Infinite Bliss || Volturi Kings

|25| SON OF A BITCH

Eliana stood in front of one of the mirrors in Aro's frankly larger than life bathroom as she tugged on a pair of jeans that Chelsea had brought over for her earlier. She liked the quiet, the easiness and tranquility being alone in his quarters provided — it was a welcome change to the constant business in the building, anyway.

However, it was as she allowed herself to relax and began to fasten her jeans that she saw the door, that she had left ajar assuming no one would bother her, open and slam closed again immediately after. She yelped in shock and hurriedly finished dressing before leaving the bathroom, irritated but more than anything confused.

She didn't say anything. She silently stared at Afton, who slowly backed away from her with his hands out in front of him.

"I didn't see anything, I swear," he insisted, "I looked away, I didn't see anything, and I definitely didn't smell anything on you either, I didn't see anything −"

Chelsea rolled her eyes. "I told you there was a reason why she was in the bathroom with the door closed −"

"Half-closed −!"

"Irrelevant," she replied dismissively. In a small chair located near the door, she had one leg over the other as she twisted her expensive bracelets around her wrists in an almost bored fashion, her attention switching between that and her wedding ring. "Ignore him, Eliana. You have my permission to slap him if you so wish."

Eliana's eyebrows were drawn together. "What did you smell on me? I just took a shower."

Afton didn't reply. Chelsea glanced at him disappointedly and then back at her. "Your arousal. No amount of showering will remove that for the next few hours at least. Our senses are very high-tuned, to say the least, so any kind of physical intimacy is more than obvious to us."

She raised an eyebrow. "So I smell like I just had sex?"

"Not exactly," Chelsea explained. "I'm sure you'd rather I didn't go into details, but there isn't enough of a combination of yours and Master Aro's scents to suggest so. If you are that paranoid about it, I have some perfume you may use, but I assure you that scent is normal. Like I said, ignore my husband. He sometimes acts like he has never so much as made eye contact with a woman in his life." She slapped his hand away before he could so much as attempt to disagree. "I am only here because Aro asked me to accompany you to breakfast." She raised an eyebrow at Afton. "Are you still here?"

"No," he deadpanned as he left. "You're horrible."

Chelsea laughed a little, causing him to stifle a laugh himself. "You love me really," she called after him. Once he was gone, she rolled her eyes light-heartedly and turned back to the remaining bemused human. "After how much he pissed you off last time, Aro wanted to avoid a repeat of that."

"Well, that ship has sailed," Eliana sighed. "Can you replace Afton more often? He's . . . a strong cup of tea."

As she stood up, she laughed under her breath. "Your Britishisms are adorable," she remarked as she reached for her wrist and immediately tugged her towards the door Afton had already left through, "now let's go."

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Neither of them said much during the walk to the kitchens, although at least Chelsea had made an effort to ensure she was walking slowly for her sake. Eliana kept her gaze forward, her hands in her pockets.

"I like your style."

Eliana, bewildered, turned to stare at her. "You what my what?"

"I like your style," Chelsea repeated herself. "Much of how your generation dresses gets on my nerves and is just generally unappealing to me, but yours is nice. But why do you have beads on your shoelaces?"