Her Three Kings {Volturi Kings}

Chapter Twenty-five

Liliana Montgomery Cullen Volturi was bored out of her ever-loving mind. Usually she managed to entertain herself but she wanted interaction with another person and none were to be had. The kings were hearing a rather lengthy petition from one of the Chinese covens. As she didn't speak any Chinese let alone their specific dialect, there wasn't much point for her to be in attendance. The Cullens were all either at work or school and the guard was either on duty or training. Well, nothing said they couldn't do their job in her company.

She sighed and left her office to find whichever of her personal guard was on duty for the day. When she spotted Demetri standing guard at the bottom of the steps, she grinned. "Hey, Demi."

He glanced at her with a smile and a small bow. "Good day, Mistress. How may I be of assistance?"

She rolled her eyes but refrained from saying anything about the title. "Do you want to play a video game with me?"

"I don't believe so, but thank you for the invitation." He turned away from her without so much as a blink.

Irritation flitted through her with his odd behavior and she frowned. "We could do something else. Watch a movie, sit and talk, whatever."

His smile was tight when he turned back to her. "No, thank you, Mistress. I'm on duty and shouldn't leave my post."

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you, Demetri Volturi?"

His eyes grew wide as he blinked in disbelief. "Pardon?"

"No. I don't believe I will." She turned and stomped her way up the stairs. What the hell was wrong with everyone? It was fine if they didn't want to spend time with her, she wouldn't force them. But for Demetri to pass up doing literally anything other than guarding the stairs? That wasn't like him at all.

She screamed in frustration as she stormed into her room and immediately began breaking anything she considered disposable. With everything she'd been through in the past several months, she figured she was due a tantrum. Gods knew Caius had them often enough. While she felt moderately better after her streak of destruction, she was still angry. Irritated. Devastated.

What had she done to make everyone act so differently? Had she broken some unknown rule or had they all just finally grown tired of her personality? She was obviously the youngest one in the castle. Was she just too immature for them? No, that wasn't it. She knew that but she was just desperately trying to find a reason. Maybe there wasn't one. And if that was the case, it meant there was nothing she could fix.

Without much thought she made her way to the studio and placed a large sketch pad on the easel. Grabbing her charcoal, she sketched and blended and poured her frustration, her agony, onto the page. The drawing was finished remarkably fast. While it was cathartic, it did little to ease her anger. She placed a blank canvas over the paper. Using a thick brush, she scooped black paint onto the bristles and made wide strokes on the once pristine surface. Every swipe left dark devastation behind it and eased some of the ache in her chest.

It wasn't until she heard her mates in the outer room that she stopped. As she took in her creation, tears flooded her eyes. She swiped them away and dropped her brush in the cleaner. She pulled the arms down on the sides of her easel and threw a drop cloth over the top to hide the painting. It was too raw, too personal.

She stood and watched them for a moment as they poured themselves a drink and settled around the room. They looked tired which was ironic for a species that didn't sleep. She leaned against the wall, her gaze moving between them as they sat in silence. She kept debating between continuing on as things were or telling them everything that had been happening. Her main concern was that they would order people to be her friend or that they would think they otherwise needed to fix things. She just wanted to talk to them and get their opinion. Maybe they had an insight that she couldn't see.