Bloodcurse

Castle

(This chapter is written from Seth's perspective. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for reading, it means the absolute world to me <3)

I don't know what to say.

No, actually, I think I've forgotten how to speak.

Have you ever dreamed that one day, you wake up as royalty and find yourself in a grand palace, surrounded by luxury and wealth? Well, I have. When I was a kid, I had that dream quite a lot. I would read a lot of books about history, and I kept thinking to myself... what if I had just been born a prince? Wouldn't that make my life a lot easier? Instead of having to keep my head down, I would be able to hold it high, and I would have my own castle where no-one would ever be able to bother me. That was the dream.

To see it become reality is so bizarre that I think maybe I am still sleeping, and none of this ever happened. The more I blink my eyes, the clearer it becomes that this is not a dream; I'm in some kind of modern palace, with high ceilings, winding staircases and stained glass windows that must have taken multiple lifetimes to craft. Everything is pristine, from the checkered marble floor to the oxblood wallpaper, and my gaze is slowly dragged upwards as I follow the line of a chandelier that just keeps going and going, light glinting off the carved glass pendulums.

"I have not yet found the time to furnish this room," Edward says with a dismissive wave of his hand, his eyes darting around the room with bored disdain. "It will do for now."

There isn't a single word that I could force past my lips right now, so I simply keep treading after him as he climbs one of the two marble staircases, holding onto the polished wooden railing to keep myself from keeling over.

The stairs end in a sort of mezzanine; a narrow balcony that overlooks the hall. There are a few doors behind us, but I'm momentarily captivated by this unbelievable view. From up here, everything looks like the scenery of a movie starring Keira Knightley. A quiet laugh hushes over my lips, remembering how many times Adam made me watch Pride and Prejudice. It only occurs to me now that Adam and Grayson are both really into film. That's actually pretty cute. At least they'll never run out of things to talk about.

Edward clears his throat behind me, and I see him standing expectantly by one of the doors, his hand perched on the handle. "Shall we move on?"

"Okay."

He leads me into the next room, which happens to be one of the five bathrooms Adam mentioned. Tiny white and red tiles line every inch of the walls and ceiling, and the floor is made of dark, gleaming stone. Everything from the clawfoot tub to the slim painted vases reaching all the way up to my eye-level has been meticulously chosen to match - even the soap dish and the soap itself - and I get the distinct sense that maybe Edward is a little bit neurotic.

After the first bathroom, Edward shows me the dining room, the kitchen, two guest rooms, the other four bathrooms and two rooms he only points out but doesn't open - his office and bedroom. On top of these, there are a myriad of closets, empty rooms and even a latch in the ceiling that leads to an attic. Finally, we arrive in front of a door that has been painted a dark forest green that I instantly find soothing.

"This is your room," Edward tells me, and I want to ask him how he knew what color to paint the door... but when he opens it, all my questions are immediately forgotten.

The whole bedroom is held in the same rich shades of green. A four-poster bed is partly hidden behind a canopy, and next to it are heavy wooden nightstands that proudly hold two Tiffany lamps that looks like weeping willows. There is a glass door that leads to a balcony, and I carefully open it.