𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 ; volturi kings

CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXI

Something feels... off.

The thought occurred to Jasmine as she was laying along the large, grey L-shaped sofa in one of the many lounge rooms.

A random classical song with an extremely long, complicated, Latin name played in the background, whilst Aro was reading an equally long and complicated book in the armchair opposite.

Jas was relaxing after several tedious hours of training in which, to the small blonde guard's dismay, she had managed for a split second to transfer Jane's abilities to Demetri.

It had been a strange experience- she had stood there for almost half an hour, holding onto Jane's arm, mentally pulling at an invisible force, when she finally felt some slack. The first time it happened, she fell backwards from the pure strength of the leeway; this was met with a self-restrained laugh from Demetri, which was immediately silenced as she used Jane's gift on him again.

Then she pulled again, and the pressure at the forefront of her head increased, like a heavy weight balancing atop her eyebrows. Looking at the male vampire sitting on the floor- now having completely given up on standing- she tried to push outwards; this was met with the expected result of a burning wave along his body.

That wasn't what she wanted, though.

Suddenly obtaining an idea, she mentally envisioned pushing the pressure away from herself, not towards him. An invisible blast cascaded out of her, which she successfully redirected to Demetri.

"What the-" he put a hand to his forehead, his brows creased in confusion.

The edges of her lips turned upwards slightly. However, her satisfactory smile was cut short as she felt a sharp pressure being pushed back into her.

"That was so weird." Disorientated, Demetri stood up from the floor, his hands held up in mock surrender, "I think we're officially done with practice, your highness."

"But I barely even controlled it for a few minutes..."

Jane turned to Jas, who had a small pout on her face, "don't worry, no one expected you to get it right on the first try."

"Fair enough."

And so here she was, attempting to numb her feeling of complete failure with the echo of her mate's presence.

An unfamiliar, hollow feeling was held in her chest as she gazed up at his concentrated expression. Despite him being directly opposite her, it felt like he wasn't really there.

Wait a minute-

Jasmine shot up with inhuman speed, "Aro?"

"Yes?"

With a hand held up, she opened her mouth, but then closed it again, not entirely sure how to verbally process her thoughts.

Watching his mate make facial expressions similar to that of a fish, Aro raised an eyebrow at her amusedly, "what's the matter, my dear?"

"I- you... you can touch me."

"Pardon?"

Her eyes widened comically, "I mean, my hand... If you want to- that is..."

"Okay..." Still trying to restrain the urge to constantly be near her, he steeled the look of shock attempting to rise upon his face. "And why the sudden change of heart, tesoro?"

"It's just..." She slumped back down onto the couch, "something feels weird. And when I was with Caius and Marcus the other day- and actually physically touching them- I felt... complete, you know?" A small frown was etched upon her face as she pushed a few dark strands of hair out of her eyes, "but when you're here, it's just... different."

He placed his now long-forgotten book down next to him, "Marcus did mention something before, but we didn't want to worry you."

"What? What is it?"

"Well, without physical contact, a soulmate bond will be weakened and, considering the longevity of my lifetime especially, that can sometimes cause a slight bodily toll."

"Wait-" she snapped her head up to look at him, an eyebrow raised, "you've been in pain this whole time?" Her tone was a mix of concern and slight accusation as guilt flooded through her.

"I've experienced worse-"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's nothing you need to concern yourself with, my dear."

She chuckled dryly, "everyone keeps saying that- that, for some reason, you three feel that you need to protect me from everything. I'm not completely hopeless, you know?"

He went to say something but she cut him off, "I get that you don't want me to be upset, or worried, or feel any fucking negative emotion whatsoever- but I feel the exact same way about you, Aro. And you guys cutting me off from everything is really beginning to get annoying."

His scarlet eyes held an emotion that she couldn't quite place, "I apologise."

"I just- tell me if something's wrong, please?"

"Of course."

She ran a hand through her thick, curly locks as she sighed involuntarily.

"Well... now my rant is over," she walked closer to him, holding her hand out.

Slowly, cautiously, he reached up, the feeling of disbelief still present in the back of his mind. Their ruby eyes locked as their fingers intertwined and their souls collided.

Childhood and teenage memories raced through Aro's mind, his misty eyes holding a wonder.

As Jasmine griped his hand, her mind was crowded with his memories, most of them simply blips of a dream.

As they stood in an understanding silence, a small slice of their souls healed, they smiled at each other.