Midnight Moon (2)

Chapter 6 - The Art and the Artist

Neveah

I'd never been in this part of the Volturi's castle before. The domed roof was high, fragmented with glass windows that allowed sunlight to pour into the room. Plants encircled the walls, thick vines that choked the pillars, sprouting pale red flower buds.

At the centre of the room was a mahogany desk. A single quill, bottle and some sheets of paper were scattered across its surface. There was barely any decoration save for the gorgeous golden candle bar chandelier that hung from the ceiling, black wax melting from the few flames that still flickered precariously.

And in front of the desk, Caius. He was sat on a stool, painting.

One hand balanced a palette of oil paints, whilst the other delicately stroked the brush over the canvas set up in front of him. The air smelt of turpentine, where a jar was left sitting with its lid off on the floor next to him.

"Come closer." He commanded. I hesitated, turning to look at the door. 

"Felix is outside." Caius said, studying my gaze at the door. "I've ordered him to remain there for the rest of the night. He won't leave until I command it, now, come here." 

I walked over until I was standing just behind his painting.

Caius sighed, letting his paintbrush clatter onto the floor. He tilted his head up, chin pointing in my direction so that he was looking at me down his nose.

"Closer," he murmured.

I took a step further and his arm reached out, snaking around my waist and pulling me down so that I was sitting on his lap. His arm remained around me firmly, just loose enough so I could breathe. I pried at his fingers.

"Quit fidgeting, love, you'll make me mess up."

My hands faltered, and fell to my sides. 

The painting was me.

I recognised the background. He must've taken note of this moment ages ago. I was standing in my position by the brick wall in the Volturi chamber. A sliver of light had managed to squeeze through the gap of a window and land on me. My eyes were closed, my head tilted up, appreciating the warmth of the sun ray. 

He'd captured it perfectly.

"What do you think?" Caius asked. His voice was deep and vibrated behind my ear. I was very conscious of his knee underneath my thighs, my legs trapped between his.

"You forgot the sparkling effect." I pointed out, "My skin doesn't look like that in sunlight. I also think that you need to use a ruler, look at that background, the proportions are completely off, the wall isn't even that colour, and why are my cheeks so pigmented?" I blabbered

Caius chuckled gently. I juddered up and down on his knee as the soft rolls of laughter travelled through him. He rested his chin on my shoulder, causing me to stiffen.

"By the way, how did you get this angle?" I asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"I like watching you when we're in the throne room." He replied simply. Damn my stupid heart thumping away loudly and giving me away. "You're very funny to look at."

There goes the butterflies, gone in one sentence.

I tore his arm away from me, standing up. He watched me walk around his chamber examining the other portraits against his walls. Most of them were half finished, like he'd gotten bored mid brushstroke and given up. Others were covered in white sheets, masking the painting.

I sighed heavily, eyeing the door, conscious that Felix would throw me straight back into the room if I even managed to open the door.

I looked on the other side, no balconies, but perhaps I could scale up the columns and break out through one of the windows ?

"Your friends wrote."

I looked over to where Caius was cleaning his hands on a small rag.

"Why haven't I gotten any letters?" I asked

"Aro burned them."

"What?! Why didn't you stop him? They belonged to—"

"Dear god, will you shut up and listen before I decide to stop talking ?" Caius cleared his throat, carrying on when he saw that I had stopped talking. "Bella and Edward are getting married. They've invited us to the wedding. Aro only declined because he feels as if you're making no progress in your stay here. You won't drink blood, you refuse to properly hurt your opponents when training, and you absolutely refuse to even attempt to form a connection with me even though we're mates."

"We're not mates!" I shouted "I already have a mate! Seth Clearwater, back in Forks who you stole me from! We will never be mates! I wished you were dead!"

"Is that so!" Caius yelled back. He grabbed me by the neck, slamming me onto the floor. The marble spiderwebbed beneath my head, cracking into pieces. "Then why haven't you killed me?"

I struggled, unable to breathe. He was putting all his force on to my neck, blocking air from entering my lungs.

"Don't you see, Neveah?" He bent down lower, blonde hair falling on to my face. "It was all a test." He whispered into my ear, chills crawled down my spine. "The plants around the room, ready for you to kill me, the marble pillars that you could collapse on your command, the turpentine just waiting open on the floor that you could douse on me and burn me with help from the candles on the chandelier... it was all a set up and you didn't take a single chance. You didn't because you couldn't, you are bound to me, your mate. Forever."

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