s really not. I know I could beat the shit out of him with one hand tied behind my back. Still, my father likes the guy, so I’m polite to him as I say, “Hi. Father called.”I notice that Grip is looking at me oddly, probably staring at my shirt. I am uncomfortable, but I don’t let on. He says nothing, only steps aside so that I can come into the room.Inside, my father, Victor, is seated behind his desk. Another of his associates, a large, bulging man named Wheeler, is seated across from him. There are two other chairs. I wait fo
I rush up the stairs, back to my room, even though I am conflicted at this point as to whether or not I should go speak to Dez or even Aria first. I know what I will choose to do after I dismiss Gloria. I know that I will choose to make Aria my personal maid, even though it is a mistake for more reasons than I can count. Being attracted to a servant is not a good idea, especially not the one that is responsible for cleaning my underwear and making my bed, but there isn’t anyone else I would dare ask.I won’t be asking. I need to remember that. Of course, it will come across that way when I invite her to my office, have her sit across from me like a client, and tell her what is going to happen. I will ask her if she would like to take the position when it comes out of my mouth, but even if she says she’d rather not, it is not an option. Once I’ve posed the question to her, she cannot