Chapter 16

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»»————- 𝟙𝟞𝟘𝟠 ————-««

As the ruling monarch of a kingdom, no matter how safe you perceive yourself to be in the moment, you should always be vigilant. Even the most tranquil of places can have malice slinking in the shadows. So Shoomah had never once let her guard down, and she had never been caught off guard because of it. 

Except for when she was dancing with Caius, as she swept him around the room in a traditional Ashafian dance, she lost herself. Her mind focused not on the number of exits, nor on who looked slightly shifty, nor on the possible traps surrounding them. Her mind was solely focused on the man before her, who had effortlessly kept up with a dance that he knew nothing of beforehand. 

All of her thoughts surrounded how beautiful he looked in a partially unbuttoned shirt and slacks and how his smile made her heart leap. She was sure that by that point he could tell how completely under his spell she was, but he did not mention it for his equal enthrallment. And if he did tease her for the wide eyes that she stared at him with, she would have grounds to call him hypocritical for the fact that his eyes had never once strayed from her figure the moment that she entered the ballroom. 

Their dance concluded with clapping from all of the dancers. Shoomah smiled at her partner in appreciation for the wonderful dance. Truthfully, this wasn't their first dance together. Ever since the music had first started, it had been dance after dance after dance without pause to greet a guest nor break to take another partner. They had been so wrapped up in each other's embrace and the penetrating flames that had ignited from their proximity that they had both forgotten all sense of decorum. 

Only reminded of it when her latest personal assistant, ʃɒruba (sh-o-roo-bah), quietly cleared her throat from across the room. When Shoomah's eyes finally broke the gaze of her soulmate to meet Shoroobah's gaze, Shoroobah's brown eyes moved in the direction of the two other foreign kings who were standing at the edge of the dance floor by themselves. 

It was a wonder nobody else from her kingdom had approached them yet. Vampirism afforded one certain qualities that tended to attract others to you. It was both attractive but could also be repulsive, as many a person's instincts screamed danger at them while in the company of a vampire. 

Shoomah clasped Caius's hand in hers, guiding him across the floor—before the next song began—to his brothers. Indeed, though not biologically related, these two kings could be mistaken for actual brothers. But small differences set them apart. Aro's hair curled more than Marcus's, while Aro looked clean-shaven Marcus kept the implications of a beard. Their mannerisms were different; Marcus was withdrawn, but Aro was excitable. Though both were exceedingly confident in themselves. 

Caius's lips twitched into a frown when he saw how long and how closely Shoomah had been observing his brothers. When he tapped her shoulder lightly, she snapped out of it, sending him an apologetic smile. Her eyes betrayed the turmoil she felt. 

How could she have been looking at any other person like that when her soulmate was standing right beside her? Because she had been thinking like that, not just observing their countenance in order to gauge who they were with regards to a political alliance, but she had thought them handsome. Not objectively so; although they were, she had found herself like a nervous girl with a crush to talk to them. Her thoughts had swayed to Aro's sinful smirk and how it'd feel for Marcus' soft eyes to look into hers. 

She was an awful person. To think such things about your lover's family. 

Attraction be damned, it would lead nowhere. At the very least, it would make politics easier on the eyes. 

She had Caius and Caius was everything. He was amazing, and kind, and smart, and funny, and absolutely, completely perfect. Shoomah did not deserve him at all, and he did not deserve a soulmate with wandering thoughts. She would not stray, not even for a second. 

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