Ruthless love

Succumbence

Spring was on its way and the entire castle was buzzing with life as everyone was busy preparing for the spring party, which apparently was an annual thing in this place.

I had no idea what it was or what the purpose of it was, so I did my best to stay out of the way and watch from a distance.

For some reason Zachary had ordered the interior walls of the castle repainted in a creamy white color and it was barely recognizable.

The large dark carpets that had previously covered the halls had been removed and the wooden floors had been polished to the point where one was almost afraid of stepping on it.

Lavish curtains had been hung up in replacement of the old, worn raggy pieces of fabric, that had previously been covering the windows and the atmosphere in the castle was shifting into something much warmer and nicer.

I thought that perhaps it was in honor of the spring party and that it would be returned to its old self afterwards but nonetheless I decided to enjoy it for however long it lasted.

Mason had gone abroad for two weeks to meet up with some of their distant relatives, so I was mostly left to my own company when I was not chatting with the maids and so I spent a lot of my time in the library or in the garden.

Zack had seemed awfully distracted for a while although his mood had seemed to lighten after the night in the beautifully painted room. He was also more likely to let me in on his plans and thoughts and had allowed me to go places on my own, which had been a very nice change as I felt that he trusted me more.

When it came to myself, I still had my secrets and I had not yet told him what I had seen in my visions that night, nor was I in a rush to do so.

The way that people around me had acted on the night and for several days afterwards had led me to keep quiet about it, as I felt there was something more going on than what I had seen and I did not want to push the matter and ruin the mood before the festivities.

As the day got closer, guests began to arrive at the castle and soon it was buzzing with life.

I mostly kept to myself but did indulge in related activities or joined conversations from time to time, which made me glad that I had been practicing my gossiping skills with the maids.

Although I clearly stood out from the crowd, I was beginning to feel more at ease and it seemed that the guests had also begun to accept my presence, some more than others.

To my great discomfort, Eleanor had persuaded me into wearing dresses almost every day and only let me wear jeans and t-shirts or the likes of it on eventless weekends, which was almost never.

Heels were the devil to me and so I had begun wearing long dresses that would hide my feet and allow me to wear whatever I wanted, without insulting the eyes of the already curious guests.

The night before the party, I had been summoned to the room where I had met up with Zack and his brother on one of my first days in this place.

When I arrived, I had been surprised to see not only Zack waiting for me, but also Mason and three other men whom I had never seen before.

I froze in the doorway and looked at the three strangers who did not seem to be much older than the two brothers.

One was significantly shorter and had an almost child-like appearance as he had a rather slim figure and his shoulder-length brown hair was a mess.

His eyes seemed kind and curious and were a light grey color that seemed to reflect the light in the room.

He bowed lightly and presented himself to me as Maximus, without a last name.