Woman of the Hour // volturi kings

11. not so secret

1996

Caius was unable to sit still during the morning trials, the eagerness to see his mate again was growing and Aro had to prevent him from simply slaughtering all the offending vampires so he could see Claire earlier. Marcus was almost as bad; he had been more vocal than usual, his usually indifferent demeanor shifted, and his patience was wearing thin with the endless excuse they were being fed.

"Are we done yet, Aro?" Caius growled as two of the guard, Felix and Santiago, tore the limbs off of a vampire accused of revealing himself to a human, their desperate screams echoing throughout the castle. Quite ironic, really. They executed him for the same crime they are about to commit.

"That is the last of them," his brother responded. Caius was gone in a flash, disappearing to his room in their wing of the castle so he could change out of his ridiculous robes. They were impractical and made him feel restricted, putting him at a disadvantage if he ever needed to fight.

"I don't see why you both need to be there when I tell her," Marcus protested from his throne at Aro's side. He was going to tell Claire alone, but his brothers had insisted they were present as well. He had argued that it would make her uncomfortable and threatened, but they where adamant that they should be there because she was their mate too. Aro's insistence was probably partially due to the kiss Marcus stole from Claire last night; he was quite jealous that his brother already had such a close bond with the woman.

"She's ours too, Marcus. We have every right."

"She won't see it that way. She barely knows you," Marcus was being very protective. Because he had finally kissed her, his instincts were running higher than ever. He didn't want to see her upset or scared, and he feared if all three of them told her about their vampiric nature, she'd think they had decided to kill her.

"It's for the best," Aro responded as he stood from his throne and left to get ready, preventing any further argument from his brother. Marcus just rolled his eyes at his actions, he thought it quite childish.

"May we be dismissed, Master?" Felix asked, his head bowed in respect to the king, the other guards following his lead.

"Yes, of course. I trust you can handle the castle while we're away?" Marcus raised his brow at the hulking vampire.

"Yes, Master," he responded obediently. Marcus nodded before also leaving the throne room. The guards' posture instantly relaxed and they all started heading towards the large, heavy doors that lead to the main section of the castle.

"I can't wait for this to be over," Santiago grumbled at the group. He was sure that the kings were being irrational; a simple human being mated to one of the kings was hard to believe but being mated to all three of them seemed like a farce.

Alec and his twin sister, Jane, side-eyed Santiago. The pair were unwaveringly loyal to the kings, they didn't take kindly to anyone question or doubting their Masters. Though they had their own worries about the kings' mate, they didn't doubt that they had found her. They witnessed the changes in Marcus over the last few months; his sullen exterior had melted and was replaced with optimism and confidence. He had even been kinder to the guard; he would go out of his way to make conversation and get to know them as individuals.

"Shut up, Santiago. You don't know what you're talking about," Dimitri snapped. He and Afton had been assigned as Claire's rotating guards, so he had spent a lot of time watching her from a distance and getting to know her habits and hobbies. From what he had seen, she was perfectly suited to all three of the brothers and would become a much-loved fixture around the castle. He knew he would like her, as would most of the guards.