The next generation (The strings of fate)

Constance POV

Constance took a deep breath as she walked into the building in front of her. She had just arrived where Maro's twin was. The driver from before had picked her up. She felt a little uneasy since his brother seemed annoyed at her last time but she pushed it down. She steeled her gaze and walked into the building.

"He should be upstairs, follow me." Armando gave her a half smile and took her up the same stairwell as the day before. She decided Armando was a nicer guy and that she could trust him a little.

All the halls looked the same, white walls and grey floors. When Armando opened the door for her Baldassare was throwing a strange type of fireball spell. It was made of blue flames and sparked with what looked like green electricity. She was impressed by the different colors and surprised at the spell. His office was decorated with masks on the walls, they looked like Island spirit masks. Baldassare didn't turn to look at them, focusing on his magic that he shot at the far wall. It looked protected by some sort of black foam. A grimoire was sitting open on his desk that was littered with papers.

Baldassare's short hair was tousled and a pen sat behind his ear. His concentrated frown mirrored Maro's in a more angry way. Her heart jumped a little at the thought of Maro. He wasn't wearing a suit this time. Dressed in a dress shirt and slacks he looked as if he was supposed to be an office worker. Armando waved Constance ahead of him. She walked through the doorway, the unease from before creeped back. He closed the door once inside.

"You have company, Firecracker." Armando's voice was naturally deep, and his chuckle carried warmth behind it. Baldassare glanced over at them as he started the spell again. He finished what he was doing before he turned to them.

"What do you want?" He asked Armando, who grinned at the question.

"Same old, same old." His voice was teasing. Baldassare seemed to clench his jaw before sighing.

"Get out of here." He said, his tone had softened slightly.

"Sure thing, Bossing." Armando gave Constance a friendly wink before he left the room.

"Constance." Baldassare greeted cooly with a nod as he looked at her intensely. His eerie green eyes almost perfectly matched Maro's.

Constance picked up on a subtext between the two, a knowing feeling nudged the back of her head. Her golden dull eyes snapped to him and she nodded at him politely. "Baldassare."

"Are you going to tell me why you're here and not him?" Baldassare asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

Constance felt slightly annoyed at his body language. "I just came to talk. Why do you seem to hate Maro?"

Baldassare scoffed, his eyes rolled as his arms dropped. "I don't have to answer that. Whatever is going on is between the family." He told her with a pointed look.

"Your father already considers me to be a part of your family." She pressed a little. A memory came to her mind of Maro's father, he had called her Maro's little witch. He seemed to have taken a liking to her when they first met. It reminded her of her Uncle who was loud and kind. Baldassare's jaw visibly clenched. She felt a little pleased at pushing some buttons of his.

"I don't hate him." Baldassare snapped a little, turning to the grimoire. He leaned over the desk, taking the pen out of his hair as wrote a couple things down one of the papers scattered about. It was clear he was as tall as Maro as he had to press his free hand on the desk.

"But you don't like him." Her tone was calm and she looked around the room. She was curious about what he was writing and what was on the wall. The room felt a little cold despite the heat from the fire magic he wielded. She observed him and remembered when she would watch Maro at the inn do a similar pose when he read through his family's grimoire. She started to wonder what Maro was up to right now.